by John Glynn | Nov 11, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Better known as Le Corbusier, Charles-Édouard Jeanneret-Gris was a pioneer of modern architecture. While Le Corbusier’s designs for urban living may no longer be attuned to 21st century inner city pressures, his ideas continue to influence designers and artists, almost fifty years after his death.
Le Corbusier had much to say on colour. “If the house is white all over, the shapes of things stand out without any possible ambiguity; the volume of things will appear clear cut; the colour of things is categorical. The white of whitewash is absolute. Everything stands out against it and is displayed absolutely: black against white, frank and truthful. Put in objects that are unsuitable or in bad taste, and you can’t miss them. You might call it the X-ray of beauty, a permanent court of judgement, the eye of truth.”
Le Corbusier’s eye of truth is currently being cast upon Thomas Flohr’s Safari car, awaiting fresh paint in the Tuthill Porsche bodyshop. Last seen on Safari 2011, the silver 911 had a rough start to the event, being abandoned at the mid-way point when the crew decided to call it a day. Tuthills carried the car along on the event – Francis’ experience suggesting this would be prudent – and it eventually donated the front section of its roll cage to the Waldegård car, allowing it to complete the rally after a fairly big off as the rally reached its final days.
Now fully repaired with a brand new and latest-version roll cage installed by the fabrication team at Wardington, Thomas’ superb 911 has been rubbed down by hand, ahead of a full respray in the same silver colour. The off-white shade may not tally with the master, but Le Corbusier’s musings on using a single monochromatic colour to highlight pure shapes and bad taste rings true.
The finished Safari cage in a simple, bare 911 shell is a structure of enduring fascination and beauty. Don’t you think? Maybe just me.
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by John Glynn | Nov 5, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
An interesting conversation tonight about WEVO’s 915 GateShift kit versus the classic WEVO shifter.
After years of using a WEVO shifter in my own 911, I recommend the beautifully engineered WEVO shifter as the number one upgrade on any impact-bumper Porsche 911 running a 915 transmission (seen below on a Tuthill rally build). Surprisingly, the man who invented, designed and manufactures both products says different.
“At Windrush, we say the best upgrade for the 915 is the internal gate of the WEVO GateShift kit”, says Hayden Burvill. “The internal architecture of the 915 is such that extra control of the shift rail mechanism can greatly reduce the risk of a potential missed shift.
“Chassis twist, drivers hanging on the shift lever and the unmanaged freedom of the internals of the 915 mean that you can mis-select gears without feeling any real tactile warning. The GateShift kit (below) installs a “spoiler” between the gear planes, creating an obstruction that will warn you that the gear you are heading for is not here! You stay in neutral, not selecting a potentially destructive ratio.
“The driver with a steady hand and smooth shifting style will hardly notice it is there. It’s dormant: only coming into effect when you inadvertently cut the corners of the shift pattern.
“For those who have driven with the GateShift kit, I believe very few would ever build another 915 without one. We drove ours for a long time with a completely stock shifter, only the stock coupler had new round hole aftermarket bushes. It was wonderful, we have since added a WEVO 915 Classic Shifter (base detail below), mostly for the reduced lever travel.”
Quite the revelation. Turns out you can also fit WEVO’s GateShift without removing the transmission. You learn something new every day! Despite Hayden’s wisdom, I still place my shifter at the top of the upgrade list, and have never felt the need for a GateShift. But, were money no object, I would have the WEVO lot!
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by John Glynn | Sep 24, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices
The Porsche 911 3.2 Carrera Club Sport Coupe formerly owned by Porsche author and historian, Gordon Wingrove, found a new home a few days ago, when a Scottish enthusiast journeyed to Autofarm in Oxfordshire and had a test drive with Josh.
You might remember I blogged about this car a while back, soon after the well-known Porsche author became ill, when it was decided that the car should return to Josh at autofarm and be sold to a deserving buyer. One lap of the Autofarm block was all it took to convince the new owner to part with the asking price.
The Club Sport – one of just 53 RHD examples – was not cheap, but as one of the best examples I have seen for sale in a rather long while, it was money well spent as far as the buyer was concerned.
Fingers crossed we get a few pics of the car in its new home. I was telling the new owner how much we all enjoyed the Porsche Panamera Diesel launch up in northern Scotland. I covered it as a freelance alongside my MSN mate, Ian Dickson. Very good times!
About the Porsche 911 3.2 Carrera Club Sport Coupe
Removing luxuries from the standard 1988 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 took an estimated 40kg off the car’s overall weight. A blueprinted engine and reworked mapping took the rev limit to 6,840rpm, but Stuttgart remained tight-lipped on overall power, and I never saw a Club Sport make huge numbers on a dyno.
Values for the Club Sport (do not call this a Clubsport) track higher than the standard 3.2. Only 53 RHD models were manufactured and it is not certain how many are left, but collectors value these cars most highly. Expect to pay more than £100.000 in today’s market (June 2014) for a Club Sport Coupe in original paint with matching number and low mileage.
by John Glynn | Sep 19, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
While at Autofarm last Friday, I caught up with the Signal Yellow Porsche 911S restoration repatriated from Eire a while back and had a chance to meet the owner. Chris is a really nice guy, been a 911 man for years and currently owns a 993 Turbo, amongst other things. He’s doing some of the work himself at Autofarm’s workshops.
I’m sure we’ll feature more of Chris and his Porsche later on, but what a lovely car this is, and great work being done to preserve the fabric of the spotless 911. Much of the paint and trim is still original and only minor rust repairs have been needed.
Undisturbed factory touches are always nice to see, and usually unheard of on a classic Porsche this clean. The landmark score of an important European football match (7-1) is preserved on the inside of one rear quarter panel – you don’t get better dating points than that!
Speaking of dating points, I’ve had no response from Porsche Cars GB to my request last April for build date and details on our Project 924 Turbo. I’ll check whether my cheque’s been cashed before getting cross about it.
Also just heard from Autofarm that the 930 I blogged about yesterday has been sold. Apparently someone got pushed off the fence! Well done, buyer.
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by John Glynn | Sep 18, 2013 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices
Porsche mate Justin was visiting London from Sydney last week. On Friday, Justin caught the train up to Banbury and we scampered around some local Porsche hot spots, to catch up on the news here and there.
First visit of the morning was to Autofarm, where a flock of oversexed 911s had descended on the car park. In amongst them was this B-reg 930 in Black with red leather: a proper 1980s throwback.
I’ve done a few Porsche 930 insurance valuations so far this month and there’s no doubt retail asking prices have risen sharply through 2013. What’s not risen is the average condition of the cars on sale. A Porsche specialist friend went to inspect a 911 Turbo for sale at the heady price of £60k last week and rang me after leaving to describe the “painted wreck”.
Values for good impact bumper 911s are coming on strong. When you can spot a good one from the dross that will always be available, it’s important to do a quick deal and snap it up before you miss it. He who hesitates is definitely lost in the current air-cooled market, but equally he who jumps too soon can soon be broke.
I didn’t spend a huge amount of time looking at this 911 Turbo, but it seemed smart enough. Prospective buyers could easily stick the Porsche on a ramp and have a poke about. A little bit of top end noise and tiny wisp of smoke from cold start could be something or nothing, but the asking price of under £30k gives leeway for some work versus current asking prices elsewhere.
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