Sep 15 2017 1956 Porsche Speedster Author: evh-admin (Click on any image below to view larger size.) This is a 1956 Porsche Speedster owned by the same person since he raced it in the late 60’s, early 70’s. He stripped the car completely, had it chemically stripped of paint and e-coated before it came to me. The semi-gloss black makes it very clear as to the straightness of the body. There was quite a bit to be done. As you can see, there was no floor and both longitudinals were gone. A number of braces were required to make it stable enough to put it on a rotisserie. The next few pictures show the longitudinals being rebuilt. Here the lower edge of the front bulkhead is replaced. The floor then attaches to it. The next several pictures show how a damaged area is replaced. All body patches are butt welded together. They are then hammer and dollied into final shape as needed. Here is a prime example of how well some replacement parts fit when received. Most fit better but virtually all of them need fitting. The metal work is coming along. A nice straight body line all the way down. While the door fit is very good, there is still hand work that needs to be done on the rear quarter. This repair will take a bit more work. The headlight bucket must fit in tight and even. First the round contour is created and fit. Some of the old metal is still there for reference. The rest of the damaged metal is removed and a new piece is made. The next several pictures show how each piece must be made to fit. Tacked in place until they are all ready for complete welding. The passenger side door was not original. That meant the door opening had to be made to fit the door. They were made by hand when new. To get the same caliber of fit, they have to be hand made again. Everything must be test fit before any body and paint work can begin. Here the side Speedster spear holes are laid out. Most people will not show any body filler being used. These pictures show how little is actually used when the panels are done. Again, a minimum of filler is used to round out the contour. Epoxy and high build primer are used to fill small imperfections that will be removed during block sanding. A guide coat is applied to show the hi and low spots as the body is being blocked. This is where the body becomes very straight. A rare 80 liter gas tank is fitted. Body lines are checked again during the blocking stage. Finish details. The body in a base/clearcoat system. The body is masked off for undercoating. The clearcoat has been completely sanded down before polishing. The wheel wells are masked to keep them clean while polishing. It is ready to go back to the customer.