This was to us the cars of all 356 es.
I discovered it in the back of a second hand garage and the car was from an estate. It took me more than six months to purchase
This car was completely rebuild some 18 years ago end showed some signs of use especially the drivers seat. other than that I fitted a new battery and drove the car home.
The paint was Duco 300 and it took a lot of elbow grease and polish to get the car to look like it was just painted.
The braking system was completely rebuilt and the whole underpan repainted. The odd item was not original but this was soon rectified to get the car into a concourse winner. This car won quite a few trophies and was used on the Tour Du Cap.
The car was fitted with a 1600 Damen engine. Pushing out a full 60 Hp and that was good for a 100 mph which it could still achieve.
I acquired a 356 SC 95 HP engine and this fitted straight into the back of the A. Man what a car !!!!! it could do 115 mph and it was the closest to a 356 Carrera you could get.
The Tour du Cap was a tour of about 25 Porsche 356 es all the way from Randburg to Cape Town and back. The car never missed a beat!
We also did a tour to Lesotho to the Katse dam water works. Man! there was mountain passes that turned my knuckles white. This car still had the original drum brakes and on some of the up-hills we had to go to first gear!
The Driving impressions of the 356A Damen
Here are some of my impressions with regards to driveability You must keep in mind that the older cars should not be compared to the technology available today .
Performance :
This 58 Damen was not a racer in the beginning!. This car was a 60 HP 1600 and there was not a lot to get exited about with regards to performance. This car could do 100 MPH and run 80 MPH for very long stints. Until I found a 95 HP 356 SC engine!!! What a pocket rocket. This car changed entirely. This was a wolf in sheeps skin!!! The acceleration and performance was superb. This would be the closest to a 356 Carrera that you could get. It was a high revving engine and it liked to be in the high fives plus all the time. This car could run to 115 MPH (185 KMH) but then you could feel that this is extreme. I never run it at that speed for long stints and always on a quite Sunday morning on my way to a breakfast run.
Handling :
The 356 was good in this category. It got dangerous when cornering and the 95HP made power. You had to know what you are doing or else!!!
Braking ability :
The braking ability of this car was good and it could handle any high way traffic with no problem. The 95 HP engine took the brakes to the limit and you could see why the C’s had disks all round. You needed it!!
Overall:
This car was an 80 MPH cruiser. We did the tour down to Cape Town in it (1000 MILES)