Did they make a Fuel Filler Flap for a 1957 Speedster? With having to fillup inside the front trunk, its hard not to get a few drops on car and trunk.
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Keeping the gas filler in the Frunk, you could get a piece of vinyl upholstery material around 16” X 24” (even color match it to your upholstery!), cut a hole in one end such that you can place the vinyl over the gas filler neck. Then, just roll it up starting from the far end and when you get to the gas tank just tuck it in between the filler neck and the body.
Unroll it and flap it out over the fender when you fill up and never get any gas drips on the car or trunk. If you need a photo, just let me know and I’ll show you mine.
And Oh, BTW, Porsche didn’t have an external gas filler door until 1960, BUT……. Even if you found one at some place like Unobtaniuminc.com, the curves of the 1960 356-B gas door won’t precisely match the curves of a 356-A
Photos, just for the heck of it…..
So you’ve pulled in for gas and opened the hood. With the vinyl held captive by the gas tank filler neck, just roll it out over the fender to cover it up.
Once you’ve gassed up (in more ways than one, if you bought some spicy beef jerky, too), just roll it back up and tuck it in beside the tank.
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I know you've posted it before, Gordon -- but that's amazing.
Yeah, it works well to cushion that nasty gas nozzle handle from the fender, too.
Simple, cheap and….. It works!
@DaveR Here are fabric stores near you, and you might try Walmart, too:
Well it is just like Sir Lancelot letting down his cape while all the plebs stare and marvel at how neat the drop cushion functions 
actually it is brilliant.
Common sense, a small rag and an small flashlite can be quite effective.
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I did about the same as Gordon, only with a hand towel. My wife cut a filler neck-sized hole and hemmed it so it wouldn't unravel.
Takes about two seconds to deploy or fold up.
Unroll it with a flourish if you want to impress bystanders, who are already staring because you're pumping gas into your trunk.
Toss it in the washing machine once a year if you're fussy about appearance.
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Jesus...........
@Stan Galat posted:I know you've posted it before, Gordon -- but that's amazing.
Get one for your new Harley, Stan....how could you possibly refuel without one away from home
@David Stroud IM Roadster D posted:Jesus...........
A guy worth knowing or rather, it’s good to be known by him 
"Unroll it with a flourish if you want to impress bystanders, who are already staring because you're pumping gas into your trunk."
Absolutely. I don't know how many times I've been gassing up when someone wanders over to see why the Hell I'm pumping gas into the trunk. It doesn't fluster most onlookers my age because, when asked, they mention their old VW "Bug" (probably pre-1970) and how they used to do the same thing.
@David Stroud IM Roadster D posted:Get one for your new Harley, Stan....how could you possibly refuel without one away from home
My “new” HD will qualify for antique plates in less than 18 months. I ain’t no senator’s son.
Regardless, I think I’ll be able to figure out putting gas in it, but thanks for thinking of me.
Is it ok if I throw my little flap in the mix? I just fashioned it out of leather and animal sized it.
Tom C
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Well done, and classy, too!
Mine, too, is "sort-of leather", fashioned from the hyde of a single "Nauga" which, I am told, perished as "Road Kill" in the wild. 🙄
Long live Naugahyde!
@Stan Galat posted:My “new” HD will qualify for antique plates in less than 18 months. I ain’t no senator’s son.
Regardless, I think I’ll be able to figure out putting gas in it, but thanks for thinking of me.
That’s a pretty old HD. I think HD didn’t even offer antilock brakes until around 2010. I rode motorcycles for 46 years and by far the most important safety equipment on a motorcycle is antilock brakes. Traction control is really unnecessary unless you have a super powerful sport bike. My near fatal crash of course was on an older Ducati Monster without ABS. Rider in front of me (a good friend) decided to stop suddenly while we were knee down around a blind corner. I went hard on my front brake and flew 50 feet over my handlebars. If I had had ABS I would have walked away and punch my friend in the face. We like you Stan. Get a bike with ABS.
@Stan Galat posted:My “new” HD will qualify for antique plates in less than 18 months. I ain’t no senator’s son.
Regardless, I think I’ll be able to figure out putting gas in it, but thanks for thinking of me.
I think about you and respect your mechanical abilities and humour ( Stanistan stuff ) to a high level Stan. Always have. I guess I'm just a bit stunned about what fanfare can be made here on such a mundane task as putting gas in a car.
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Guys, your professionalism is putting me to shame.
