My 356-owning days took a hiatus until early 2003 when, somewhat older and with money in the bank, I began searching for a solid T2 A coupe. My friend Barry Brisco had recently purchased his first 356 and together we spent months scouring ads online and off. Barry's "daily A update" emails became a regular fixture in my inbox. It seemed there were always a scattering of T2 coupes for sale, but very few that didn't require some level of major attention.

Finally, Barry heard through John Audette that another Porsche collector in Bend, Oregon, named Fred Nielsen had a very nice 59 coupe, VIN 106152, that he was considering selling. Fred owned several 356s, including a newly restored, stunning, black/beige sunroof A coupe, which meant he had two A coupes. Lucky guy to have a "spare"! He invited me to come take a look. I flew to San Francisco and Barry and I arose at 5am to drive eight and half hours to Bend to see the car. There we were warmly greeted by Fred and John, and spent the rest of the day viewing their fabulous Porsche collections as well as driving, poking, and prodding Fred's 59 coupe.

The car was impressive, numbers matching, 100,000 documented original miles with mostly original upholstery, new paint (red, not the original silver), and was a blast to drive with its high-powered Shasta Designs-built engine. Plus the original engine went with the car. We tooled around Fred's neighborhood with him constantly urging us, "Come on, step on it!." When you're driving someone else's 356, someone you've just met, you may be hesitant to floor the accelerator on residential streets but Fred wanted us to really see what the car could do. So we did.

I wanted to make Fred an offer on the spot, but the mature side of my brain said, "You should be a responsible adult and sleep on it, you can decide tomorrow, the car isn't going anywhere!" So we got a hotel room in Bend and told Fred we would call him first thing in the morning. I knew I was going to buy the car, but didn't call Fred that evening as he had said he was going to be out.

The next morning we drove back to Fred's house bright and early. He opened the door and minutes later told us a sad tale: last night, on his way back home and driving his beautiful black sunroof A coupe, a full-grown deer jumped onto the road directly in front of him. He swerved to the left and the deer slammed into the right front fender, missing going through the windshield by inches. His wife was in the passenger seat but was unharmed. Fred was still shaken up by the experience. The car had significant damage to the fender, bumper, overrider, and hood. Whether the frame was bent or not had yet to be determined.

The upshot was that he had changed his mind about selling the red A coupe. He needed to evaluate the damage to the black A coupe and determine which car he would keep. I was stunned: a 17-hour roundtrip and no car to show for it. If I had closed the deal yesterday, the car would be mine! We drove home, dejected.

Fortunately, six months later all ended happily: Fred had his black coupe restored back to perfection, and he sold me the red coupe. I have replaced the rear fender brackets, stripped the entire underbody to bare metal and repaired some small rust areas, sprayed new undercoating and painted it, and cleaned and painted all the suspension components. Andial Road and Racing installed aftermarket front disc brakes and a dual master cylinder from Classic & Speed Parts, as well as new Koni shocks. The original drum brakes will stay with the car. The current wheels are original Carrera steel/aluminum.

The COA shows the car came with only one option, US bumpers, and was originally painted silver. Eventually I plan to take the car back to silver, but for now I'm having too much fun driving it to go through that process. I'm also busy restoring a 63 B Super 90 coupe (German delivery, has Euro heater) that I purchased in 2005 from the second owner. But that's another story...

Paul Sowa
Irvine, California
Registry Member #16387