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Miss April, my 1965 356C coupe is now Sold! We are retiring and moving and she can't come along, so now this amazing car is sold- payment pending.
Please read the information below and follow the links for further details. There is so much on this website and the links provide full details of the restoration of the car.
EnginesInBack
Miss April, my 1965 356C coupe is now Sold! We are retiring and moving and she can't come along, so now this amazing car is sold- payment pending.
Please read the information below and follow the links for further details. There is so much on this website and the links provide full details of the restoration of the car.
Let's begin with the basics on Miss April....
Exterior (yes this is a link)
The exterior of the car is gorgeous. The EXTERIOR page has many photos of the finished work, but several Blog posts show how I got it there. It was alot of hours and cost. The Restoration-Blog Section is broken down by month/year on the right side. Check them for details as I went through the car.
Most cars getting a restoration buy new reproduction deco trim- Not on Miss April. Deco efforts are shown here. Final results on the deco are shown here.
Little details are important too. On the exterior of the car, Miss April is fitted with a correct Bosch Blue Tip antenna, with correct mounting base. Not a reproduction one either. Also check out the restoration of the vent box back to original. Two more posts on this here & here.
Hub caps on the car host correct, NOS PORSCHE crests. The reproduction crests available today are good, but these, well they are PERFECT! Also notice in the photo of the hub cap the valve stem holders and the extremely rare valve stem caps that show made in Germany. (The photos of these are at the bottom of the page in the link)
Tires are new Michelin tires, mounted on freshly re-chromed wheels.
Speaking of chrome, it was freshly restored/re-chromed including seat hinges, glass frames, latches, handles, etc. To find it all you'd need to search through the different months of the Restoration Blog, but here are links to some of the chrome work.
I bought Miss April out of the Arizona desert. She had started life in California and then moved with the previous owner. She was dry, non-rusty, which is why I bought her and had the car shipped to me. I'll cover the important (and dry) floors and battery box further down. For now, the subject is paint. Here is the painting saga. I am willing to bet you cannot find another 356 for sale that was wet sanded down to 7000 grit paper. It really makes for a smooth finish!!!!!!!! In the Restoration-Blog Section of this website the entries are by month on the right side of the screen. 2017 and the early months of 2018 have a lot of detail about painting so be sure to check out the photos during each month! It was a HUGE effort!
Interior of Miss April (yes, this is a link)
I did all of the new interior installation, and it was very hard work. Overall photos are in the link above, but there are detailed Restoration-Blog posts about the interior that are very relevant.
Here is little known info on original clothes hooks I restored.
Here's the work on replacing the headliner.
This interior has uber rare TEKA 3-point seatbelts. TEKA was the OEM to PORSCHE during late 356 production, and there are sometimes sets of two point seatbelts out there, but 3-point is soooo rare. I cleaned the webbing, polished the hooks that attach to the body and sent the (clasps) buckles out for re-chrome. Link on these wonderful seatbelts is here.
The wood steering wheel is a REAL Carrera 2 VDM wood steering wheel. There are plenty of very nice reproduction wood wheels out there, but this one is REAL. I restored it myself and detailed it's restoration in several Blog posts. Oh, and the horn button, it is also an original, not reproduction. I also personally restored the gauges in the dash. Here are some of those details and photos.
Gauge beautification
Completing the gauges
Blaupunkt V-Series Radio V-Series is correct for '64 & '65 cars. This radio works! Dial face and bezel are fantastic. Instructions with original yellow packet included. And..... this is 1 of only 2 356's I know of that has original, yes original, not reproduction speaker cloth over the speaker grills. Unbelievably rare and looks fantastic!!! See Uber rare.
As shown on the Interior page, the dash plate was re-chromed
I personally re-flocked the glovebox. More glovebox info here and some more here.
All lights, wipers and turn signals work OF COURSE!
I replaced the ashtray with an NOS/perfect one.
Restored the shift lock
The luggage straps for the back seat area are also incredibly rare and original. See the story on these here.
When installing all the windows, doors, and misc seals on lights etc., I bought from both Stoddard and International Merchantile. An effort was made to install the best seals possible. I used NOS correct rubber bumpers for the engine lid.
Engine (yes this is a link)
In the Engine Section you can see photos of the engine. It is in amazing condition, restored as original, and running fantastic. This engine was rebuilt by the famous Lukes and Shoreman, perhaps the best engine builders ever. I have a huge stack of receipts that will accompany the sale, and one of them is for the engine rebuild. Mileage at rebuild was 171,482 mileage as of this writing today is 176,393. The Lukes and Shoreman receipts total $10,856.
