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One feature of the Apal I'm buying is the interior has been trimmed as a race car, and my wife eventually wants a grand tourer, so things will need to be changed.  The current dash has an eyebrow, but there are photos out there of dashboards without an eyebrow!  (maybe coupes) - is there a 'right' design?  I want a central tacho, and maybe a speedo that is obscured by your hand (just like my 964!) and don't feel the need for it to be 'genuine' but I'd like to know what the real ones were actually like and what variations there were.

Audi TT TDI 2009

Previously: 986 Boxster S, 911 (964) C4,  a few ordinary cars...

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Regardless of how it's (mis) labeled, the car in your link is a 356B cabriolet.

The "Convertible D" was a one year only (1959) speedster replacement with an 356A body. The Convertable D had a dash just like the speedsters with an eyebrow. Coupes and cabriolets had a dash similar to the one in your pictures - it was a completely different (flat topped) dashboard.

The car in your link is mislabled in the article. It's not a "Roadster" the 356B Roadster replaced the Convertible D, and had a very similar racier, rakish Convertible D-type windshield and dash with the eyebrow.

The way early 356s went was: the coupes and cabriolets had the flat top dash, speedsters, Ds, and roadsters had the eyebrow. The coupes were for sensible people, the Cabriolets were for people who really wanted a speedster (or later on a "D" or Roadster), but who's significant other did not care for tousled hair. The windshields on Cabriolets are very similar to the coupes, the "D" and Roadster are lower. 

This is a "B" bodied Roadster:DSC_6789-Edit-2000x1355

If you look closely, you can see the eyebrow. I'm not a fan of "B" or "C" cars with bumpers, but they look pretty fantastic in outlaw trim (at least to my eye).

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Last edited by Stan Galat

I personally like the eyebrow and I shudder to think how one could see the guages with the sun's reflection.  I have that issue with my radio at the moment somewhat so I would keep the EyeBrow.   As much as authenticity counts at some point you will forget about it and get used to whatever you have decided with... on the other hand maybe the madness will get you and it will in continual flux.

Last edited by IaM-Ray

I'll second that. The Spyder has a minimal "eyebrow" as part of the dash shape. The gauges aren't inset under it very far. At night, there is quite a bit of gauge glare in the windshield. I'm guessing not a lot of night driving is done by most owners. 

I would keep the eyebrow, it'll help you quite a bit if you drive at night.

Deer.

Deer are why a lot of guys don't drive their clown cars at night. That, and bugs the size of pie-plates.

... but mostly deer. I just got back from 100 mi in the speedster-- going nowhere in particular, just blasting around the roads I grew up on. The corn is shooting tassels, and the fawns born this spring are learning how to avoid automobiles. The preferred MO for these adolescents is to stand in a field munching corn stalks, hear the car, and bounce across the road looking for a stand of trees or a different field. Bonus points, if they change their mind as they misjudge the closing speed. At night, they're even more weird. I stopped in the middle of the road for one today, until he could decide to make a break for it to the right.

Deer are vermin.

Last edited by Stan Galat

I love driving at night, especially this time of year when it's 95-100 degrees out. My biggest problems are light/vision related. My eyes aren't 100% in the best low light condition and even with properly aimed H4's I can't see that well. To top it off, the height of a Spyder puts my line of sight directly in the focal point of oncoming headlights, even on low beams. 

In related news: Two things I need to add to my "go bag" since I put the lexan screen back on: Allergy eye drops and a pair of clear wraparound safety glasses for those times I don't make it home before dark. 

I'm sure Mike has deer at about the same concentration and stupidity level as I do, we're only 50-60 miles away from each other. 

Saw a dead full-grown(it was BIG doe) adult tonight on our way for ice cream. It probably happened less than an hour before us. All 4 legs straight up in the air a few feet off the road. They seem to be everywhere. I honestly think that besides the ongoing housing buildup, they are procreating rapidly with the warmer winters. Less hunters too.

One of the advantages of moving south, the deer are smaller than in the northeast.

 

Last edited by DannyP

The height of the car is an issue at night because you are so low you get easily blinded with oncoming lights, never mind when you stop at the stop light and the guy behind you comes close and you get completely innundated with light and you have to adjust your rearview mirror so it does not blind you.  On the other hand on a country road, top down at night it is a pleasure to be under a million star dark sky. 

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