The Official 356Talk Forum

Thanks Spencer.

So, did all flat floor 356As have two? Did some have one? Did some have none? Can anyone supply chassis numbers of any of the above? I'd like some photos that I can use in the magazine or book too, if possible.

In a previous post I meant to say that I assume that all later 356As with the central rib did not have them.

Ooppsss....will try to find that post......

Same photo, not as obscured, from the 356A Driver's Manual and a later page with a possible (probable?) chassis number of this car #57541. Manual is dated September 1957. Is there an earlier one? -- yeah, I know -- this isn't really Pre-A, is it?

http://www.abcgt.com/forum/4-356-Forum/ ... 6&start=90

Here is the link to the post discussion. There is a pic of an early untouched (according to owner) car
With only one drain.....Justin Rio mentions that the workshop manual might be of a very early A...
Untouched early A floors are needed to clarify, i’m afraid.....

Ignacio,

The information you are supplying is that #58648 has only a single drain at the front. Are there any other data points? It is important to me that multiple data points exist or everybody is undeserved.

I do not have more data, sorry. It will be a question to early A owners....
My own 56, 57409 from October, has had that panel replaced so not useful.
Probably means that earlier As might have had two drains and was changed sometime to
The one drain version, i’ll Try to find more examples of chassis in between as I would like to determine
The cut off chassis number to correct my own car!
Ignacio

This is what I want to learn. I can't do it without help from current owners and I appreciate the fact that all cars are not honest and some cannot ever show the original build specs. because of previous damage or casual repair/restoration attempts. One thing I do know is that all 356s don't necessarily have anything left of their original battery compartment floors.

The reason I posted this in the first place is that my three '51s had no trace of their original battery floors and I wondered if the drains actually were used in the beginning. At the time I thought there was only one -- and that was two weeks ago. Two of my '51s were 4 digit cars. Helpful posts aided me to the discovery of the second one on #54205.

So, I'm really not asking for much. Look at your car(s) -- post a reply or send me an email. Send me a photo, if you think it will help -- or ask me?

Hi Brett,

You pick the most difficult questions!

Yeah, most of these floors are long rusted-out, which tells you how well these floor drains worked.

Here's some data points from cars with their original floors (unrestored).

11264: two drains (see photo below)
50143: same
5023x: same
51576: same
52073: same
52866: same (now restored)
54067: same

All of these have the drain on the tunnel floor very far back to where the brake master cylinder sits to the side, just as in the photo below.

So I would go out on a limb and say all bent-window cars had 2 drains. And some of the late split-window cars did too, as 11264 below. It's possible that 2 drains started around the time they redesigned the battery box floor to have wide ribs (and the rear firewall). Just conjecture.

Like your cars, my '53 coupe also is missing its original battery box floor and front tunnel floor.

While we are on Battery Boxes, was there ever a removable panel behind the battery on Pre-A '55s? I'm working on a early 55 Speedster and the opening to the suspension looks like there may have had a panel installed covering the torsion bar adjuster. It could have been some added along the way. Box floor has one hole and I think it is still original.

So, I have lots of photos and pretty good data now -- except on split window cars. James mentions the change in battery compartment floor. I have no photos, though I have a nice drawing of the early style (I think) in both English and German! Anybody have a real one?

Here's more. #5033 shows the early type battery floor and no drain (and as a bonus the rarely seen front vent). Any others out there?

Steve Douglas asked about something behind the battery on '55s -- not that I know of -- but how about this? This is from #5033 with the front vent. Maybe a road debris filter? Any other ones out there?

There are two types of early battery floor. One with six narrow ribs on all (?) splits and one with six wide ribs from all cars 1952 - 55 bents, yes?

Here are three upper compartment configurations with the one with the "horn" to locate the spare wheel unique to the Model 52, yes?

Photos:

#5033 #5161 Model 52 cabriolet -- probably have the number somewhere
#54205

I asked for it, I got it (offline...). Here is a flat floor 1956 (calendar year) 356A with a single front drain. This is an unrestored, low mile car. I am still looking for others with one, two or no drains and respective chassis numbers to determine when the changes occurred -- and any narrow ribbed battery floors with drains or wide ribbed 356 ones without either one or both.