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1963 356B, possibly Italian delivered S90

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 12:16 am
by Mike Stephens
Greetings,

I recently traded for this 1963 356B in project status. It is possibly an Italian delivered, Super 90, but I have not ordered a COA or Kardex yet. I was hoping to get some feedback first, as this is my first 356 (not first P car). Fortunately, the car appears to be complete and included many new parts.

Possibly Super 90:
-No serial number or type on the engine case, but I was told by the previous owner that it was a Super 90 engine and I found a strange note in a box of parts from a previous owner to mechanic stating this. I also found a receipt for a $9k engine rebuild, complete with an 86mm big bore kit listed.
-S90 Solex Carburetors 40 PII-4
-S90 5,500 rpm redline tach
-S90 compensation spring
-Car has been painted and license plate and badge holes were filled, but I can see the 2 holes where the “90” was. 90 badge found in box of parts included.
-Correct S90 “nipple” hubcaps

Possibly Italian delivered:
-Km/h speedometer
-Period correct, plastic Italian license plate
-License plate holes match Italian license plate. No signs of any other holes.
-Fender mounted turn signals included in box of parts

Paint/body/transmission:
-The car was take apart and resprayed, but in my opinion, the color is not very true to the original Ruby Red. To me the red is too “light” or almost pink compared to the original red. The dash and interior was left unpainted/original, and clearly the paint doesn’t match. In dimmer light, light it looks more correct.
-Although the paint has zero miles on it and looks like a decent job, the off-red will really annoy me so I might just get it repainted. Fashion gray perhaps…
-The previous owner had new floors installed. The only area I can find that still needs attention is the rear engine shelf. A new one came with the car.
-Transmission date and type look correct. Wheels are date matched.

Any feedback is appreciated!

Re: 1963 356B, possibly Italian delivered S90

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 12:19 am
by Mike Stephens
Notice the color of the dash vs the cowl/hood.

Re: 1963 356B, possibly Italian delivered S90

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 8:26 am
by Doug McDonnell
Welcome to the Registry. While stationed in Southern Italy in the late 70's there was an electronics civilian employee of the DOD that serviced several bases including the one I was at. He would show up in a different 356 which he was buying and shipping back to the DC area for his brother in law to sell. Maybe this is one of the cars he sent back. I have read about but never seen Italian delivered tail lights. Yours appear to be standard European.

Re: 1963 356B, possibly Italian delivered S90

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 4:08 pm
by David Pateman
That looks like a nice project. If the engine has no #'s then probably built on a replacement case. That is probably a good situation.

Re: 1963 356B, possibly Italian delivered S90

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 5:54 pm
by Sebastian Gaeta
Mike Stephens wrote:
Possibly Italian delivered:
-Km/h speedometer
-Period correct, plastic Italian license plate
-License plate holes match Italian license plate. No signs of any other holes.
Italian delivered cars, C cars at least, had amber side markers on the front fenders. Bill Block has an Italian delivery C cab that has them, but perhaps it was not an italian law in 1963? Bill would know this, hopefully he will chime in.

Also, welcome to the Registry!

Re: 1963 356B, possibly Italian delivered S90

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 8:42 pm
by Mike Stephens
Sebastian Gaeta wrote:
Mike Stephens wrote:
Possibly Italian delivered:
-Km/h speedometer
-Period correct, plastic Italian license plate
-License plate holes match Italian license plate. No signs of any other holes.
Italian delivered cars, C cars at least, had amber side markers on the front fenders. Bill Block has an Italian delivery C cab that has them, but perhaps it was not an italian law in 1963? Bill would know this, hopefully he will chime in.

Also, welcome to the Registry!
Good eye. Look what I just found in one of the boxes of parts that came with the car. Thanks!

Re: 1963 356B, possibly Italian delivered S90

Posted: Wed Apr 11, 2018 8:49 pm
by Sebastian Gaeta
That's great! If you plan to use them and you do repaint the car, ask the bodyman to look for the original holes on the fender. If not someone here can get you coordinates of where they should be placed.

Keep the forum posted as to your progress.

Re: 1963 356B, possibly Italian delivered S90

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:14 pm
by Mike Stephens
Progress update on the car:
After staring at the car for a while, I decided to strip the whole car down to bare metal using a grinder and wire wheel. It was obvious that there was loads of filler present, plus the Ruby Red paint looked too pink to me. Hitting the car with a knotted wire wheel revealed many layers of filler, primer, and paint.

I found a used Accessible Systems body dolly locally and was able to chop it down to size.

I’ve ordered from Stoddard all the sheet metal I should need. I plan on doing most, if not all of the metalwork myself or with assistance from friends. We’ll see how far we get. The main areas that need attention are the battery box floor, both rockers, lower section of a door, rear engine shelf, a rear longitudinal, and a few random rust holes. The floors have already been property done.

Once all the metalwork is done, I’ll have the car lightly medial blasted, as to not warp the metal, and then epoxy primed.
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Re: 1963 356B, possibly Italian delivered S90

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2018 3:15 pm
by Mike Stephens
I was also able to get my hands on the Kardex, which confirmed that the car is indeed a Super 90 from Italy!

Re: 1963 356B, possibly Italian delivered S90

Posted: Tue Oct 09, 2018 5:13 pm
by Doug McDonnell
Good for you. If you have any problems with those Italian side lights contact Jim Liberty. He just sold his S90 B that he added them to because he is Italian heritage. https://bringatrailer.com/listing/1963- ... 0-coupe-2/

Re: 1963 356B, possibly Italian delivered S90

Posted: Wed Oct 10, 2018 2:56 pm
by Jim Liberty
I have one pair of correct Hella side lights for an Italian delivery car. I paid $250 for them, and will part with them for the same. …….Jim.

Re: 1963 356B, possibly Italian delivered S90

Posted: Tue Apr 16, 2019 5:29 pm
by Mike Stephens
I pretty much finished replacing the trunk floor at the end of last year, but I need to still grind down some plug welds.

In the meantime, here are some recent pictures; removed rocker and outer longitudinal. You can see the jack receivers were previously replaced (rather poorly).

Re: 1963 356B, possibly Italian delivered S90

Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2020 4:01 pm
by Richard Holler
can you do my car next, though if you start scraping it would probably just disappear. :P

Re: 1963 356B, possibly Italian delivered S90

Posted: Thu Feb 27, 2020 11:31 pm
by William Block
I have no idea when the Italians required front fender turn signal repeaters.
bill