Living the 356 Dream

One of the best things is just banging around local roads and pretty scenery with a few 356s running along with you

by Jim Schrager

The Gathering of the Faithful. That’s what they used to call the annual meeting of 356 owners 30 years ago. Everyone got together, looked at each other’s cars, swapped tall tales, and generally just hung out. The title of the event was meaningful, because in the old days, you had to have faith to own a 356. Parts were harder to find with each passing month, most cars were rusty and patched together, and mechanics were inexorably losing interest in cars that were rarely driven.

You’d work all year just to get your car ready to make the annual trek, and even then, one of the more popular ways to spend time at the event was fixing hobbled 356s. Values were abysmally low, everyone was upside down in their cars, and when you wanted to sell one, you had to work hard to find someone who knew you and the car to move it. You really had to have “faith” to carry on,...