It has been a varied time, so decided to write all the detail of the first 10 years, see if there is any interest, and if so continue.
I will write it all anyway for my own benefit even if it is deem boring on here, it will be part of the car's legacy.
This is the first 2 years:
30 years with the same 911
I bought my 911 on the 17 February 1989 as a birthday present from my wife along with membership to the PCGB.
30 years or so is a long time with one special car, and I felt it time to write a short story of the time with the 911 split into 3 very different decades. I hope this will be of interest to those with time to read it all.
Why the 911?
I have been with classic cars and bikes since I was 15, 53 years ago. I came through scooters, hot rods, sports cars, drag racing welding and fixing and painting all things until the summer of 1986.
Whilst on holiday in Jersey I happened across the motorsport of hill climbing, new to me and the day watching all these classes of race cars and karts fascinated, and I knew this was my new interest away from building my second hot rod, a chopped ‘31 Ford Model A tudor, Rover V8, jaguar rear suspension and Super Bell front end, all steel.
We went to all the midland hills after, Prescott, Shelsley Walsh and Loton Park but one car caught my eye and ears, the various Porsche 911’s running so hard up these venues, Josh Saddler especially comes to mind, blunt hard driving and so controlled and effective.
I had never considered a 911 before, didn’t really know what one was even, a Porsche for me? Got to be kidding. The Birmingham Grand Prix was on the cards and the Porsche boys came to town, something to see and that was it, a 911.
Thought a 73T would be the lightest and above all I wanted a rotten car, a real project to be relief from my then day job which my doctor said was killing me…
Back then finding a 911 was not so easy. No ebay, about 5 specialists if you knew of them and no internet at all. I turned the pages of Exchange & Mart and in those hazy poorly printed mini adverts was my car at a tiny back street dealer of dodgy cars in Coventry. At least it was honest, sold for restoration only, must not be driven, had a 10 month MoT!
He sold it to me because I knew a lot was needed, so for £3000 he delivered it to my empty drive. I thought it rather expensive as I had sold the Ford Model A the week before for £2200….
My plan (if there was one then) was to rebuild the car and hill climb it. I’d restored the shells of 2 MGB’s of a similar age, so what could be difficult. I had by then the Porter book on 911 restoration, invaluable, the Haynes book too and had a specialist very close by in the form of Club Autosport.
Keen to start, I decided to start the engine. The oil level was rather low, so topped it up. With the engine not running…once over that fiasco the engine ran great for a 2.2T on Webers. Yep, wrong engine.
I had in fact bought a German car, 73T with a 2.2, 3L exhaust but correct 4 speed box and freshly welded sills, most of the correct interior and a black painted headliner.
The car had had 6 UK owners , the last being a Youth Training project in darkest Tipton, Dudley. So it was imported in ’83, 6 owners to ’87 then to Coventry then to me.
A Bitza, rotten and wrong, but a real project. Ideal at the time.
The shell restoration was quite comprehensive. The sills were from a Mk3 Cortina, the label said so under the underseal, inner sills were sort of OK, the floor perimeter was all gone, Kidney bowls too, under the torsion tube both sides.
The rear wings gleaming under the smooth Guards Red paint I almost pulled off by hand, the B posts were sculptured filler. Oddly the front wings were good. The entire tank support area was rotten, repaired using a big full-size Castrol GTX oil can and a million pop rivits and a lake of underseal. It came out once I had jumped on it. I still have it in the garage as a memento.
Off to Club Autosport and £800 later came back with 2 new rear wings, new tank support panels, bowls jack points, (all real Porsche) 2 door skins and Dansk sill sets.
I welded and welded and welded for 4 months part time between wizzing around the globe finally painting the car in Champagne Yellow instead of the Viper Green of the original car.
Had to hand make all the patch repairs to the floor and tank support chassis members, and removed the dreadful glass aftermarket sunroof fitted out of line and that had flattened the curvature of the roof. Having put a Webasto sun roof into my B GT, it seemed natural to fit one in the 911!
