1955 Porsche 356 Pre-A Speedster Full Restoration | Classic Fabrications

In this video, we show you a major 3 year restoration of a 1955 Porsche 356 Pre-A Speedster. This vehicle came to us from Switzerland in a very bad state (a lot of people would consider it too far gone) but we were confident that we could bring this iconic Porsche back to its former glory.
This video details all of the major metal, engine, transmission and paint work completed to the vehicle and shows the extensive changes made to the body in order to be correct to the original dimensions of a Pre-A Speedster. A large amount of original parts were sourced for this car from all over the world in order to keep the maximum originality possible, a true no expense spared restoration.
The large majority of this project was completed solely in house by our specialist team and all metalwork was completed by Steve Kerti, Owner of Classic Fabrications and Porsche Specialist.
If you would like to see more videos like this in the near future, please subscribe to our channel for the latest updates on our current projects and make sure to follow us on all of our social media accounts! Many thanks for watching!
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[@ClassicFabrications]

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[@paolozampieri2691]

@The Frank BS Show those 97 own a Prius or a Tesla!

[@merikahani1648]

Sir you are doing great work upload more videos so that world knows more about your workmanship. And it will be easier for the classic car owners to reach out to you...

[@ilikefishing7858]

absolutely incredible work! love seeing British craftsmen at work. 👍🏼

[@alprhyudhy6220]

It's just a picture. Not really interestinf to watch. I though it was a video

[@pepevonkek7803]

Where is Classic Fabrications located at? I would like to come and kiss the golden hands of those masters!

[@lorenzogattaldo3764]

You're quite humble at stating "restoration": you actually *rebuilt* most of the car from scratch! Astonishing job.

[@seanrobert9661]

Damn straight

[@imo254]

Unbelievable work

[@lobuxracer]

I was just thinking, the only thing truly original is the VIN. Everything else is completely rebuilt. What a labor of love!

[@citrasetyanto]

Incredible, almost like the ship of theseus.

[@deweybrightside2276]

Literally brought back from the brink. Well done.

[@maniUSArmy]

Not just "no expense spared" but also "no skill spared". My goodness this is amazing metal work.

[@robgrune3284]

Always amazing to see how a group of experts can recover/rebuild/transform a rusted hulk into a machine of beauty. Let's hope such skills are carried forward to future generations indefinitely.

[@andrewdavis3519]

What joy you must receive in job satisfaction.

[@pistolao_vr]

I don't believe any restoration can be better than what you've done here sir. Mad respect!

[@jurtifabio668]

there are videos of Mercedes Benz restoring 300 SL ....

[@jurtifabio668]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/r6rIlHaJhsSmndU

[@user-mh7kr7xm7x]

Благодаря таким людям мы до сих пор можем наслаждаться красотой ретроавтомобилей . Молодцы !

[@sandeep.bommanahalli]

The way you built the windshield, door, and the under pan is mind blowing. It's not just the restoration, you have given it a new lease of life. Keep up the good work..!

[@philoshaughnessy906]

As someone once said, "A thing of beauty is a joy forever." I doff my chapeau.

[@Mainsail333]

I usually can't make it thru a full restoration video, but this one had me glued the whole time.

[@sim4fun]

I’ve been a sheet metal worker for 35 years and I am in awe of the craftsmanship, I couldn’t attempt half of that. Hats off to you. 👏

[@jimshoe402]

Honest man like me .Hat's Off !!!

[@localboy4584]

Absolutely nothing but the best restoration! Thank you for sharing your masterful work on one of the worlds most deserving autos!

[@scottimusgarrett15]

Amazing restoration...But it's really a rebirth. I know that almost everything had to be handmade. A true work of art, all of you. Kudos, y'all!✌❤🙂🇨🇦

[@barryhenshaw9321]

When I was young, my father had a 356 speedster. I wish he didn't lose it ! Fantastic restoration !

[@straightbusta2609]

Back then, the prices weren't as crazy as today's prices, so people sold those cars cheap.

[@straightbusta2609]

@A Ks Diesels only

[@straightbusta2609]

I think

[@IAm1InTheIAm]

Barry, you and me both! My Dad bought a Speedster new from the factory in Stuttgart for $2500, had it shipped to L.A., put 100K miles on it in the Malibu canyons, then "sold it to some kid" for $1600...there went our family legacy, lol !😫

[@deltanovember1672]

My father had a gambling addiction too.

[@kahdmus]

I cannot imagine how it must feel to complete this and fill with incredible pride and satisfaction at the finished car. Simply incredible. I am beyond admiration and words for this restoration. The man-hours taken must be astronomical!

