Reutter racks

Looks great!  I've never been a fan of racks (well, some racks I admire...), but they do look good on a Speedster.

Enjoy that week away.

Yes, indeed....They were often painted the same color as the (matching) car.  That goes for the '55, '56 and '58 I've seen locally.  I usually see them on original 356's painted the car color, but have seen a bunch in the silver or hammertone although I don't spend a lot of time looking at B-C models, truth be told.

Regardless, Will.....That rack looks awesome.  Have a GREAT week!

POWDERCOAT is likely the smart move...curious why PCA might object to powder coat(?)..possibly not original circa 1950s?

Banzai, I was joshin'

...but they probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference, or care, since it's a plastic car anyway...

...and yeah, I don't think the power-coat system existed in the '50s...

Beautiful detail.

Will Hesch posted:

Banzai, I was joshin'

...but they probably wouldn't be able to tell the difference, or care, since it's a plastic car anyway...

...and yeah, I don't think the power-coat system existed in the '50s...

OKIE DOKEY...thought there might be some exotic snobbish requirement of coating that the PCA boys consider under "HERESY" punishable by schnitzel and spaetzle!

You should paint it to match you body...

I think it's pretty sweet, as-is.

Looks great Will! Can you give some detail - where did you buy it? How much? I assume it attaches in a temporary fashion without any holes? 

Will that looks fantastic! I'm so happy to see Whitecloud on the road and you and Kathy enjoying a great car. 

 I assume it attaches in a temporary fashion without any holes? 

All the original luggage racks required 4 holes in the rear engine lid rain shield.  The originals cars had threaded "nuts" welded/reinforced area to the inner lid liner.  See photo for the 4 stand off legs (it looks to be a rack for a twin grill engine lid). Since our cars have a plastic inner liner the same 4 holes are required and usually large stainless steel fender washers top and bottom are used to reinforce the fiberglass.  They could also be epoxy/fiberglassed in permanently.  Once removed they are not visible and could be plugged with a black rubber plug to make waterproof. 

Thanks for the explanation Wolfgang - very helpful. Definitely will put this on the list of "wanted accessories" for my car for the weekend get aways with my wife. 

I think it looks fantastic Will. For those who don't like the look (or for weather considerations), isn't the alternative for weekend suitcases, just to use the rear "seat" parcel shelf?

The Reutter racks have short hollow legs, about 2" long with 5/16" diameter inside for through-bolts to fix them to the rain-tray.

On (most of) our cars, the legs will be too short since our rain-trays are cast differently than the Porsche trays so I had a friend make a set of stainless tubing extensions that the Reutter legs fit into making the rear two legs 3 3/4" long and the front legs 2 3/4" long.

Then I simply used 5/16" stainless allen-head bolts and along with rubber and stainless washers under the rain tray, bolted them in place.

The holes Kirk drilled for the stainless rack that is an option on VS cars were almost perfect for the Reutter but I had to re-drill the top two holes using my rack as a guide.

I follow the 356 Registry daily (several times actually) and find my racks there. I usually get them for around $400 and sell them for $500 or more depending, single grills as I said earlier are becoming extremely rare.

There used to be replica/fake Reutter racks available but I've not seen them for years. What an opportunity - stamp them out of aircraft aluminum so they are both light weight and strong.  They could be polished, brushed or anodized.  Could even add a billet 3rd brake light assembly.

I love mine and I got it from Will  

WNGD, that rear seat/shelf is pretty small once you have both seats back all the way and the top folded down inside. We use it for a cooler and small soft Vespa bag for bathroom sundries and voila, room gone!