1974 Carrera Coupe - RHD, UK car

[Ferry Man]

So I needed a set of RS arches. I nearly purchased a set kindly offered by OliveR (pictured below) but before I needed to part with any money another generous DDK'er stepped forward with free help.

Serhad (101sinbad) had a brand new pair of genuine RS arches that he would be prepared to lend me.
He didn't wish to sell but I could borrow them for as long as necessary and Chestertons could use them as reference to make a set for me.

Thanks for your generosity Serhad. I really ought to return them now....

[Ferry Man]

I decided I should present my car with RS style arches.
And thereby I incurred considerable expense and trouble.
But I’ve done it.
And who can tell?

Let’s conjecture that there are less than a hundred people who can confidently distinguish between the two versions of arch amongst the Porsche enthusiasts in this country.
Maybe only 60 guys or so?
So, in a country with a population of 64,000,000 I’ve chosen to correctly replicate the arch profile on a car that less than one person in a million will be able to notice.
Madness. Even now I’m still shaking my head at the folly of it all....

[Ferry Man]

As the shell inched toward completion John at Chestertons asked for the remaining outer panels and fixtures.
They would take care to trial fit the doors, bonnet, bumpers etc. Even the lights.
So I supplied them with more panels, bumpers, bumper mounts, bellows, hinges, bonnet & ducktail latches & catches, front & rear valances, cable pulls, door latches & catches, etc, etc.
They even required door seals and bonnet seals to ensure that things closed correctly.

I did tend to keep a picture record using my iPhone of the parts delivered so I had evidence of who had what (in case of any confusion later).
I didn't realise how neatly I'd laid them out. It's a worry....

[Highfield]

Paul, I thought I had read before that RS arches were still available from Porsche. Obviously not as you have had a set made ?

[Ferry Man]

Paul, I thought I had read before that RS arches were still available from Porsche. Obviously not as you have had a set made ?

When I tried to buy from Porsche, the RS arches were not available. The complete RS rear quarters (with an RS arch welded on) were available. Go figure.
However, the RS wings were very expensive and I'd already bought SC rear quarters. So I did what Porsche did back in the seventies and added RS arches to the standard wing.

[Ferry Man]

OK, I'm on holiday next week so reports on the body repairs will dry up for a while. We'll come back to that.

Anyway I was getting tired of the rising costs so I consoled myself with my one bit of good fortune.
The gearbox had already been rebuilt.
When I collected the car it was wrapped up in polythene.
It's in the foreground in this shot.

[Ferry Man]

The gearbox had already been rebuilt.

It had a tag cautioning that there was no oil in it. And it was clean and ready to go.
Great. A big lump of money saved.

[Ferry Man]

But…. ...with a car restoration so comprehensive I had to be sure of the quality of the work done.
So, after anguishing over whether to bother to check inside, I bit the bullet and asked Redtek to open her up and investigate.
Just in case.....

[Ferry Man]

I asked Redtek to open her up and investigate.

Nick reported back. “It’s dreadful”.

[Ferry Man]

I don’t know who did the work (it would have been probably 15 years ago) but they didn’t do well.

It appears the gearbox was stripped by a gearbox rebuilder and found to be very worn.
The gearbox was then badly rebuilt by the bad gearbox rebuilder using the very same badly worn parts.

Nick said there was also a lot of play in the box.
Take a look at the colour of the residual oil in there.
And shake your head from side to side.

They’d done a cheap job but they’d repainted it nicely (which was entirely the wrong finish anyway).

[Ferry Man]

[Ferry Man]

[Ferry Man]

[Ferry Man]

[Ferry Man]