Linda's 1960 Roadster, #87954

Share progress on your 356 related project or full restoration with others!
Post Reply
Message
Author
User avatar
Carl Zapffe
356 Fan
Posts: 1567
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:08 pm
Tag: Flying down country roads in Door County
Location: Ellison Bay, Wisconsin
Contact:

Linda's 1960 Roadster, #87954

#1 Post by Carl Zapffe »

August 13, 2009
Updated March 14, 2010

The following is an ode to a beautiful example of automotive excellence. Many pictures of the restoration will follow, but first here is the story about the 1960 T-5 Drauz Roadster, VIN #87954.

I have decided to title this post, "Linda's 1960 Roadster," in honor of the woman who fell in love with this car 34 years ago. Furthermore, this post will not be about me, but about this very special car. I am just the lucky guy who will be taking her on the road again and giving her the very best of care and attention after so many years in storage. I hasten to add here that Linda is not my wife, since Sandy, my wife of 40 years, performs that task admirably. I will also add that Sandy is due considerable credit since it is because of her encouragement to "go for it" that I have decided to adopt this Roadster. It is always wonderful to have a spouse who is supportive of our passions, especially expensive ones like fulfilling my long time love affair with Porsche 356s.

No, the Linda in my story is in fact the now deceased wife of Harvey L. Smith, and it might be fairly stated that it is because of her that I now own this car. The story is a long one, and it starts in Wisconsin back in 1975. Coincidentally, this Roadster is now will back in Wisconsin at my home in Door County after a 34 year long trip around the country.

As we all know, life sometimes amounts to a series of small coincidences that can have a very serendipitous result, and, happily for me, this is one of them. 

I wish that I had the early history of this Roadster, but nothing is known about this car before 1975. The owner of record then was a David R. Koehn of Milwaukee. Tom Spiegel, head of the Wisconsin 356 Club, has been active in Porsche circles for 46 years, and he cannot recall hearing about this person or ever having met him. Web searches in the Milwaukee area have turned up nothing of relevance. There is a David R. Koehn out in California, but he is not the same person.

Koehn did not sell his Roadster himself, but instead he hired Mark Eskuche of Ecurie Engineering to handle the sale for him. As many of you know, Mark is prominent in racing circles, and he still has his racing business located in Mequon, Wisconsin. I have talked with Mark, but he does not remember having sold this Roadster, nor does he know anything about Mr. Koehn. Sadly, he has destroyed all of his early paper records after the introduction of computerized records. Any information about this car before 1975 has apparently been lost forever.

Anyway, Mark advertised this Roadster for sale in Panorama Magazine, which is where Linda spotted it. One of its main attractions was the fact that this Roadster came with Rudge wheels (which are no longer with the car). She told her husband that this was to be the car for her, so he flew east to Milwaukee and bought it from Eskuche.

A few of you have emailed me privately to tell me what a wonderful person Linda Smith was. One Registry member told me that she loved 356s more than her husband, who was one of the premier body restorers out west, first in Arizona and then in California. Both Harvey and Linda were also "extremely involved in the PCA scene as concours judges and participants." Another Registry member told me that "Harvey is a really fine person and, if Linda liked you, she would do anything for you. Harvey's knowledge of 356s is encyclopedic."

If any of you reading this thread want to fill in the blanks for me with anecdotes about the Smiths, then please be assured that I would love to hear them. I can always edit this post.

Harvey is now happy and living in retirement near Seattle, Washington. He has completely "dropped out of the 356 scene." I called him recently and he was most cordial in sharing his experiences with me. He does not remember the exact year that he bought this Roadster for Linda. The car was advertised for sale in the fall and Harvey told me that he flew out the week before Thanksgiving to pick it up and drive it back home to Arizona.

On the way home the S-90 engine blew up and started leaking copious amounts of oil, so Harvey had to stop at practically every other gas station to add oil to the engine. He remarked that winter came early that year, and he froze driving this car across the Rocky Mountains at those high elevations. After limping home, an examination of the engine showed that it could not be repaired. At some point later, Lukes and Shorman came to Harvey and worked out a deal with him where he did some body work for them in trade for a completely rebuilt 1962 T-6 S-90 engine. This is the engine that now comes with this car.

There are people who love 356s and people who both love 356s and 
collect 356s. I am a one car man who loves 356s, and one 356 will always be enough for me if I am lucky enough to have the car that I love. And this happens to be the car that I love. I don't want to have to make a choice when I walk into my garage on a warm, sunny day. Conversely, many of you own multiple sports cars. There have been numerous discussions on 356 Talk about restoration projects that have gone on forever, or about Registry members who have collected numerous "project" 356s that are waiting to be restored so that they, too, can have their moment in the sun. 

