by John Glynn | Jul 18, 2018 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices, Race and Rally
RM Sotheby’s has announced that the only works Paris-Dakar Porsche 959 rally car in private hands will be offered for sale in its Porsche 70th Anniversary Sale at the Porsche Experience Centre Atlanta on October 27th. Driven by René Metge in the 1985 Paris-Dakar Rally, the car failed to finish, but that’s another story.
I have spent a little bit of time with this car over the years, as it was previously maintained by Tuthill Porsche and supported by the team on appearances including the Goodwood Festival of Speed.
I first met the 959 on an early visit to the Wardington workshops in 2004. My 911 SC Cabriolet had been in with Francis for a service and I had a nose around the barns when I came back to collect it that evening with two year-old (now 16 year-old) Ciara in tow. As a Porsche rally freak, it blew my mind to see the Dakar 959 sitting in a corner under the cover. How crazy to think my humble SC was being worked on under the same roof: that was a pretty cool thing.
Paris-Dakar Porsche 959 up close
The Paris-Dakar Porsche 959 was a constant presence through my early years of working with Tuthills. I never used it in a magazine feature, but Chris Harris drove this car back-to-back with a roadgoing 959 for GT Porsche magazine in September 2006. The original Paris-Dakar car featured a lightweight 3.2-litre engine with a close ratio gearbox versus the road car’s 2.85-litre twin-turbo flat six, but the 959 as tested by Harris was running a magnesium-cased 3.5-litre engine producing 350bhp, to safeguard the 959’s original engine. Despite this, Chris was effusive in his praise for the 959 Dakar’s high drama.
“The car is brutally noisy. In fact, it sounds so intense that the sensation of speed is heightened because you can’t believe that such a racket could ever be produced unless the sound barrier was imminent. It chomps through the close ratios faster than I dare use the uprated 915 gearbox and like any rally car on the road, it feels completely detached because so much of its suspension performance isn’t being used.
“It rides quite beautifully – better than the road car – steers like you’d expect given that it isn’t hampered by hydraulic assistance and the brake pedal takes a decent prod to have any effect. Driving through rural Oxfordshire, its remarkable to think that this car was capable of 140mph over boulder-strewn African tracks.”
No doubt this is a wonderful 911: a real piece of history that would certainly spice up any serious air-cooled Porsche collection. I’m intrigued to see where the bidding ends up and who it passes to.
Main pic © Robin Adams courtesy of RM Sotheby’s
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 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.
