Michael,Michael Doyle wrote:Hi Jon,Jon Warshawsky wrote:Did these seats exist? And if so what colors were used?
The original owner of #82191 told the restorer working on my car that it came with beige corduroy inserts in black vinyl Speedster seats. The original material is long gone, and the COA is largely blank.
I have never seen this on an original Speedster, but then again I've only seen one Speedster with its original (tired red vinyl) upholstery in place.
I have asked two 356 veterans who have suggested that it was rare in the U.S. and may have been strictly a GT option.
I suspect that the original owner of the car told you correct information...that the Speedster seats had corduroy inserts in them. Below is from my notes of the Ruetter Book build codes from the mid 50's forward:
704 - Tan Corduroy / CS704 - Cord Samt Tan
I believe the "Cord" insert was a preferred option by many of the private and factory racers in the day using Speedster seats, most likely due to it offering less sliding around in corners.
I've seen Tan and Black Corduroy inserts in the Speedster seats. You may want to consider keeping the original description of the seats to go with restoration of your car. I've included a picture of an original seat below to take a look at. -MD-
THANK YOU, this is exactly what I was looking for.
My car was bought to race in the northeastern U.S., so it makes sense that it would have been configured this way.
Steve Heinrichs has shared the recorded build codes, and while they don't show a '704' for mine it is possible (?) that the seat material might have been swapped either during production or perhaps by the selling dealer.
I certainly don't want to restore the car to a configuration that didn't exist.