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the sheet metal replacement parts, floor pans,
longitudinals, front closing panels, rubber seals and
gaskets, etc. The left side lock post needed attention as
well as the severely bent hood. I thought we were doing
O.K. until he looked closely at the body and said “I
can’t work with this; I’ll have to strip it and straighten it
out.” Some prior body work was a little crude. I showed
him my color choice, Fresco green from a VW Passat
(in retrospect, I should have painted it sea green or sea
foam!). Next was the interior. The seats were in good
shape but the door panels, carpet and headliner needed
help. We matched the material to the seats, selected
carpeting and headliner material.
They called a month or so later and Eleanor and I
went down to pick up the coupe. She was stunned by its
transformation and how good it looked. However, I had
never driven this car. It ran, but the seats were out, the
pedal cluster was out, etc. I took it out of the trailer
and, sitting on a milk crate, I attempted to drive it into
the garage. The gear shift was very vague, like driving a
Renault Dauphine! I jacked it up and put it on stands
so I could get underneath. I fabricated a battery holddown
and replaced the seat belts as the originals were a
bit grungy. Next up was to install the luggage rack. Yup,
this puppy is going to be a touring car.
I went out the next morning and the garage floor was
covered in gear oil. Seems there was a torn axle boot
and when I jacked the car up the swing axles hung
down allowing the oil to leak. A new boot and fresh oil
and on to the next step.
I then tried the lights and nothing worked! After
cleaning the fuses and fuse box I probed around to see
what was hot. Intermittently I could get the right
license plate and left front parking light to work. It
appears the headlamp switch was bad. I then checked
and tested all the bulbs, some were missing and others
were burnt out. At this point, my interest in this project
was beginning to wane. Work had become busy, I had
an event coming up and the race car needed work.
Amongst all this, I bought one of those unmentionable
“red cars” that is currently entertaining me.
A week or so later on my way to make some deliveries
in Temecula, I stopped for a visit in Rainbow where a
friend has a shop. I asked how he was with electrical
systems and he replied he was pretty fair. I described my
problem and told him there was no rush and he should
use it as filler work. He seemed unfazed, but then again,
I thought it was pretty straightforward until I got into
February 2007
it. I’ve learned long ago before you get totally frustrated
and give up or sell the car, get help. The following week
I took the car to him to work some magic. It’s been at
its temporary home a couple of months now. Yesterday
I stopped by for a visit and she’s almost complete with a
few loose wires to go.
Thinking this project was near completion, I had
more surprises in store. Did I mention it ran? Well it
ran poorly and sounded like it had a loose head. On
closer inspection, it had two cracked heads! Seems
whoever assembled the engine failed to use head washers.
When the heads were torqued the nuts bottomed
out cracking the heads. On disassembly the jammed
head nuts backed the case studs out. When you race a
356 for six years you gather some spare parts. Fortunately,
I had a pair of fully dressed heads. But wait,
we’re not done. Now it runs and fouls the carburetor
jets. Inoperative status for four years has left the fuel
system clogged with goop. Carburetor cleaning, new
fuel filter and fresh fuel did the trick, or so I thought.
While running the car to get the cob webs out, the fuel
pump started to leak! Looks like I’ll be chasing gremlins
for a while. The upside is its attractive and a decent
driver. One more of the Doctor’s cars snatched from the
clutches of Neptune.
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