by John Glynn | Jul 6, 2018 | Classic Porsche Blog, Modified Porsche Hot Rods
Amongst many Porsche announcements this week was news of the impending arrival of Luftgekühlt in the UK. The Californian classic Porsche expo’s UK debut at Bicester Heritage on July 29 has got those who like Porsche meets somewhat excited.
Luftgekühlt is the brainchild of Porsche works driver, Patrick Long, and creative director, Howie Idelson. Revolving around Porsche air-cooled cars from the first 356s to the last 993s, Luftgekühlt describes itself as “an experiential car culture event centred around a tightly curated list of historically significant or interesting cars, both race and street”.
Luftgekühlt translates as air-cooled, and air-cooled Porsches are the stars of this ticket-only show. Air-cooled Porsche cars attending LuftGB are invited to park in the main event space. In addition to the ticketed parking within the Luftgekühlt display, there is a designated Porsche-only parking zone. Ample general admission parking is included in the ticket price. Those aged 15 and under go free, with adult tickets priced at £12.50 each.
“We are thrilled to announce that Luftgekühlt will be crossing the Atlantic and landing at Bicester Heritage, Oxfordshire, UK on Sunday July 29, 2018,” says the press release. “LuftGB will be our first overseas event and, together with our motoring and racing friends from across the pond, we will be channeling the informal, fun spirit of the early versions of Luftgekühlt to tell a new Luft story.
“The venue is Bicester Heritage, a former WW2 RAF Bomber Training Station. As the only hub for historic motoring of its type and scale in the world, and with over 35 specialist motoring businesses onsite, Bicester has a lot of heart. Its aesthetic, grit and heritage will frame the Luftgekühlt story in a perfectly British way.
“Like past shows, our first overseas foray will feature a blend of curated, invite-only rarities and ticketed enthusiasts’ cars. There will be a limited number of slots to fill within the venue, and they will be reserved on a first-come, first-served basis.
Despite July being a busy month of Porsche meets, with Classic Le Mans this weekend and Goodwood Festival of Speed straight after, the Porsche crowd is likely to turn out in force for the first-ever UK Luftgekühlt gathering. I spoke to one of the organisers on Tuesday and was told that the meet was already one-third of the way to being sold out. Anyone who would like to attend had better get their skates on. You can buy tickets here.
photo from Luft 3 courtesy of Luftgekühlt
by John Glynn | Jul 2, 2018 | Classic Porsche Blog, Race and Rally
We have finally arrived in the week of Le Mans Classic 2018, where my friends at Tuthill Porsche are supporting five 911s in the 2.0L Cup as part of the Porsche 70th anniversary celebrations. For those who cannot make it in person, the organisers have just announced unprecedented online coverage of this remarkable event.
Le Mans Classic will feature its biggest ever live and free online streaming during July 7 and 8, when sixteen cameras will broadcast for sixteen hours, covering twelve races which can be followed live at www.lemansclassic.com. The cameras wil share the action from the entire 13.6km circuit, and the broadcast is managed by AMP Visual TV: the organisation behind coverage of the Le Mans 24 Hours for the last thirteen years.
Live coverage of Classic Le Mans 2016 attracted more than 300,000 online spectators worldwide, and this should easily be eclipsed in 2018. Bruce Jones, Jim Roller and Martin Haven, will provide the English language commentary.
I don’t yet know when the coverage starts or how long it lasts daily, but the race schedule at the circuit for the two days is as follows – it is reasonable to assume that the cameras will not be showing some of the night sessions:
Le Mans Classic 2018 Race Schedule July 7:
10:00-11:10 – Jaguar Classic Challenge (race)
11:20-12:20 – Group C Racing (race)
14:02-15:17 – Porsche Classic Race Le Mans (race)
16:16-16:59 – Grid 1 (race 1)
17:55-18:38 – Grid 2 (race 1)
19:34-20:17 – Grid 3 (race 1)
20:54-21:37 – Grid 4 (race 1)
22:11-22:54 – Grid 5 (race 1)
23:26-00:09 – Grid 6 (race 1)
Le Mans Classic 2018 Race Schedule July 8:
00:40-01:23 – Grid 1 (race 2)
01:59-02:42 – Grid 2 (race 2)
03:14-03:57 – Grid 3 (race 2)
04:29-05:12 – Grid 4 (race 2)
05:44-06:27 – Grid 5 (race 2)
06:59-07:42 – Grid 6 (race 2)
08:14-08:57 – Grid 1 (race 3)
09:33-10:16 – Grid 2 (race 3)
10:48-11:31 – Grid 3 (race 3)
12:26-13:09 – Grid 4 (race 3)
14:01-14:44 – Grid 5 (race 3)
15:17-16:00 – Grid 6 (race 3)
Pic © ACO
by John Glynn | Jun 26, 2018 | Classic Porsche Blog, Art and Books
EB Motorsport supplies its lightweight EB Porsche body panels (hashtag #madeinyorkshire) to customers all over the world, but not all customers put these panels on classic 911s. Belgium’s Jean Denis Claessens and his partner, Edmond Thonnard, create interesting artworks using the composite bonnets as emotive canvasses.
