The start of my Pre 55 build

I also decided to make my own gauge set for the car. I'm not happy about putting repopped garbage in the car that cost me a 1/4 of my monthly salary, so I bought a set of auto gauge units that I have gutted down that will be mounted in new casings and will be retrimmed with new bezels and glass. Total cost will be under $100. 

The tach will keep its shift light, but I'm going to vintage it and make it look like a VDO rally style doo-dah, no idea on that yet as it's not a priority, but it's stewing somewhere. 

Really cool, Gary. Please keep us updated on the progress.

You have some great ideas for your car, Gary! Looking forward to watching the progress you make with this project. Based on what we've seen of your skills I have no doubt it will turn out fantastic. 

Gary:

I've given this URL to Rich, the guy who's '55 I photographed.  He got such a kick out of someone trying to replicate a Pre-A that closely, especially his!  When I told him where you lived he was really surprised...  

Here's a shot of Rich, his wife, Valerie, and me at the Saratoga, NY, Porsche gathering last June - "Western Night" at the saloon.  The guy behind me is Len, and he owns one of the few other Speedster Replicas in the club (out of a lot of "original" 356's).

Keeps those Photos coming!!!

If you really want a Pre-A dash, buy a 'start' button.  I was able to order one for my new build.

This is a rough out of my dash (not with correct instruments, etc.) but you can see the start button on the right side, above the ignition key.

I ordered it from Sierra Madre in the U.S.  Thanks to Gordon for his information on the start button.

Geez, I never thought those few photos and model specs would become so popular!

At least I'll have something to talk about when I stop by Rich's shop on some of my bicycle rides.

Can't wait to see both of your cars when you get them on the road.

gn

Gary, if you want to sell your 912 tach, let me know.....

Hey Danny, sorry man, but it was sold off a while ago. 

Good weekend, learnt a lot about Fibreglass and how to bend it without screwing it up once it's cured. 

Getting a 5mm piece of fibreglass to sit in place was a mission until my buddy showed me how to bend it. The panel was held into place with tape and glassed on with cottonflocks, I dig this stuff. Basically grinded up fibreglass matt thats mixed with resin and hardener. Kinda like kitti litter without the bondo. 

I have some minor filling to do with cotton flocks and then I'll lay a sheet over the back of the panel, just to stiffen everything up and then I can start with layout of the gauges and switches.

All the holes filled up, all the old badges and trim removed. I want to be able to start on a clean slate. I have a lot of cleaning up to do and then also run the grinder once across the dash to get it level and then a light skim of Bondo. Before all of this, I do however have to cut out the hump for the steering column. 

Yeah Gord...........it bit me and bit me hard...without this place, I'd had zero access to anything such as what you got for me. 

I'm going with the switch for the ignition, but I'll source it locally as $100 is just too nuts to get it from overseas. I've managed to get the 3 idiot lights locally, that are almost exactly the same as the US ones for $7 for all 3. 

So a few updates have since happened. Gauges are still being built and we are closer on that, but I've been using the down time to finish some more stuff. 

Dash is cleaned and is now ready for finishing. 

So work started on the headlight drop. South African speedsters came out with the headlights higher to conform with some BS law that isn't followed anymore. So many of the locals just swap out the whole nose of their cars to get the look. This also includes the boot section, but seeing that I have a radiator there, I decided that this was a massive cost that I didn't really need to spend. 

That shows you how much higher our lights sit this side of the pond. 

Glassed up from the inside with Cotton Flocks

Start to finish as well as measuring about 50 times look me about 5 hours and that includes the drying time for the first layer of cotton flocks. I've worked with fibreglass for a few years now and it's great having someone give you tips on how to get it that little bit neater and that little bit cleaner. 

SO this morning I couldn't' wait to get out to the garage and pull back the tape to see how good/ bad it look and how I needed to fix it.....lol. 

Here you can see how close the joins actually are and how small the gaps actually were that we had to fill with the cotton flocks. I'll still be grinding the back and laying up a single layer of chop mat to get it super strong. 

So what was I going for?

This damn little gap at the top of the headlights. Was it worth it?............Oh HELL yes. 

Very nice work!  Well done.

About to start the next stage. Rear seat graft. This was one part that was just easier to have the shop build, than to do it myself. 

http://www.speedstars.plus.com...ex_files/Page421.htm    this link should be of interest!

My rear seat section finally has been completed by the shop. Should be grafted in next weekend if all goes well.