The Official 356Talk Forum

I have been thinking and re-thinking this and thought I would ask for some opinions. I am not sure how long I will own the car. I am doing this as a fun project that I can learn from.

I acquired a 64 356SC shell last year that had been the start of an outlaw project for someone else. They welded up all of the thru holes on the car (bumpers, horns, front turn signals, side moldings, exhaust, etc). So I decided that since this was done I would just keep going with the theme.

So now I come to the interior. I can think of several options and I am hoping for a few opinions. ((I know be careful what you ask for!!))

Option 1:
Back to stock black vinyl. (Not likely!)

Option 2:
Stock with leather. Color would be Red. Car is now grey metallic.

Option 3:
Stock interior with one racing seat (GTS Classics R trimmed to match interior)

Option 4:
GTS Classics R front seats in leather with grommets. NO rear seats.

Option 5:
GTS Classics R front and rear seats trimmed in leather to match with grommets.

Lots of options. I really appreciate your help.

Short answer: You don't see too many outlaw builds with stock seats, so I'd go with the R seats. Red leather will look great with gray metallic. I'd also delete the rear seats but that might just be me.

Long answer (actually more like questions): I like to think of these things in terms of function. How will you be planning to use the car? Will it have a higher horsepower engine and upgraded brakes, suspension, etc.? Will you be autocrossing the car or driving it spiritidly? Will it be more of a show car when you're finished? Are you looking to please yourself, or a potential future buyer?

I've settled on transforming my C coupe into a GT-look car, with a more period feel to the modifications vs. something really modern looking. It will have GT/Speedster buckets because of the look, yes, but also because they will hold me better when driving swiftly than the stock seats. I also will have plexi windows at a minimum, deleted rear seats, etc. to reduce weight to make it a little quicker and that will change the look but for a purposeful reason. My car will be able to go back to stock relatively easily should someone want to.

So it kind of depends on what you're trying to accomplish. What do you want people to say when they see it? "Cool, a 356 that kinda looks like Singer did it" or "neat an old 356 race car".

Sean,

Thanks for the input. I would say that does lead me in the direction I was thinking. I would not want to do something that is so personal that no one else wants it.

Thanks again.

A seat manufacturer from the second biggest state in the union once supplied me with a pair of really beautiful looking 356 seats, steel tube framed true bucket seats that looked well engineered and extremely safe. The rather expensive extra seat mounts and sliders turned out to be an absolute joke. To try to be fair, the sliders worked OK, but raised the seats several inches when mounted on the expensive mounting brackets, said mounting brackets not even close to fitting any 356 without much welding and drilling. After making proper new brackets using stock 356 sliders, the first time I slid my butt across the seat the black piping cover completely shredded. One butt slide, expensive upholstery job totally ruined. Scott, please be careful where you spend your hard earned money.

Thanks Craig. Points taken.

Scott, what did you end up doing? I am considering similar options for my Outlaw 356A.

Mark,

I went with option 4. I did not however have GTS trim the seats. I decided to have them build the seat shells and then have all of the interior done by K&H European. The seats are being finished now. The rest of the interior is done and looks awesome. I will add a photo in a couple weeks when they are done.

Scott Halperin wrote:Mark,

I went with option 4. I did not however have GTS trim the seats. I decided to have them build the seat shells and then have all of the interior done by K&H European. The seats are being finished now. The rest of the interior is done and looks awesome. I will add a photo in a couple weeks when they are done.

Scott, looking forward to seeing how it all turned out!

What about sharing some pictures...?

Here are a couple without the seats. Rear seat delete. Camera shows some variation in the red that is not really there.

Fantastic!! I have recently been considering keeping the black dash pad on my red interior and wondered how the garnish rails would look in black. Pretty cool!

Coming along really nicely. Can't wait to see those new seats.

Looks great. Did you remove the pivots on the tunnel for the rear seabacks?

Good catch, Michael. There are also a couple of brackets with screw holes for the carpeted backs for the rear seats. Did you cut those out too?

Also tell us about the steering wheel on the floor.

Where are you located? Any chance you're east coast?

All of the seat brackets/holes are there. They padded them to build up and did a great job. The steering wheel on the floor is the one I am going to use. Just like the look better. Sorry Sean I am on the west coast. Will post more when the seats arrive.

Where did you get the floor boards? The whole project looks amazing! I am looking forward to seeing the final product.