by John Glynn | May 17, 2010 | Market & Prices, Project Cars
Things are crazy around here at the minute. Millions of words to write since landing back in the UK post California, trying to tidy up loose ends on my day job so I can leave with a clear conscience, and also trying to get moving on clearing out some of my projects. I figure it’d be better to put some cash back into the house at the minute and get my extension going. Realistically, that leaves little time for projects.
First one advertised is my 911 T on eBay here. (edit 19/04: the Buy It Now has just been pressed after I took the price down to £10,750 – it is sold).
The car is a non-sunroof ’71, originally from California. A few years back, it sold to a guy up in Canada who wanted to build an RS replica. He spent a lot of money on the body: new sills, RS arches, hours spent on prep for paint and a decent enough job on the finish, in lovely Gemini Blue.
The engine is a 2.2E motor which we were told was recently rebuilt with S pistons and cams. It runs MFI. It came on a pallet and was just bolted in for transport so I have never fired it up: lack of time really. My plan was to buy a past-it SC targa in less than pristine condition out in California and drop all the running gear into this. I hasd planned a rally interior with a cage and all nicely trimmed. I seriously am never going to have time to get stuck into this so it has to go.
I’ve put it on at €12500, which is £11,000. It would cost more to buy an average LHD T, sort a non-sunroof roof out and then do the body and paint it all. I think it’s priced right but we’ll see. The pics are a bit crap (dusty dash and loose headlining) as I didn’t even clean it after I picked it up, just put it straight into storage. If it doesn’t arouse some interest, I’ll bring it home, give it a clean, do some reassembly and put it back on a bit higher.
Failing that I’ll advertise the Orange. £30K would see my 1976 Carrera 3.0 Coupe off to pastures new: Australia maybe. They love 911 Carrera 3.0 coupes down there and mine has some nice light bits following a full bare metal resto. I think it’s old enough now that the LHD doesn’t matter. I have lots to move on, lots and lots. Busy busy busy!
by John Glynn | Apr 26, 2010 | Classic Porsche Blog
Juggling the day job and preparations for the US trip has left little time for blogging in the last week or two. Here’s part 1 of my Essen pics – I took quite a bundle. Hopefully you’ll find them interesting.
First up is the 917K, brought from Stuttgart for the show. I must have taken 50 pictures of this over the three days I was there. But is it really Dickie Attwood’s 1970 Le Mans-winning car? Definitely the real deal? Not according to some people I spoke to. But beautiful.
Mittelmotor’s Micheal Wittke always brings amazing things to look at. This is his 914 build a la Sonauto: Le Mans 1970 all over again. Within a stone’s throw of each other, these two (above and below).
Classic Motorsport’s supertasty RSR shell. The fit and finish of the panels was exceptional. But, as Aaron said, not quite sure what the story was with the rear suspension and swaybar mounts. Nice though – very nice.
Beautiful little Carrera 2 from Steenbuck Automobiles. Always a selection of incredible 356s from these guys at Essen.
I am swooning over loads of 914s at the minute: got a real thing for them. I’ll have to get myself one soon (a hot rod, obviously). This 914/6 would be a perfect base for a hot rod build if it wasn’t so MINT! Loved this immaculate example.
Porsche 356 Carreras are one thing, but a nice little 1600 Super motor is pretty sexy too. Not sure about the shiny coil but the rest sure looked good. You can’t beat teastrainers for retro intake kudos!
Here’s a Speedster conversion on a 356 B; very nicely done. What about the €55k price tag? Any thoughts from the 356 crowd?
Never seen this colour trim in such good condition on a 911 before and I’ve seen a few 911s. Rich Brown leather with leather dash, leather armpulls: the lot. Absolutely superb at GT Classics (local boys).
Was wandering through the parts hall on my way to another schnitzel when I spotted this tray under yellowing plastic. The stallholder let me play around a bit with my little Leica, so I bought a nice old Matchbox 930 from him: Emerald Green with Tan/Cork interior. My perfect 930 spec ‘in true life’, as the kids say.
