by John Glynn | Sep 21, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog
Porsche has announced a concentrated programme of dealer recruitment for its Porsche Classic brand of parts and restoration services. The company plans to increase the current handful of Classic-approved service partners to a total of more than 100 over an unspecified period of time.
Joining current Porsche Classic franchisees in France, Germany and Thailand will be branches in Japan, USA, South Africa, Australia, Colombia, Great Britain Italy, the Netherlands and more. Customers can look forward to “the complete range of services of Porsche Classic” including access to over 52,000 original spare parts, servicing and repairs as well as complete and partial restorations.
How many classic Porsche owners will switch to Classic-badged dealers to have their old Porsches attended to? Your guess is as good as mine. Adding one hundred old Porsche specialists to an already well-stocked specialist landscape will certainly cause some excitement.
I can’t imagine that many grass roots guys will be tempted away from their current providers, with the best established doing a consistently excellent job of keeping old Porsches together. What little I heard about the recent programme of dealer restorations for the 911’s 50th anniversary won’t have too many UK restoration specialists worried about the future.
The 356 Roadster and Porsche 912 Coupe seen here are both currently undergoing full restoration at Tuthill Porsche by a team of guys who share hundreds of years of restoration experience between them. That sort of experience takes more than a few training courses to pick up, so the planned expansion of Porsche Classic past one hundred specialist partners, all producing work of a consistently high standard, and at a price to compete with the established specialist network should be interesting to follow.
That is not to say that Porsche Classic in Stuttgart does not have a team of highly committed craftspeople working on site. I have seen some of their work and it is fully up to scratch. But, as many of my restoration friends know only too well, the highest quality does not easily scale. Hence five-year waiting lists for the best restorers.
by John Glynn | Sep 19, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog
On the day where we learn that a Scottish majority has rejected independence from England, we remember the birthday of Ferry Porsche: inspirational founder of the independent Porsche company and great champion of creative freedom.
“Committees are timid,” said Ferry. “Based on the premise of safety in numbers, they tend to survive rather than take risks, and move independently ahead.
“Independence has always been the attitude at Porsche. To do not what is expected, but what feels right. In the beginning, I looked around and could not find quite the car I dreamed of: the small, lightweight sports car which used power efficiently. So I decided to build it myself.
“So many creations today are just like all the rest. This is why Porsche must remain small and independent. Without independence – without the freedom to try new ideas – the world will not move ahead, but live in fear of its own potential.
“Committees lead to creations that have no soul, no clear identity. This is why no Porsche will ever be created by a committee, but by a handful of people inside these walls who know what a Porsche is.”
RIP, Ferry. Your ideals of independence live on within some of us.
by John Glynn | Sep 14, 2014 | Modified Porsche Hot Rods, Project Cars
Caught up with fellow ImpactBumpers.com forum member Alex this week, to discuss an agreed insurance valuation for his Porsche 911. Alex’s car is a 911 3.2 Carrera, but runs a 3.6-litre engine transplant: a 964 engine, rebuilt with some 993RS trickness. The car is light, so performance is “adequate”:
One issue with the 3.6 transplant cars is the exhaust: what do you do with heat and silencer under the rear of an impact-bumper car, a chassis that has less space available than the later models? Alex’s solution is the best I’ve seen yet: all titanium and all home/hand made. Alex explains:
“I liked the first version transplant exhaust on my car: a cheap, simple set up that worked well but with a few limitations that were increasingly bugging me.
“The first system used reasonably priced 1.75″ dia headers going into a 14” Magnaflow rear box. It sounded great if a little on the noisy side, particularly on a long run, so I made up some inserts, which made it quieter without costing power. This made me wonder why I didn’t just use smaller tubes in the first place.
“The lack of heat, low ground clearance and drone over long journeys sent me back to the drawing board. I decided to follow other transplanters down the 993 heat exchanger route, then build a similar system to 993 Cup cars off the 993 exchangers.
Titanium Exhaust Porsche 911: Akrapovic GT2
“My first system followed a few tuners to through-the-bumper exhaust outlets. I was undecided before doing it, and it was interesting when done, but the novelty wore off. Eventually, finding a titanium Akrapovic exhaust silencer/muffler on eBay from a 997 GT2 sent me down a route I thought would be more in keeping – albeit lots trickier.
“One question was X-pipe or not. Some silencers are x-pipe inside and don’t seem to hurt the 911’s power, but others believed more power would come from a non-X-pipe system. I had already manufactured quite a complex system using the X-pipe idea, but the muffler also had an internal X arrangement so we decided against using two crossovers.
“The first work on version two was to finish my cheapie 993 heat exchangers. With the flanges cut off and jig made, they needed rotating, welding back on and linishing flat. The other side needed patching and a new pipe cobbled together. The steel on these is very thin and although stainless, it’s not the best grade so can corrode.
“Then it was a case of making jigs, which other transplanters were a great help with. Twisting these tight-fitting pipes can be tricky, but a fellow IB’er helped with a fitment guide that worked really well. I bought some more titanium tube, including many bends and had quite a bit prepared by a local water-cutting firm, before my welder friend came around to do the final assembly on the car.
“There’s always a few bits you think I could have done better and there’s still some finishing to do – I may do double slip joints in two places and the tailpipes are just bits of tube at the moment – but it’s on and sounds good. It’s still quite loud, although much quieter than the Magnaflow, but it now has a real rasp to it and makes a racket on overrun.
“With the new exhaust I think the car is now running a bit richer but haven’t done enough miles to really get to know it. Fingers crossed the bumper doesn’t catch fire!”