Maybe the least I can do is upgrade my towel to this period correct, new old stock Porsche mechanic's towel that I found on eBay for a mere $150. It's well documented that no factory mechanic would wipe his hands on anything but an authorized towel.
I'm sure to anger the purists by desecrating such a sacred thing and cutting a hole in it, but sometimes you've just got to follow your vision.
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@David Stroud IM Roadster D posted:I think about you and respect your mechanical abilities and humour ( Stanistan stuff ) to a high level Stan. Always have. I guess I'm just a bit stunned about what fanfare can be made here on such a mundane task as putting gas in a car.
That was funnny David! and true.
Anti-lock… now there is a project….
@David Stroud IM Roadster D posted:I think about you and respect your mechanical abilities and humour ( Stanistan stuff ) to a high level Stan. Always have. I guess I'm just a bit stunned about what fanfare can be made here on such a mundane task as putting gas in a car.
Thanks, David!
As far as this gas-bib thing goes -- if anybody can overdo it, we can overdo it right here on the SOC. I think over-doing it is a darned fine problem to have. We've gone on and on about when to apply $2000 ceramic wax-jobs. I admire the commitment, but I'm not going to replicate it. Others have followed me tilting at windmills (ones only I can see) with much the same thought,"oh wow -- I'm glad that's him and not me".
I carry a roll of Aldi paper-towels in the Speedster, so I'm clearly the site schlub... but I've got no desire to haul around a gas-soaked rag, and wiping a piece of vinyl with a paper-towel so that I don't have to wipe the trunk with a paper towel seems like one too many pieces in the puzzle.
But as I said, I'm a bit of a schlub. I only shave my neck below my beard about once a week, and it looks pretty shabby any time after day 2. I also have no mesh-backed gloves. I've been known to eat pork rinds. I prefer oil-stained tee-shirts to anything that requires I be careful around mustard.
Sorry, guys -- can we still hang out?
@550 Phil posted:That’s a pretty old HD. I think HD didn’t even offer antilock brakes until around 2010. I rode motorcycles for 46 years and by far the most important safety equipment on a motorcycle is antilock brakes. Traction control is really unnecessary unless you have a super powerful sport bike. My near fatal crash of course was on an older Ducati Monster without ABS. Rider in front of me (a good friend) decided to stop suddenly while we were knee down around a blind corner. I went hard on my front brake and flew 50 feet over my handlebars. If I had had ABS I would have walked away and punch my friend in the face. We like you Stan. Get a bike with ABS.
Thanks, Phil! I like you guys too!
Yep, it's pretty old. It has exactly what I want -- EFI and cruise control (and the cruise isn't working right now). It has nothing else, and I really don't want anything else.
Regarding dragging things: this is not that kind of bike. There will be no dragging, knees or otherwise. It's low-n-slow. I don't want to ride in town, I don't want to ride in a group, and I definitely don't want to ride at any pace even close to hoonery. I don't even like the interstate. But on a county road, by myself, watching the corn and beans turn and riding through the trees -- it's pretty hypnotic.
I bought a flubby retro bagger with spoked wheels, white-walls, and fishtail pipes on purpose. Every other bike I've owned in the distant past was a challenge -- a dare to see how fast I could ride it. I hoon the Speedster, yeah -- but I'm the picture of stately progress in my Presidential Limousine.
It's the same on my "Heck's Mild-Mannered Accountant MC Club" murder-sickle. I may look goofy (and believe me, I'm trying to look a bit goofy), but so far it's been a hoot. I'm not going to die trying to live my Kenny Roberts fanboy fantasy.
Perhaps my Ken Miles fanboy fantasy, but not Kenny Roberts.
"hoonery" -- I will be forever grateful to @edsnova for that word and all its derivatives. Nowadays, I can't not use it. And do not be fooled, Stan will be a hoonin' in that HD, just where nobody can see him. The urge to crank that handle back will be just too great.
And as for fillerup!! a shop rag and being careful does it just fine -- its simply not a thing. Applying the hide Naugas is WAY beyond me level of caring. So put me down with the Stroudmeister.
@Stan Galat posted:I carry a roll of Aldi paper-towels in the Speedster, so I'm clearly the site schlub... but I've got no desire to haul around a gas-soaked rag, and wiping a piece of vinyl with a paper-towel so that I don't have to wipe the trunk with a paper towel seems like one too many pieces in the puzzle.
That was also my philosophy, Stan. I also learned that after extraction from the tank, turning the nozzle to face up prevented any drippage. If paper towels are good enough for the President-for-Life of Stanistan (truly a man of his people), they're good enough for me.
