TheSamba.com :: View topic

Fri May 25, 2012 2:18 pm

Hi everyone,

Although some of you already know me, for those who do not I thought I would start a topic about my car and show some photos.

After owning a C coupe and a Convertible D, in Sep. 2005 I found my ultimate 356 — this 1959 A Super coupe, matching numbers, very original, and almost exactly like the 1959 A Normal coupe my father purchased new in Nov. 1958, when I was 5 years old. The black and white photo below shows my fathers car when new with him at the wheel, my mother behind the car, sister on the fender, and me in the foreground. My father sold the car in 1968 with about 100,000 miles on it and the new owner totaled it a few weeks later. This is the only surviving close up photo of the Brisco family 356. During the time my father owned the car, it never once failed to start or broke down on the road, and all he did was normal maintenance; he never even had the brakes done. Once the clutch cable broke but he still managed to drive it home. When he sold it the muffler had a small leak in it, there were a few rust bubbles under the paint just in front of the passenger door, and the dash cover was cracked. That was the extent of the car's problems, but the engine was tired, it needed to be rebuilt and he was ready to move on to a newer car.

The known history of my A coupe, VIN 105553, is that it's a California car, apparently first owned by a couple in Lodi (near Sacramento). In 1976 the car was put into storage with 64,000 miles on it. In 2000 the inheritor of the owners estate sold the car to James Hasson of Sacramento who re-painted it in the original ivory, recovered the front seats and dash in brown leather, replaced the windshield and headliner, painted the gas tank, and installed new oatmeal carpet. Hasson sold the car in 2001 and it went through several owners in Oregon before I bought it in September 2005. At that time the odometer read 67,117 miles.

This photo is from 2005 when I first bought the car: I recreated the vintage photo shown above, with my wife "sitting in" on the fender for my sister. My mom is wearing the same jacket in both photos!

The car is numbers matching per the COA: original 1600 Super engine (#82929) and 644 transmission (#22971), with all closing panels stamped "553", and in the original paint and interior colors, ivory 5704 and brown leatherette. The door and rear side panels are original. The dash is the original factory paint. Like my fathers car, the only factory options shown on the COA are sealed-beam headlights and US-style bumpers. The factory ship date is 11/20/58, probably just a few weeks later then my fathers’ car.

Rear upholstery is original as are side panels; front seats and dash were recovered in leather by a previous owner. Dash color would have been darker originally to complement the dark brown garnish rail color.

The only modifications since that time are a VDO sweep second hand clock and a dual master cylinder, installed as part of a complete brake system rebuild in 2005 that was done by Emory Motorsports in Oregon. In addition, they also rebuilt the front end steering assembly and installed new Koni shocks. At the same time, Don Marks rebuilt the distributor, generator and voltage regulator, and did a complete detailing of the engine compartment, preserving the original compartment insulation (original insulation is also present in the trunk). Harry Beiker rebuilt the carburetors. In 2006, the transaxle and steering box were completely rebuilt at The Stable in San Francisco. Since then I have just been doing small things, improving the condition of some of the body trim, replacing the front glass with a new Sigla windshield, adding an electric fuel pump under the kickboard (for easier starting after an long period of inactivity) and installing a set of CuLayer LED rear taillight assemblies (you don't see anything different about the taillights until the lights come on).

For the first five years I owned it, this A coupe was my daily driver and "regular" car and I put over 35,000 miles on it. Then in 2011 got a job that entailed driving over 22,000 miles/year so I bought a new Mini Cooper S and now the A is only driven occasionally.

Below is my wife and I with the car in front of our house.

Fri May 25, 2012 3:14 pm

PERFECT accessory for an Eichler home (that IS an Eichler, right?)! Always had a weakness for all things mid-century modern :-)

Fri May 25, 2012 3:57 pm

fantastic!

i love the before and after photos. time is the only constant.

that is a beautiful car.

Fri May 25, 2012 6:07 pm

Love the picture, I sure hope you let you dad drive it.

Fri May 25, 2012 6:50 pm

Love the car Barry!

Sat May 26, 2012 6:12 am

Guys, thanks for your kind comments. Yes, my house is a mid-century modern design, architect A. Quincy Jones, developer Joe Eichler, built in the spring of 1959, a few months after my car came off the line.

When I got the car I gave my dad a ride but he didn't want to drive it. I think he was afraid of getting in an accident, it had been so long since he had driven a car of that vintage. My mom used to drive their 356 all the time, she remembers going to the grocery store in it.

Sat May 26, 2012 12:42 pm

Barry,

Thanks for posting those pics again on here. Your car Barry looks fantastic its a really nice looking car.

Sun May 27, 2012 7:46 am

Beautiful car Barry and a nice story.

Sun May 27, 2012 11:17 am

My coupe looks better in photos than real life :wink: The photos don't show the "issues":

- At the bottom of the passenger door is a row of tiny paint bubbles that have been unchanged in the 7 years I have owned the car. The lower door is "fat" and looks to have been improperly repaired, probably with bondo. Someday I will get it fixed, but it's an expensive repair to do properly.

- The underbody appears to have the original undercoating which is worn off in several areas. I would like to have it redone.

- Rear window seal needs to be replaced, it's cracked at the corners.

- Gas tank needs to be repainted, the paint around the neck of the opening has flaked off.

- Still need to rechrome some of the body trim.

- Need to replace the passenger side quarter window glass, I cracked it installing a newly re-chromed latch.

...and other minor stuff. But overall it's pretty sound, having lived almost all it's life in California (a few years in Oregon but always protected inside) and mostly in the Central Valley which is fairly dry, and no snow.

I tracked down and talked to the daughter and sister of the original owner, and verified that the car was in a garage up on blocks from 1976 to 2000, when the owner died. It was always his wife's "fun" car, he also owned an Austin Healy 100/4. He babied both of them. So they didn't drive it much, and I am pretty confident that the 67,117 miles on the odometer when I bought it was the total mileage, though I can't prove it.

One funny thing is that just after the original owners bought it they had it repainted black (but didn't repaint the dash). So when I took the car to meet the daughter and sister of the original owners, when they saw the car they gasped "We've never seen it that color!". But the COA shows it was ivory, the dash is ivory, there is ivory overspray in places, so I know it was built ivory (and Porsche didn't put brown upholstery in black 356's). But apparently the wife preferred black cars. Not a good color for those hot Central California summers!

Here's some more photos:

Front view of my house done in B&W for a vintage look

With Reutter luggage rack mounted

Vintage license plate frame, dealer in Stockton California, which is near Lodi where the original owner lived

I don't think the steering wheel or horn ring have ever been refinished:

Reproduction glycerin bottle and fuse pack from Carl Bauer, shown in factory location in glove box door

Fuse block, before I installed the Leoni headlight relay (which is very inobtrusive)

Original tan floor mats came with the car, I protect them with a set of modern Coco mats (not shown)

Sun May 27, 2012 12:36 pm

That one acorn nut on the overrider looks really nice too.

Sun May 27, 2012 1:09 pm

You mean this one? :D

The car came to me with the correct acorn nuts, and then one disappeared, must have vibrated off. Had to search to find an original.

Pop quiz: so which of these matches the original acorn nuts?