This is my little brown Porsche. It is a 1965 356 SC sunroof coupe. Here is the brief story on the cars history, and my plans for the cars future.

 

We bought the car from a man in the Washington DC area that had owned the car since 1972. Larry was a bit eccentric, but he loved his Porsche. More details on that coming in a future blog.

At the time I was working at a Porsche repair shop in Gaithersburg, Maryland so the logical thing was to take it there and revive the car mechanically, it had been sitting for a few years due to an issue with the petcock.

I worked with Matthew De Maria of Stuttgart Performance Engineering to free up the break calipers, replace the rear axle boots, put a correct petcock on the car, and do a few other things to make the car a little more road worthy.

The car came from the factory finished in ruby red with black leather and was cosmetically restored to this champagne brown paint with ivory leather in the 80s by Stoddard. More on that in a future story. The car retains the factory gauges, steering wheel, clock, period correct radio, and the electric sunroof.

Here are some neat vintage car club medallions which I fitted to the dealer installed bumper guards.

The leather is supple, and the interior retains a factory look. The previous owner had always kept sheepskin covers on the seats.

Under the front bonnet sits the factory date coded 1965 spare wheel, and the leather strap has been swapped for a canvas belt. Notice that the factory plastic cover is still present, an item which can often be separated from the cars or broken.

After I got the car back on the road, I drove it around quite a bit to our local Cars and Coffee, and on weekend drives.

Here is the car at the 36th annual Deutsche Marque Concours d’ Elegance in Vienna, Virginia. This annual event is put on by the Potomac Region of the Porsche Club of America, the National Capital Chapter of the BMW Car Club of America, and the Greater Washington Section of the Mercedes-Benz Club of America.

The car has performed fairly well but the dual Weber carbs are worn and cannot be tuned properly as such, so they will need to be rebuilt. Tim Berardelli, who is a 356 marque expert took a look at the motor an discovered corrosion on the valve springs, meaning there is moisture in the motor.

My plan for the car is to perform a mechanical restoration while I attend the McPherson College of Automotive Restoration. The rebuilding of the motor and the freshening of the brakes and suspension will be documented in a multi part series on this blog and in YouTube videos.

Here are some of the Porsche 911s and Porsche  race cars featured at the 2019 PCA Parade Concours. This is a Viper Green GT2RS Weissach Package, brought by Champion Porsche. One detail which I find interesting is the red Alcantara headliner and other interior bits finished in the same material, which makes for a neat spec. Behind it is the new 992 Carrera4S, finished in GT Silver.

This is a neat IROC RSR look build, with what seemed to be a 3.6 litre Varioram motor.

The proportions on this car looked great, and I’m a big fan of the look of the smaller diameter, more period correct looking wheel, rather than a 17 inch wheel in favor of modern rubber. This car looks great finished in blue.

This Euro 930 Turbo is a triple white time capsule from my local region, and has is in really remarkable shape inside and out.

The dash and steering wheel are the original white leather, which I have never seen on one of these and I assume to be ordered through the Special Wishes Program.

You can tell it is a euro or “grey market” car based on the amber side markers, the smaller rear bumper guards, and the rear fog light.

Here is a Kremer built 930 cabriolet, which looks pretty menacing with the larger rear deck lid which I figure is used to hold a larger Intercooler.

The car is sitting on BBS Basketweave wheels which complete the 80s look.

This is a Brumos Racing 917/10, powered by a twin turbocharged flat 12 producing 950 hp.

Here is a Brumos 935. The Porsche 935 is one of the most successful Porsche race cars built. The fan wheels on the front of this particular car are really neat and functional, which aid in cooling the brakes.

This is the iconic T-Bird Swap Shop 935, formerly owned by 935  aficionado, Van Zannis.

A few things which really make this car stand out for me is the great mix of colors and the body work on this particular car, especially the front fenders which have a neat looking ridge, which helps the front end straight at high speeds on straightaways.

