Photography: Ben Moment
additional photo
Bringing back a vintage sports car is rarely ever an easy and fast proposition. Some auto restorations are cosmetic only. A shiny paint job could hide all kinds of catastrophes with the body and the chassis, while a drivetrain on its last legs is typically quite easy to spot. The satisfaction realized from restoring a vintage automobile from the ground up and bringing that prized vehicle back to life is immense.
A Medical Doctor by profession, Bob Cannon knows from firsthand experience how daunting a ground up, rotisserie restoration can be. In 1999, Bob bought a 1964 Porsche 356 Coupe and initially intended to give it a cosmetic freshening before using it as an occasional driver. The car wasn't running when he bought it, but it was all there and looked solid. The car wore black paint and had a replacement SC engine equipped with Weber carbs. Once Bob realized a cosmetic renew wouldn't do, he did some research on this beauteous little Porsche Coupe from its serial number, 131040. Specifically, 131040 is a 1964 Porsche 356 Reutter Sunroof Coupe that left the Zuffenhaussen, Germany Porsche factory in August of 1964 and was first sold in Dusseldorf, Germany. What eventually would be Cannon's Coupe initially came equipped with Irish Green paint 6406; light brown cord upholstery; Blaupunkt mono radio, speakers and antenna; electric sunroof; chrome luggage rack and black koko mats.
The next five years of the Dusseldorf delivered Irish Green sports car are shrouded in mystery. She was first registered in California in 1969. Bob has the original black plate California license plate, circa '69 to prove it. Regrettably, the next 30 years of the Porsche's life are also unknown as of this writing. We are just aware that the 356 spent these years in Santa Cruz and Northern California, until the Cannon consortium ponied up the cash in '99 and purchased the Reutter Coupe from a man who resides in Durham, CA (a small town close to Chico).
additional photo
Though this may sound more like a singing group from the early days of Rock 'n Roll, a gaggle of females known as the Girl Greasers formed in 2000 with the intent of tidying up the little black beauty and making the Porsche an occasional driver. With plans to do some minor tinkering and repairing, the Girl Greasers removed the engine and transaxle. By doing so, the Greasers and Dr. Cannon became aware of some pretty considerable structural damage and body rust that the Coupe had suffered over its long and well driven life. Disenchanted, Dr. Cannon and the Girl Greasers gave way to being downright disgruntled with the German built sporting machine. They left the little looker to languish in the corner of the garage for a few years before the Greasies (in name only) and the Doctor declared that the Porsche project should be started anew.
Those Girl Greasers are a creative contingent of five women, who aspired to renewing the Cannon's 356 Coupe. That non-stock black paint however, hid some major body panels that were so rusted they were unrepairable. The Greasers didn't have the welding equipment or the desire to weld in a new floor panel. Thankfully, Bob's home shop is well equipped with the welding gear and most all the tools to work on the 356. He expertly welded the floorpan in and applied epoxy primer to keep the pan rust free. Led by Dawn Perry, the Greasers also included Bob's wife Elaine, Mary Geil, Sheila Jaceti and Ayleen O'Connell. They certainly helped in the dismantling of the car and also identified the challenges with the old Porsche.
Problems with the outer body panels also ensued. The Coupe had apparently been involved in a shunt to the front of the car sometime ago in its history. Found on one of the front fenders was 3/4 inches of bondo that actually filled in a concave dent that hadn't even been pounded back to the proper shape from the inside of the fender. Dr. Cannon performed the appropriate metal surgery and coaxing on the front fenders. As for the rear fenders, they had survived over 40 years without any sort of damage, although there was a fair amount of cancer rust in the engine compartment, which the owner also carefully resolved.
additional photo
More areas of refurbishing included the bottoms of both doors. The doors were original to the car, and it showed. Significant metal was rusted right through at the bottom. Bob's masterful metalworking and epoxy primering solved these cancer issues here as well. Of course, he used lead around all the panel gaps to provide 3.5 mm openings all the way around prior to primer and paint. Also due to rust, Bob used a donor hood's metal skin to re-skin the original hood's metal frame and adroitly welded the donor hood's unmolested metal skin onto the original hood frame.
