Porsche 356 Restoration Shops

[Queila Neubecker]

Feel free to stop by our shop during normal business hours to look over our current inventory of Porsche 356, 911 and 912 models available for sale, or to view current restoration projects in progress. If you are seeking a consultation for a restoration project, please call us for an appointment with one of our restoration experts.

The utmost care will be taken with your Porsche upon arrival to evaluate the vehicle and determine all items that need to be addressed, if any, to recondition your car to peak resale presentation. CPR has created checklists for the various models to record car condition upon receipt and to help the owner understand the car's flaws, if any.

CPR Classic, in most instances, will perform all of the work required to your Porsche with no up-front, out-of-pocket costs. All advertising, detailing and preparation are included in our consignment service. All major repairs, if any, will be discussed with and approved by the client prior to CPR performing any work.

Once reconditioning (if required) is complete, your Porsche will receive an extensive photo shoot covering all bases including the undercarriage. The photos will then be professionally edited and published on the CPR Classic website along with multiple third-party advertising companies that we work with.

Ask about our Guaranteed Sales Program. We will purchase your car for a pre-agreed price in the event it did not sell during the agreed consignment period. Call our Sales Department today for further details about this and all other programs available for selling your car.

CPR Classic performs comprehensive Pre-Purchase Inspections. Because we have complete body and mechanical shops where we perform our remanufactured quality restorations, we are uniquely qualified to perform a PPI on any Porsche. Our mechanics are among the best in the business. They are intimately familiar with each and every mechanical system on early Porsches. Each day they rebuild and assemble early Porsches from the shell up.

Our body men are equally as talented. Most of the cars that they encounter on a daily basis are dismantled to the shell and completely restored to factory specifications. As such they are intimately familiar with every nut and bolt on every early Porsche.

Most shops specialize in either the body or the mechanicals. Body men are not good at analyzing mechanicals, and mechanics are not very good at analyzing bodies. This necessitates taking your car to 2 shops, an inconvenience nobody needs.

We can help you find a Porsche restoration shop that matches your specific needs. Each section below, outlines the type of restoration work and shops that are recommended to match your restoration needs.

Restoration is essentially taking an older Porsche and bringing it back to life. A restoration is typically completed with original factory parts where they are available. In the case of no part being available, some shops will remanufacture parts to match the originals and fill the gaps. A simple restoration goal will end up with a completed car pretty much exactly as it left the factory.

Our interest in writing a post specifically about Porsche restorations began when we got feedback from readers about our greatest Porsches ever and best Porsche 911s lists. Readers told us we should include the Singer Porsche car on our lists since modifying Porsches is part of the culture and that those custom Porsches are much a reflection of the brand as are the over one million production Porsche 911s that the company itself has made. We agree. Rather than include them in those top lists however we decided to dedicate a few posts to Porsche tuners, restomodders and restorers.

Porsches have always been popular cars for tuners and race teams looking to take a solid, top performing sports car and make it faster and more unique. One of the great things about models like the 356 and the 911 is just how easy the platforms are to modify and tune (especially the air-cooled generation where many parts are interchangeable).

More recently the restoration, restomodding and outlaw Porsche scene has absolutely exploded. Want your Porsche with a bit of classic flair but with totally new technology, then companies like Singer and a host of other restomodders can help. Want a Concourse level restoration of your early 911 or 356, then there are shops who have been doing it for decades that are busier than ever. It seems like everyone and their mother is creating, restoring and restomodding Porsche 911s or claims to be an approved Porsche restoration shop.

Whatever your style or desires, the decision to restore a car (or buy a restored car) is a serious commitment of time and capital. It is very important for you to determine what you would like to do with the car in the future and how you intend to use it. That, along with the available budget will determine the level of restoration you will choose and the type. We did some research and found an awesome selection of companies who restore and tune Porsches, each with a different approach, focus and price point. We are confident somebody on our list of the best Porsche restorations shops and restomodders is the right fit for your desires. Check them out, but first a primer about Porsche restoration.