My understanding is that Harvey belonged to the group who collect 356s. Many of you will understand this mindset. He apparently always had a restoration project that came before this Roadster. Maybe work came before pleasure, but the sad fact is that Harvey never got around to restoring completely this poor Roadster other than some minor rust and pan replacement work. He wrote that this car sat around for more than 12 years because he had been restoring a Speedster.

Fortunately, thanks to Dave Worm of "Dave's Workstadt," some of the details have been filled in due to his discovery of two articles that Harvey Smith wrote for Excellence Magazine in August and October of 1989 titled, "Rust Solutions and Pan Replacement in 356 Cars." Here he references doing work on what will become my car twenty years later.

http://356registry.com/forum/viewtopic.php?t=18492

Linda ended up passing away in 2005 without ever having had the pleasure of driving her dream car. My only consolation is that I am sure that she had many other 356s to drive. Linda's passing meant the end of Harvey's interest in the 356 business. He retired and began to dispose of his collection of cars, parts, and memorabilia with the help of his many friends and coworkers.

On July 18th, 2007, Harvey sold the car to Ibrahim Kuzu by signing the David R. Koehn title over to him. Harvey never even changed the title on the car. There was no point, really, since it was never taken out on the road, and thus there was no necessity to license the car and pay the sales taxes due.

Ibrahim planned on fixing this Roadster up for his personal use and adding it to his extensive collection of 356s, but reconsidered when another desirable business opportunity came along. Aware of my seemingly never-ending search for a C Cabriolet and then a Roadster from my WTB ads on 356 Classifieds, he contacted me and the rest is history, or pictures, as you shall see. On May 5th of 2009 we reached an agreement on everything having to do with the sale of Roadster #87954 with all of the minor details to be worked out shortly thereafter. While I will always have a soft spot in my heart for my C coupe, owning this Roadster represents the culmination of a long-held dream of mine.

After 34 years spent sitting in garages, my Fräulein Zuffie was once again out on the road and flying along the highways and byways of the Midwest. I was finally able to do this on September 19th and 20th in honor of the 100th anniversary of Ferry Porsche's birth.

Linda, this post is dedicated to you and the 356 Roadster that you fell in love with those many years ago. I hope that you're watching as I bring your dream back to life, and I also hope that I will bring a smile to your face if you should happen to look down on a warm, sunny day and see me driving down the highways of Door County, Wisconsin with the top down and the wind racing past my sun burnt head.
Last edited by Carl Zapffe on Sun Mar 14, 2010 2:13 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Carl Zapffe
87954
Fräulein Zuffie


User avatar
Carl Zapffe
356 Fan
Posts: 1567
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:08 pm
Tag: Flying down country roads in Door County
Location: Ellison Bay, Wisconsin
Contact:

#2 Post by Carl Zapffe »

The COA for this Roadster:


Image
Carl Zapffe
87954
Fräulein Zuffie


User avatar
Carl Zapffe
356 Fan
Posts: 1567
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:08 pm
Tag: Flying down country roads in Door County
Location: Ellison Bay, Wisconsin
Contact:

#3 Post by Carl Zapffe »

Here are pictures of the Roadster as it arrived at Ibrahim Kuzu's home in Texas.


Image


Image



Image
Carl Zapffe
87954
Fräulein Zuffie


User avatar
Carl Zapffe
356 Fan
Posts: 1567
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:08 pm
Tag: Flying down country roads in Door County
Location: Ellison Bay, Wisconsin
Contact:

#4 Post by Carl Zapffe »

The 1962 T-6 S-90 engine that Lukes and Shorman rebuilt for Harvey Smith:


Image
Carl Zapffe
87954
Fräulein Zuffie


User avatar
Carl Zapffe
356 Fan
Posts: 1567
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:08 pm
Tag: Flying down country roads in Door County
Location: Ellison Bay, Wisconsin
Contact:

#5 Post by Carl Zapffe »

Miscellaneous shots:

Image

Image

Image

Image
Last edited by Carl Zapffe on Thu Aug 13, 2009 12:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Carl Zapffe
87954
Fräulein Zuffie


User avatar
Carl Zapffe
356 Fan
Posts: 1567
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:08 pm
Tag: Flying down country roads in Door County
Location: Ellison Bay, Wisconsin
Contact:

#6 Post by Carl Zapffe »

