AUTHOR    Roland & Romano

    ENGLISH

ISBN 10     no ISBN 10

ISBN 13     9781426907180

PRICE           $30.00    

LIST PRICE  $29.95

  

IN STOCK  @ BLOCKS BOOKS

FROM MY REVIEWS IN THE 356 REGISTRY:

Restored by Hand, by Ron Roland and edited by Bill Roman may well be the most significant book of the year.  Ron wrote for more than a decade the 356 Registry’s “Nuts and Bolts” column dealing with restoration.  Ron had always planned on putting his columns together as a book – which is why they were not included in either of the 356 Registry Technical & Restoration Guides. The first thing that strikes me is the cover – showing not only Ron’s America Roadster and his outlaw 356A but two other things important in Ron’s life:  he is wearing his Air Force flight jacket and his clerical collar.  Ron left the restoration business and writing has column became a minister.  Completing the cover is a veritable halo about Ron’s head.  Assuming the halo is man made and not some premature manifestation of being an angel, I am mystified by the crappy paper and horrible photographic reproduction.  Fortunately, among Ron’s talents is technical representation – the drawings are as crisp and informative as the (fortunately) few photographs are inscrutable.

At 256 pages, it’s not surprising that restoration is covered in greater depth than Jim Kellogg’s

Porsche 356 Guide to Do It Yourself Restoration.

Ron manages to knock off his Basics in 12 pages, including less than a page devoted to money and the problems of getting paid (The Restorer’s Perspective).  Editor Bill Romano  follows with  3 pages (The Restorer’s Perspective).  Ron points out that you shouldn’t just toss removed parts into a cardboard box.  Bill uses a Microsoft Office database to list every removed part with catalog part number, catalog illustration reference, brief description, condition and box number in which it is to be found and finally box location!  Ron’s recommended books as well as a recommended book purveyor: BLOCKS BOOKS (unfortunately using Silk, aka the fabulous Freda’s cell phone number).  Other out of date mentions are HCP as a source for Secrets of the Inner Circle and Karmann hardtops as being a plentiful and inexpensive model.

From page 12 through 120, Ron covers Getting Started, Chassis and Middle Metal Repairs.  Rather than tell you to replace longitudinals, Ron describes where to cut on your existing longitudinals and where to but weld the new sheet metal.  Ron has a coherent approach to restoration.  First, restore the doors, then refit the doors, assuring good gaps.  Then leave your car on its suspension using adaptors that bolt to the brake drums or disks on top and plug into jack stands on the bottom, thereby eliminating the stresses of a rotisserie and allowing recognition and correction of any change in door gaps as panels are removed and replaced. This approach is new to me but certainly seems to make sense.  Ron also espouses doing the car in sections.  A serendipitous result is that the book is useful for specific repairs.  If you are putting on a replacement roof – Ron has four approaches to installing a sunroof.  Correct orientation of the roof can be verified by use of the trailing quarter window -- it’s positioned correctly if you can bolt its top hinge to the new roof and the bottom hinge to the car.

Painting occupies pages 95-118.  Ron covers all of the available paint choices.  Those of us who know Ron are not surprised that he is opinionated:  “Yes this is a time consuming process. If you want to strip, prep, prime, sand, prime, fill, sand, prime, sand and paint your car in a weekend, you’re reading the wrong book.”  Or after espousing the virtues of HVLP painting systems Ron adds “The system we use is from Tip, but I really can’t recommend it. While we continue to successfully paint cars with it, the gun is clumsy and uncomfortable and very expensive.  Tip recently charged me $12 for a little 50 cent packing nut: and it came with attitude.”

Restorer extraordinaire Neil Goldberg had glanced at my review copy and commented that it was all on body work.  Actually the  major part of the book, pages 119-196, deals with Assembly.  Ron gives precise measurements for Speedster trim strips -- which differ between 540 & 356A.  That’s a very popular question on 356TALK.  Ron’s attention to details is astonishing.  Who knew early cars (1950-1953) have  trunk gasket corner plates with 3 holes, not 4 as with all the later cars.  It’s common knowledge that on late cars, the trunk gasket seal join is under the right corner plate – but on early cars the seal is two piece, front and rear, and the joins are half way down and have their own two screw two-screw aluminum plates!  Speedster, Convertible D and Roadsters have an amazingly amount of hand-crafting for a price leader car, and Ron describes how to put them back together.  In Assembly are 17 sub topics.  I oscillated between pride at knowing a subtle point and amazement at some new nugget.

The final chapters include Porsche Rods, pages 197-219.  Ron had written columns in the Registry about rods, or as now called, outlaws.  He has even built one – see it on the cover.  The penultimate chapter is the Appendix, a compilation of extended thoughts, including reprinted articles that don’t fit elsewhere.  Bill Romano adds a few pages of modifying a furniture dolly so that a motor may removed and lowered onto the dolly and the jack freed.  Final chapter is Sources.

The publisher, Trafford seems to be a variety of “on demand” (used to be called vanity) publisher with prices starting a $777.00.  Ron and Bill should have spent more – the book deserves better quality.  Nonetheless, this is a required book @ $29.95.  I am even getting an extra to give to my body man.

Good news:  Restored By Hand, written by former 356 Registry columnist Ron Roland and edited by Bill Romano, builder of the 356B/C Consolidated Catalog of Spare Parts has been published on much better, if not particularly classy paper than the edition I reviewed.  While I considered the book as an absolute must buy in spite of the paper and Photoshop® problems, I can now recommend it without reservation  -- the photographs help explain the text, rather than requiring that the text to explain them.  Several members, who apparently actually read my column, have been in touch with me asking how (where) to buy the book.  One of the problems of “on demand” book publishing is the really wretched discounts available.  Hence you won’t find Restored By Hand on Classic Motorbooks or Amazon websites.  It is available from Bill Romano – see ad that was in the last issue and hopefully is in this one – or of course BLOCKS BOOKS – see classified ad.

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