1958 speedster 1600 normal

[Vincent Wong]

Hello, I noticed that some 1958 speedsters have an idle adjustment knob to the right of the key switch; is that present on all speedsters? I wanted to know if the absence of this idle adjustment knob is a detail forgotten by the restoration shop, or if Porsche didn't include this item on the dashboard of some 1958 speedsters,
Thanks,
Vincent.

[Barry Brisco]

See the article at http://porsche356registry.org/resources ... e-faq.html about hand throttles.

All 356A and T5 B cars, including Speedsters, had a hand throttle according to Brett Johnson's book.

Read the article to understand what it did. It was not a choke, and it was not an idle adjustment. It is simply a way to put some pressure on the gas pedal without touching it with your foot. Used when warming up the car. If you don't have one, it makes absolutely no difference to how the car runs and drives.

I don't think the lack of a hand throttle is going to devalue your Speedster to any significant degree. They are hard to find in usable condition, but your car is so valuable that an interested buyer isn't likely to decide not to buy it just because of that one missing piece.

Best regards,

Barry

[Jon Warshawsky]

... I don't think the lack of a hand throttle is going to devalue your Speedster to any significant degree...

Isn't this the Authenticity Corner?

I was expecting something more hardcore: "Any Speedster missing a hand throttle needs a full restoration" or something.

[Al Zim]

At one time I owned one of the first 356 B coups after the factory deleted the idle speed pull. In the Karmann cars this was 211430 and my car was 211444. Check the parts book it will tell you when the 63 (or was that 62) cars finally lost the knob. al zim