4 '51 Coupe questions....

[Jim Hardie]

Good Morning all.

Well, I'm deep in another special project. I will assemble Steve B's '51 coupe, # 10627 here in the Sacramento area. I think I remember it as a Feb. build date. Yes, most of us promise ourselves that we'd never get involved in another early car....but, how many of us actually keep that promise!!??

OK....here are my questions:

(1) Steve has the original door garnish rails and I did a trial fit... We are missing something there...either the rails have been modified (shortened ?) or there are alum caps that are needed, or, the top of the doors were modified at some point. My '52 Cab had alum caps that I had to make.... I have looked over the pictures of the garnish rail sets that Robert makes and clearly there is a stub sticking out on each end....I suspect that those might be for a Cab without the window frames...?? Or those 'stubs' are what the alum. caps attach to. Were there two types of garnish rails, Cab/Coupe? Were there alum. caps on all '51 coupes?? If we need to weld the correct shape on the top of the doors we need to do so right away....paint is now a week or so away! Might any of you have a picture of the bare top of a coupe door?

(2) For #10627, would the mats (trunk, cabin & threshold) all be that fine ribbed material. My knowledge say 'yes,' but never hurts to ask.

(3) Would the 1300 'normal' engine come with the 'choke' cable?

(4) Finally, was there a 'square' washer under the 8mm bolts that secure the hold down brackets for the fuel tank. I've seen them on one car....seems like they would keep the bolt from distorting the hold down bracket.....? Anyone have a pic of those, if they exist!

OK...thanks for participating in this forum, Jim

[George Alspaugh]

Jim-

As to question 3, my '52 1300 coupe had a fast idle cable which attached to the driver side carb. It was plumbed through the fan shroud if I remember correctly.

Good luck!

[William Block]

Query build date

'51/'51 356 Reutter coupe #10613
motor? P*
trans
Moorish green (R506)/green-cord /carpet/headliner
Sonderausführung:
Keiper reclining seats, right and left
Built 51.05.18 del WERKES Zffenhausen, GERMANY
Joe Ruiz, CA 741/ 926-7004 mrokrasa@earthlink.net; ex RUSTY BOTTOMS, CA RUSTYBTMS@AOL.COM
Dec 11, project-missing motor-almost complete upholstery, for sale (356REGISTRY online want ads)

'51/'51 356/1 Reutter coupe #10627
506 P*
trans
Color/upholster/carpet/headliner
Sonderausführung:
Built 51.02. del
Steven Berggren, CA
Nov 19, under restoration-driver-616/1 P*, query (356TALK/Jim Hardie)

'51/'51 356 Reutter coupe #10629
506 P*20120
trans not recorded
Maroon (R503)/blue-grey napped cloth/carpet/headliner
Sonderausführung:
None listed
Built 51.06.02 del
Robert Brocker, NEDERLANDS r.brocker@planet.nl; ex Adam Wright, NY adam@unobtanium-inc.com
Apr 07, project-motor, response (Certificate of Authenticity/NET)

[Jules Dielen]

Jim, I hope this helps?

[Spencer Harris]

Here are some more photos of the aluminum door caps. These are from '51 coupe 11341.

Tony Proasi has the doors and caps now, and he could probably copy them for you, and Rick Albro has a pattern and can make them too.

Send me a PM if you wish and I'll forward your email address to Tony & Rick.

DSC_0016 (Medium).JPG (130.9 KiB) Viewed 1961 times

DSC_0017 (Medium).JPG (130.29 KiB) Viewed 1961 times

DSC_0020_2 (Medium).JPG (110.51 KiB) Viewed 1961 times

DSC_0021 (Medium).JPG (120.03 KiB) Viewed 1961 times

[Jim Hardie]

Spenser, Jules, George and Bill, Thank you for each of your posts. Really has helped...I did not expect to see the metal structures under the alum, that the alum attaches to. Looked and looked to understand how it was done, so, a big help. Jim

[James Davies]

Hi Jim,

Sounds like a great project! Feel free to share photos if you can.

