GatorDoc

Thank you gentlemen. Zepher.... I appreciate your advice. I am a member of about every 356 club you can name plus many that you may have never heard of. But I was unable to get a good answer from the "gold standard club" the 356 Registry members. It amazes me how many people have restored 356's and yet have no idea what is in their seats. Most of the early 356 guys ( pre A or T1 A cars) are long gone. I will say the bulk of the seating material has been horse hair( coconut husk). I did finally got an answer from one of the guru's in early 356 restoration who is located in the Netherlands. He said.... " The cotton is original. The same material was used in various other parts of the interior. It is also sewn into the seats between the vinyl/leather and the backing forming the “rows”

Much thanks guys.

Bloo, Thank you for the comments. You may be correct. It is definitely from a 1956 Porsche back seat upper. Question is, was this added many years late?. It did not appear to have ever been opened but it was the only seat component thus far that was not made from molded horse hair( coconut husk?) over springs with jute ties. The horse hair is unavailable here as well. I recently recieved a shipment from Belgium that is spot on. G

Thank you gentlemen.

Hey guys, I am in the process of restoring a 1956 Porsche 356A coupe. I am restoring the interior currently and am struggling to source this type batting(?). I suppose it is called batting but am unsure. It appears to be multiple colored scraps and strings mixed in with the predominantly grey material. I want to avoid foam and go back with something similar but have been unsuccessful finding this material. I have found “sheets” that resemble it but what I am removing appears to be loose. Many thanks in advance for your time and advice. G

Thank you much for the advice and suggestions. There are quite a few professional places that restore them and I very likely may utilize their services soon. I have been doing much of the work myself but you are correct, prices are astronomical. To the point where I often will tell some one its an early VW part being repaired rather than a Porsche. Typically the price halves😀. I have included a picture of mine. It is the an early 1957 Porsche 356 1600 Super Coupe that came out of Arizona. It began life on 02.07.1957 and is the last of the T1's ( the bee hive tail lights) as the T2's ( cats eye tail lights) started production in mid 1957. I am restoring it back to original colors....... black exterior with a green leather interior ( how 1950's is that?). Here is is picture of the stripped body heading off to get prepped for paint. And Graham Man.....thats a beautiful car. Hang on to it as the aircooled stuff is still going crazy. Thank you again for all your help J

Guys, I am a little embarrassed. I totally missed the topic on painting letters a few below mine. Getting old sucks sometimes. I have tried the hypodermic needle to no avail. Paint crayon it is. Carry on Gentlemen J

Hey guys, I am fairly new to the forum and would love some opinions/advice etc.... I am currently restoring the gauges on my 1957 Porsche 356. They are VDO gauges and over all in very good shape. I disassembled, cleaned, and partially re-assembled before noticing that the paint on the odometer numbers was very brittle and flaking off. I want to repaint but am struggling a bit. The numbers are originally a flat white with the background of the wheel a flat black. The wheel is made of machined aluminum with each number completely debossed into the body of the wheel. I have no problems painting one or the other but when I attempt both, I loose the crisp lines. I have a pretty steady hand and the correct paint/brushes but when I remove the slight overpaint of white ( usually with a exact-o-knife) it removed the underlying black as well. Leaving me with shiny aluminum. Its to small for me to attempt to cut out numbers or tape them off. Any ideas? I included a few pictures. In the first, you can see the wheel unassembled, if you look carefully you will see how poor the condition of the odometer paint is. The second picture is a single wheel by a ruler to give you a reference for size. Thank you, J

Looks like late 50's Borgward Isabella G