[@lenny108]

Guess this work and material costs is no less than $100.000 dollar

[@leerjet18]

@@lenny108 Yea maybe so, but it only took a little over 12 minutes, so------

[@rodmact6548]

@@leerjet18 😅😅😅

[@seanrobert9661]

Owners jus don't know

[@alisherruziev466]

Титанический труд, и потрясающий результат. Машина красотка!

[@mightyluv]

Can’t even find the words to describe it; thanks for posting this well-documented restoration.

[@LCort101]

The sort of restoration a car like this deserves. Beautiful job guys.

[@mftwohill51]

LCort 101 I am with you. This was great work. Love what these guys do!

[@augustoferreira3647]

Good to see these cars having a new life, the values as high so doing a full restauration is paying off

[@kougerat5388]

Jaw dropping restoration, one of the best I've seen yet I had to watch it twice ! Huge thank you to Classic Fabrications and the owner for sharing this and again to the owner for having deep pockets thus allowing all involved to work their magic. Time to sub ;-)

[@Oliwa1971]

Leute die solche Autos restaurieren, sind ganz grosse Künstler! Fantastisch!!!

[@nomansland4811]

One thing I admire more than anything is the metal fabrication skills.

[@jcseemann]

Stunning end result. A beauty brought back from the grave - well done!

[@dennisneo1608]

I can't fathom people being able to do this. Very very well done guys. It's beautiful.

[@obscurazone]

It would break my heart giving that back to the customer, I couldn't. Incredible.

[@CyberCurtainTwitcher]

Great job on the restoration, and nicely documented without being too long winded.

[@clivehorridge]

Truly stunning work and result, otherwise somewhat speechless.... can’t say more than that... 🇷🇴🇬🇧👍🏻

[@larsfrandsen2501]

What he said!

[@FhVW]

This is basically building a new one from scratch. What a craftmanship!

[@piet8803]

Better than new. Why so many dislikes?

[@AlCcesar]

Trabalho perfeito ! Perfect job !

[@DharcTunesYT]

Now this is a type of classic exotic vehicle that rlly needs restoring. Good job fellas!

[@jongmedellin4890]

sus

[@vrichenstein]

Love the color- white w/red interior. My dream car... since I was 15.

[@cheesegorche3195]

Спасибо что Вы сохраняете такое наследие будущим поколениям.

[@Gutemberg28]

Stunning, absolutely amazing piece of work and history!

[@leukat11]

This is not job, this is art .... Amazing ! can't imagine the final price of this beauty ........

[@joaodomingosboff603]

No make a simple restauration, make a new car...!

[@bonvoyage1700]

98% of this car is new

[@templeviewgate]

One of most revered beauty of old vintage cars list, looks like bread loaf for any kid to imagine. Love the way it was caressed back to original glory. Appreciated.

[@guesswhaturit2197]

man to be young again and know what i know now.. Kids this is were life is at! creating , repairing , fixing things you love.. Hobby or job you can’t go wrong..

[@jozsefizsak]

It's wonderful to see this delightful car so meticulously restored when it had been in such a sorry state.

[@BLUNT998.]

sad thing you wont see them here in the states their being taken overseas .

[@jozsefizsak]

@@BLUNT998. That may be true these days. This one started and ended in Switzerland after restoration in the UK so that seems nice.

[@BLUNT998.]

@@jozsefizsak I owh a coupe 58 356a was gonna sell few months back to be taken to france but my price was too high.

[@jozsefizsak]

@@BLUNT998. That's great. With what they're worth now, I suppose it doesn't make a lot of sense to drive them too much. I can understand being ready to pass it on to someone else after owning it for a while.

[@BLUNT998.]

@@jozsefizsak main reason I wanna sell my kids will fight for it owned for 30 years I drive it every day I can.

[@benoitglon3065]

I love the sign "occasion" (pre-owned) at the beginning. I was thinking "You don't say!" Nice work!

[@CoolTsarina]

Saving history not with paper, rather with metal, technology, hard work and serious skills - alive. Bravo. Thank you. Respect.

[@lesp315]

This is absolutely crazy labor of love. I bet in 20 years no one will be able to do that. All left handed society.

[@guspisano9777]

Amazing work. Love the classic English wheel. I'm just dumbfounded that the car got into such sad condition in the first place

[@seansysig]

Oh my God possibly the most gorgeous restoration I've ever seen!

[@babayomidemola4330]

IT IS

[@samchandler8800]

That just might be the most beautiful car I've ever seen.

[@felixcat9318]

Truly outstanding craftsmanship at its best! Masterful fabrication work, meticulously precise fitting, perfection in everything. How lovely to see this beautiful car being given a new lease of life for the next half century...

