It was an extraordinarily rust free T1, almost completely unmodified normal whose owner had recently moved from the far southwest of the U.S. to Tennessee. It was not pristine by many country miles but it had never been abused. It had simply been driven some very large, unknown number of miles. The steering gear box was so worn that I stopped twice on the February evening drive home to check the rural two-lane pavement for invisible black ice just to be sure that, in fact, the mystery vectors were the car's idea, and not due to the road's condition.

Good friend and first-order air-cooled Porsche expert Jim Watson spent about 15-20 silent minutes going over the car and then said, to my absolute pleasure and relief, because if I had been mistaken he would have told me so in no uncertain terms, "It's all here." Exhale. I'll never forget that sentence. Exactly what I had wanted to find; an all here, all honest patina, around the world 8 or more times, straight, '57 356A coupe for Karen to drive another large number of miles.

Jim re-built the engine, front suspension and brakes and I think, perhaps, the car got his last Hauserman clutch. I cleaned and repaired many interior bits. Jim pulled a working Becker and face plate , a flawless chrome oval speaker rim and one or two other OUO (old used original) bits from his magic hat. I polished on the badly oxidized in the desert sun, incorrect color, clear top-coat, probably late '70s repaint, for a really, really long time. Then I simply paid a real restorer with a down-draft booth and oven to make it nice. Had it been the original paint I'd still be fussing with it. . I live way out on the far edge of Preservationville.
 

In spite of wrong color, missing bumper bits, Bursch exhaust, gravel and bug splats it's been on the peoples'/participants' show podium a couple of times. Most notably was the 2nd regional PCA National Corvette Museum Visit when the organizer insisted the car be parked just-so, exactly in front of the museum. It took 356 class 2nd and appeared foreground in the photo in Pano's subsequent event article - road dust and bugs and all.

It travels far too many miles per year to qualify for the special insurance or the antique plates. I do the routine service and I've got an old tube of distributor cam lube I am determined to use up and this car is now the tube's only consumer.

In a recent year a track day opportunity arose. During the day Jim Watson, who is also a championship quality driver with a race resume reaching back to when this car was new, drove it a half a dozen laps. Honestly, I am no stranger to corner speed, but I'd no idea at all of the capabilities of a 356A normal on proper size Michelin tires in the hands of a truly fast 356 guy. I wouldn't trade that ride for anything.

The gift? Success. The marriage is well into the middle 30s now and the car was out on our local two-lane-twisties for a couple of hours this sunny, anniversary morning. The car and the owner share a sort of mystery genius ability for linking mile after mile of very precise, very pretty, late apex lines.