This 935 was raced at the Nurburgring and the Le Mans 24 hour race. It was most recently restored by Gunnar Racing, and driven at this past years Rennsport Reunion by Rod Emory.

This Löwenbräu 962 was driven to victory in 5 IMSA gt races at the hands of Al Holbert and and Derek Bell, being in the presence of this car was like a religious experience as a fan of Al Holbert and Holbert Porsche+Audi.

The 962 was sat center stage in the historic Porsche racing car room.

Here is an East African Safari driven long hood 911. Note the white wall tyres, hood and fender mounted rally lights, and spare wheel wrapped in a snow chain.

Here is the new 991.2 speedster! This is one of 1,948 produced and they are all sold. It features the naturally aspirated 4.0 litre flat six and 6 speed manual transmission from the 991.2 gt3.

Speaking of rare 911s, here is a 964 turbo 3.6 flatchbau  one of just 76 ordered with the x88 package.

This is Porsche’s newest track only car, the GT2RS ClubSport, based on the 991 GT2RS, but with an even more stripped out interior, full racing cage, and Porsche Motorsports suspension and drivetrain.

It features an even larger wing and less restrictive exhaust than the street car. Many of the body panels come from the factory finished in raw carbon fiber.

This 73 Carrera RS looked stunning in the Florida sun just after winning an award in its class. Note the horn grill mounted driving lights.

This car received a full restoration by Gunnar Racing and was a highlight of the concours.

I took a look at this 928 at the owners home to buy the car or sell it on consignment, but decided to pass on the car based on the unoriginality and mechanical issues which rendered the car non-roadworthy. The car was originally black with black leather, bought new by a semi-professional basketball player.

In in an interesting turn of events, the car was trucked to the Porsche shop which I work at, T.A.G. Motor Werks. The owner wanted us to diagnose the mechanical issues.

The car was repainted yellow when new, but still retains the rear spoiler, which was only available for the European S model in 1979, but could have been ordered directly from Porsche or through the U.S. dealers.

The interior features Recaro style front seats finished in black cloth, and an aftermarket Momo steering wheel …..with yellow highlights!

The top of the motor looks tidy at first glance, but with a closer inspection you can see that a few of the ignition wires have cuts in them. The “strut bar” going across the motor is finished in chrome rather than the factory black.

The finish of the yellow color change shows fairly well, although there are many chips and cracks, as well as some bubbling in the bottoms of the doors.

This 928 is sitting on period correct aftermarket HRE wheels. I prefer the factory phone dials, but these go well with the 80’s custom style of this particular car. It has aftermarket window tint applied to the rear glass.

Upon our inspection of the car, we found the power steering pump is not functioning, the oil pan has a crack in it which has been filled in with epoxy of some kind, and the transmission is leaking from its seals and hoses. The exhaust system is rusted away and has been welded over many times. The timing belt has a huge amount of deflection in it, and the car has leaky front engine seals.

This 928 needs a lot of TLC, but someone will end up with a great driver, or Radwood style cruiser.  If you have an interest, shoot me an email at CameronSLuther@gmail.com and I will put you in touch.

This week I attended the PCA Porsche Parade Concours in Boca Raton, Florida, and saw some pretty neat 356s there.

This super 90 roadster looked stunning finished in what looked to be Aetna Blue, and I’m a definitely a fan of those stone guards on the headlights, which give it a sporty look.

The interior of this car was interesting as well, with a Les Leston wheel which looks great along with black piping, which I’ve never seen in a Porsche of this era.

This  convertible D  is finished in Meissen blue with tan  vinyl, and the quality of this restoration was shown greatly in the Florida sun.

The judges of the Concours are very diligent looking the whole car over. Note the dark blue convertible top, which I feel completes the car.

Next to the convertible D there was a 64 Sc coupe, a car which I studied carefully. The cleanliness and quality of this restoration gives me some inspiration of some things to do when I rebuild the motor on the 65 SC coupe.

The rear script on our 1965 Porsche 356SC coupe.