Awesome work by Alex – so many hours and for sure a pricey system, but if you’re going to think outside the box, then expect some of the costs to live there too. Read more about Alex’s car and many other Porsche 911 hot rods on the Impact Bumper Porsche 911 hot rod forum.
by John Glynn | Sep 10, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
So my 912E has finally arrived in the UK. Bought unseen from San Francisco Craigslist, the car was also advertised on Pelican and a few other places frequented by Porsche fans, but no one wanted it. I did a good deal with Bob the seller and had it trailered away by a good friend out there.
It lived with some friends in SF for almost a year, before it was trucked down to Long Beach to sail with a Tuthill 356 and a collector friend’s 911s. The container cleared customs on Monday, got trucked up to the West Mids and was unpacked on Tuesday morning. I had notice of the unboxing at 9am. By 10am, I’d arranged a car transporter on Shiply to same-day trailer it to my classic Porsche home-from-home: Rob Campbell’s Racing Restorations in Pershore near Worcester. It arrived there later that afternoon.
I am tied up on other stuff all this week, so I won’t get to see it until the weekend, but Robert’s had a good look this morning and says the shell looks pretty solid. It’s had a really rough paint job in the past, but that will blast off easily enough and reveal the original Arrow Blue.
1976 Porsche 912E Project
I purposely bought a 911/912 with no sunroof, as roof panels on pre-galv cars can go nasty, not to mention floors soaked by leaking roof seals. Seems the floors are solid so that is good. Little bit of rust in the front and rear window apertures, spot of surface rust under the parcel shelf. The kidney bowls look OK, but the latch panels are messy. The front wings are rough, but there’s a pair of good ones in the car – not that I am using either. The rest looks reasonable apart from a holed front pan, but that would be coming out anyway as they love to rust: an easy repair job for Mr. Rob Campbell.
What is the plan? Currently aiming to backdate it, keep it simple maybe run it kinda ratty for a while. Not easy to run something with no engine in it, so I plan to fit the classic Subaru Turbo transplant with a flipped R&P and the WRX 5-speed. Still flat four and I’m a Subaru guy. I’ve got a set of Subaru workshop manuals, am not into Beetles and who can be doing with the price of flat sixes these days! 😉
by John Glynn | Aug 30, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog
I never met Björn Waldegård, but we spoke on the phone once. It was a memorable experience: everything you wish from your heroes.
“Luck plays a part in all of life,” Björn told me. “Not a great percentage, but it is there. Luck is not just your good luck, sometimes it is other people’s bad luck. How you prepare can lead to your luck.” Making one’s luck is the mark of a champion: the first-ever World Rally Champion.
Björn Waldegård and Porsche
Born into a farming family, Björn began winning rallies in his privately-run Volkswagen at the age of 19. Noting his ability, the Swedish Volkswagen importers put him in a professionally-built VW rally car, which he used to claim a few podiums.
Things hotted up when a Porsche 911 was purchased. Björn took second place on the 1967 Gulf London Rally and performed well elsewhere. 1968 brought a win on the Swedish Rally, almost half an hour ahead of second place. Monte Carlo brought a top ten finish: the following year, Björn won the race, and then won in Sweden again.
When the ST arrived at the start of 1970, Waldegård exploited its potential, repeating his wins from the previous year and adding the Alpine Rally. The list continues: let’s just say that he knew the 911.
Swedish Sixth Sense
More than the secret of 911 speed, Björn had a sixth sense of how much life was in a car. “A car is like a fuel tank,” he said. “You use its life up through the length of a rally. The perfect rally car falls apart as soon as you cross the finish line: nothing is left.”
Francis Tuthill once told me exactly the same thing about sitting next to Björn on a pre-Safari test in Morocco. “He has two sets of instruments: one set on the dashboard and one set in his head. His internal gauges clock up how much of the car he has used, where he can push and where he should hold off.” Francis co-drove for Björn on a rally one year – it may have been the Eifel Rally – and, while setting pace notes, Bjorn told Francis to mark one corner as “caution: keep to the inside”.
“I didn’t see it like that: it looked a fast corner to me,” said Francis. “But you always pay attention to Björn, so I did put it down on the notes. In the heat of the event I neglected to call it, but Björn was a wily old fox. Remembering the bend, he slowed down anyway and sure enough there was a group of cars off, stuck in the ditch on the outside. The road had frozen overnight and failed to thaw: he spotted it would on the recce. That was just what he was like: incredible intelligence and ability. Driving slowly was part of his secret.”
Laid Back, Straight Talking Björn
We have family in Sweden, so I have travelled all over that country. The Swedish are easy-going, straight talking people, and Björn was a perfect example. “I’m just a simple Swedish farmer”, is how he described himself to me, but we all know he was much more.
“When I retired, I thought my driving was over,” Björn told me. “But the energy of rally fans kept it alive. Soon historic rallies began to come up and my phone was ringing. But it was not manufacturers taking millions of pounds in promotional value from winning a rally, it was just rally fans, doing it for the passion. The events were no slower – Safari now is still just as fast as it was in 1970, and the roads are just as deadly. But when you know you are racing for passion, it is a very satisfying way to use a talent.”
Waldegård: Make Your Mark
We were working together on the Race4Change team, so I asked Björn about strategy: how would he approach the impending Safari? “Same as any Safari,” he said. “We will start by looking at the others: how ready they are, how hard they will start, how much confidence they have. Then we settle in and choose when to lay down our mark. And then we will see who is ready to rally.”
Lessons learned on Safari always transfer to life. Bjorn won the 2011 Safari in a Porsche 911: in total he won six Safari Rallies and the hearts and minds of rally fans everywhere. After an hour on the phone with him, I had a different perspective on my work. He was a great competitor and a true Porsche hero. I will miss typing his name, seeing more new pictures of that face and wondering what he is thinking.
RIP Björn Waldegård. Here’s to fast, flowing stages and the memories of genius.