After all the bodywork, epoxy primer and block sanding was done, it was high time to bring back the Porsche's original topcoat hue of Irish Green. Kim Nelson and the owner, with the assistance and expertise of Jason Haskin in his Roseville paint shop/booth laid down the luscious Irish Green hue mixed from Glasurit single stage 22 line paint that was color matched to a door jamb on the Coupe. This took place in August 2008.
As anyone will tell you, who has seen the Cannon's Coupe, the paintwork is exceptionally well-done. The car looks like it just came out of a time capsule, which was sealed and buried in Dusseldorf, circa 1964. The drivetrain now needed addressing. Ted Blake out of Sacramento professionally rebuilt the transmission, which is original to the car. He replaced the bearings, the synchros, the ring-gear carrier, the ring-gear bolts and seals. To enhance the sealing of the case, Ted utilized transmission tube stiffeners. He also modified a 911 bearing and used it as a clutch-release bearing, thereby greatly beefing up that critical component. Ted's work all done, he filled the trans case with Swepco 90-weight gear oil.
We mentioned previously that the original engine to the car, #732592, was at some point in its past replaced by an SC mill, #811112. Bob and Ted Blake rebuilt this engine to stock and made that SC engine run righteously well. They fired it up and ran it on the test stand in September 2009.
additional photo
Before reinstalling the rebuilt drivetrain into the 356, Bob used SKS undercoating over the seam-sealed and DP90 epoxy primer. He then covered the bellypan and engine bay, indeed the entire undercoated metal surfaces with Rust O-Leum Satin Black paint, which as you can imagine, sealed away any chance that rust would be coming back to visit the Porsche anytime soon.
Once Mr. Cannon and crew had the Coupe's engine and trans back in the car, they sent the Porsche seats to Autos International in Escondido to have the seats reupholstered. Meanwhile, Bob installed the Autos International headliner, the tan leather upholstery and the black koko mats. Cannon's cadre of Coupe caretakers checked and rechecked all their re-wiring work before firing up the renewed engine for the first time in the car.
additional photo
Finally finished on October 2, 2010, this date was one day before the 356's premier show, the Niello Concours at Serrano. At their first Concours, the Cannons collected a Best in Class, which was a fitting payback for their long and painstaking Porsche's resplendent restoration.
Redline Review first had the opportunity to meet Dr. Bob Cannon, his wife Elaine and their epically renewed '64 Reutter Coupe at the 2011 Carmel By the Sea On the Avenue Concours. We knew the moment we saw the Porsche that there was a worthy tale of toil, filled with prodigious care and craftsmanship to be told behind the restoration of this vintage German sports car. In addition to the car's current caretakers, there were numerous people involved with the project that the Cannons wish to thank. Kudos go out to Jim Hardie, Ted Blake, Kim Nelson, Jim McMahen, Bill King, Jason Haskin, Bob Murray, Paul Frame and the aforementioned Girl Greasers.
additional photo
additional photo
| Redline Review & the Child Rescue Network Redline Review is dedicated to providing the absolute best in automotive enthusiast media coverage, while at the same time raising awareness of the worthy cause of finding missing children and reuniting them with their families. We've already helped in finding five missing kids. Let's all work together to finding many more. If you would like to help, please visit the Child Rescue Network. You might be only a click away from helping to rescue a child. |  |
This article is dedicated to Jessica Vargas Beatriz, a 9 year old girl that has been missing since 17 April, 2002. Any information, please contact Sanford PD at (407) 322-4141 Jessica Vargas Beatriz Missing from Sanford, FL 11/4/06 DOB 4/17/2002 Hair Black Eyes Brown Note: CRN believes Jessica may be in the company of Leticia Beatriz Martinez |  |
