Built by Drauz in Heilbronn this car is the rarest of the production Porsche 356 models ever manufactured for a full year. The Convertible D was meant to be a “weekend racer” and was built with a removable windshield among other significant differences from the Speedster.
The key differences between the Speedster and the Convertible D are the windscreen, rear window, rear cowl, side windows, door pockets, seats, convertible top and boot, and badging.
What is cooler than an air-cooled Porsche 356! Seeing the freshly rebuilt original numbers matching engine going back into the 1959 Porsche 356 A 1600 Convertible D by Drauz is very cool. It is a 1,582 cc OHV air-cooled horizontally opposed four-cylinder 1600S engine with dual Solex carburetors.
One of just 473 built this special Porsche 356 succeeded the Drauz built Porsche Convertible Ds. Founded in 1805 D’Ieteren is still in the automotive business today.
Removing the racing seats and installing a set of plaid buckets into this 1980 Porsche 911 makes all the difference in the interior. It is now not only functional but stylish.
We have had the DynoJet for just shy of a year now and by the end of the year it will have seen a fair share of interesting makes and models. The DynoJet is great for much more than just finding out how much power or torque a car makes. You can analyze the fuel to air mixture, ignition condition, finding leaks, engine break-in, and even aero dynamic effects on gearing.
With the fab shop shut down for the holiday it is a good time to share a glimpse of what we are doing in there. Media blasting, powder coating, metal forming, and welding all happen in this room. We stock around fifty colors of powder and will do from a single part for a walk-in customer to supply production parts for machine shops and manufacturers.
Porsche had the early cars built by various coach companies for them. In this picture Porsches built by Reutter Karosserie, Drauz Karosserie, Karmann, and Porsche AG in Stuttgart-Zuffenhausen are all represented.
Built by Drauz in Heilbronn this car is the rarest of the production Porsche 356 models ever manufactured for a full year. The Convertible D was meant to be a “weekend racer” and was built with a removable windshield among other significant differences from the Speedster.
After a lot of work the engine is rebuilt in the Porsche 911 and it is ready for many more miles of driving. Broken head studs were the first indication the engine needed to come apart on this one. 1987 was the first year the 911 got the Getrag G50 unit with improved synchromesh.
It seems that German cars from Volkswagens to Mercedes have been the majority of what we have been working on lately. We have a good selection of Porsches currently being working on. It is fun to see them lined up together.
