1973 2.4E Restoration

[Darren65]

Thanks John,

Now the car is with Barry I'm thinking ahead to paint. I'd love to see your car in the flesh, once painted before fitting up, if possible - I know yours will be exactly as it's meant to be.

Please let me know if this is ok with you.
Cheers,
Darren

[Darren65]

Near-side rear wing repairs are an odd spot? Lots of patches.

Rest certainly looks good from the pics, an easy one for the Barry for a change!
Look forward to the reports.

Barry did say that this had rot in some unusual places which he hadn't seen before - rear seat backs for example have some issues whereas the bases are solid.

Obviously nothing to trouble Barry though.

Cheers,
Darren

[Darren65]

Hi Darren,

Did Nick at Redtek give you an idea of build time? Are they carring out the whole build or just the machine work ?

Shells in good hands at Barry's

Hi Garry,

Nick will be completing the whole engine build including all detailing, fitment and final set up - I'm in no rush so haven't pressed him on time. Nick's very accommodating though and his new facilities are superb so I'm sure he could turn things around quickly if need be.

I'm sure the engine build could be a thread on it's own although I'll post all stages here.

Thanks,
Darren

[Darren65]

In my rose tinted world my long distance 'Glamour' shots of the bodyshell are certainly easier on the eye - here though are a few of Barry's up close and personal photos showing what he really has to contend with:









All quite scary to look at considering this is a 'solid' car......





As with all old girls things start to get a bit saggy and droopy with age - the same is true with the 911, the half holes show where the engine weight has pulled down the rear end over time, fortunately a simple job for Barry.....



He'll also be putting this straight....




And finally in Barry's own words - 'Overall though, a good honest fit to the jig. BTW, I'm very pleased with the front and rear screen aperture jig fits: very nice indeed.'

Cheers,
Darren

[hot66]

that looks pretty good really

[johnM]

that looks pretty good really

That's what I thought. It is supprising what blasting uncovers.

On the road to recovery.

[Darren65]

I'm glad you boys think so although to the uninitiated it's still frightening! - Although I've 'restored' a number of cars in the past this is the first real proper project.

In fact looking back I smile at how naive I was regarding the cost and amount of work involved, I thought I'd be able to absorb most of body restoration cost through our workshop - this month I've spent the best part of £8K just on panels and stripping alone! - I estimate that anyone undertaking a full body restoration has to budget for £16-25K if doing it properly.

Still, it's the end product that counts and getting it right , - just glad the wife doesn't read this thread!

Cheers,
Darren

[Darren65]

Just had contact from my car's first UK owner, his words and photos:

QI50 GFR. - MY FIRST PORSCHE.1973. 911-E. AQUIRED IN 1984. - IAN JONES.
hi darren, what a nice suprise to receive your letter after 25 yrs to hear about a car i really enjoyed. my daughter who was 18 yrs of age in 1984 came home one evening with a new boy friend who had been stationed in the british army in germany, i cannot remember his name and he may not have even been my daughter's boy friend, just a friend of one of my daughter's friends, giving her a lift home.

he had bought the car in germany to get him home, had no idea what it was and complained about the poor MPG.

when i saw the car i was interested as it looked superb, as you can see from the photos attached. i made my interest known to the owner, and within 2 weeks i had purchased it.

two things clashed with my car culture, the LHD, and "sportamatic" gearbox. however when i drove it , all this went away, i had a company car at the time, a ford siera, and never owned a sports car, so the performance was a real buzz.

following some cosmetic work and a repair to the hydraulic chain tensioners, new oil and filter, my wife and i set off for southampton to take the ferry to santander in spain, for two weeks holiday.

the car got lots of attention, and we loved the whole tour in her, even got pulled for speeding in noja near santander, and when we got back to southampton we were checked for everything by customs.

i cannot remember why i sold the car to somone in birmingham, circa 1986. ?

i then bought a 911 sc coupe with 5,000 miles on the clock, just like new, but no bigger buzz than i got from my first porsche.

the photos attached are courtesey of a 13 yr old boy who was a porsche fan, he knocked on our door and asked could he take some pictures in 1985, the ones which are attached. he now is circa 42 yrs old and buys and sells porches in yorkshire, andrew mearns. he was not pleased when i left the "breed" and bought a new toyota mk4 supra.

SO hope you enjoy this potted history and the pictures. i have joined the DDK site and will keep a watch on the cars development, let me know by our e-mail what you think re the history i have passed on to you. ?

good luck with your project, and thanks for bringing back some of my favourite car history. ian. x x.













Priceless, thank you Ian

[saxon]

What a great story i enjoyed reading that

[johnM]

Fantastic stuff. Bet your well chuffed.

[Darren65]

Fantastic stuff. Bet your well chuffed.

Too true, it's good of people to take the time to reply

I'm hoping to get a response from the German owner - that's if they can make sense of the Google translation! - fingers crossed.

Cheers,
Darren

[Lightweight_911]

Great story !

In case you're not aware of it, the 13 year old boy who took the photos (Andrew Mearns) now operates as Gmund Cars :

http://www.gmundcars.com/website/home.html

[Darren65]

Thanks Andy,

I thought it might be and have forwarded the email and photos - small (911) world!

Cheers,
Darren

[964RS]

wow cool story

how strange andrew took the pics when he was 13 too....

[IanMcLeod]

Looks like it was fitted, with the most likely original, cookie cutters which were standard on the E in 1973.

And of course forward dated with the big rear wing which was very comon at the time.

Ian.