The Official 356Talk Forum

Mark Sabbann wrote:

John Orchard wrote:Kardex shows 53728 to have been delivered new to Madrid through VW Espanola, Spain.
5401B schwarz with Kunstl weinr interior (can someone enlighten me as to what colour that is?).

John, 'schwarz' is black and 'Kunstl weinr' is short for Kunstleder Weinrot, essentially custom leather in Wine Red. Looks like a cool car!

Wow! I didn't expect that! My mate has a 901 with that combo.
You just made my day!

Yes, Wine red leatherette - no cord inserts. 5401B trim code meant beige headliner and beige carpet too. Looks consistent with the beige knobs and steering wheel. And black dashboard.

Odd that your turn signal housing is beige. Generally these are black from mid-1953 onwards. When you remove it, you can pull it apart and read the SWF date code stamped on it. I suspect it will be a 1952 or early 1953 date code and that that is a replacement part.

The nose on this car has also been replaced with a later one - the front turn signals are mounted lower than they originally were in 1955. Low-mounted turn signals started sometime in mid-1956.

Cool car! Thanks for sharing.

What a lovely car and amazing journey, with the state of Spanish economy in 1955 I wonder who could afford such a costly car?

This also got me thinking, when one takes into account the German economy in 1955, there was a lot of choice in paint & upholstery colours available. I'm assuming most, if not all, of the suppliers would be German and it was only 7 years since the start of the Marshall plan (Spain had been excluded from this). Am I right in thinking that there was the greatest choice in paint colour, then fewer colours in the upholstery and only 2 in the headliner? I also wondered why the colours of the paint and upholstery were stated but the headliner is in code?

I have always assumed, particularily in the early years, the factory simply produced colour combinations that they thought would be suitable to simply sell from the showroom but have wondered how many were ordered with specific combinations and how long would one have had to wait for delivery?

I do have some mad questions bouncing around in my head and I'm sure all of these things have been covered before.

V

Question if I may...

Should this June manufactured car have 16 X 3.25’s. Or 15’s?
She has later 59 and 60 stamped 15’s at the moment.

Also need a hood script. What is correct for this car?

Thanks in advance.

Hi John,

All pre-A chassis cars were delivered with 16" wheels. 3.25x16 wheels with 5.00x16 tires. These cars had the 90mm travel shocks and used larger wheels. The 356A chassis had the much longer shock travel and 15" wheels.

There's no hood script on pre-A cars. There was a PORSCHE script at front and rear. Front is on the nose, just below the hood latch. Your car would have 5 holes there were the pegs of the script get inserted. 1955 coupes could have had either aluminum scripts or gold-plated brass scripts.

Spain was home to several U.S. military bases until the 1980s. My guess is E.H. Farrell was stationed at one, which explains how someone in Spain was able to afford a 356 in 1955.

Thanks James,
Great info. So if the Gold badges on the back of the car are original, it would have also had gold script on the front or did they mix them?

They did not mix them. All gold, or all aluminum. Again, I've seen both in original, unmolsted cars and in period photos.

Thanks James,
I have a lot to learn.

I have been looking at original Porsche badges, and I notice the different sizes. Should my 55 have a 215mm badge for the front?

John Orchard wrote:I have been looking at original Porsche badges, and I notice the different sizes. Should my 55 have a 215mm badge for the front?

215mm front & rear. Coupes from 51586 on and cabs from 60369 on used insignias with 5 solid rivets - original PN 356.58.311.

See this thread for additional info on the topic:
viewtopic.php?f=13&t=40454

Thank you Spencer.