Hello 356ers,

Anyone have any leads or ideas regarding original sway bar finishes? I understand they were NOT painted as I previously thought but I haven't had any luck finding anything to replicate the original finish. Thanks in advance for all your help.

Scott Schneider

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What year is your car? Mine is a 57. I was covered in tar, but looked like it was painted under the tar would be interesting to hear others.

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356A sway bars were not painted (confirmed in Neil’s Book) but had a yellowish/brownish finish like the back of a headlight reflector. I don’t know what material this finish was originally. I have gone a long way to duplicate that finish on my sway bar and ended up with a sort of lacquer that it used on brake shoes. It is sprayed or brushed on and put in an oven to heat it up. The heat turns the clear lacquer into yellow/brown, depending how long it’s in the oven.

As I don’t have an oven with the size of a sway bar, I transformed my bbq into a ‘sway bar oven’. And it worked pretty well. Pre-heated it to 200°C, and put the sway bar in for about 15 minutes. The sides were a little bit lighter so I heated these gently with an industrial heater (or paint stripper) to get an even finish. Finally I sprayed it with 2K clear coat.


I’m quite happy with the result.




At my last picture, you’ll see the rear side of my taillights that got the same sort of treatment of which I believe was original. But who am I……

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Etienne Kerkhoffs

Restoring my 1958 356A T2 Sunroof Coupe

I thought it would look cool if I cleaned my bar up and clear coated it. I used emory cloth and got all the crud off of it first such that it looked new. Then sprayed a couple coats of clear Rustoleum. Here's a pic. It can always be changed to however it should look.
SV

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EK, could that finish have been Yellow zinc? The yellow gold color looks similar to the finish of Zinc Dichromate, commonly called yellow zinc. Tho I thought I saw somewhere the the factory did not use zinc plating at that time, but it seems to me they must have treated the bare steel somehow and I am fairly certain they did not broil them to perfection

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Mark, as far as I know, zinc with yellow passivation didn't exist in the fifties. I believe that it was introduced somewhere in the sixties. But others may know more about this.

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Etienne Kerkhoffs

Restoring my 1958 356A T2 Sunroof Coupe

I am very close to rebuilding the front end and would like to know what the finish is if anyone has any ideas. I may just paint it chassis black for simplicity. My car is not a concours queen so black would really be ok.

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My car is not a concours queen either but I strive to originality. And although it is maybe not the original material that I have used, the look of it looks very original to me (and others). So why not give it a try? You could also play with a mixture of stain with varnish.

Good luck.

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Etienne Kerkhoffs

Restoring my 1958 356A T2 Sunroof Coupe

Mark,

My 65-C is not a concours queen either. If it was I'd never drive it! But I love looking at them! But I like things clean and neat. For my front sway bar, I just painted it semi-gloss black. Works fine, looks good.

CW

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Charlie White

Works for me.

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I think it would need to be either a finish that was very permanent and reproducible such as a zinc coating or I would just opt for paint. I don't like the idea of applying some sort of color treatment that could fad or change, not that zinc doesn't do the same. But w zinc I just throw all my parts in a box, deliver to plater and then pick up. Powder coating is to expensive for me. Thanks for the help.

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