by John Glynn | Jul 15, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
I love the daily drivers used by some of my Porsche friends around the world. The Californian climate allows the use of proper oldies, as is the case with this 1965 911, just pressed into service by a SoCal superstar: Hans Lapine at Kundensport in Camarillo, CA.
“It’s a 1965 2.0, with a bit more ooomph,” says Hans in his Facebook thread announcing the car. A bit more ooomph is right, as bluey runs an Andial-built engine. “The add-ons will be original rollbar, Scheel seats, my old Britax harness and maybe an old Momo steering wheel.” Soaked in the patina of a fascinating history, this 302-numbered chassis will provide some smiles in the months ahead.
Someone once said “time is a great healer, but a lousy beautician”. Based on what we see here, I’m inclined to disagree. Sun-bleached short wheelbase cars are the way forward!
SHARE • EXPLORE • SUPPORT
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
by John Glynn | Jul 15, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Ferdinand’s Porsche 924 Turbo project is finally being painted. I spent all day yesterday stripping the body for the prep guy to start on it this week.
Rob Campbell and I dragged the car out of storage at Rob’s Racing Restorations in Pershore, pulling it into the workshop and 30-degree heat. Not the best day to do the job, but the only spare day either of us have in the next few weeks.
A flat battery was no surprise, so we ran jump leads from my M3 to the 924 Turbo and it fired straight up. I finally drove my first few metres behind the wheel of the silver 924. This runs well and ticks over nicely: I was suitably impressed.
There are quite a few bits on a 924 body but it all came off easily enough. I’ll have to fit some new side window and tailgate rubbers and still not decided on pulling the windscreen: I think we should but we’ll see what the prep guy says. The tailgate stays on until the really dusty stuff is done.
We’re estimating four days to bare metal the car and get it ready for paint next weekend in original L97A Diamond Silver Metallic. Looking forward to seeing it done and will be back over there during the week to take more pics. Only rust on the whole car is this bit by the aerial: I am redoing it as standard so leaving the roof aerial on. We will chemically remove that surface rust and prep thoroughly to prevent recurrence.
There’s a small chance I will sell this later in the year as I have no time to use my cars at the minute and storage is not my favourite! Get in touch if you’re interested. It’s a left hand-drive 1980 Series 2 Turbo, no sunroof, lower than average miles and there is no rust underneath.
The mechanicals seem in good shape, so could make a terrific rally car! Not looked at German 924 Turbo prices for a while, but I will price it in line with what’s happening in Europe.
SHARE • EXPLORE • SUPPORT
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
by John Glynn | Jul 10, 2013 | Project Cars, Porsche Cayenne
It’s a week since I picked up my new Porsche Cayenne S and started using it as a daily driver. Week 1 has been interesting, and not at all bad.
Mine is a 2004 V8 Cayenne S with 117,000 miles. It was owned by a friend for four years, so has been well maintained. Fuel carries prodigious taxes in the UK, so I was expecting most people to ask “what does it do to the gallon?” first. Surprisingly few people have asked what it does on fuel and everyone asks what I paid! Clearly some ownership aspiration for Cayennes out there.
First test for the Cayenne was what would the kids think. I took Ciara (middle, aged 11) with me to collect: she jumped straight into it and wouldn’t come out. Eliza (eldest aged 14) immediately called it “Eliza’s car”, and asked if she could take her test in it. Orla (youngest, aged 8) squealed when I told her it had a DVD player in the back. Cayenne claimed top marks with the kids.
Second test was Mrs Glynn’s reaction. She has her own cars so I am not letting her burn my Cayenne’s petrol for a while, but the verdict from the passenger seat was “I hope it’s not an expensive indulgence” and “what is up with this air conditioning?”.
The air con struggled to keep up with thirty degrees C ambient temps on our first drive in the car. The volume of air coming from the vents on full tilt was deeply unimpressive! I stripped off some panels and found the rather small cabin air intake was over an exhaust manifold – clearly not a great idea. A quick check on the Rennlist Porsche Cayenne forum found others complaining of the same issues.
Playing around with different techniques in this warm weather all week, I’ve found the easy solution is to do a mile or so with the windows open to blow out the warm air inside, set the temp to LO, recirculate when the car is at its hottest and keep it ticking over close to LO using face and floor vents. So far so good.
One other niggling problem is with intermittent reversing sensors, which I will look at some day. I’ve already crunched it into a post: not the best start. Front sensors are handy as it is hard to judge that nose. They don’t like the very narrow drive to my office, but I’m used to the terrified bleeping now.
