Ten Fifty-nine

[LongRanger]

John didn't mess around --- as soon as all the paint came off, the primer went on. Ans as soon as the primer went on, the car got sanded and smoothed. Then more primer. Then more smoothing. Exhausting.

The thing I've noticed --- and it was something John brought up, too --- as you prime and paint, then re-paint and re-paint (remember that 1059 had places with as many as five coats of paint!) --- the car gets funny looking, especially around the closures. Things start to 'round-off' and go blunt, lose their crispness, edges especially don't look as sharp.

John talked with me at length about prepping a car. He also had a customer's car that I looked at closely --- very crisp, very sharp closures and panel edges, especially around the doors. Its a subtle thing to see, but once you see this 'sharpness,'well . . . its something I've looked for since my 356 days. And John is super sensitive to it.

Here's some shots of 1059 in primer. Not much to see . . . but notice the lines. And gaps.

This is where John started from.

He'll spend 4 more weeks getting the car ready for paint.

(Like I said . . . John is relentless . . .)

Here's the left side.

[LongRanger]

Here's the right side . . .

One of the things that John commented on, several times, was that this car almost wanted to go back together. Fenders, hood, doors engine cover, didn't need persuasion to fit.

It's still a lot of work --- John showed me how much adjustment there is to the factory's passenger door hinge-plates on a '70 . . . . maybe a millimeter? And he told me what it takes to get the hood to fit --- turns out, one also has to adjust the cowl panel! Since 1059 has never had a big shunt, all the panels that were built up into the main body shell 40 years ago are still where they're supposed to be. John would still massage and finesse these panels until he was satisfied.

This is John's starting point.

[LongRanger]

As I wrote before, I came to Porsche through Volkswagen. My attraction to Porsche had to do with the mechanical similarities to VWs --- push-rod air-cooled motor, conventional carbs, conventional ignition, 6-volt electrical. I knew how to gap valves, set the dwell and timing, even sync carbs, from working on my VWs, plus I had a lot of tools to work with German stuff. I’d also run VWs for years, put some ridiculous miles on them driving them all over the place, thought a 356 would just be the next step up in terms of power and performance and looks, but not a big jump in cost to run.

So, 356. I did some reading, went to a few shows, joined the 356 Registry, looked at and drove some cars, chatted-up some of the broker/dealer/old-timers who hang around these cars . . . and slowly got a feeling for what Porsche (356) is all about.

A lot of what I needed to look at to evaluate a 356 sounded familiar. ‘Matching’ numbers,’ proper equipment, correct options (Porsche’s Certificate of Authenticity hadn’t started up, yet) . . . . these were terms I’d heard before. And from the books and pictures and conversations I had, these kinds of details were understandable, absorbable. When I went out and looked at cars, I could look for this stuff, test myself, and if I got confused, go back to a book or look at a picture or ask somebody. Chassis numbers, engine numbers, even proper date-codes --- all had already been listed and written about for years. So, I could look for them on a car then check if they were in the right range or not. Familiar, made intuitive sense. My old Super Duty had numbers and codes and I’d looked all of those up. Done this.

But there were some things that were not familiar. Like some of the numbers that Porsche stamped in obscure places on the car --- like the last three digits of the chassis number, inside, on the top-bows of open cars, and inside the left front hood hinge, and in a lower corner of the fan shield under the engine cover. Gotta remember where to look. And special date codes, same. Original 356 wheel covers even have date codes. (I sheet you not. I’d be murder as a Concours judge.)

So, after absorbing some of these details --- on top of all the regular body-and-paint/how-does-it-drive/what-is-it-worth-type questions . . . evaluating any 356 became a pretty deliberate business.

But.

The one characteristic that really got my attention, the one feature that I really, really came to appreciate about the 356 --- something that I learned from the 356 --- and something that I use to evaluate every car I see, ever since --- not just Porsche . . . .are the ‘gaps.’

I’m sure I was aware of gaps before I looked at Porsches. I’d seen cars that, despite shiny paint or elaborate detailing or brilliant presentation . . . . just didn’t look quite ‘right.’ Maybe their panels didn’t line up, or things were wavy or mis-aligned or something. I’d seen those things before. But gaps were something different. And no where does that one particular feature figure so prominently for me as on a Porsche.

Welcome to The Deep End.

Some of you may have an idea where this is all going. For those of you who don’t, you might wanna skip this whole next part. It can really eff-up the way you feel about your car.

What I’m gonna talk about here is the misery of Porsche, how a silly insignificant little detail can trump months of work, all kinds of money spent, make no contribution to utility or performance . . . yet --- to me, anyway --- speaks directly to the integrity and quality of any Porsche. And which, to this day, is the first thing I look at when I evaluate any Porsche . . . or any car.