One of the pioneers of Belgian street art, Edmond Thonnard has been a video decorator, an exhibition scenographer, a designer and a rock singer. His work has been seen in the biggest global WWI exhibition and in the Liege House of Science and the European Space Centre. Jean-Denis began his career as a graphic designer and moved into advertising in the early 1990s, later developing into film and documentary making.
The duo now work together, creating race-inspired artworks on composite and metal Porsche panels. Each work is an individually hand-made piece created without vinyl. Every bonnet, every door is unique, freely inspired from the decorations of legendary race cars and signed by the artist. The painting is made using the techniques of graffiti art, with the patina added using slag from the race, including oil, tyre rubber and other secret ingredients.
Two art-on-bonnet products are available. Composite bonnets weigh 5 kilograms and are a reproduction to honour the lightness of the great cult race car: the Porsche 935.
Steel bonnets weigh 15 kilograms and are real bonnet from a used and iconic Porsche 911. Each work features a riveted panel on the back to prove the authenticity and signed by the artist.
“We import EB panels from England to Belgium as they are the best quality and my clients want a real 911 bonnet; not an ersatz for decoration,” says Jean-Denis. Seems like a cool way to use a lightweight part. I would love to hang something like this: having it painted and then sticking it on a car for a real 6-Hour race – maybe Spa – would be cool. Learn more about these artworks at aftertherace.be.
by John Glynn | Jun 19, 2018 | Project Cars, Classic Porsche Blog
I recently had to move my 1983 Porsche 944 project from long term and slightly forgotten storage in a lock-up garage to a friend’s barn where some of my other cars are kept. The garage rent payments had increased to the point where they were being noticed rather than just drifting out of my account every month, so it was time for a change.
My Porsche projects have been right on the back burner for several years since I got back into old BMW motorcycles, but I haven’t lost any appetite for the three classic Porsches that remain as part of my fleet. The 924 Turbo is having a fuel system refresh with a new filter and pump arrangement to get around the issue of the in-tank pump and hopefully that will be off to storage somewhere else soon, leaving me with some garage space. Now the 944 is back on my radar after spending a day dragging it about and stripping some aluminium arms off a rear beam which is supposed to be heading its way, it is lined up to be next in the garage.
Porsche 944 Project: Rust Update
Moving the car was a good excuse to stop off at the Racing Restorations workshop and take a closer look at the only real rust on the car: small patches at the rear of both sills and a sizeable hole in the battery tray. I had a go at the sills with a hammer and chisel and – as I always suspected – they are really not bad: nothing like the shocking rust one sees on later 944s that have been used every year since manufacture. This 86k-mile example car has been in storage for over twenty years so I am not too surprised that the shell is in good condition.
The battery tray damage is rather more substantial than the rust on the sills, but my colleague assures me that repairing it properly will take less time than should be needed to pull the fusebox and loom out of the way. I’m taking that as a challenge. Having broken several 924s and 944s for spares and spent a lot of time lying in the driver’s footwell of my LHD Porsche 924 Turbo sorting out the wiring loom, getting all that copper out of this car won’t be that difficult: there’ll be a lot more room to work in once the brown dashboard has been removed.
This weekend was the first time I had driven some of my other cars for a while, including the lovely old 1993 Mercedes 500 SL in Malachite Green, my Daytona Violet E36 M3 saloon and my old Landcruiser 80-series. Still love those, too. Why would anyone buy a new car when old ones are so much cooler?
by John Glynn | Jun 15, 2018 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices
Coldplay bassist, Guy Berryman is about to start the 2018 Coupe des Alpes in his 1967 Porsche 911S, which was recently restored at Tuthill Porsche. The star is a confirmed classic car obsessive, with a serious collection of notable classics, mostly European sports cars from the 1960s. After several months on the hunt for the right car, Guy found his S in the USA a few years back and shipped the car to Tuthills for a closer look.