I loved every minute of the task, the car had to be moved from one side of the 12 foot wide garage to paint one side, moved to paint the other side. I used cellulose as I had no experience of any other system, 2K was new then…Paint cost me a total of £40.
All back together and the car needed some expert attention to set the weird suspension and generally check it over. I found an advert for a new specialist called Bob Watson Engineering next to a bakery in Bicester in Porsche Post. Bob sounded my kind of specialist on the phone, so the car went there for a few days towed by trailer behind the first of my 3 Rover 800’s.
At last, after a hard tour of Japan (Nissan, Honda etc) I’d had enough of the Car Industry and moved to the world of leisure, caravan equipment to be exact, sooo very relaxed, it was time to think ahead for the car. Hill climbing.
Bob had no real idea of the sport, only circuits, but he set the suspension to what us oldies would call ‘Fast Road Work’, tweeked a few things (gear change etc) and I collected it 2 weeks later and drove it back solo, my first drive in a 911 from Bicester to home.
What a car! What strange steering (feel) why are there no brakes? God, it sounds great, god it used petrol like mad. Unbelievable drive.
We moved house, about ¼ mile away with a 2 car wide garage, what bliss, so much room.
1991 was the start of my hill climbing in the car. I had avidly read an article in a Porsche Post by Author Heeten ( I think) about a sprint he did in his 911E locally; that was it.
Josh Saddler won the Midland Hillclimb Championship in his 3.5 litre 911, and I wanted some of the same. My car-interested wife really fancied the idea too and my 4 year old daughter was keen if she had ear protectors on in the back.
We did our first hill climb at Batings Dam. A very narrow road/path up the dry side of a dam well north of Derbyshire. There were 2 of us in the class, the other car was an experienced Ferrari 308, a dentist, John Dobson. He won by a mile or rather a long time.
The 911 had us, the folding seats and bags in the front, and all I needed was a B level licence and a crash helmet, how times have changed. I never got out of 2nd gear, revved the tits of the engine and drove home absolutely delighted and entered a few other events the same year. We used the car for weekend runs and the first long run was to Aberdovey in Wales, but the most important one was to Brooklands.
Mark Waring had arranged for an Early 911 meeting there via PCGB and 17 cars turned up. The 911 drove fabulously and fitted in well amongst all the gleaming red 911S’s. Still have the photo’s taken in the kitchen. We came away with ‘Spirit of 911 Ownership’ I think.
This was the first time I realised I had bought into something big by accident.
It was about this time I came in contact with John (fcd911 on DDK) and I am very happy to say we have been good friends since.
The first 2 years of this car were frantic, the realisation of a dream.
If there is interest I will continue and add pictures, all of which are real photographs, nothing digital!
The first Decade continues!
After a few events it was obvious that my Class Mates were all far more experienced and had far more powerful cars, in some cases 3 x more as I was in the over 2 Litre Road going class, and encouraged by Bob, the thought of the next engine loomed very quickly.
Baitings Dam, our first event:
I wanted to continue to drive the 911 to an event, do it, and drive back with the wife and daughter who was growing up fast, but was still foldable to get into the back. Car preparation was minimal, a small tool box and a trolley jack and race numbers now mounted on magnetic sheet so fixed to the doors easy. This was the approach we took throughout the car’s hill climb chapter of my ownership, a full 13 years.
To the next engine. Bob had a 2.4S engine in bits in a big box, a customer’s engine as he had put a 3.2 into his early car, can’t remember his name now. It was good condition, all std/std bearings good E cams and 7R cases and Mech Injection, so I bought it. I fancied a DIY build having never done a 911 before, but I had the Porter book and Bob was to hand too. There was also another pressing issue about the car in general, it was LHD and the wife was growingly hating it. I worked a lot in France and drove a lot of LHD cars bombing over the hills of the Alsace in Renault 5’s from the Factory in St Die to various airports, always late leaving. But, it was bugging me too, so in the winter of 1992 the project was RHD conversion (somehow) and to build a 2.4 E/S the aim was for 180 bhp and drivability.
