by John Glynn | Apr 10, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices
Spent some time with a very sweet 1966 Porsche 912 at leading classic Porsche specialist, Tuthill Porsche today. Owned by a single family from new, this 94,000-mile Light Ivory car was being prepared to depart for the Silverstone Auctions classic car sale at the NEC this weekend.
Sitting behind the wheel in peace and quiet, the air was filled with the smell of old car. Wood dash, leather seats, simple machinery with so much presence. A fantastic way to unwind for five minutes.
Silverstone Auctions estimate the selling price somewhere between £28,000 and £32,000. I might place it slightly higher. I didn’t have a good look at the car but it does have a sense of ancient solidity: not too many RHD 912s around in this condition.
Slightly sad story, as the owner who inherited the car from his dad – the original buyer – is suffering the indignities of age and can no longer use the 912. None of us know what’s around the corner: enjoy your cars while you’ve got the chance.
See the full range of collector cars on offer at the NEC Classic Car Auction this weekend.
by John Glynn | Apr 6, 2014 | Porsche Cayenne, Project Cars
Now that the Cayenne is home with its gearbox problems sorted, I took a few hours off yesterday morning to get the DAB digital radio install finished. I use the car on a twenty-mile countryside school run every morning and only the 6 Music breakfast show will do for that task.
I’ve tried a few glass mount antennas for DAB since buying my Kenwood 4210 head unit. I’m in a patchy DAB area at the best of times but glass mount was totally useless. No signal anywhere! I had a look at the DAB on Wheels recommendations and bought the Kinetic DRA-6001 amplified roof mount aerial with a 5m extension lead.
I will probably use a roof platform on my car now and then, so no way was this going in the middle. The fitting instructions say mount at least 25 cms from the roof edge for best performance. I was not putting it above the front, so had to be in the rear. I decided to drop the headlining to get a better view of the rear roof section.
Dropping the Cayenne’s roof lining is right fun and games, as it looks like it’s the first part to go in. I’d stripped some of this before so knew the form. Took a while but I got it down enough to see what was what. The roof has a huge amount of stiffening, especially at the rear where the massive tailgate is hung. I could go in front of that and still look sensible: a bit ‘bee sting’ but whatever, long as the DAB works. I marked a centre point 20 cm in from the rear edge and drilled a pilot hole: no changing my mind now.
The Kinetic needs a 14mm mounting hole, which I drilled with a cone cutter. I primed the roof and test fitted the antenna. The supplied base gasket is an O-ring which kept the aerial base a good 7mm or so off the roof and meant I could not get the bottom nut on. After a bit of experimentation, I modifed the gasket arrangement to drop the aerial closer to the roof. Not easy but it worked and would keep the water out.
Now the nut would just go on. Refitting the base over a lot of grease as specified, I tightened it to where I was happy but the leading edge was still slightly proud of the roof. It needed a little more tightening. I gave it one tiny squeeze and the brass nut slipped on the cast threads. The base was not going to sit flush on the roof. Fitting the aerial mast, that would not tighten in the base either. The whole thing was a let down.
I was pretty cross so took a break and came back to it later. It looked a bit rough outside but I managed to get it tight, so why not give it a try. I rigged up a 12v supply and took the antenna lead to the head unit: instant success. The DAB reception was perfect.
I’ve put it all back together, but am 99% sure I will swap this for the Hirschmann Auta DAB antenna in a few weeks time, when I take the roof out again to sort the reverse camera. If you’ve bought and are fitting this one, my advice is to bin the base gasket and just use Sikaflex to seal it up and get it tight to the roof. If you’ve not bought it yet, save your money and buy the budget Hirschmann.
by John Glynn | Apr 6, 2014 | Art and Books, Classic Porsche Blog
I spent a good morning with our friends from Ricoh Production & Print on Friday, trimming the first bound copies of our Cult of Porsche book down to size. The work was done at Morgana print finishers in Milton Keynes. If you thought producing books was all about printing then think again: Morgana’s range of print finishing equipment is huge, and it was interesting to learn what the machines all do.