No one knows precisely how many S models were built for the 1967 model year but, according to Paternie and the Early S Registry, it is circa 1800 examples. “The 911S models were included in the same range of serial numbers as those listed for Coupes and Targas,” says The Little Red Book. “The ‘S’ designation will be stamped after the serial number on an S model. Early 911 records contain a number of inconsistencies, so it is difficult to present an exact production count.”
What we do know is that 911S models are rare and finding the detailed trim parts for these cars is a job in itself. Guy’s S was almost complete, but much of the metal was missing due to rust. Tuthills carried out a thorough restoration, keeping what they could and buying genuine parts to fill in the blanks. The finished car is a period Porsche tour de force and it’s great to see Guy enjoying a Porsche: we’re more used to seeing his Ferrari collection.
1967 Porsche 911S insurance values
Hagerty’s online valuation tool suggests that a 1967 Porsche 911S in concours condition is currently worth $138,000 (£103,000), while a running and driving project base is just under $50,000 (£34,000). These values are clearly too low. If you have a 1967 911S and your car is valued at market or agreed value in this sort of ballpark, then you need to fix that problem.
I value several early pre-1973 911S models at porschevaluations.com. My own feeling is that UK prices for running and driving left hand-drive SWB S models in need of attention should start north of £60k. Insurance values for concours low-mileage examples should exceed £200k for a car in the right condition matching the Porsche CoA (Certificate of Authenticity). RHD cars with known provenance carry a premium.
@RoadRatMagazine
Guy’s affinity with classic cars and the stories they tell began in adolescence, when his Channel Tunnel engineer father would work on classic sports cars at weekends and invite Guy to assist. Their shared interest encouraged a vast archive of motoring books and magazines, and that passion for period motoring reportage has now led to the creation of a brand new magazine and online media stream: Road Rat Magazine.
by John Glynn | Jun 3, 2018 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices
My friend Peter has asked me to help him to sell two of his Porsche 911s. First to be offered for sale is this stylish RHD 1988 Porsche 911 3.2 Carrera, finished in Guards Red with black sports leather trim piped in body colour and excellent red carpets trimming the floor pans and door pockets.
Originally registered on August 1st, 1988, this 911 has covered 96,275 miles from new and has an MOT until December 6th. A former PCGB concours competitor, it is in nice condition throughout. The previous owner had it for eighteen years and kept it in very good order. As a 1988 model, it has the sought after G50 transmission and other late 3.2 improvements, including the bigger dash vents.
Being a former concours car, it has not been messed with, so the bodywork and mechanicals are all to original specification. The correct Fuchs alloy wheels are in good condition, wrapped in recent Continental ContiSport tyres. The wonderful 3.2 sports seats with those shapely side bolsters are electrically adjusted and also heated: a rare option on air-cooled 911s. Other nice additions include the electric sunroof, front foglamps and rear wiper. It also has the three-point rear seat belts fitted for junior Porsche enthusiasts.
The majority of maintenance since 2001 has been carried out at Tuthill Porsche. I have a lever arch of service history dating back to 1994, including almost every MOT from new, which shows that it has been well maintained over the years. Over £5,000 has been spent on mechanical work in the last three thousand miles alone, including the fitment of the sleek Porsche Classic stereo with sat nav and bluetooth, and maintaining the Waxoyl underbody protection to keep rust at bay.
Tuthills carried out a major service at the start of last year to include spark plugs, all fluids and filters and valve clearance adjustments and the 3.2 has covered just a few hundred miles since then. Both front brake calipers have been replaced with reconditioned units, as the originals can get sticky with age. The DME and crank position sensor have both been replaced as one would hope at this age and mileage. The clutch was changed by a previous owner and the G50 transmission shifts perfectly.
We have set the asking price at £40k for a quick, no hassle sale. That’s well below the average asking price for apparently similar cars, but this is not a cheap Carrera. This is a very nice car in great condition, priced to sell to a serious buyer who has seen enough average examples. Nothing needs doing to this car and it is ready to be used and enjoyed. Air-cooled Porsche 911s of this calibre do not grow on trees and are a great place to put money; values are pretty stable and the ability to enjoy one’s investment portfolio does not come much prettier than a classic Porsche 911.
Please get in touch if you are a serious buyer keen to inspect a good car. The 911 is located near Banbury in Oxfordshire (straight train from Marylebone or Junction 11 of the M40) and available for inspection on any weekday morning, Monday to Friday.
Update: This car is now SOLD. Many thanks.
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