Like I said, I came to Porsche through Volkswagen. And I came to 911 through 356. And 356 is a really really rough way to come up on cars.

2-3 millimeters.

That’s the standard gap on any factory closure for the 356, while they were in production. It may be more on the high-end for the later T6/C models, but for 87901, my ’60 Roadster, that’s what it had . . . on the front hood, engine cover and doors.. And that car was beat. Even been hit. But those gaps were to die for! . . .

Remember when Lexus was first selling cars, here in the US? They had this TV commercial where they showed a ball bearing rolling down the hood gap of one of their cars. (I’m sure there are Body Guys --- and Porsche Guys --- who still dream about that commercial . . . and wake-up screaming.) My Roadster, beat as it was, had those kinds of gaps. I never touched the bodywork, didn’t check any of the numbers ‘till way later, never worried about making it pretty. But every time I grabbed a door to get in, or opened the hood to put gas in, or popped the lid to check the oil . . . I would take a moment to glance, and marvel, at the smooth, graceful arc those panels would take, then watch them slowly scissor close, shut, and finally rest . . . so very very close . . . in their wonderful awful 2-3 mm gap.

Once I’d seen that . . . I always looked for it. Shiny paint-jobs, spotless engines, super-exotic cars built in ridiculously small numbers, fancy-schmancy factory options and all kinds of super-tricky little bits --- even ‘numbers’ ---- I would pass all of that by, to peek at those dreadful, infernal, cursed gaps . . . first. Sick.

Gaps are what I appreciate most about a Porsche. Knowing how difficult those gaps are to build, and how fragile they are, how easily they can be disturbed, makes me appreciate how special Porsches are. It took me two years to find my Roadster --- sold it years ago --- and,yet, I still remember the way those doors felt when they closed --- bring them up to within three inches, then just shut. No force. Like a rifle bolt, metallic Tupperware. Click.

So . . . old 911s? They’re almost a relief --- they have 3-4 millimeter gaps.

When I first met John, at his shop, we got to talking about cars and about Porsches and about the Porsches that we’d owned, sorta talking a little bit about where we’re coming from. John has his Speedster at his shop and I’m not sure exactly when it came up but we started talking about gaps. Ask the Average Body Guy about gaps and most pretend you didn’t ask the question, talk about something else . . . or ask you to leave. But John --- without hesitation --- went right into it . . . The Deep End. Me right behind.

And not only did John know what he was talking about, he showed me, right there, on the cars in his shop. I remember one car, a customer car that was sitting out in front. I stood next to the car, then looked down the side of the driver’s door, at the bottom of the door closure, at the ledge of the rocker underneath . . . the gap was uniform and consistent, the whole length of that door. And up the front. And the back. I brought John over, showed him what I was looking at. You know what he did? . . .

He proceeded to show me the fender-to-cowl gap and the fender-to-hood gap.

We looked at --- and looked for --- the same things.

I wish I coulda shown him 87901 . . . .

[LongRanger]

Here are some in-progress shots.

John spent a lot of time fiddling and tweaking the quarter panels, In addition to narrowing the fender-to-hood gaps, John was also working to get the seal channels just right, so that the rubber seals would not show when the hood was down.

Around the back, he was working to get the alu lid to fit as good or better than the original steel one . . . .

This is about half-way through John's fitting of all the panels and adjusting the closures . . .

[LongRanger]

Here are a bunch of shots of the now-repaired alu license panel, with the holes and tears welded up, then straightened/smoothed, then primed . . .

Like the alu lid, this piece gets primed and painted . . . invisible. NO schutz or additional finishing, texturing or treating of any kind.

Light? I've had heavier Big Gulps.

[LongRanger]

Here are shots of the center portion, following gas-weld repairs to close some previously drilled holes.

Missing are some small rectangular panels that slot in between the out-riggers, outside of the stamped circle, as brought up by Michael (70SATMan). You can still see traces of what may have been some type of adhesive, there in the slots. Its not clear what these panels are made of, how they're affixed, or even what purpose they serve.

All I know is, they were missing when I got this panel . . . and that's a couple more ounces removed from the back of the car!

[LongRanger]

Here's the rear panel with the missing bits . . .

(This is taken from Bantam's 1968 S/T 'Out of Africa' thread)

[LongRanger]

Here is the alu license panel, all prepped and primed . . . .

[LongRanger]

This is where John took things to:

3.5 millimeters . . .

Everywhere.

Sick.

[LongRanger]

And here's the other side . . .

And no --- John didn't stop there . . .