Mozart - The Colorado Car

[DustyM]

I have been meaning to put this on paper for a while but life gets in the way, so with a few hours stuck on a plane here we go.

In early May 2018 a customer rang to ask my opinion on a car he had seen for sale, it was advertised on Pelican and the Early S registry. Initially I thought, this sounds good but it’s a long way to go, but then he went on to describe that the car had been stripped down to a shell back in 2002 as the owner embarked on a restoration and most of it was in boxes. The car was a 1972 911E Coupe.

At this point my interest started to fade, seemed like a lot of hassle for a ’72 E

He then went on to explain some of the history behind the car and the modifications it had received back in period. In 1973 it had been upgraded with factory ST arches, 100L centre fill tank, 10K tacho, Ducktail, wide Fuchs, 917 Brakes etc. The engine had also been upgraded to 2.6 with modified MFi. the car had spent most of it’s life on the race track.

Now I’m interested again.

The Snag.

The owner had sadly died 3 years previously and after owning the car since the early 80’s it had taken his widow a few years to come to terms with selling it, but she didn’t want to get involved with sorting out the parts and getting the car to point where it could be shipped, that would have to be organised by the new owner.

The car was in Colorado so that was going to be a challenge to organise, especially with the amount of rare parts in boxes.

[Bootsy]

What a tease!

Sounds like it's going to be a good story

[DustyM]

We all know you like a good tease Tom

[DustyM]

Another day or two passed and my customer was back onto me and after a few conversations with the owner he was even more interested. He wanted to know if I knew anyone in the US that could inspect the car. I didn’t know of anyone near Colorado but even if we found someone who could, that didn’t get around the issue of making sure it all got packed up properly with no parts damaged or left behind.

Next thing I know we’ve hatched a plan to fly over ourselves.

I think this conversation happened on a Friday and by Tuesday we are on the way.

[anglophone1]

Been waiting for this Jon

[DustyM]

After what seemed like forever on two narrow body jet flights we landed through the thunderstorms into Denver (probably the roughest approach that I can remember being on)



We collected the Hire car and competed the 1/2 journey into the small town near the car’s location and checked into a very cool small hotel, greated with the usual fantastic US hospitality. The owner Wendy met us for introductions and a drink and to arrange plans for the following morning when we would get to see if this was to be a wasted trip or not.

The next morning dawned a much brighter day and after breakfast a quick walk around the town.

[Lightweight_911]

.

Looking forward to seeing this project 'unfold' - there were a lot of very talented/well-known people involved early on in this car's history ...

.

[yoda]

Great story Jon, I have heard snippets but am looking forward to the full account. Let’s hope you get up to date quickly as really want to see the car!

[Darren65]

Quite possibly my favourite thread of the year already!

[bjmullan]

This is the type of tease Booty likes

[Bootsy]

As long as it's not meaty I do like to dip my finger in a pie or two

[sladey]

I heard it wasn’t your finger...

Anyhoo, back to the story

[inaglasshouse]

Looking forward to hearing this tale

[DustyM]

Fresh air inhaled (and the air there really is fresh) and it was time to go and take a look at the car.

So we hit the road.





On arrival the garage doors were open and we were greeted with the sight of the rear of a 911 in one half and an engine in the other half.







The car had been meticulously stripped to the metal by Greg over a number of years but the dry climate in Colorado had meant that barely a spec of rust had formed. The Leadwork carried out during the cars transformation in 1973 was still intact.

[sladey]

WOWZA