The Official 356Talk Forum

Hi guys. I've had this car sitting around in bits for over a decade. Which is long enough.

First step was getting it to Nugent Coach Builders in Dubbo NSW. They are building some incredible cars in there, sent by clients from all corners of the globe. Bentleys, AC's Gullwing Mercs etc.

It came out of the factory black, and I guess black upholstery judging from the seats that look like they might be the original ones, complete with sixty year old horse hair stuffing. There's nothing on the Kardex about the interior so I'm not sure what kind of carpet it would have had.

It's got a later rear clip and some of the forum regulars have identified the fact it was a body bumper car rather than having the export bumpers the Hoffman cars usually have, based on the shape of the nose (thanks guys). If anyone could post some pics of body bumpers that would be a help.

It was delivered to Hoffman in NY, and there's an original owner named but it's almost impossible to read. Seems to be Emil Michael Thill (?)

Plan is to get it as original as possible, perhaps with some minor concessions to safety and drive-ability here and there.

Hope to get your advice/thoughts as we progress.

Cheers
Scott

Nice car!

Here's my '52 (11770) as I was working on fitting the front bumper. It's a black with a red interior 1500, originally sold out of Mannheim.

Thanks Scott, great pic. Chassis no. 11509 for this one. They'd be within weeks or months of each other. The same guy probably painted them both black! I'd love to get a pic of the back of your car with the bumper if possible.

Scott, I did #11441 a few years ago. It is my web page "Home Page". If I can be of any assistance, please e-mail me. ..................................Jim.

Thank you Jim! Have you got a url for your home page?

libertymotorsports356.net ....................Jim.

Update: Car is stripped of parts and is now sitting in an alkaline bath shedding its many layers of paint. It'll be interesting to see what it reveals.

It looks like your car has '53 model year shift linkage installed (notice the 3 white alignment stripes). Has your transmission been upgraded to the full-synchro box from the '53 model year and later?

That's great that you're making progress.

Hi Jim, the car came with two gearboxes, I've yet to sort out which one's which but yes, it seems they're the 519 synchro type. I'll get some pics.

A link to coach builder Mark Nugent's facebook page. He's posted a few pics of the car. (A bit of the way down the page.)

https://www.facebook.com/marknugent.com.au

Hi Scott, My wife' s 52 (11438) was a puzzle for a long time. It had an A bumper on the front and no rear bumper. I finally figured out that it was a body bumper car. which had an A rear clip grated on. I bought new body bumpers from Trevor. They look so good and feel so right for the car. The front bolted on and fit perfectly. The work on the back was exact but not to tough. Pictures below are before and then after they were first fitted.

Hi Mark, thanks for the pics. That looks very similar to what's happened to my car - original front with a new rear end grafted on. I've heard good reports about Trevor's stuff. Just got the car stripped, will post some pics.

Scott

Naked sixty-three-year-olds aren't usually something that gets me excited but this is an exception. A couple of days ago I got a phone call saying it'd come through the paint stripping process at Redistrip, so I booked 'a meeting' at work and raced out there. For a car of that age the body looks bloody good. Very clean and professional job. The guys there thought it was in much better nick than most cars of that age, and they had some interesting stories of E-types barely making it out of the chemical bath and various combinations of bog and chicken wire holding other cars together. You got the feeling that if they hadn't seen it all they'd seen most. So this was good. Really good. Before the reality of the amount of work it needs hits (plenty of rust spots, holes in and wrong rear section) I think I'll just admire it. It's a beautiful thing. Let me know if you spot anything.

Mark is this what the grafting on the rear of your car looked like? And was your car U.S. delivered with body bumpers?

Turns out this is an interim bumper car. Mark Nugent pointed out the welds had been unstitched from the front of the car where the lower panel that was welded on for interim bumper cars would have been.