I call this one ‘Blonde with Viper Green Targa’.
You’d think Chocolate Brown on an SC would be kinda wrong. Instead, it is so right. If I owned this, I’d be sponsored by Lindt.
Finally for Part 1: a Kiln Red 911 SC Targa, fresh off the boat from America and wearing nice soft paint. €28k euros to you! But a great colour nonetheless.
by John Glynn | Dec 9, 2009 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Having dropped my cargo at the LA shippers responsible for shipping my Porsche 911 from the US to the UK on October 5th, we flew back to the UK and waited for more info. On the October 16, I got an email to say that the car would sail to Tilbury via the Dominican Republic on the 31st: Halloween. That is when the tracking started and you have read those posts by now.
My last mention of the car on the blog was the pics of the Sormiou in Rotterdam. The ship stayed for a day and a bit, before sailing for London on the Saturday. It made the UK quickly enough, but then anchored off Harwich overnight – I guess the dockers do not work overtime at weekends. On Sunday it sailed up the Thames and docked at Tilbury (pic). The Varmint had landed!
I was off work all that week, so got stuck into putting some projects to bed before the 911 came home. I put the little Land Cruiser back together and that is now MOTed and legal (pic), just about to transfer the numberplate off it and it will then be sold. The Corrado is sold and is about to go.
I had been chasing Kingstown Shipping about paying the duty while the car was on the sea, so I could have it ready to be picked up as soon as it arrived. In the end, I didn’t get a VAT bill until the Wednesday, and the car did not unload at Chatham until the Thursday, so it looked like I wasn’t going to have it home before the weekend.
Kingstown said that they couldn’t have sent me the bill any earlier, as they had to wait until the car had actually landed in the UK and gone on to the Customs website. Once I knew that I was a bit happier; communication is where it’s at, but there are no FAQs anywhere about this stuff. In the end, Kingstown released the Porsche to me before the VAT transfer cleared, so last Friday I drove to Chatham Freight Station and picked it up.
I was a little nervy walking across the floor to the car, but it all looked the same and started first time. I was smiling ear to ear. Doug’s guys had done a great job packing it up and I will definitely use them again. Varmint had brought some California sunshine with it – it was a really beautiful day – so I drove it out front and strapped it to my A-frame, ready for the ride home and the next step of its great European adventure.
by John Glynn | Nov 12, 2009 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
I’m currently shipping my third Porsche 911 to the UK from the USA (West Coast/California). The first leg of the Porsche’s voyage is aboard the container ship Valencia Express, which is taking it from LA to Caucedo in the Dominican Republic. After unloading the Porsche 911’s shipping container and who knows what else, Valencia Express will then head across the Atlantic and down towards Spain, while another ship, the Sormiou, currently en route from Valparaiso, will pick up the UK shipping freight, including my classic Porsche 911 SC. Once loaded, it will set sail for London, via Rotterdam.
Shipping a Porsche 911 from California to UK: Vessel Tracking
Knowing the ships that are bringing Varmint home is pretty cool. You can track them using Hapag Lloyd’s site, which I had been doing in the evenings since it left LA.
According to the Hapag site, Valencia Express was due in Manzanillo, Panama yesterday, which Google Maps told me was on the Pacific, like Manzanillo in Mexico. Finding out that the ship was late, I had a little search and learned that Manzanillo port is actually on the Atlantic: it is the port just by the mouth of the canal. Google Maps is properly sketchy about Panama but this seems a bit of an obvious mistake.
Anyway, as it hadn’t arrived, I surmised that it might still be in the canal. I googled for some real-time Panama Canal update sites and found the live webcams at the Canal Authority’s website late this afternoon.
There are two cameras at Gatun Locks: the locks where the canal meets the Atlantic. I couldn’t see much from the seaward one, as it was covered in rainwater, which eventually knocked it off line. Judging by the other camera, facing back up towards the lakes, there didn’t seem to be much going on in any case, so I gave up and got back to work. After dinner, I logged in again and immediately spotted a Hapag Lloyd vessel queuing up to get into the locks behind something else. Turns out it was the Valencia Express – what a fluke!
