Is this a thing or simply mods done by a builder? 
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Saw a genuine one at a Concourse a few years back. Guy said it actually had the original tires on it. Also said he Drove it about 100 ft a year : on and off the trailer at car shows.
It's... interesting. As we all know, there was no Speedster then, so I'm not sure what he's replicating, if anything, but it looks well done and at least he showed some creativity.
I would have preferred the gauges symetrical (OCD) but overall, I like it, color, radio cluster etc
CMC didn't produce a dash like that - not aware of one available. I do like the classic color combo. A later OEM B style dash with glove box would be a nice option if someone were to mould it. Somewhere I have an old OEM chrome ash tray for a 356 - not sure year but chrome is still nice.
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I'm not sure why anybody would want a "B" Cabriolet dash with an "A" Speedster tail and windshield, anymore than why somebody would want a pre-A dash with an "A" Speedster tail and windshield. They're neither fish nor fowl.
Regardless, IMHO, the 356 (aside from the Speedster, Convertible D, and "B" Roadster) was a pretty strange looking car. The low-light VW Karmann Ghias of the same period were much prettier as both a coupe and cabriolet. The Porsche race-cars of the 50s toggled between brilliant (the 550) and the truly odd looking.
In the 1950s, Porsche was a German company doing things on the cheap (like not hiring somebody from an Italian coachbuilder to design their bodies), and it really showed with the 356 cabs. It wasn't until the 911 that there was any design cohesion, and it wasn't really until the LWB 911 that Porsche design made any sense.
3564EVR, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.
@WOLFGANG posted:CMC didn't produce a dash like that - not aware of one available. I do like the classic color combo. A later OEM B style dash with glove box would be a nice option if someone were to mould it. Somewhere I have an old OEM chrome ash tray for a 356 - not sure year but chrome is still nice.
I have an original 356 B style dash if anyone wants to borrow it to make a mold......
The Beck Super Coupe has the 356 B/C-style dash. Carey might be able to mold one for someone he really liked. 
@Stan Galat said "I'm not sure why anybody would want a "B" Cabriolet dash with an "A" Speedster tail and windshield, anymore than why somebody would want a pre-A dash with an "A" Speedster tail and windshield. They're neither fish nor fowl."
Actually that's a pre-A dash, which is even weirder. Again, though, kudos to the builder for him doing him.
@WOLFGANG posted:CMC didn't produce a dash like that - not aware of one available. I do like the classic color combo. A later OEM B style dash with glove box would be a nice option if someone were to mould it. Somewhere I have an old OEM chrome ash tray for a 356 - not sure year but chrome is still nice.
@Lane Anderson posted:@Stan Galat said "I'm not sure why anybody would want a "B" Cabriolet dash with an "A" Speedster tail and windshield, anymore than why somebody would want a pre-A dash with an "A" Speedster tail and windshield. They're neither fish nor fowl."
Actually that's a pre-A dash, which is even weirder. Again, though, kudos to the builder for him doing him.
I know which is which, Lane, AND I read all the posts.
Sorry Mr. Galat. I won't commit such a transgression again.
@Lane Anderson posted:Sorry Mr. Galat. I won't commit such a transgression again.
I’ll hold you to it, buddy.
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@Stan Galat posted:…Regardless, IMHO, the 356 (aside from the Speedster, Convertible D, and "B" Roadster) was a pretty strange looking car…
And that’s how I remember it being seen by most folks in the fifties. Nothing special at all.
”A VW beetle that somebody squashed with their foot” is what I remember most.
It’s why, after getting the Speedy, I was amazed by the response it does get – everywhere, and from everyone. I guess most of them weren’t around and don’t remember how other cars looked at the time. The swoopy fenders that end in prominent, round headlights were just an adoption of the most common styling motifs of the time. As was a sloping fastback. Just check out street scenes in any movie from the late forties or early fifties.
It’s just that this holdover is so different from what we’re left with today. We’re so far removed from when designers had the freedom to let a line end gracefully where it needed to. People are so bored with their dailies that they get a genuine kick out of seeing someone actually having fun with a car.
I think that’s the most common going away line I hear. Folks who don’t need to know about the engine or how fast it goes or what kind of gears it has. (Do cars still have ‘gears’?) Folks just look at you a little wistfully and smile.
”I’ll bet that’s a lot of fun.”
”I’ll bet that’s a lot of fun.”
That's it, in a nutshell.
You all know that my friend Rich MacKoul let me take photos and measurements of his original ‘55 Speedster dash and for that, quite a few people are grateful as they built Pre-A dashes into their cars.
Rich is a bit older than me and getting signs of early onset Alzheimer’s disease, similar to what his late wife went through, so he decided to sell his original, fully numbers matching (even the original wheels) Speedster totally away from BaT to a dentist from New Jersey in a private deal. It’s not my place to quote the sell price but trust me - It was eye-popping, even for me.
@Gordon Nichols wrote- "so he decided to sell his original, fully numbers matching (even the original wheels) Speedster"...
I know you've posted pics of his Speedster before, but would it be possible for us to see them again? And thanks in advance.
@WNGD posted:I would have preferred the gauges symetrical (OCD) but overall, I like it, color, radio cluster etc
My thoughts as well. That and the cheapo “Classic Gauges.” But I guess 914 gauges would have looked really out of place in the vision he was going for.
It may be just camera angle, although the small gauge does look misaligned.
When I first saw it, I was appalled. I figured a home builder just didn’t want to deal with the eyebrows. Then I did some research and found out that’s what the early split and bent window cars looked like. 2 lg gauges, 1 small one, and the radio binnacle. And no horn grills in front.
That 3D printed one @LeadPedal posted looks a lot better, if that’s a look you’re going for. Personally, aside from the Speedster, I’m not enamored with any of the early 356s. Call me crazy but my favorite is the unloved Karman notch-backs.
@LeadPedal posted:
That’s pretty sweet. I wonder what one costs.
While doing my search, I came across pictures of a coupe that didn’t have a tach. Had a big Speedo on the left, and a Speedo sized clock on the right. Then a smaller combo gauge (fuel and temp??) on the far left.
@WOLFGANG posted:Somewhere I have an old OEM chrome ash tray for a 356 - not sure year but chrome is still nice.
After I saw a rare old steering wheel go for almost $10K on eBay, I suggested my buddy go through his boxes. He found a couple of wheels that looked like the $2-$5K variety, but none of the one in question.
He had them because BITD, the first thing he did with a new (to him) car was put in a Nardi or Les Leston.