The engine was easy in many ways, the pump went for a re-furb at a diesel specialist, parts came from a very helpful Bert Gear and I chickened out and took the engine to Bob for the cam timing to be done. I think Bob had now moved to Hatch End with Paul Brock.
It all came together and went back in the car to Bob for rolling road tuning at Osselli and 180 bhp was indeed right there. Very chuffed and Bob seemed more so!
That done and it was time for the RHD conversion. In 1992 it all seemed so straightforward to me. I had spent nearly 2 decades with hotrods and mates too, so just doing this with few parts as normal. It was a big job, but was completed in 2 weeks over Xmas and imho came out well. The car was so much better for it, wife was happy and it was a good mod to do, very satisfying. Bob found me an ex-racer RHD dash top for £20!
It involved a lot of sheet metalwork but crucially, two Porsche panels now no longer available and that was the trigger.
Bob had the car to tune after the two conversions, RHD and the 2.4E/S and was really pleased with the results.
The car was then used for ‘full’ seasons of hill climbing and going places. It was fast enough to get close to the Cossies, the V8 MGB’s and my arch rival and friend in a V8 Morgan. The class was huge, sometimes 14 cars of all shapes and it took a long time to get 1 point in a season, points only starting from 6th position which was about my level.
We as a family was getting involved now, we joined Hagley and District Light Car Club which is as old as it sounds, my wife started to be entries secretary, my still young daughter did a lot of the results through the days and I was driving the balls of the car that never missed a beat until one meeting…
Shelsley Walsh is a tricky hill, sort of the ‘Monaco’ level circuit in the UK hill and lovely to do.
On practice day and on fresh second-hand TOYO tyres I scooted up the damp hill and into the esses, Hot. Bottom Esse was interesting and as the fright overwhelmed me the top Esse caught me out and the car ploughed into a good tree and barrier on the left, the nose of the 911 taking the bang. On impact my head hit the top of the screen splitting the helmet but apart from a high tick over and a steering wheel now at a bag angle I rolled down the hill after recovery marshals had done their bit.
Down in the paddock the damage was rather evident. The NSF wheel was 1” further back, the passenger door would barely open and the bonnet and front wing were scrap.
Got home by Saturday lunch on Roger’s Rescue truck and the front was stripped by tea time. The front corner had tucked under taking the panels around it with it, indicator unit was scrap the wing etc, the pictures say it all.
Contacted Bob, he had a Cellette so the car was collected by some of his friends and would be back in a few days which it was. The Husborne Crawley Porsche-only autojumble was the following weekend and the next hill climb (Prescott) was the week after, so determined, the task was to get the car done. Bought all the parts I needed inc 2 ropey front wings.
In the end I cut up 3 early wings and with some of the best gas welding I’ve done but welded 3 wing sections together to make one rust-free wing. Touch of filler, repainted in the garage and everything back together and aligned. The original bonnet was scrap so not being able to find another steel bonnet bought a glass one from Autofarm that fitted without any adjustment! This bonnet is still on the car so is the sharp dent on the scuttle where the crash left its mark.
Thought it a good idea to stop my neck stretching as far as it did in the crash, so in went a 6 point rollcage, 4 point seat belts and a racing seat. The cage has FIA padding and a nice new helmet finished things off and I felt much better.
The TOYO tyres went and a fresh new set of AVON CR28 Sports went on, my, what a difference!
However, it was not fast enough, but I was now getting Class points!
Time for another Engine, but took the car to social events, such as here at a sprint track with fcd's 911S amongst others.
Stepping Up in Engine size.
The 2.4E/S (S engine but with E cams) was a lovely engine, fast revving, flexible and really worked, but simply not enough bhp and torque. I think I had reached the limit of my meagre driving skills but my lack of speed against my fellow Class Mates must be down to the car (of course). The V8 Morgan and the Cossie were always just ahead, and both had big bhp, so another engine was needed.
It came in the form of a 3.2 with it’s oil cooled gearbox, a 5 speeder, so this seemed a great move forward, 50 bhp more, more torque, and more gears, BUT, crucially, less revs, 6K red line, but it felt like progress. The fabulous 2.4E/S was sold, on its engine stand to Majordad on here, so over to Ireland it went. I very much regret selling it.
