De gustibus non disputandum est.

[Edwin Ek]

Concerning taste, there must be no dispute. I am buying a relatively rare Meinhart steel top for my Roadster. Car colors are ruby red on black. What color should I paint the hardtop; it's in primer now.

Oh, and does anybody have any information about these things? All I have seen is the ad on Charlie White's website.

[356JAGER]

Edwin,
Don't know any more than you do about them but this thread may be of interest.
http://forum.porsche356registry.org/viewtopic.php?f=1&t=2196
I'd match the Ruby Red myself. Or perhaps a brown to match Fawn upholstery to set it off.
Cheers,
Joel

[bbspdstr]

Ruby and black on a Cabriolet hardtop has been seen in silver and also in black, as would a soft top have been with that combo. Of course, for a few pfennigs more anything was possible at the young Porsche KG company!

There are pictures in certain books (I forget which at the moment, maybe Excellence) that illustrate a few of the typical combinations and I'd guess that a Roadster top, in that time frame, would follow such gustibus.

I just restored an original option hardtop for a Bali blue late Cabriolet and the CofA called for the same blue on that. It also had the fawn interior and was a great combo.

I also have done a black 356 Cab and the CofA said it's optional hardtop was silver....it has a red interior and it's stunning (and for sale due to unique problems for the owner....see www.59Cab.com, the CofA is on there.)

I will leave this thread with a glib comment that I use with every Hardtop fan of one on a Speedster, Roadster or Cabriolet; "if you are going to the trouble of adding a hardtop to an open 356, why not save money and get a Coupe?"

-Bruce

[Bill Sampson]

A few pfennigs more indeed. The factory applied custom color on our coupe (yes, we saved money there, or at least the original owner did) Dunkel Blau cost that original owner the princely sum of an extra $75. It is close but not a match for Bali Blue. We had to get a cheap older Boxster (blue naturally) to afford a convertible.

On the coupe red was left for the now very tired interior. When we win the lotto first we'll purchase the Moore compound at Limahuli and then re-do the interior.

[Edwin Ek]

Bruce, that link for the A cab doesn't work, at least for me.

The benefit of a removable metal hardtop on an open car is that it can be removed. But you knew that.

I am now thinking Bali blue or Oslo blue (I am half Norwegian so just the name of the color gets me.)

This is getting kind of exciting for me. I am working on getting my car back on the road after 21 years of storage. Just this month my mechanic finally started on the engine rebuild after two years of waiting.

[bbspdstr]

Bruce, that link for the A cab doesn't work, at least for me.

I'm sorry for the change not being noted....I typed that into my search engine and the real site address seems to be: http://www.1959-356a-cabriolet.com/

I guess it's still for sale, although I'm told it surpassed $240k on eBay.

When I got it, the hardtop was on the car and painted on the car in the '60s. It was a common re-paint color back then, found on many cars including 356s...now I refer to it as "Sixties Silver Blue."

This Cab was originally black. I had a Convertible D come in with the same silver blue, but was originally Elfenbein, last re-painted in the '60s. I'm sure there have been more, but I'm a product of the '60s and can't remember much of that era.....

-Balinese Bruce, forever believing that 356 tops should go down (or up, if one stabs the brakes at the appropriate time), with one hand, while moving.