Dream Liner – a true labour of love

In a sleepy street in a quiet town in South East England, the finishing touches are being applied to one of the world’s most remarkable Porsche projects. Delwyn Mallett, a well-known and popular member of Porsche Club GB, has just emerged from the footwell of his Pre-A 356 where a small oil leak from the rev counter is steadily ruining his trousers. It’s another minor teething problem at the end of a long and arduous journey that began more than 40 years ago.
 
Delywn bought his ’52 coupe in 1978 for the princely sum of £250. The retired advertising creative and lifelong car enthusiast was, back then, well ahead of the curve in his desire for Porsche’s earlier offerings and had only recently passed up on a genuine Gmund car because the rot had got there first. Little did he know that his next purchase, one of the very last split-screen cars, would become such a defining and demanding part of his future.