The engine was 60K miles old out of an 1985 Carrera SS and cost a huge £2000. A check with the Police to confirm all was well (the car was a right-off) and it was delivered on a pallet to my door all complete with DME and loom. The engine had never been apart or the box, so I simply fitted it as it arrived but transferred the 2.7 RS exhaust (SSI type) over and the 2 in 3 out silencer from the 2.4. This exhaust could well improve torque but moreover, I hillclimbed the car with all 3 ports open and the sound was great.
The distributor cap was dated 1985 and I think the plugs were the same era too!
The engine just bolted in, a hassle to me were the fuel lines, but new 3.2 hard plastic items and a 964 pump was installed just after the tank outlet.
By far the gearbox was difficult. The 3.2 box used the smaller CV’s to the 2.4, but I found 2 early 930 box flanges in Brian Wood’s attic of parts which used the large 2.4 CV’s.
Bob thought the rear end suspension needed beefing up as the engine is heavier, so 3 litre 930 rear bars were found at Husborne Crawley yet again from Neil Bainbridge.
Bob had the car down to his place for yet another suspension set-up and Paul Brock did the splicing of the wiring to match the engine to the car, to the speedo and to the tacho.
He had sorted all this out when they did the 3.2 conversion to the guy who I had the 2.4S/E from!
The drive back was huge. What a different car. Smooth, full of torque and the box was good too. Stunning was the halving of the fuel consumption in comparison to the 14 mpg of the 2.4. The car was now regularly doing 3000 miles a year and totally reliable, easy starting and just fabulous. I had got into the habit of changing the clutch every winter as the hard starts of the sport I felt was testing the system and the only drawback to the SS box is the tight fit of the CV on the cooler side, a real pain as it still is!
I won more points and was even getting the Morgan every now and then, I have a lot of ‘2nd in Class’ awards…
Somehow, the car was found by Practical Classic Magazine who were doing a feature on modified classic cars. I think Bert Gear might have told them about the 911.
We were invited down to Cobham test facility by Mark Dixon with 4 other modified classics.
After the interviews about the details of all the cars and then more on each Mark elected to take each out on track to see what each was like.
Nobody had ever driven my 911 since I had it so it was with a very nervous heart I gave Mark the keys, told him the brakes were not ‘modern’ and tried to put him off going fast.
No chance, he scooted off the infield and to the track, most of which you cannot see, but you could hear this 911! The sound of it coming through the wood was something else and then out onto the straight. Bloody hell, it was going fast. I had never seen the car from the ‘outside’ so to speak, and the sight and sound was fabulous.
He was impressed, and waxed lyrical about it and doing 120 mph.
It was from this point on the 911 spec remained for the next 23 years as the hill climb quest for speed gathered apace.
The car was clearly out classed, and the class structure was/had changed in the Midland Championship. The sports cars were separated from the saloons and I found myself up against some very serious cars, DAX’s with 4 litre V8’s and such like. I and the 911 could never get on terms with this lot, but the saloon class looked good!
The 911 hillclimbed and drove us to many social events such as Silverstone Classic, Oulton Park Gold Cup, some PCGB regional events and even a spell in the PCGB Speed Championship where I met some long term friends such as our very own Jonathan Williamson.
At this point the 911 was retired from the hills after 13 fabulous years, lots of fun, challenges and results, but I needed more.
Its days were not yet over though as things changed rapidly.
2003 and a time for change
230 bhp or so just could not cut it. The 4x4 Impreza’s and EVO’s had arrived in force and also some of the regulations were changing. The 911 (even this one) was starting to rise in value and the chance of another crunch loomed as I pushed the car hard trying to keep up. My talent was poor, my enthusiasm high.
Tyre choice had opened up and the 911 was now on Kumho V70 Soft, simply the best tyres I have ever known for a road car. Road legal and could do about 3000 miles a year for the front, the rears about there and the 911 was at its height. I was still driving there and back, almost the only car to do so, the rest were trailered.