I must confess, however, that I do have a pair of mesh-backed gloves bought for the Coupe when I channeled my inner Marty G2daZ.
While on a road trip up to through the Pacific Northwest, I pulled into a gas station somewhere in Oregon. As I pulled the nozzle off the pump, the station attendant rushed up and said that Oregon laws prevent customers from filling their own gas tanks. Oregon mandates that task must be done by the station attendant.
After that process, I deduced that the attendant must have been a p*rn star in his previous employment because just as the gas tank was reaching its full capacity, he pulled out the nozzle and sprayed gas all over my car.
Shoulda had a towel handy.... 
New Jersey has the same law. Every time I fill the Spyder in that state, the attendant stands by and lets me do it. It appears they have some heart for cool cars in Jersey...
Did they check your oil and wash your windshield?
Ah, the good old days!
I made a point of never fueling up in New Jersey when we were commuting up and down the coast after I just barely caught the gas guy in time before he tried to fill my diesel pickup with gasoline at the Vince Lombardi Service Center. After that, we started using the I-81/I-84 inland route to avoid the entire
DC/Philly/ Jersey/GWB/lower CT traffic nightmare. It was about 100 miles farther than I-95, and almost exactly the same amount of drive time.
I carry one folded paper towel.
When I fill up I first put in some StarTron.
Then I grasp the nozzle with it pointing up. I point it down when it is over the tank opening. I try to modulate the flow and look closely through the opening so gas doesn't splash out of the tank.
Then, when I remove the nozzle I hold the folded paper towel under the end.
I like to buy gas at Costco. It is one of the few places in Michigan with the rubber bellows you need to press against the tank opening. To top up I have to hold it back with my hand so I can pull the nozzle up a bit and peer into the opening to decide when to quit.
I also have a U-shaped thing I can use instead of my hand to hold the bellows back.
You can scratch Oregon off the mandatory fuel attendant list. You can now pump your own, or let the attendant do it if you're dressed for the ball.
@MusbJim posted:While on a road trip up to through the Pacific Northwest, I pulled into a gas station somewhere in Oregon. As I pulled the nozzle off the pump, the station attendant rushed up and said that Oregon laws prevent customers from filling their own gas tanks. Oregon mandates that task must be done by the station attendant.
After that process, I deduced that the attendant must have been a p*rn star in his previous employment because just as the gas tank was reaching its full capacity, he pulled out the nozzle and sprayed gas all over my car.
Shoulda had a towel handy....
Same thing happened to me Jim and to this day, I avoid getting gas in Oregon. I gas up in Weed, Ca and drive to Vancouver, Wa. Roughly 350 miles then I gas up.
@Lane Anderson posted:That was also my philosophy, Stan. I also learned that after extraction from the tank, turning the nozzle to face up prevented any drippage. If paper towels are good enough for the President-for-Life of Stanistan (truly a man of his people), they're good enough for me.
I must confess, however, that I do have a pair of mesh-backed gloves bought for the Coupe when I channeled my inner Marty G2daZ.
I'm with you on this one Lane. Just be careful and don't spill any gas on your car. If you do, a quick wipe will take care of it.
As for the glorious mesh-backed gloves, make mine Tan with off white backing made in Europe. Nothing feels better than to dawn a pair of Bambi leather, mesh-backed, short fingered gloves as I hand mount my stylish wood steering wheel. In full excitement and anticipation of that first turn as I shift through the gears. Even the smell of the leather, as I wipe my forehead, brings me back to the days when it was normal for guys named Sterling, jacky or Mario to do so. I will be wearing mine as I smoke the Smokies in Virginia in a few weeks. Long live the driving gloves !!
@Gordon Nichols posted:After that, we started using the I-81/I-84 inland route to avoid the entire
DC/Philly/ Jersey/GWB/lower CT traffic nightmare. It was about 100 miles farther than I-95, and almost exactly the same amount of drive time.
It's more like 40 miles one way, but you're welcome.
I avoid I-84 in Connecticut at all costs. We always go through on a Friday, and it's ALWAYS a parking lot. It totally kills making time. And it happens to be the most direct route to all the NE race tracks (except LRP) for me.
When I go to New Hampshire, I go North to Troy NY, then head east through Vermont into NH. When I go to Palmer, I take I-87 North to I-90(Mass Pike) east. The only time I go I-84 is to Thompson.
But once you get out of Danbury going west into NY it's pretty good, then I-81 south is a good way to go.