I did restore the carburetors, distributor and fuel pump, as it had been a while since last maintenance. Carbs have the correct float levels, accelerator pump volume, and are in sync with each other. Idle is rock steady at 900 RPM. Acceleration through all the gears is fantastic. Please do check out the above link to the repair(s) on the fuel pump. Gives you an idea of how detailed the repair work I have done is.
Here is a small detail- Check out these correct spark plug wire boots I used
Here is some information on the fuel lines- as original.
Installed New battery disguised as original (not a covering).
Transmission is smooth as butter and filled with fresh Swepco oil.
Be sure to check the Driving Video Page
The underside of the car boasts original floors and battery box. Still solid! The battery box did need one repair, the battery bracket that holds the battery to the floor needed to be replaced. This was done with the correct part and welded to the original floor. See photos here and here.
Wheel wells are also great.
Originality is important to me, so when replacing the steering coupler, which no one can see, here is how I handled it.
The original steering damper and shocks were Boge. Koni was an option but not shown on the Kardex for Miss April. After a long search for working NOS Boge shocks, here is the result.
Here is the work on the sway bar.
Under the hood-
The hood had been slightly bent at the hinges from someone starting to close the hood without first lifting it. I have to state that the hood is now PERFECTLY repaired. See the Repaired hood on this link. It is impossible to find where it was bent at the hinge and the hood fitment is PERFECT. Closes and opens better than any 356 I have worked on.
I restored the gas tank and fuel selector. See: Getting Tanked and Flame On
Here is the ORIGINAL spare tire strap
Here is a link to the under the hood post
Information on the hood & deck lid latches
Tool kit (yes this is a link)
Simply stated, the tool kit is awesome!
Originality +++
How original is Miss April? That will require a long answer, but let's start with manufacturing date codes.
Exterior (yes this is a link)
The exterior of the car is gorgeous. The EXTERIOR page has many photos of the finished work, but several Blog posts show how I got it there. It was alot of hours and cost. The Restoration-Blog Section is broken down by month/year on the right side. Check them for details as I went through the car.
- I restored the horns myself. They sound great. Horn restoration
- Headlight restoration links:
- let's restore something
- Headlights: NOS Friday 6/7/19
- Headlights: Headlights restoration continued
- More headlights: Headlight restoration done
Most cars getting a restoration buy new reproduction deco trim- Not on Miss April. Deco efforts are shown here. Final results on the deco are shown here.
Little details are important too. On the exterior of the car, Miss April is fitted with a correct Bosch Blue Tip antenna, with correct mounting base. Not a reproduction one either. Also check out the restoration of the vent box back to original. Two more posts on this here & here.
Hub caps on the car host correct, NOS PORSCHE crests. The reproduction crests available today are good, but these, well they are PERFECT! Also notice in the photo of the hub cap the valve stem holders and the extremely rare valve stem caps that show made in Germany. (The photos of these are at the bottom of the page in the link)
Tires are new Michelin tires, mounted on freshly re-chromed wheels.
Speaking of chrome, it was freshly restored/re-chromed including seat hinges, glass frames, latches, handles, etc. To find it all you'd need to search through the different months of the Restoration Blog, but here are links to some of the chrome work.
- First Batch of chrome
- More chrome
- Chrome again
- Phase 2 Chrome
- Here is the seat hinge rebuilding and door handle work
- Door handles were removed, locks removed from the handles, everything chromed and re-assembled.
- Basically all the chrome was done except for the Lietz luggage rack which is near perfect and still original chrome. Note that the rack also has original, not reproduction leather straps, both for skis and also an original set for luggage.
- I installed an NOS perfect and correct HUF front hood handle with crest. More on hood handle here.
- Bumper guards were replaced. See this post.
I bought Miss April out of the Arizona desert. She had started life in California and then moved with the previous owner. She was dry, non-rusty, which is why I bought her and had the car shipped to me. I'll cover the important (and dry) floors and battery box further down. For now, the subject is paint. Here is the painting saga. I am willing to bet you cannot find another 356 for sale that was wet sanded down to 7000 grit paper. It really makes for a smooth finish!!!!!!!! In the Restoration-Blog Section of this website the entries are by month on the right side of the screen. 2017 and the early months of 2018 have a lot of detail about painting so be sure to check out the photos during each month! It was a HUGE effort!
