Porsche 356 Defined: A Pictorial Guide [Hardcover]

Brett Johnson (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: November 1996

Porsche 356, Guide to Do-it-Yourself Restoration has something for all 356 enthusiasts. Author Jim Kellogg covers everything an individual do-it-yourselfer needs to know to transform a rusty project car to a restored classic. The text is primarily focused for the prospective restorer unfamiliar with the nuances of the 356 Porsche and is presented in an easy-going, uncomplicated style with numerous photos. Advanced subject areas, such as major body repairs and adding a sunroof, will prove informative to those who have been around the block a couple times, as well. Topics covered include disassembly, paint & rust removal, structural & body repair, paint preparation, reassembly and final detailing. Information is also provided about locating a project car, long lead time items, reproduction vs. original parts, painter selection and project budgeting. There is even a section about swap meet etiquette! Capping it off are the most up to date chassis number listings and color charts. Even if you do not plan to take on your own carªs restoration, this book will help you understand the process and pitfalls, and is told by someone who has restored or repaired over eighty 356s in the past thirteen years. His insights and advice will assist in assessing the wisdom of embarking on the process or just knowing what to expect from the shop restoring your car.

--This text refers to an out of print or unavailable edition of this title.

Editorial Reviews

Book Description

Included in the 356 Defined are Porsche year-by-year model descriptions with attention to changes in details, both mechanical and cosmetic. The chassis number and color information, more accurate than available from the factory, is provided in easy to use charts. The text has been reviewed and approved by an impressive array of recognized 356 authorities worldwide. All models, from the commonplace to the very unusual are described and presented with full color photos of over 75 original and correctly restored 356 Porsches. Not only coupes, cabriolets and Speedsters, but Carreras, America Roadsters, even pushrod GTs are revealed in a way to simplify the incredibly complicated 356 lineage and nomenclature. Along the way, a number of established myths are challenged and the unique hand-built one-of-a-kind masterpiece Porsche 356 is transformed into a naturally evolving limited-production sports car.

--This text refers to the Paperback edition.

About the Author

The author, Dr. Brett Johnson has written three other Porsche authenticity guides and has been the restoration column editor in the 356 Registry magazine since 1975. This book is a logical extension of the previous work, The 356 Porsche, A Restorer's Guide to Authenticity. --This text refers to the Paperback edition.

Product Details

• Hardcover: 144 pages
• Publisher: Practice Ring (November 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0929758145
• ISBN-13: 978-0929758145
• Product Dimensions: 11.1 x 8.6 x 0.7 inches
• Shipping Weight: 2 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.2 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #754,892 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

5 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars A guide to get your hands dirty on a 356, October 13, 2005

By 

Eng Jose Dias (Lisbon, Portugal) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Porsche 356: Guide to Do-it-Yourself Restoration (Paperback)

It's a compreensive guide to do it yourself but in some tasks there are big steps that require a good backup from the reader to see all the picture. Has lots of important information on where to look at when buying or evaluating a 356 restoration project. I would recommend this book to everybody looking for a 356 restoration project and not necessarily in a DYI point of view.

16 of 27 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Not Just A High, June 2, 2002

By 

Karen A. Decoster (Detroit, MI) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Waiting to Inhale - The Politics of Medical Marijuana (Paperback)

Alan Bock, senior editorial writer for the Orange County Register, knows marijuana. Bock has covered California's medical marijuana initiative, Proposition 215, since the movement began in 1996. His book, Waiting to Inhale, gives its readers a smoking inside look at the forces behind the movement to give medical patients access to the legal use of marijuana.

Bock leads us through a journey that begins with his sporadic involvement covering hemp and marijuana reform issues, and centers on the campaign to pass Proposition 215, the Medical Marijuana Act.

In 1995, California patient-activists began the process to legalize the medical use of marijuana, and later enlisted the help of East Coast pros and big-money entrepreneurs such as George Soros. Facing opposition from just about every aspect of government, including most Federal, State, and local agencies, Proposition 215 passed, and the obstacle then became one of implementation in the face of bureaucratic and law enforcement tyranny.