This is basically what we describe above. Taking a Porsche and bringing it back to life with all (or most) of the original factory parts. The main thing to note here is that just like there are different types of restorations there are also different quality restorations even when you are just trying to bring things back to production level. The type of restoration level you want is largely dictated by your budget and what you plan on doing with your car. The broad levels we will describe here are Full Concourse, Show quality and Driver level.

These cars are perfect. A full concourse car means returning a car to its original factory condition. If you are building a full concourse car for show judging then your aim is to have the vehicle win top honors in its class at a formal concourse show. Candidly if you are building or buying a concourse level car then you are buying a piece of art and you are not driving it anymore. These are cars that are taken to events in closed trailers and are stored in temperature and atmosphere controlled environments. At this level, a restoration is about strict original authenticity.

A lot of people think that this is the kind of restoration they want until money is mentioned. The level of master artisan and the thousands of hours needed to compete these cars means they are often out of reach for most collectors. We are talking the top 1%. Stories of restorations on very rare cars that have cost multiple million dollars is not uncommon.

Show quality restored cars look amazing. In fact, except for close inspection these cars look close to Level 1 Concourse cars. Up close these cars fall short (a little). The finish may show evidence of machine sanding and other defect in the paint or chrome and trim may not be perfect or non-original parts are used. This is a restoration suited for cars that are not collectible or rare and is more than enough for most car collectors.

A show quality car like this could place well in its class at most car shows, but would not do well at the biggest and highest acclaim shows (mainly because it would be competing against Level 1 cars). These cars definitely get driven often and is the perfect balance between wowing observers and still be a usable car.

Known as street level restorations this is what we typically see most often. These cars look great but the details are different than level 1 or 2 restorations. Typically, all deteriorated steel is replaced, door and panel gaps would still be nearly perfect and the use of minimal plastic body filler would be appropriate. Components that function would be refinished but not necessarily rebuilt. This kind of job may involve the use reproduction parts and interior seat and panel kits. These cars are mechanically sound and cosmetically attractive and are definitely cars that are used a lot by their owners. Everything works as it is supposed to and the owner can be confident of returning home after an enjoyable day. The car looks good and an appreciative audience will always gather around wherever the car stops.

The restomod is a relatively recent phenomenon (in terms of popular culture). These cars are all about mixing old with new, creating the best of both worlds. Typically it means taking classic styling with modern comfort, performance and reliability. Instead of using production parts, restomods use new parts designed to fit in stock locations. This way, the builder can add modern performance but also return the car to its stock state by refitting the original parts. What started as a few niche pieces like air conditioning kits and digital gauges has transformed into an aftermarket industry that provides parts to make classics truly usable as daily drivers and long-distance cruisers.

Like A restomod car has the timeless appearance of the original, but the outdated guts of the car have been replaced with the more modern, high-performance parts of today. You achieve the same great look, but your vintage car will be revved up with all the latest bells and whistles to create a much better ride for the owner.

Restomodding Porsches has skyrocketed in popularity in the last ten years. You can thank companies like Singer Vehicle Design who re-defined what an old 911 could be. The range of price points is quite wide in the restomodding space and as it matures as a restoration segment we are seeing companies pick niches they focus on. For over $500,000 you can buy a 964 based Singer Vehicle Designs Porsche or a 993 based Gunther Werks 400R. For a few hundred thousands dollars there are many shops that will sell you an off the shelf restomod or shops that will customize a restomod just for you.

The engine is a 4.0-liter naturally aspirated flat six worked on by Williams (yes, the F1 guys) and is good for 500 horsepower at 9,000 RPM. The motor boasts lightweight throttle bodies with supposedly F1-inspired upper and lower injectors, a unique oil lubrication system and it has dual overhead cams and four valves per cylinder. The suspension was also optimized by Williams.

c80f0f1006