JSF101

yes, driving Mellow Yellow

Z356

Thanks for the note Stu. Yes, hate to be missing the
last of the 'cool' weather in Scottsdale before nature
turns the dial to full 'hot' in a few weeks. But we
couldn't afford to miss a special tour the Piemonte
wine region of Italy that a friend of ours from Colorado
was putting together just for 12 friends! We are back
in Arizona in the first week of May!

Saludos,
Eduardo
San Martino Alfieri (Asti) Piemonte - Italy

Z356

For the third time in as many visits to Zuffenhausen,
I have been well received by Dieter Landenberger,
Archive Manager for Porsche & Porsche Museum.
His official title is:

Leiter Historisches Archiv
Dr. Ing. h.c. F. Porsche AG
Öffentlichkeitsarbeit und Presse
Porsche Museum und Historische Öffentlichkeitsarbeit

Dieter first gave my wife & I a peronalized tour of the
Porsche Museum restoration shop which all of you can
see behind the glass as you enter the first floor of the
structure (and in the back):



So this restoration shop is only for cars owned by the
Museum. Customer restorations are done at 'Porsche
Classic' which is located elsewhere in Stuttgart area.

*
One of the cars being restored expertly at the present
in this area is 'Porsche Number 57'. The story of how
#57 came to be discovered & purchased by PAG is not
well known to us in North America...but apparently most
Germans know about via a famous local TV program there.

http://www.porsche.com/usa/aboutpors...iew/article04/

This is how that restoration was proceeding as of 4/18.
The color, if any of you are wondering, is 'Polo Red',
which happened to be the hue of the first Porsche I
ever owned - a 1968 912 Soft-Rear Targa!



*
It was also interesting to see an old 356 Coupe I remember
seeing years ago (circa 1983) in California which is now owned
by the Museum. This was Gene Gilpin's 1956 A Coupe with
Rudge wheels.



Note the the spinners for German market were...wingless!
The deviation from norm was due to safety concerns FOR
PEDESTRIANS in the home market, even back in the mid-
1950's. As you might know, Porsche 356 Rudges for most
world markets had 'wings'...like one of Ben Hur's chariots
(a popular film of the era)! And this was a cause of concern
in Germany for TÜV.

In any case, Gene traded this restored 356 as you see it for
a well-used Porsche 'Guards Red' 911SC cabriolet, a test vehicle
that PAG had around just prior to re-introducing that model
in early 1980's.

http://seq.pca.org/wp-content/upload...06-Zeitung.pdf

In my opinion, this trade will go down in history as one of
the worse ever made!

In case any of you are wondering, the color of this 356A is
the very rare & seldom ordered 'Lago Green Metallic'.
*

After the tour of the restoration shop, Dieter brought us upstairs
to see the current exhibits at the Museum. We had time to see
the special Walter Röhrl exhibit:



I was particularly pleased to see the 924 Carrera GTR driven by
Walter Röhrl & my friend Jürgen Barth* at LeMans in 1981:



I thank Dieter for taking time from his busy schedule. And I wish
him the best at all future endeavors at the VW Group!

Saludos,
Eduardo
San Martino Alfiere
Piemonte, Italia

*Like in past years, I was invited by Jürgen to his house for
dinner. My wife & I were to join fellow 356 enthusiast ( &
known photographer) Hal Toms at Jürgen's home on 4/20.
Unfortunately we had to leave on the 19th to proceed to
Regensburg before flying off to Italy!

SCMike

Thank you for your continuing, endlessly fascinating posts! Great to see in the photo of the green 356A that even Zuffenhausen uses some made-in-USA tools: the purple GoJaks from Zendex Tools in Danbury. I had a set of GoJaks wheel dollies when I was keeping four cars in my two-car garage: a very efficient way for one person to push around one car all over the place.