To celebrate the 911’s 50th anniversary, Porsche Centre Madrid Norte held a live art event, where the artist VILLOTAF brought his vision to a pre-prepared 964 Porsche art car. Much of this video is in Spanish, but watch through to the performance: I know some of you will enjoy it.
Before making your conclusions, take some advice from the late Freddie Mercury. “Modern paintings are like women, you’ll never enjoy them if you try to understand them.”
I put a few hours aside over Christmas to get stuck into a Porsche Cayenne brake change on my Cayenne daily driver. Starting at the front, I had the wheel off, disassembled the pad retaining arrangements, clamped the brake flexi hose, pulled the caliper off (lovely lightweight 6-pot calipers) and removed the front disc.
I then found I had ordered the wrong front disc – 330mm instead of 350mm on the 18″ brakes – so had to put the rotten old disc back on with nice new pads. Talk about disgusted! I’ve sorted out replacements and will do the slightly pikey thing of fitting new discs and these new pads, assuming they are not too grooved from the old discs. Otherwise will buy new pads.
Rears are yet to be tackled. A job for the weekend. I’ve done 150 miles on the new front pads and they are bedding in nicely. I’m feeling a tiny bit less bite than the Pagids (badged Brembo/stamped Pagid), but I think that will improve when the new discs are on. Hope so, anyway.
While at a workshop today, I got the guys to stick the Cayenne on the ramp and help me check for this annoying front end squeak on steering. Was easy to find it: the split balljoint boot that’s been an advisory on the last two MOTs has finally capitulated, and the corroding old balljoint is creaking.
Balljoints can’t be bought separately, so the solution is changing the complete front lower control arm, which start at about £100 a side for pattern parts. The job means a suspension alignment afterwards, so I’m tempted to strip the complete front suspension both sides, change top and bottom wishbones with bushes and check the strut top mounts at the same time. Future proof the lot in one hit.
Option two is change the one lower arm, do the alignment and set a few days aside this summer to do both sides completely. Or maybe I’ll just take option three: let it creak a while longer and then refresh the lot in time for the MOT. Sounds a bit more like it. Oh, got a split in the NSF outer driveshaft gaiter too. A previous owner’s attempt at glueing it has given up the ghost. Easy job for someone!
My next building project is knocking down our old lean-to garage to build a new extension, so I had a good Stephen’s Day clear out in the current garage today, dragging some stuff out for eBay, including some Carrera 3.0 bits and pieces which I don’t think I’m going to need on my car.
Flicking around eBay at various 911 bits and bobs to get an idea on selling prices, I found this: a 1976 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 Coupe for sale with just 93,000 miles, which may have been driven by Sir Elton John. The first Elton John Porsche I have ever heard about.
Owned by Sir Elton’s Limited company – William A Bong Ltd – from 1976 to 1981, the silver Carrera 3.0 went to its second owner at 57,000 miles. It’s had three more owners since, and is not exactly factory fresh, with a few wrong bits and various shades of silver suggesting some work has been done on the body over the years.
On eBay at £34k, it’s advertised elsewhere for under £30k and has been around for a few months, so might be bought cheaper. I doubt it owes the dealer anything like £30k, and for sure there is work to do to bring it back to A1 condition. Nevertheless, it may be worth a follow up.
Whilst not a diehard fan, I like a lot of Sir Elton’s music (Songs from the West Coast – brilliant) and find his wit, career and performance ethic quite inspiring. No doubt Sir Elton has been a key player in pop culture since the early 1970s. Perhaps more associated with British cars – Rolls Royce, Jaguar and Bentley – an Elton John Porsche is a rare beast. Given the amount of spare time Elton has to go driving around, I find it difficult to believe that he clocked up 57,000 miles in this 911, so maybe it was an MDs car or similar.
With investment in mind, it’s perhaps a better idea to look at this as a lowish-volume air-cooled 911 hardtop in need of some work and price accordingly. Finding a RHD C3 Coupe still with the right engine is rare enough, but those miles and the possibility of a celeb owner for the first five years of life do give it an extra spoon of Stuttgart sugar.
Too many pictures being shared by down-under Porsche friends on Facebook, as they enjoy their summertime with long, sunny days and warm, bright nights. The bad news for them is we’ve just had the Winter Equinox, so the solar pendulum is swinging back towards the Northern Hemisphere.
The sunshine reminded me of this shot from Porsche buddy Thorsten earlier in the year, as he toured Sicily in a rented Fiat 500: there to see Stuttgart’s planned RSR re-run at the Targa Florio. “The faded sign looks incredibly cool!” said T. “I can’t believe nobody took that over the years. Maybe it’s protected by La Familia!”
This picture recently arrived from New Zealand might ring a few bells, as it shows a 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS replica that I inspected in Frankfurt for a NZ Porscher before the 2013 Nurburgring 24-Hour. The deal went ahead, and the RS has since arrived down in Wellington. New owner Graeme has been enjoying RS competition and some Porsche social, too.
“My car arrived in NZ mid-August but I was away until late September, so couldn’t get it registered. Final compliance took about two weeks and, once the 911 was legal, I drove it the 600km from Auckland to Wellington.
“Had a 5-day tarmac rally at the end of October, so prep and event took precedence over leisure time. Work has ruled the calendar since, but I’m looking forward to a few drives during the holiday summer break down here in NZ. The pic shows a Porsche Club NZ evening at the Bose Store in Wellington.”
Ah, Summer. We’ll have our revenge on NZ next year with the 2014 Le Mans, Le Mans Classic and all the glorious motoring that goes on here in the sunshine. Can’t wait for it.
Just reading an (unpublished) draft post from a few years back on my Classic Porsche Blog, where I spotted a perfectly-preserved 1977 911S Targa in the corner of Tuthill’s yard and mused on how the 2.7 S Targa was once the runt of the 911 line – I mean the absolute worst car you could possibly aspire to – but now would be valued at £30k+ for insurance. Anyone who thinks a 2.5 Boxster Tip will never go up in value should remember the 911S. Porsche may have built thousands, but one day there won’t be so many.
Over breakfast, BBC 6 Music played a 1977 Peel session track from The Jam, introducing it with a BBC interview with the band from the same year. “Are you punks?” asked the interviewer. “This time last year, everyone under 20 who played music was a punk,” said Bruce Foxton with a very deft negative. “If you tell me what punk is, I’ll tell you if we fit,” said Weller with another. “We just want to play, to keep getting better, and not be shoved in a bracket. You can already hear music that’s going to last coming out of the movement.”
The trio’s music has certainly lasted. I’ve still got a 6-disc CD changer in my Cayenne (albeit about to go), and one of those discs is The Jam’s “In the City“. Still a visceral listening experience, it’s an electric ropeladder of escape from three guys who know their music has to reach out and be real. Reviewing the album for Record Mirror (who remembers that?!), Barry Cain wrote: “armed and extremely dangerous, The Jam stalk the decrepit grooves. If you don’t like them, hard luck: they’re going to be around for a long time. Seldom do albums actually reflect pre-20 delusions, but this one does.”
The best new music of 1977 continues to engage new listeners. I’m thinking The Jam, Donna Summer/Giorgio Moroder, Sex Pistols, or Billy Joel’s The Stranger (instantly wish I was in New York every time). In such lofty aural company, flat six sounds from a 911 Targa seem to sit just right. No wonder values are rising for cars this classic.