WCSTA -06- 56 T1
Posted: Sun Mar 15, 2015 3:23 am
This project is the confluence of several streams: I like to have a Porsche project going and they were all finished, I am attracted to the T1 coups because they are all set up for the Carrera engine and I have a spare for the '59 GT. The 59 GT has always been a race car but I have always wanted to drive a Carrera on the street. There is a hundred mile loop through the Santa Cruze Moutains. which I like to run weekly in a 356 (or occasionally in my daughter's 5 speed 912 which is set up for vintage racing). To run the loop in a T1 Carrera would be fun. Also, I have always liked the T1's with their thick seats, lots of sound deadening, and the clean side windows without the wind wings. In my opinion, the epitome of the small bore GT car.
So after the completion of the last project I began looking for such a car. I looked at and rejected several. Then Bruce, body man extrodinare, mentioned that there might be one just down the road in the Santa Cruze Mtns. The owner had contacted him a while ago with the thought of completing the restoration himself. It turned out that he owner had purchased the car way back in the 1960's, drove it a bit and then decided that it needed a restoration. So he removed the floors and tunnel, drilling out the spot welds, then found further rust. He ordered all the repair panels he thought he would need from PB Tweeks, stripped out the wiring harness and all the instruments. But then his business picked up and he put the car and parts in the back of his shop and never got back to it.
We arranged a visit and looked at the car. Although the car was only ten or fifteen years old when parked it must have had a hard life. It had been hit left front, left rear, in the rear and very poorly repaired. Every panel on the car with the exception of the engine lid was damaged. Just to get started, in addition to the new floors, it would need longitudinals, rocker panels, front closing panels, a nose and a tail, and door bottoms, a few more than John had planned for. A left rear quarter panel wouldn't hurt. The transmission was a 644 but the engine was a mixture of 912 and 356 parts. The left rear spring plate was bent and the left front suspension was VW. The wood seat frames were coming apart. The good news was that the car was local, and there was little else to be removed, John had taken care of most of that. You could think of it as a car kit.
And the resources were there: Bruce could do the metal work and the painting, Del has a chassis jig, and I like building engines, transmissions, suspensions and wiring. Bruce has put Autos interiors in several 356's and Palo Alto Speedometer has done instruments for me for decades. So I made John a fair offer-practically nothing. John really hadn't considered selling and thought practically nothing wasn't enough so he rolled it back in the end of the shop, and I forgot about the car. Over the next year a couple of people actually offered John more money for the car over the telephone but backed out when they saw the car. So after about a year and a half, John accepted my offer and Bruce an I went down and picked up the car, the Tweeks panels, and the other parts. I had the surface rust blasted off the panels and chassis, primed everything and, as they say, we're good to go.
So after the completion of the last project I began looking for such a car. I looked at and rejected several. Then Bruce, body man extrodinare, mentioned that there might be one just down the road in the Santa Cruze Mtns. The owner had contacted him a while ago with the thought of completing the restoration himself. It turned out that he owner had purchased the car way back in the 1960's, drove it a bit and then decided that it needed a restoration. So he removed the floors and tunnel, drilling out the spot welds, then found further rust. He ordered all the repair panels he thought he would need from PB Tweeks, stripped out the wiring harness and all the instruments. But then his business picked up and he put the car and parts in the back of his shop and never got back to it.
We arranged a visit and looked at the car. Although the car was only ten or fifteen years old when parked it must have had a hard life. It had been hit left front, left rear, in the rear and very poorly repaired. Every panel on the car with the exception of the engine lid was damaged. Just to get started, in addition to the new floors, it would need longitudinals, rocker panels, front closing panels, a nose and a tail, and door bottoms, a few more than John had planned for. A left rear quarter panel wouldn't hurt. The transmission was a 644 but the engine was a mixture of 912 and 356 parts. The left rear spring plate was bent and the left front suspension was VW. The wood seat frames were coming apart. The good news was that the car was local, and there was little else to be removed, John had taken care of most of that. You could think of it as a car kit.
And the resources were there: Bruce could do the metal work and the painting, Del has a chassis jig, and I like building engines, transmissions, suspensions and wiring. Bruce has put Autos interiors in several 356's and Palo Alto Speedometer has done instruments for me for decades. So I made John a fair offer-practically nothing. John really hadn't considered selling and thought practically nothing wasn't enough so he rolled it back in the end of the shop, and I forgot about the car. Over the next year a couple of people actually offered John more money for the car over the telephone but backed out when they saw the car. So after about a year and a half, John accepted my offer and Bruce an I went down and picked up the car, the Tweeks panels, and the other parts. I had the surface rust blasted off the panels and chassis, primed everything and, as they say, we're good to go.