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Sat Aug 11, 2012 4:41 am

Porsche 356 preA -55

Missing transmission,engine,rear lights,passenger seat, instruments, and front brakes,front window and proberbly all interior.

The owner have started with metal repairs in a Jig. and its good work. But it needs new floor "wrong floor", needs some front work, and sills.
And lot of lead work

He have buy rubber for the hole car, and have some boxes with brakes and so on for A porsche.
What can I pay?

Sat Aug 11, 2012 5:29 am

Pictures would help with a guess, I guess. Can you post a few pictures of this car? Thanks,

Sat Aug 11, 2012 6:52 pm

Is it a Flipper or what?

Sun Aug 12, 2012 3:39 am

Whats a flipper ?

Have no pictures..

Its a body with rust repairs done but the front needs to be weld in, and the right sill and so on...

The doors are complete with everything. Have rear windows and back window.
+Steering
+wiring harness
+front hood needs repairs
+rear decklid
+pedals
+gas tank

But still its a major project and missing the most parts :(

Sun Aug 12, 2012 6:29 am

I will assume it's a Coupe.
I recommend you work backwards from what a nice example may bring in today's market and attach a value = to $1000 US for each major part of what's needed and that may make the math result in either a purchase price or disqualify the project.

For example, the front hood/bonnet, if it is rusted and kinked at the hinges, can be over $1000. The skin and frame are best separated for repair and then refit. Last week, the blasting on one, just the rusted areas, cost me $175 and that exposed more rust than evident before the blasting. I must make a few forward pieces to be welded on the inner frame and some bad brass (brazed) repair removed from the kinked areas near the hinge mounting flanges. The outer skin needs some small rust holes cleaned completely and slightly "dimpled" for lead filling before reassembly. The skin also needs shrinking in the stretched areas of the kink over the hinge mounting area, the edge annealed for rebending over the inner frame's edge flange. Then, all is primered and assembled.

There are about 16 major areas usually needing work on a 356 at some level, major or minor. Add replacement or new parts and mechanical rebuilding (engine/trans/brakes), paint and upholstery, chrome and rubber (including 16" tires) and you get a very rough answer when that total is subtracted from what a finished '55 Coupe is worth.

Sun Aug 12, 2012 8:06 am

Do you plan on doing the work yourself? What level of restoration are you happy with?

There are usually a handful of complete and running Pre-A coupes for sale at any given time. A '55 could go for around $50,000 to $65,000 for a reasonably well sorted driver. As a general rule you want to buy as complete a car as you can afford.

For your '55

Paint and bodywork: $10,000+++
Restored engine and trans: $15,000+
Seat: $600
Front glass: $1000
Body rubber: $700
Restored Gauges: $1000
Interior: $3000+++
Front brakes: $1500+

Other costs to consider (estimated, parts only):

Steering wheel: $1300
Horn button: $300
Gas tank: $500
Rebuild brakes: $600+
New tires: $1000+
Floors and rubber mats: $1000
cables - clutch, brake etc: $500
Headlights and turn signals: $700
Exterior chrome and trim: $700+
Telefunken radio: $3000
shocks: $700
brake lines: $400
e-brake linkage and parts: $500
Shifter, knob, and linkage: $1000

The biggest cost to you will be time. Either your own, or paying for someone else's.

It would be very easy to put $40,000 into the restoration of your '55 and end up with a decent driver worth $55,000. That said, if you offer the seller $15,000, he'll probably laugh. To do the restoration, in the long run you'll probably pay more than the current market price for the car.

Pictures would help us come up with a value.

Sun Aug 12, 2012 10:21 am

Alamento wrote: Do you plan on doing the work yourself? What level of restoration are you happy with?

There are usually a handful of complete and running Pre-A coupes for sale at any given time. A '55 could go for around $50,000 to $65,000 for a reasonably well sorted driver. As a general rule you want to buy as complete a car as you can afford.

For your '55

Paint and bodywork: $10,000+++
Restored engine and trans: $15,000+
Seat: $600
Front glass: $1000
Body rubber: $700
Restored Gauges: $1000
Interior: $3000+++
Front brakes: $1500+

Other costs to consider (estimated, parts only):

Steering wheel: $1300
Horn button: $300
Gas tank: $500
Rebuild brakes: $600+
New tires: $1000+
Floors and rubber mats: $1000
cables - clutch, brake etc: $500
Headlights and turn signals: $700
Exterior chrome and trim: $700+
Telefunken radio: $3000
shocks: $700
brake lines: $400
e-brake linkage and parts: $500
Shifter, knob, and linkage: $1000

The biggest cost to you will be time. Either your own, or paying for someone else's.

It would be very easy to put $40,000 into the restoration of your '55 and end up with a decent driver worth $55,000. That said, if you offer the seller $15,000, he'll probably laugh. To do the restoration, in the long run you'll probably pay more than the current market price for the car.

Pictures would help us come up with a value.

Great post. I did the math and came up with a similar evaluation. You could certainly spend a lot more on the interior as you have indicated (+++). Pre A parts don't come cheap. Its unlikely the seller will sell it for $15k so there is no upside for the buyer which happens all too often.

Sun Aug 12, 2012 2:16 pm

These pre-A coupes are a nightmare for body work. Be very careful. Proper body repair is difficult and expensive. My neighbor bought one with new pans and supposedly all rust repair done. He then proceeded to spend more than $20K just for metalwork to get the car straight. Be very careful of a project like this that has stopped to make sure it is not due to hitting a difficult problem that is expensive to fix, like imperfect metal repair.

SV

Sun Mar 30, 2014 4:35 pm

These valus are from 2012,seems they still hold true. I have some 54 extras like pedals,brakes,etc. I am thinking about posting them up for sale but cannot find anything to compare them to price wise. Any ideas?