New member from Melbourne Australia

[The Gooboy]

Hi All,
Been into 356's for about 10 years when a mate wanted help building an outlaw, after being into VW's for a while, I took a liking to the 356 and bought a couple, my way of thinking is to drive something out of the ordinary and I build with a no limit in mind.





I'm currently building a 53 Pre A and have gone down the restoration route with this one, it was my first outlaw I built and enjoyed driving it for 5 years but the time has come to put it back as original as possible, still has the split case gearbox, I'm rebuilding a 1500 2 piece for it, painted it Maroon , 16" wheels.

My other car is a 57 Outlaw, 2.4 motor ,4 wheel disc's, air bagged, custom interior, and black in color, stock body lines with the exception of horn grills filled. 5 year build as it was a very rusty car to start with but I got there.

The Green car in photo 4 I helped build which got me into them, I did all the bodywork and no i'm not a panel beater just a hobbyist.

[jstenner]

Sweet cars. Look forward to seeing pics of your '53. Welcome!

[The Gooboy]

Cheers, will post some photos soon

[roy mawbey]

You have done some nice work there, good to have join up!!!

Roy

[JTR70]

Hi Andrew,
Thank you for joining us and Welcome! I am very familiar with your friends green coupe and your black '57. As a matter of fact a photo of it in the hotrod thread was recently posted and created a bit of a stir! Love the stance, 17 inch Fuchs and the attitude of the car, you guys do some really nice work over there! We would all be very interested in seeing build updates of (both past a current)your projects that you might be willing to share. Jack Staggs and Bruce Baker are our only resident 356 professionals here so far; the rest of us like yourself are just hobbyists with a passion for these old cars. Oh, then there is Jason Bobruk down in your neck of the woods, know him?
Thanks and Welcome once again! Justin

BTW: don't forget to hit the "insert" button on each of your photo attachments so they will display. Place the curser where you want them to show up and hit insert on it. You can see how I added them in after the fact on your original post.

[The Gooboy]

Thanks Justin, will post some photo's of my 53 build as it progresses, finding time at the moment is hard , just getting all my parts together for it, I'm lucky to have a couple of part sources which are helping me out.
cheers,
Andy

[The Gooboy]

Cheers Roy

[Rad-Ride]

Nice rides!! and welcome!

[The Gooboy]

Cheers Rad Rides

[Trevor]

Like the others said, welcome. I appreciate you sharing the pics of your cars and the cars you've worked on. I'm surprised you didn't fill the the bumper holes on your 57. Is it a law that you have to use bumpers to get your car road legal/licensed in Australia?

[The Gooboy]

Hi Trevor,
Thanks for the welcome, I used small plate hole covers as I didn't want to weld up the holes, they stayed on for a year, but I got sick of the look, too bare and cause there's hardly any chrome on the car the bumpers make it look a lot better in my eyes. No you can run your car without bumpers in Australia but you have to watch out for kangaroos.

[bbspdstr]

Andy, I have a gallon of Polyantha red paint I want to use on my '58 A Coupe, but it was originally Stone gray......so now I am thinking against "originality" again after seeing the picture of your bent-window.

I got the paint for my T-6 Roadster, now sold after being painted Fjord green for the buyer...which still wasn't the original color! It was Ivory/red when built.

I had a '53 that was several colors during the time I drove it to school, but that was too long ago to remember what it's original color was, if I knew or worse, didn't care. It was 51604....or maybe 51605, I owned both, quite by a lucky coincidence, almost 50 years ago. One cost $125 and the other was a 'parts car', complete, for $75. Sigh.

My avatar shows my last Speedster (now sold) with no bumpers and small plugs in the holes that may be removed should the new owner care to put the bumpers back in. In his state, they must display 2 license plates, but he keeps the front one in the front luggage compartment. I made a special bracket for him that clamps into the towing loop with a big wing nut, no tools required, no holes in the body. If he is stopped by the police, he plans to tell them that he was either cleaning the car or at a show and just forgot to put it back on, which he would do for the officer.....hoping to escape a citation.
The bumpers are required in his state, but so far, no problems.....

I'm glad to see Justin's effort for this site has gotten international participation and is gradually growing, especially glad such great 356ers are involved. I think there is an advertisement here in the US that goes; "No rules, just right." I am open to correction, but I think that's from "Outback".....and Aussie-themed restaurant chain.

Best regards to all the newbies here at abcgt.com! Let's all spread the word...

-Bruce

[gkw]

Bruce is right, no judgement here on this site.
You do get a lot of very good help when you need it.
Great bunch of car guys. Welcome aboard, Gordon

[The Gooboy]

Thanks guys for the kind words

[The Gooboy]

Hi Bruce,
I'm glad to be on this forum, it covers all types of different categories, which interest a lot of people over the world, there is a strong following here in Australia, good to here you had a 53 or 2, I wish they were that cheap to buy.

Thanks