On the first night the Cayenne was outside the house, some little shagger nicked the centre caps off the wheels. I’m assuming they are now on some lowered VW, but what a pathetic thing to do. I bought two sets of cheap repro caps on ebay and superglued the replacements to the rims. The spares are there for when these get torn off by tyre fitters. One seller also sent me Porsche logo’d valve caps for free, which I’ll offer as a Ferdinand prize some day.
Other issues which I will probably blog separately included DVD settings (sorted) and condensation in one rear light unit. I’ve got an aftermarket towbar, but a genuine Porsche tow hitch – need to find a hitch ball that fits, so I can tow with this.
The radio on my Porsche PCM 2 struggles with weak performance from the standard diversity aerial in marginal reception zones. Radio 2 strength is not great around here and Chris Evans on the school run is quite an intermittent affair. Not a bad thing, some of the time. I only listen to 6 Music (digital station), so haven’t used any of the other audio or nav bits. I’m half tempted by a Dension 500 kit to plug an iPod into, but really all I need is a handsfree phone kit. Maybe I’ll just swap the Parrot 9200 from the Subaru.
Other things that niggle: no place to put keys up front without them rattling, front cupholder insert missing, one rear plastic trim on the centre console is broken. The central air vents have lost their rubberised coating and the vent flaps are all detached internally, but I bought a replacement part from an eBay breaker which I’ll fit some day soon.
Does any of the above matter? No. What matters with any Porsche is how it drives.
If you’ve only ever driven a few miles in a Cayenne and thought “argh, this tank is way too stiff” or “I cannot get on with this gearbox”, welcome to the club. My first miles in the car were spent wondering what I should stick it up for on Pistonheads. One week and 500 miles in, I love it. When you stop thinking about it like a 4×4 and just drive it like a Porsche, it is the most amazing thing.
Turn-in is fantastic. Turn the wheel and the front just goes – no body roll out of the turn, no sloppy steering, no massive understeer. It just flicks in and holds any line you want. I’d love to do a track day in it.
To really keep that engine cooking, drop a gear or two as you brake for corners, then hold a steady throttle and squeeze it on when past the apex. Waiting for the gearbox to wake up once the bend has been despatched is when seconds are lost going nowhere and frustration builds with Tiptronic. Same thing going up hills, as it sticks in D5 or D6 for ages before dropping down. Get on the buttons and whack it into fourth for some fun.
My biggest niggle at the minute is the thing is too quiet! We need to release a few decibels. I’ll post some more in a bit on fuel economy as that has been REALLY interesting.
SHARE • EXPLORE • SUPPORT
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
by John Glynn | Jun 4, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Just had these preview pictures through from EB Motorsport of their all-new Deep 6 and 7R Fuchs reproduction wheels in polished finish.
The polished look has always seemed best to me on these rare rims, and EB wheels are designed and manufactured with exceptional attention to detail. Note how these wheels feature the safety bead missing from original Fuchs, and the correct detail around the valve stems, not seen on lesser reproductions.
The wheel centre and front face are machined from a single aluminium billet, with the forged rear barrel CNC-welded to the front section. I had a close look at these wheels in person last week. The finish is top notch and the curve of the spoke and rim edge is just perfect: these are really lovely products. Why risk your original wheels? Get a set of these on and mothball the originals.
EB has so far won two Masters Historic Series championships using their strong and lightweight reproduction Fuchs wheels without incident: this is despite some heavy impacts, including a direct hit from a spinning GT40 at last year’s Silverstone Classic! Suffice to say that the design and manufacture is excellent, as we have come to expect from this perfectionist Porsche parts manufacturer.
Price for either Deep 6 or 7R reproductions is £1850 per pair. That is ex-works from Yorkshire HQ, so plus VAT and carriage where applicable. Contact EB Motorsport for more details and to discuss options on finishing etc. Remember, these are proper, high-end reproductions: not cast to keep cost down. Cast wheels are much heavier and raise too many questions on strength and quality/porosity.
SHARE • EXPLORE • SUPPORT
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
by John Glynn | May 7, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Just had a few pics through from the UK Fuchs distributor showing various classic 911 models owned by satisfied customers running the 18-inch Fuchs wheels.
This first one is from Brad in North America, running the RSR style on a 964. Fuchs make the wheels with offsets to suit the different 964 set up – looks lots better than the clunky Braid wheels often seen on other cars. DP showed a similar setup at Essen on their latest 964-based creation, albeit their wheels ran red centres.
This is Ian’s Carrera Cabriolet, running 18s with black centres. The car is fitted with a 3.6-litre engine so has the muscle to work those bigger wheels & tyres. Tyres are a big advantage to bigger wheels – more choice of rubber with bigger rims.
You’ve seen this before but I couldn’t resist another peek at the white 993 Coupe running 18″ Fuchs. This car is cool in white.
SHARE • EXPLORE • SUPPORT
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