If I need to tell you how toe-curlingly geekish and outrageously brilliant this is, then you’re not one of us! Very cool to be watching the ship carrying your little sweetheart 911 back from the USA live via the Internet – especially as it was so totally random.
Keeping my inner nerd in motion, I’m considering getting in touch with Hapag and Tilbury docks, to see if I can blag my way in to the harbour and watch the thing arrive in London. I’ve taken all that week off, so I have the time. You never know, they might just let me do it.
As for those who wonder “where is she now?”, the Valencia got to Manzanillo at 6.30 their time on Wednesday: a day late!
by John Glynn | Oct 25, 2009 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
Our recent features trip to the US was the out-and-out scene on many levels, but one huge plus was the success of my first US-bought 911: the Varmint SC.
Buying a Porsche 911 in the USA
Varmint is an 1980 911 SC Coupe that I spotted on Craigslist in Berkeley, California. The same guy had owned it 20 years, commuted in it for a long time, so cranked up some huge miles (2ooK or so) and rebuilt the engine with euro pistons and cylinders a few years back but then not used it much afterwards. We’d eventually come to an agreement on price, I’d sent the cash and he’d dropped the 911 down to a buddy’s place near where he was.
If you’re not a 911 guy, then there is nothing special about this car. Even if you are a 911 guy, you might still look at it and think I’m nuts for buying it. Most of my buddies did, and maybe still do. But, when you see what you’d pay for a rusty, right hand-drive 180bhp SC in this country, versus what the Varmint will owe me landed and registered in the UK, you have to ask: who is the bigger nutter? Me buying the well-worn but comfortable old bus that goes like stink but hasn’t an inch of rot on board, or the guy who buys his supposedly cheap UK car and then is landed with at least the same again in bodywork bills? I think I’ve done OK.
Using Varmint in the States was brilliant. Before we got there, I spent $900 with John Holleran Porsche in Pinole, having it fitted with new turbo tie rods and then 4 wheel-aligned, some clutch cable/arm clearance issues addressed and an attempt made to seal the weepy nose bearing (was successful for 100 miles or so but then failed), as well as a few leaking exhaust gaskets and oil seals (crank seal & inter shaft seal).
The clutch action is still jerky with a high bite point, first gear synchro is a little worn and the shift could be smother (just needs stripping and sorting) but you are used to all this after a few miles so no big deal, though that clutch does kill any chance of spinning the wheels on take-off. It also has a sticky brake caliper on the right rear.
As the miles went on, it did start to suffer from what felt like a timing problem but I eventually traced it to blocked fuel tank breathers and sorted it temporarily – I’ll fix it properly when it gets home. I’ll also have to do some wiring, as there was a lot of melted stuff headed to the clock and elsewhere behind the dash too. Pulled it all out but I need to look in more detail. I tidied up what I could get to and also rewired some of the fusebox while we were there. The fuel pump wiring was hilarious – NOT.
The interior has had its day: ain’t no beauty contest prizes coming here. It’s all still perfectly functional; the thick-rimmed wheel feels great, still has the proper shift knob and the dash is in great condition, sunroof and windows work, radio works and so on. It’s just worn: sand-blasted windscreen, missing door pocket on driver’s side (just missed one on eBay – grrrr), no rear seat backs, oddball centre console stuff and slightly mangy carpets. Neither did it come with a jack, toolkit or any service history at all. The backdated heat is disconnected, few bulbs out, old-ish tyres, no front compartment carpet either. Plus – I forgot about the bodywork – the paint is shot. But I’m not bothered by any of this.
What mattered to me from a buying point of view is that it was reliable, ran hard and was rot free. As far as those criteria go, I reckon I scored three out of three. At the price I paid, with the fun I have already had out of this car, and with the happiness it has yet to offer, you can’t say fairer than that.
Varmint’s ETA in the UK is at the end of November. More news as it happens!
