by John Glynn | Jan 19, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Modified Porsche Hot Rods, Project Cars
Few classic Porsche cars sum up Ferdinand’s driving, not posing policy more than those built at WEVO in San Carlos, CA. One of my favourite cars from this stable is a 1967 Porsche 912, known in the family as Primrose, which I first enjoyed driving two years ago. This is me: pic by Jamie.
The ’67 is Aga Blue. It’s a genuine barn find, with only 36,000 miles on the clock when first uncovered. Hayden Burvill regards the 912 as “the essential-to-understand engineering link between the 356 and the 911. Put into dry storage in 1972, we recovered it in 2007, the 35-year hibernation leaving the interior beautifully preserved and the exterior degraded in a manner that is difficult to describe.
“The patina is insanely genuine, at times disturbing, yet any effort to control or preserve it would look ridiculously contrived. The 912 is heavily waxed, waxed over every blemish and that seems like the appropriate treatment for the time being.”
When I first drove this classic Porsche, it had a simple engine build and almost standard suspension, albeit rebuilt with new bushes. Since then, Hayden has further upgraded the running gear: most noticeably with a 1900cc engine that was run in on the 2012 California Melee.
“The 1900cc motor has been faultless so far. Initially it required a little tuning and synchronization of the carbs but otherwise all good and much nicer than the old motor. Went on a diet and took another 16lbs off during the build, so the car is now about 2000 lbs with a full tank and 110hp: about BMW 2002 territory.
“Old engine to new engine: we kept the crank and flywheel and the cam, but not much else. Entering it on the Melee was an incentive to get it working. The 912 turned out to be the perfect car for the event, rewarding care with momentum – and the big grin that comes from sliding about on dry pavement at legal speeds on 165/80-15 tires.
“The nimble 912 can tackle the unexpected with such finesse, it makes me very happy to have left the 911 at home for another day. That said, after an unbroken run of 140 miles, my shoulders did feel like a massage would have helped. Drivers in the heavier cars would have enjoyed a great upper body workout.”
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by John Glynn | Jan 6, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Modified Porsche Hot Rods
It’s time to look forward to 2013 and share some of the things I’m working on. There’s an awful lot happening but here’s one topic that will interest the classic 911 R-Gruppe hot rod fans.
Alongside the impending relaunch of Ferdinand Magazine on iPad, we’ve got a ton of Porsche features from our recent trip to Northern California: latest in the long line of US feature trips Jamie Lipman and I have done together since 2008. One of the cars shot in Norcal was this one, owned by Craig Hardy: a 1970 911T done to perfection as an R Gruppe daily driver.
“Done to perfection” of course means not perfect. Perfect cars are stress, and this is quite the opposite. Craig came to this car in a roundabout way: chopping and changing through a variety of deals and then being in the right place at the right time with up to date market instincts and his buyer’s hat welded on.
The good work Craig has done since finding this car has turned it from a garage obstruction to a groovy 911 that gets used everyday. If you want to understand R Gruppe, then this is the car to look at: simple, affordable and driven all the time. If you’re not clocking seat time, you’re just not Gruppin’ it.
The full story is coming to a magazine somewhere soon – I’ll let you know! These are just my iPhone shots: Jamie’s pics are epic.
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by John Glynn | Nov 12, 2012 | Market & Prices, Project Cars
One thing I forgot to say about California car auction TV is there are plenty of ad breaks, and most are for Viagra, or something pretending to be that. I’m guessing that not too many kids watch this stuff. Thankfully, I’m not in need just yet.
I also know people will ask me what Jamie’s 912 looks like, so here it is, live from California. I’m watching Overhaulin’ rather than standing outside in the shade, but it doesn’t mean I don’t care!
by John Glynn | Nov 12, 2012 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices
Jamie & I are decompressing in San Francisco after five days of flat-out photography on our 2012 California Hot Rod Porsche Tour. He’s outside messing with the beige Porsche 912 he bought from one of our mates at Shark Werks a few days ago, and I’m indoors with a cup of tea and the TV showing non-stop car auctions.
Mecum Auctions is the big name in hammer sales here in the USA. Apparently, they pay this channel to replay coverage of their previous sales, for car guys like me to watch in the mornings. Good job they do, as I’ve been glued on and off since we arrived. Boss man Dana Mecum (below, centre) is kinda hard work, but tracking the prices from sale to sale is interesting.
Another channel hosts Keith Martin’s What’s My Car Worth, where the price expert behind Sports Car Market meets people bringing their car to auction, gets the auctioneers to give a view on value, adds the seller’s expectation and hazards a guess of his own. Once it’s gone through, its surprising how close Keith ends up. As I write, he’s just hit the nail on the head with an RS that was estimated to fly as high as $375k by the auctioneers (Gooding), an owner expectation of $340k, but a Keith-predicted $275k which was the price eventually fetched.
Valuing used cars is a bit of a black art: something I got pretty good at in my ten years as an editor with Glass’s Guide, the English equivalent of America’s Kelley Blue Book. With a twenty-five year history in the motor trade and a solid valuation background, I do a lot of insurance valuations for UK Porsche, and have a small pile to do when I get home later this week, but you can never have too much information on what the market’s doing in other countries.
by John Glynn | Nov 5, 2012 | Classic Porsche Blog, Road Trips
I picked up a major tick on my bucket list yesterday (Sunday), as I did a Porsche track day at Laguna Seca Raceway in an early 911. It was everything I dreamed it would be, and more! Very exciting track to drive in a classic 911, especially one which had never done a track day before.
Laguna’s been a JG magnet since I saw it in an Elvis movie or somesuch as a kid growing up in Ireland. Built on a dried-up lake bed (Laguna – Lake/Seca – dry), everything that draws me to California is here: great light, incredible sunshine, beautiful landscape of the Monterey hills, close to the ocean at Pacific Grove. And of course, always very cool cars.
This visit was as good as ever. Leaving the San Francisco suburbs at the crack of dawn (above), my buddy Gray and I arrived at Laguna just in time for the briefing. Our beginners’ first session was at 10am, so I passengered my mate for his first laps of the track. That was interesting, to say the least. I will spare his blushes here!
Second session was my turn. I did a warm-up lap, came back in the pits, tightened my belts to the max and rejoined the circuit. Our car is a 911T: 2.2 with E cams and S pistons, SC undercarriage and brakes, albeit with no servo. Tyres are street Michelins and brake pads are road Mintex. It was probably the smallest engine in our group, but we didn’t hold too many people up and even passed a slowish Ferrari 360.
I’m working on a separate post about the lap experience and will get it up later. As with any track day, the social side was good fun and it was great to hang out with Lars and Leif from Denmark (above): Porsche owners who were doing their day in a Chevy hire car. A station wagon! Gotta love Laguna Seca.