Our work was on the Morgana Digibook 150 Perfect Binding Machine and the EBA 5560 Guillotine. As this first book also showcases Ricoh’s digital print output on a series of boutique papers, care was essential in getting the book through the systems.
Morgana is led by a bona fide Porsche enthusiast (just bought a 911-50), with a few more Porsche owners on the shop floor, so I needn’t have worried. The pre-production prototypes came out perfectly and the beautiful design has been proven. We now have a great example of this project to take to this week’s London Book Fair and share with the industry.
How and Where to Buy
I appreciate the questions on how & where to buy the book! Short answer is I don’t know yet. If we end up with a publisher, standard channels will apply. If we publish ourselves, then you’ll buy it from here. Our finish for this version is high end, so the production costs are steep, but a publisher may do something simpler. Should that occur, any high end finish will be sold via Ferdinand. Jamie & I will autograph & authenticate each copy sold via this website.
My plan is for this first “The Cult of Porsche” series as a trilogy. Readers have the option of eventually collecting all three and housing them in a bespoke box. I’m working on that idea with Ricoh and we’ll see how it develops. It is a very exciting project: not your standard Porsche book and we have plans to add a few tricks in the future. I’m keeping the Book 1 look a bit secret for now.
I followed this little brown impact-bumper Porsche 911 for a short while as as I left Morgana. Good omen!
by John Glynn | Mar 30, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices
Another year, another Essen Techno Classica. The 2014 show weather was gorgeous all the way through, prompting a half day sitting by the Rhine, watching the world go by rather than slogging around seventeen halls of old cars.
In three days, we ate enough pork to fill a 911 and drank enough beer to sink one. We ended up driving in Jezza’s Saab diesel estate, which did all the European miles on one tank of fuel: impressive. Even more impressive was the amount of Merlot he crammed into it on the way out of France.
There are always Porsches at Essen, but definitely felt like a lesser presence than in previous years. Some very lovely 356s, a handful of pre-68 911s and not as many impact bumper (IB) cars as two years ago. I spotted one or two 928s, but 924s and 944s were thin on the ground.
The 964 population was reasonable. This yellow 964 Speedster below was tucked in one hall: seemed like a sensible Essen price circa €120k but I didn’t study it too hard after finding a few details lacking. The Lemon Yellow 3.2 Speedster up top was a favourite car this trip: one for the lottery wish list.
You’ll need a lottery win if rising IB Speedster prices keep at it. One of my travelling companions owns a 3.2 Speedster in black with less than 20k miles and full Porsche history. As a low-mileage narrow-body 3.2 Speedster recently sold for £250k at auction, he’s overdue an updated insurance valuation.
Life doesn’t get much better than a road trip into Germany with beer-loving friends. I highly advise you to follow my lead.
by John Glynn | Mar 19, 2014 | New Models, Porsche News
I spent all morning writing job descriptions for a couple of part-time vacancies in Graphic Design and PR/Marketing with Mighty Motor Media in Banbury/Daventry. While I was banging my head against that creative brick wall, Porsche announced GTS models of Boxster and Cayman.
There’s some flak flying on social media for the pics Porsche has sent out and the video done to promote the models (scroll down) but I think the cars look good: Cayman in particular.
However, with a basic cost of more than £50k, one wonders how many will pick a GTS to get an extra 15 hp (330 bhp total) and 10 newton metres of torque, Sport Chrono, PASM and black bi-xenon headlights. Remember that a basic manual Cayman S on 19″ wheels weighs 1350 kilos, with every option adding bulk – I don’t know what the GTS will weigh when it’s fuelled and oiled, ready to go. Basic Cayman GTS will cost circa €4k more than the Boxster, but I bet it’s the bigger seller.
Interestingly, Stuttgart’s press release shares top speeds from the manual version, but 0-60 times from the PDK car, equipped with launch control. Does that mean PDK won’t go as fast? Or is Porsche just pointing out the base price is manual? Answers on a postcard.
Now, give me your thoughts on this video. I would rather see previous GTS models: Vic Elford drives to camera in a red 904 GTS peeling off to show Derek Bell in his red 924 GTS then peeling off to reveal Nick Tandy in a red Cayman GTS. Heritage works with red Porsches.
