John Shade's 1965 Porsche 356 is something to behold. The elegant simplicity of its design is something lacking in today's cars, and something that can't be captured in still photos is the beautiful sound it makes as it rounds into fourth and the speed picks up. John has done all of the work on the car himself, save for the painting, and his interest in restoring all types of old vehicles is evident by the collection assembled on his front lawn and driveway.
Here's what John has to say about the history of the vehicle:
The car is a 1965 Porsche 356c (despite the badging that says SC which a previous owner added) and was originally delivered to Los Angeles, California. This was the final year of production of the 356 and production of the first 911's was already underway. This car was owned by at least two different owners (probably more) in California and eventually sold and exported to Europe in 1996. Service records for the car go back to the 1980's and include an engine replacement and rebuild. At one time in its life - likely the 1970's or early 80's the car was involved in a significant crash with evidence of major repair work found on the right side of the car which had also prompted its first repaint.
We purchased the car in August 1996 from the company in the Netherlands that had imported it, and did some suspension and engine work on it. We drove it regularly around Amsterdam and the Bussum-Hilversum area of the country. At times it even had two of our youngest children in the tiny back seats!
The car was imported into Canada in the summer of 1999 when our family returned to Canada from a five year stint overseas. It was driven very occasionally in 2003-2004 and then stored as it needed engine work and restoration. In January of 2016 the body restoration finally began with a complete stripping of the car to bare metal and replacement of part of the right front fender and rust repairs in a number of areas including the doors and hood. The floor pan on the car remains the original. The paint on the car was completed in August 2016 and reassembly continued through the winter into 2017. Bodywork and paint was performed by Phil Walker at what is now "Twisted Metal Garage and Paint shop" in Carleton Place. The interior of the car is largely original, particularly the seats which have never been reupholstered and all door panels and vinyl which are as delivered in 1965 !
In summary, the Shade family has owned the car for almost half its life and intends to keep it within the family indefinitely !