Trunk shots:

Image

Image

Image

Image
Carl Zapffe
87954
Fräulein Zuffie


User avatar
Carl Zapffe
356 Fan
Posts: 1567
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:08 pm
Tag: Flying down country roads in Door County
Location: Ellison Bay, Wisconsin
Contact:

#7 Post by Carl Zapffe »

The undercarriage:

Image
Carl Zapffe
87954
Fräulein Zuffie


User avatar
Carl Zapffe
356 Fan
Posts: 1567
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:08 pm
Tag: Flying down country roads in Door County
Location: Ellison Bay, Wisconsin
Contact:

#8 Post by Carl Zapffe »

Now off to Absolute Body and Paint in Eagle, Nebraska, some 16 miles from the state capitol of Lincoln, where master restorer Terry Worick starts to work his magic on the car. First, the undercoating. Note the tail of the family dog in the first picture!

Image

Image

Image

Image

Image
Carl Zapffe
87954
Fräulein Zuffie


User avatar
Mark Pribanic
356 Fan
Posts: 2416
Joined: Sun Mar 09, 2008 9:11 pm
Tag: Drive 'Em!
Location: Neptune Beach, Florida USA
Contact:

#9 Post by Mark Pribanic »

Carl,

Nice write up. I look forward to seeing your updates and getting Linda's Roadster back on the road by 9.20.09
Mark Pribanic
Registry# 13617
Florida Owners Group Trustee - 2008-2010
Neptune Beach, Florida USA
Instagram: Mark.Pribanic

User avatar
Carl Zapffe
356 Fan
Posts: 1567
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:08 pm
Tag: Flying down country roads in Door County
Location: Ellison Bay, Wisconsin
Contact:

#10 Post by Carl Zapffe »

Ibrahim first came to Lincoln, Nebraska to help his brother run a chain of restaurants. He remained there for a number of years before selling the businesses and moving to Texas. It was in Lincoln that he first met Terry Worick of absolute Body and Paint and started their working relationship.

Terry is a young man who has been restoring cars for a long time at a shop in Lincoln before striking out on his own in his own place in Eagle, Nebraska. The building is off Holdrege Street behind his home out in the hilly farm country of Nebraska with a landscape nursery fronting the highway. The setting is lovely and quite bucolic.

The company web site is here:

http://www.absolutebodyandpaint.com/

Here is a pic of Fraülein Zuffie receiving here period and COA correct Ivory 6004 paint. Terry does his own painting as the paint building is on site in his restoration shop.

Image
Carl Zapffe
87954
Fräulein Zuffie


User avatar
Carl Zapffe
356 Fan
Posts: 1567
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:08 pm
Tag: Flying down country roads in Door County
Location: Ellison Bay, Wisconsin
Contact:

#11 Post by Carl Zapffe »

The end result. She's starting to look like new, isn't she!

Image

Image

Image
Carl Zapffe
87954
Fräulein Zuffie


User avatar
Carl Zapffe
356 Fan
Posts: 1567
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:08 pm
Tag: Flying down country roads in Door County
Location: Ellison Bay, Wisconsin
Contact:

#12 Post by Carl Zapffe »

This post will show a change in plans. The COA correct color for the interior of this Roadster is Red Leatherette. However, I vastly prefer a tan interior in almost any car, so I had Terry switch out the red interior for a Cashmere leather interior which Ibrahim ordered from California.

Image

Image

Image

Image
Carl Zapffe
87954
Fräulein Zuffie


User avatar
Carl Zapffe
356 Fan
Posts: 1567
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:08 pm
Tag: Flying down country roads in Door County
Location: Ellison Bay, Wisconsin
Contact:

#13 Post by Carl Zapffe »

Rear brake backing plates before and after.

Image

Image
Carl Zapffe
87954
Fräulein Zuffie


User avatar
Carl Zapffe
356 Fan
Posts: 1567
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:08 pm
Tag: Flying down country roads in Door County
Location: Ellison Bay, Wisconsin
Contact:

#14 Post by Carl Zapffe »

Steering gear and chrome parts for the windows and seats.

Image

Image
Carl Zapffe
87954
Fräulein Zuffie


User avatar
Carl Zapffe
356 Fan
Posts: 1567
Joined: Fri Sep 12, 2008 10:08 pm
Tag: Flying down country roads in Door County
Location: Ellison Bay, Wisconsin
Contact:

#15 Post by Carl Zapffe »

My new Optima battery:

Image
Carl Zapffe
87954
Fräulein Zuffie


Post Reply