The Official 356Talk Forum

Here's my bus. 1956 Deluxe.

Here is what I got in my garage these days. 51’ Beetle deluxe and 47’ Volvo PV444A.

Starving student in the '60s, probably had to decide on performance mods or bumper / body repairs for '64 Beetle. The body lost. Big bore kit, Crower V20 cam, two barrel Holley Bugspray, Porsche distributor and extractor exhaust. Empi camber compensator and Konis, 7" Chevy station wagon wheels on VW centers with Goodyear Polyglas tires. Accessories and goodies most likely worth more than the car...

Greg, I thought you might like this one. My March 53’ deep skylight bus.

What I think the factory would build today if they were homologating a car for the La Carrera PanAmericana....
The only factory bits are the body, trim, and rear seats. 1953 Studebaker Commander.

Looks like you have decided how you feel about over restored cars! Nice. That looks like an HD XR RR next to the Stude. The tail looks like one anyway.

Everything gets driven. This is really a project where you really wanted to replace the fasteners that were originally there; 1953 was not a banner year for Stude quality, I think, and I did want things to stay where they were supposed to be. If you saw the originals you would agree they were not as purposeful as 356’s of the same year. Sharp eyes on the XRTT.. Getting a XR TT project up as well, just for the sound, but El Mirage is close and doesn’t have a record ( last time I looked) for the class, and Bonneville....beckons....

My very close friend Larry Forstall has been setting speed records on bikes since the 1970s. First he rode the bikes and then he built the bikes and others rode them. They have records over 300mph on non-streamlined bikes now.

For 10 years I road raced a Yamaha XS650/750 that was a very fast "junkyard dog". I still have it. I actually bought it from a farmer for $5 and Larry Forstall was with me and he was embarrassed because I negotiated the farmer's price down from the $15 he was asking. I just read in Motorcyclist that a distillery owner from Missoula Montana dragged one out of a field and set a new Bonneville speed record with it running on waste product from his distillery. You have competition!

I'm doing a frame up restoration of my 1967 Land Rover Series IIA 88" short wheelbase pick up - when its done sometime next year I have to start on my 1966 Land Rover 109" diesel station wagon.

I took my PA driving license test in my "mother's" 1967 LR 88 in 1968. It was blue with a white top and had a 4cyl gasoline engine. First and second had no synchros so you double clutched a lot. My father got the bright idea that we were going to take a family vacation in it camping our way to Alaska and back from PA! He bought the LR new from George Alderman's in New Castle DE who also sold Lotus and Datsun. My poor 100lb mother had to use the thing as her daily transportation.

So after my father bought out every possible device from the local camping store he, my mother, and I set out on a dry run camping test session about 10 miles from our home. My mother was a girly girl but with a strong will. She usually went along with my father but only to a point and the test camping was the trigger. We managed to pitch the tent right on a wildlife path/trail. All night long animals would be cruising along on their local "road" and suddenly they encountered a TENT at which point they would cry out in shocked disbelief! The pheasants and raccoons and possums and deer had my mother jumping out of her skin! The Great Alaska Expedition was cancelled!

That Alaska trip would have taken a really long time since the LR was really slow. My father and I drove it to New Brunswick Canada for a deer hunting trip and that 4cyl was thrashing hard as cars wizzed by on the highway. It redeemed itself though when we drove the last 30 miles into the wilderness in a blizzard.

The abuse I put that 88 through was criminal. I drifted it around corners, did burnouts, and did jumps with it. My father didn't understand why the axle and transfer case broke.

My first mechanic job was at an authorized Rover/Land Rover service center but those stories would wear out my fingers to type.

My '57 E-Code, 3 Speed with OD T-Bird:

This has been in the family since the early seventies when my mum replaced a tired Austin Gypsy. My son has it now and here it is taking my niece to her wedding. It’s dreadful to drive and it frightened her, but the plan is a total rebuild when the ‘34 5 window low boy Coupe is finished.

Ashley -

Your Series 1 looks far too nice to restore! My Series 3 is always just this close to its next failure! Never have I owned a more charismatic but less reliable machine!

Mark

Rover steering was always a weak point, on this one it is dangerously weak, it needs a new carb and the chassis has rust, but it’s family.

My all original '68