My First 356

[Fmartin]

Taking just a moment to intro myself. I have made my way through several 911s over the last several years and finally made way to the 356 fold. I flew from Atlanta this past weekend to look at a '65C that was offered to me from a friend on the 912 registry. I flew to MA on Sunday, got picked up at the airport and proceeded to drive just over 300 miles. By far the longest test drive ever. Woke up Monday morning and did leak down and compression, threw it up on jacks and spent a while crawling all over/under it. It has a 15 year old restoration and is absolutely rust free (spent most of its life in CA)...so I bought it. Now just waiting for Intercity to pick it up and bring it south.







I will be doing a minor outlaw, not making any changes that can't be reversed. I will post periodically as it evolves.

Thanks to my friend Mark Erbesfield for introducing me to this site.

[MMW]

Congrats & welcome. Looks like a nice car. You'll enjoy it.

[Erik H]

Congrats and welcome aboard. Looks like a lovely coupe. I can't tell is it ivory or dolphin gray? I always liked the side spears on C cars. Erik

[JTR70]

Farrell, Thanks for posting and welcome to our forum! Looks like a great car with a nice color combo. Are you in the same area as Mark? Thanks and Welcome once again! Justin

[Craig Richter]

Hi Farrell,
You and your new ride will have a lot of fun on this forum. Sounds like Mark has "infected" you with our "disease", so sit back and enjoy the ride!
Welcome, Craig

[Fmartin]

Thanks guys. I appreciate the warm welcome. Mark and I both live in Metro Atlanta and met a couple of years ago in one of the many Porsche circles running around Atlanta.

Thanks for the compliments on the spears. The car has a stack of records 2 inches thick including the original bill of sale from Bob Smith Porsche in Hollywood, Ca (note the license plate frame). The BOS shows the spears, deluxe horn ring and headrests to be original. Unfortunately, the headrests disappeared.

I have always enjoyed an early Porsche hot rod, so followed that theme with my ex911 and ex 912. So I will go the same route with the 356 by going mild outlaw. Plans include slightly lowering it, factory 6 inch steelies, Sebring exhaust, vintage Nardi wheel, Nerf bars (tweaked so they fit close to the body) and some NOS Marchal fog lights. Then, just logging miles. Can't wait.

[Restomod]

Welcome! Nice ride and a great plan.

[roy mawbey]

Thats a very nice looking 356. And no rust, fantastic. It would be nice to hear later how it compares to your previous 911 cars. Not from the speed point of view thats clear, but from the driving on the road aspects.

Cheers

Roy

[Fmartin]

Thanks Roy. When I flew to MA to look at the car, we proceeded to put over 300 miles on it, so I got a good dose of what it will be like to drive.

I cant compare it to my last 911 - it was a 71E with a twin plug 2.7, PMOs, track suspension and a bunch of other goodies - entirely different ballpark.

When comparing it to my '68 912, I was surprised at how different the motor was. The 912 had the original motor with a big bore kit and webers. It needed to be over 3k RPMs to really do much. The 356, which has a KD stamped 1600S motor in it, has so much usable torque at low RPMS, I was utterly amazed. I think the torque curve on the 356 will make it more enjoyable for running around town. I will say the 912 ran down the highway pretty well at 80mph. The 356 ran down the highway pretty well at 65 - 70, but the sensation was I was going much faster than that.

Being that I was a prospective buyer, I did not test the handling to any great extreme. However, the seller pitched it pretty hard into a couple of offramps on those little 165/80 tires. All I could think of was snap oversteer and my life life flashing before my eyes. But, the little car handled it with great aplomb and kept plugging along. Very taught. The 912 seemed like it needed to set a little in a hard corner before it really bit and inspired confidence. Could have been just how I had it set up, tires, etc.

I also really like the ergonomics of the 356 - very comfortable. Other then 3rd gear, everything you needed was right there in front of you within easy reach. I thoroughly enjoyed driving the car, much more than I expected.

[merbesfield]

Welcome Farrell. Glad to see you posted your new ride over here. You will really love this forum and the friendly nature. I can't wait to see your new ride. I am also excited about the prospect of cruising to N GA someday with some classic 356's.

[roy mawbey]

Thanks Farrell for the comments its more less exactly what I thought you would say. Its interesting you found also the excitement of driving a 356 along say nice country roads for example happens at a lower speed than in the 912 or 911.

I found with the 911 ( actually my brothers car ) I was always driving faster to get get the same driving pleasure as in my 356. In the end I suppose its not how fast you go but well it goes. I remember my 356C always seemed somewhat softer than my 356A.

Interesting the increased weight of the 912 over the 356 meant probably it did hold up a bit until the revs came up. The 911 you had obviously did not have that problem!

I would still really like though a nice early SWB 911 but the prices over here now have gone through the roof. Should have decided on that 10 years ago.

Roy