10627 would have likely been completed ~June 1951 based on other close chassis numbers. To answer your questions:

1) Yes, there are aluminum end caps for the wood door tops, front and rear. All the split-window coupes and cabs had wood garnish rails with these aluminum caps on the ends. Photos have already been posted. I'll add a couple more.

2) There were no rubber mats in the front luggage compartment on split-window coupes. Reutter trimmed this area with carpet (and continued to trim the side walls in front of the fuel tank with carpet through 1952-54 even after the carpet under the spare tire was replaced with a rubber mat). Rubber mats on the threshold and footwell were simple ribbed items for split-window cars. See photos.

3) Pushrod engines installed in pre-A cars had a choke cable that hooked up to the 32 PBI or 40 PBIC (or 40 PICB) carbs. They did away with the choke cable on the 616/1 and 616/2 engines on the 356A cars.

4) I have seen a round washer under the bolt that fastens the fuel tank on a few original, unrestored cars. Given the Porsche and Reutter didn't use square washers elsewhere that I know of, my guess is that yours has been owner-enhanced. See attached photo from a car a couple dozen chassis numbers from yours. But yeah, there's definitely a washer there.

[Jim Hardie]

James....Thank you! Helpful, as well. I notice that your early Reutter vin plate on the hinge cover is red! I had not seen that before...were they all red?

Jim

[Spencer Harris]

Dash end choke cable housing assembly:

CIMG9110 (Medium).JPG (215.74 KiB) Viewed 1915 times

CIMG9116 (Medium).JPG (220.91 KiB) Viewed 1915 times

CIMG9117 (Medium).JPG (214.1 KiB) Viewed 1915 times

choke cover assembly for 32 PBI/PBJ carb. Only installed on driver side carb & detailed in '55 parts manual.[/b]

50CIMG8107.jpg (600.88 KiB) Viewed 1915 times

50CIMG8104.jpg (480.61 KiB) Viewed 1915 times

50CIMG8112.jpg (492.07 KiB) Viewed 1915 times

[Martin Benade]

Does that choke have a cork disc like the fuel petcock?

[Spencer Harris]

Does that choke have a cork disc like the fuel petcock?

My recollection is no, Martin. Another pic of the disassembled choke cover ass'y from a '55 546/2, and I'm pretty sure these were the only components.

DSCF0560 (Medium).JPG (125.01 KiB) Viewed 1903 times

[Tony Proasi]

Jim

I have the aluminum end caps that Spencer is referring too. Let me know I can help in any way.

Thanks
Tony

[Spencer Harris]

Jim- As to question 3, my '52 1300 coupe had a fast idle cable which attached to the driver side carb. It was plumbed through the fan shroud if I remember correctly. Good luck!

I concur with George's terminology and orientation. Though commonly referred to as a "choke" it's really just a fast-idle throttle cable. The mechanism is installed on the driver side of a LHD vehicle. In the '54 workshop manual it is referred to as a "choke cable" in the R&R engine section (item 6), but detailed more definitively in the Solex carb section (item L1).

54 Workshop R & R Engine.JPG (280.4 KiB) Viewed 1865 times

54 Workshop Solex Carburetors.JPG (239.22 KiB) Viewed 1865 times

[Jim Hardie]

Thanks to all!! Really helpful stuff. Spencer....thanks for the connection to Rick. Also, Spencer (or others!), do you have pics of your 11341 with out the alum. caps in place. I will be finishing up the doors in the next 48 hours and would like to look at the steel 'structures' underneath the caps. They had been cut off when the doors were reskinned.... Again, thanks.... Jim

[Spencer Harris]

Only photos I have are the ones on the Google album. I sent you the link via email. Not really any good, closeups of the door top areas you're looking for.
Tony has mounted the doors on his car, so maybe he could post a couple of pics of the tops without the aluminum caps.

https://photos.app.goo.gl/gfQaEkhSQVxcqdk59