[@Warehouseskateboardsonline]

Amazing! That's for sharing your adventure. We hope you enjoy many miles.

[@francoisesicre2454]

Pe

[@stephenhenion8304]

Great job on a car that needed saving. First class effort! Motor On!

[@dragraceman21]

Mad props to the craftsman that resurrected this car, amazing restoration!

[@UCanDoIt2Mike]

A master at your craft. There are people that fabricate and then there are Fabricators. Beautiful work my friend! Thank you for sharing.

[@charlescowden3843]

Wow that's all I can say .Thanks for saving a piece of history. Awesome job.

[@azattazetdinov2870]

Столько труда, любви и души вложено! Молодцы

[@user-tz7er6py5z]

Точно. А как музыку удачно для ролика подобрали. Отличное видео!👍

[@tylershelton7386]

What a beauty, and many years of pure joy to the lucky owner. Something so precious will never be allowed to deteriorate again. This car is far from reaching half of its life span.

[@delscorey8727]

Best looking car I have ever seen

[@johnleonard8311]

Beautiful work on the bench with the fixtures ! The Germans would be proud.

[@Wolfdings]

They are, my friend :) They are

[@nadheembera9250]

I always appreciate a true hands on restoration like this. A lot of skill that is fading away in this modern age. Well done and keep bringing pieces of History and true automotive legends back into existence. My comments will never be enough praise as you guys as have put in real heart into this.

[@seanrobert9661]

Yes those who have know

[@cabomusico]

Absolutely amazing restoration work, for a car that deserves it. I love the Porsche 356 Speedster... Great job.

[@chrisfisher1100]

That was wonderful.... Thank you for saving this beauty.......... REMARKABLE JOB

[@Simon_W74]

It just goes to show that with the right attitude, tools an knowledge the consider too far gone is possible if you really want to save something and bring it back to life and better than it left the factory in some ways. If I had the skills to do this kind of work I'd have to wrestle with conversion from having the driving seat on the wrong side to keeping it totally original. Now a stunning example of British Craftsmanship.

[@jamespink4202]

Amazing project and a fabulous result. Congratulations. Real commitment on everyone's part to rescue such a darling car. Beautiful!

[@johnhoffman2818]

Always loved that car. Had a chance to buy one for $950.00 in the early 70’s. Boy was I stupid for not getting that!!!

[@thomascleveland8121]

Best 2 seat design, profile and lines of all time.

[@cum_as_you_are]

Holy shit, great work! What an amazing restoration!

[@lenny108]

5:20 right, this is the 1955 Porsche engine sound

[@HawthorneHillNaturePreserve]

I’m so blown away with the level of talent and skill some people have! Amazing!

[@tommoncrieff1154]

OMG. What a beauty. What incredible skill and pride in the hand-craftsmanship. Bravo.

[@andersongsm7859]

Deve ter dado muito trabalho ,parabéns 👏👏👏👏👏👏 Perfeito

[@peteohead]

That's the most accomplished restoration I have ever seen. Congratulations on a superb job. Subscribed.

[@georgechivu4226]

This is some next level restoration. Most YT channels do a lousy restoration job, but this is something else.

[@user-eb6mh1di4k]

It's the rarest A speedster out of 356. It's amazing that such a scrapped car can be restored with only parts. In Korea, it's hard to see cars in the 90s and 2000s, but I'm jealous that they can restore these rare cars.

[@jurtifabio668]

there are videos of Mercedes Benz restoring old 300 SL ....

[@jurtifabio668]

kzbin.info/www/bejne/r6rIlHaJhsSmndU

[@floridahummer]

you can't beat a skilled craftsman, fantastic job.

[@simonrussell6884]

Must be one heck of a rare car to go through all that, you guys are truly masters of your trade.

[@conceptalfa]

Its a 54 Speedster!!!! Pretty rare and coveted I'd say...although have a little difficulty imagining the restoration cost, must have been astronomical!!!!!

[@simonrussell6884]

@@conceptalfa …..I’m not a Porsche guy buy any stretch of the imagination but this work is mind blowing.

[@nfbrasil]

Espetacular!!! Parabéns!!! 👏👏👏

[@shekhongchan3755]

it left me merely speechless ! what a magnificent achievements you guys had made.. it's absolutely out of this world. Bravo !!

[@subroc1]

You and your team are real craftsman. The term restoration gets bandied about even when talking about just repairing an old thing and just putting it into service. Those that use the term loosely should look at this. This is a restoration and the definition of the term.. Well, this is as fine a restoration effort as I have ever seen. Thoroughly enjoyed the video and I applaud your effort.