Interior of Miss April (yes, this is a link)
I did all of the new interior installation, and it was very hard work. Overall photos are in the link above, but there are detailed Restoration-Blog posts about the interior that are very relevant.
Here is little known info on original clothes hooks I restored.
Here's the work on replacing the headliner.
This interior has uber rare TEKA 3-point seatbelts. TEKA was the OEM to PORSCHE during late 356 production, and there are sometimes sets of two point seatbelts out there, but 3-point is soooo rare. I cleaned the webbing, polished the hooks that attach to the body and sent the (clasps) buckles out for re-chrome. Link on these wonderful seatbelts is here.
The wood steering wheel is a REAL Carrera 2 VDM wood steering wheel. There are plenty of very nice reproduction wood wheels out there, but this one is REAL. I restored it myself and detailed it's restoration in several Blog posts. Oh, and the horn button, it is also an original, not reproduction. I also personally restored the gauges in the dash. Here are some of those details and photos.
Gauge beautification
Completing the gauges
Blaupunkt V-Series Radio V-Series is correct for '64 & '65 cars. This radio works! Dial face and bezel are fantastic. Instructions with original yellow packet included. And..... this is 1 of only 2 356's I know of that has original, yes original, not reproduction speaker cloth over the speaker grills. Unbelievably rare and looks fantastic!!! See Uber rare.
As shown on the Interior page, the dash plate was re-chromed
I personally re-flocked the glovebox. More glovebox info here and some more here.
All lights, wipers and turn signals work OF COURSE!
I replaced the ashtray with an NOS/perfect one.
Restored the shift lock
The luggage straps for the back seat area are also incredibly rare and original. See the story on these here.
When installing all the windows, doors, and misc seals on lights etc., I bought from both Stoddard and International Merchantile. An effort was made to install the best seals possible. I used NOS correct rubber bumpers for the engine lid.
Engine (yes this is a link)
In the Engine Section you can see photos of the engine. It is in amazing condition, restored as original, and running fantastic. This engine was rebuilt by the famous Lukes and Shoreman, perhaps the best engine builders ever. I have a huge stack of receipts that will accompany the sale, and one of them is for the engine rebuild. Mileage at rebuild was 171,482 mileage as of this writing today is 176,393. The Lukes and Shoreman receipts total $10,856.
I did restore the carburetors, distributor and fuel pump, as it had been a while since last maintenance. Carbs have the correct float levels, accelerator pump volume, and are in sync with each other. Idle is rock steady at 900 RPM. Acceleration through all the gears is fantastic. Please do check out the above link to the repair(s) on the fuel pump. Gives you an idea of how detailed the repair work I have done is.
Here is a small detail- Check out these correct spark plug wire boots I used
Here is some information on the fuel lines- as original.
Installed New battery disguised as original (not a covering).
Transmission is smooth as butter and filled with fresh Swepco oil.
Be sure to check the Driving Video Page
The underside of the car boasts original floors and battery box. Still solid! The battery box did need one repair, the battery bracket that holds the battery to the floor needed to be replaced. This was done with the correct part and welded to the original floor. See photos here and here.
Wheel wells are also great.
Originality is important to me, so when replacing the steering coupler, which no one can see, here is how I handled it.
The original steering damper and shocks were Boge. Koni was an option but not shown on the Kardex for Miss April. After a long search for working NOS Boge shocks, here is the result.
Here is the work on the sway bar.
Under the hood-
The hood had been slightly bent at the hinges from someone starting to close the hood without first lifting it. I have to state that the hood is now PERFECTLY repaired. See the Repaired hood on this link. It is impossible to find where it was bent at the hinge and the hood fitment is PERFECT. Closes and opens better than any 356 I have worked on.
I restored the gas tank and fuel selector. See: Getting Tanked and Flame On
Here is the ORIGINAL spare tire strap
Here is a link to the under the hood post
Information on the hood & deck lid latches
Tool kit (yes this is a link)
Simply stated, the tool kit is awesome!
Originality +++
How original is Miss April? That will require a long answer, but let's start with manufacturing date codes.
- Here is a link to the manufacturing date codes found on Miss April.
- After following the link above, scan down to the list of date codes. You will also find photos of each date code to show them to you. It is very very rare to have so many factory correct parts with date codes matching like this!