The voters of California had spoken. And clearly, they decided that no drug enforcement issues should stand in the way of medical patients who found that smoking a joint -- in private, on their own property -- could bring pain relief and a better quality of life.

Immediately upon passage of the referendum, the drug war movement went into action. "Drug czar" General Barry McCaffrey threatened the arrest of doctors recommending marijuana; former czar William Bennett claimed stupidity on the part of the voting public for passing such a referendum; and the entire neocon-right asserted the for the children morality argument against "drugs".

The issue of implementation soon became a question of State's rights vs. federal usurpation of powers. Most staggering is the blatant abuse of federal powers in sustaining a block on the implementation of State laws through the use of bureaucratic and administrative procedures. In addition, the IRS promised to torment doctors prescribing marijuana while Orrin Hatch's Senate Judiciary Committee held hearings to battle the legality of the California law. Bill Clinton's bevy of antagonists included Janet Reno and Donna Shalala, both avowed leftists that clashed against their own kind; clearly, sustenance of a federal mastery over the behavior of its minions superceded a politically incorrect freedom-for-pot-smokers movement.

In continued opposition, the feds stood in the way of the use, distribution, and sale of medical marijuana. Federal controls on marijuana meant that California had passed a law but it could not be implemented by state agencies. In fact, the DEA raided medical marijuana distributors that adhered to state laws for the distribution of prescribed marijuana. Also, individuals were arrested at will for growing their own pot for their own prescribed use, which state law allowed. Therefore, the state was powerless against the feds.

Even where the feds were not present, some of the locals fought implementation, as judges and prosecutors and police made medical marijuana users favorite targets of judicial impediment. Local law enforcement was allowed to bust patient-growers, arrest doctors, and close down legal distribution centers. The problem was that the state Attorney General's office not only did not see to it that local law enforcement didn't run hog wild with a despotic harassment methodology, but rather, they stood by while these thugs broke down doors and arrested legal medicinal users.

Bock oftentimes points out that there was never much grass roots opposition standing in the way of medical marijuana consent. Everywhere there are polls on this issue, voters overwhelmingly support the use of medical marijuana. After all, most people have the ability to discern that individuals have the right to alleviate pain, even if that includes using non-typical methods not approved by the assorted government bureaucracies.

Overall, Bock does an admirable job of making the case for State's rights and the necessity for judicial decisions to uphold a legally passed state law in the face of federal resistance. However, he is almost too nice in taking up a whole lot of space to sustain the argument that smoking marijuana doesn't lead to the increased use of illicit drugs. Whether or not this is the case, the decision to ingest particular foods or smoke certain substances is one that only an individual can make, for no government can make these decisions for us without sustaining tyranny over our lives. Medical marijuana is compassionate, yes, but it is also a liberty that should not have to be decided by federal or state bureaucrats, or even our neighbors.

The outcome of this entire bloody drug war is that Americans no longer have control over their own lives. In fact, they are economically raped to provide for the bureaucrat's warfare machine. Bock quotes Thomas Szasz as saying, "the American 'war on drugs' represents merely a new variation in humanity's age-old passion to 'purge' itself of its 'impurities' by staging vast dramas of scapegoat persecutions."

Indeed, the trampling of individual rights will continue. Knowing how warped our government is in terms of its insidious War on Drugs, don't expect to legally toke anytime soon, suffering or not.

13 of 23 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars A Timely and Exeptional Work, March 15, 2001

By 

chris_bieber (California) - See all my reviews

This review is from: Waiting to Inhale - The Politics of Medical Marijuana (Paperback)

Mr. Bock addresses both the political and philosophical argument in favor of freedom, both medical and political, in this consise book. He was evidently on the front lines and his reporter-like analysis is thorough and researched. All legislators, especially so-called "conservatives" need to get a copy of this book and read what it means to have the people stand for what they believe and work towards that goal peacefully and legally, and to see what government and its agents really do to stifle freedom and kill people. Please tell your friends about this book...