[@RickGTI2019]

I have never seen such amazing talent, great work !

[@rafaelstauffer1]

Belíssimo trabalho !

[@fraa888grindr6]

I new a guy who rebuilt/converted a 356 to electric, back in 2000, and it was the sleeper of all sleepers off the line: sick quick he called it. Absolutely gorgeous restoration by the way.

[@user-yj7bp9el9c]

Аж слёзы потекли.👍

[@brucebaker3523]

Super hard to imagine in 65 years people will be rebuilding todays technology, airbags, sensors, catalytic converters just to restore a 2020 GT3 RS and they'll have to make their own gas too!

[@scottimusgarrett15]

There'll be grizzled old dudes with long beards, sewing up passenger side airbags with cat-gut...🤔

[@79RuralLife]

will be done by machines...

[@brucebaker3523]

@@79RuralLife What a dull boring world it will be! No driving, no hobbies, no pride or adventure!

[@79RuralLife]

@@brucebaker3523 yeah.

[@kentvonseverin1257]

@@brucebaker3523 I think those of us refusing to go electric, will probably pay huge fees to be able to drive ICE vehicles. 2030 FA Porsche says they will be all electric. In California we burn coal to create most of our electricity.which is inane. Look at our dependency on electricity today vs 15 years ago. Don't tell anyone that your 356 or early 911 emits about 1000x the emissions of a modern internal combustion vehicle.

[@panotaroo9051]

the best slideshow in my life

[@ChewyGDRP]

Not sure at what point you would call something like this a restoration, or just a new build? Most of the car has either been re made or has been completely fabricated from new. Stunning work though!

[@MrJack123455]

Ship of Theseus

[@justindbutler87]

I mean what would you call it if not a restoration? Surely this isn't "a new build".

[@ChewyGDRP]

@@justindbutler87 Its sort of both. It looks like more than 50% of it is newly produced, rather than restored.

[@whistlinturbo]

The fact that they're reproducing the factory specs so exactly makes this a restoration. If they were just throwing aftermarket parts at it, I'd agree that it would be a rebuild, but here, they're doing everything in their power to restore it to exactly what it was when it rolled off the assembly line.

[@privatechannel8462]

I had this broom 20 years, same broom. I've changed the brush 5 times and the handle 9, but its still the same broom....

[@foraddress7975]

I loved your project and the final result. great job!

[@johnhardy6202]

Wen its on the road again ld be interested indeed in seeing a crash test rating!

[@josecarloscampelo7501]

Parabéns pela bela restauração.😊

[@joshschneider9766]

Something sure slapped the taste out of the side of that Porsche alright. Great work fellas, thank s for bringing us all along. Hope whoever's got it now appreciates their restoration angels!

[@karlrensburg3472]

As a mechanic, we hail people like this in the industry, They are next level genius. 👏👏👏👏👏

[@vinulalvv7697]

Really appreciate the efforts of these professionals. I really loved watching it👍🥰

[@ClassicFabrications]

Thank you very much

[@peterhodges6684]

True talent, well done Indeed !

[@396TurboJet]

I _generally_ don't like red interiors. But in this instance, red interior with the cream body color really makes this classic *_pop!_*

[@imranshaxbazov]

Машина выглядит лучше, чем любой современный суперкар!

[@lordofkeebs8424]

Probably better than it coming out of the factory lol.

[@jenspetersimonsen4235]

Gorgeous display of timeless elegance - good job, chaps! :-)

[@timothyharrison8953]

I've seen guys in Europe take less sheetmetal from the woods representing barn door buses and restore them. Great craftsmen, these metalsmiths!

[@daveymach6941]

Woww absolutely stunning, your craftsmanship shines in steel and paint. Nice for the old girl to retire to Switzerland in her brand new twilight years lol. Thanks for sharing all that hard work.

[@Green_Gundel]

I have never seen such a decent job with such a wonderful result. Thanks for the nice video!

[@mvmarinoa6553]

My God, my heart is racing from just watching this! Beautiful work.

[@arnehaieschild343]

Just stunning,needs the original st Christopher badge in silver though....thanks for saving a gem

[@powerofone1645]

Dude that was one step up from building a car around a spec plate. Well done.

[@AndreLuiz-ip3fh]

Thank you for sharing this work of art with us.

[@tdcribbs8536]

Truly excellent work, video was a joy to watch. Would have rather heard the wind noise, gearbox and engine during the test drive instead of music.

[@VVLOGSCH]

Oh god. I can look at this car forever. The results are just phenomenal!