There is something magical about the 6.00am starts in the fresh crisp air, no traffic and the open exhaust. The car had no heater, so drove with the window down to get the ‘full-effect’.
I’ve never driven the car with the sun roof open since fitting it…
So, we took the plunge. The 911 was dumped to the ‘old-car’ duties for Silverstone Classic, Oulton Gold Cup etc and the annual miles dropped into the 100’s a year as it made way for a Japanese Import.
The 1998 Subaru STi was the next car which I will not dwell on too much here, but what a fabulous car it turned out to be. I took all the rubber out of the suspension, WRX parts elsewhere and took the engine to 370bhp, LSD’d, cage, Kumho’s etc and had a fantastic 3 years and even won some class runs and held 2 Class hill records for a while.
The class went to slicks, so 4 slick shod wheels went into the back, I drove there, changed wheels (unless rain was expected) and went faster.
Gone was the relaxing time cruising to the track, coffee, bacon bap etc and a serious tone seeped into the Class. It was serious time, no messing. We did not all get on well in the Class. One in particular got up my nose, and it dawned on me this was not fun really anymore, and I now needed to deal with 500bhp cars trailered, roached out.
Not a road going class anymore, and it still isn’t.
Getting 500 bhp from a 2 litre Impreza is not easy. It is not reliable and certainly not cheap. I was on AST suspension, and even had a sponsorship ‘deal’ with them which only added to the stress and strain, NOTHING comes ‘free’ and that was the final straw, time for another change.
A visit to the Autosport Show in 2008 and I stood in front of my dream car.
It was a 1978 Lola T492 Sports racer with a 2 litre Pinto and weighing ½ of the 911 and 40% of the Impreza (itself a lardy 1250Kg).
It looked, to me, like a Porsche 908 but a tad smaller and a much lower price!
Wife agreed. She just wanted me to have some good weekends while racing instead of being grumpy at best.
I sold my Impreza to a friend in the car Club (I was by now very involved in the Hagley Car Club and the club’s own hillclimb track, Loton Park.
Martyn is a balls-out driver, older than me, and on the car’s second event he put it on it’s roof in a very big way. Twisting the shell but my welding of the roll cage held tight thank goodness. He still has it, re-shelled and with 500 bhp! He has never bettered my times…
Finding a Lola T492 is not easy as I found out. They are rare, truly rare so I was without a hill climb car, blood hell, this is serious.
However, the 911 was cleaned, fresh Kumho tyres, some fancy French brake pads and the old 911 did a full year again. Slow in the class, but it all came back, nice and easy, nice weekends (I was now in another class) and happy again.
I bought a rolling chassis Lola T492 from a financial wizard who dealt with high-end rock stars. In great condition, new body and a real race car, a real project and the car that would influence the last 12 years of my motoring life, and maybe if I am lucky a few more yet.
The big hole in the back where the little cast iron Pinto should be was filled by a mighty 3.2 911 flat 6 nearly bought from Terry Davison who was PCGB Chairman at the time complete with 915 box and the most beautiful Flat Fan you have seen outside of a 917. Oddly, Jonathan Williamson has driven this engine!
The car was a joy to modify, a bitch to get it working, 2 engine re-builds and 2 gearbox rebuilds. The magnesium box out of my 911, the 4 speeder was converted to mid engine orientation by Mike Bainbridge who rebuild the shattered box, and then rebuild it again 3 months later due to Operator Error….
I again won’t dwell on this car, it is a story in my life that is even longer than this 911 tale and has been told from the very start on another forum. Having a real race car to deal with is very different to the 911 and the Impreza, far more expensive, far more fragile and I’ve had more offs in it than the others added together. I have written it’s story already.
So, to finish this tale.
The 911 was used for high days once the Lola was done and in use. The annual miles dropped to about 600 mile/year, I changed the oil etc every year no matter the miles and have done so since I had the car. The oils came out as golden as they went in, always Shell semi synthetic as insisted on my Bob.
I saw Bob very little in the last 10 years and was very very sorry when he died, one of only 2 specialists I can say I trusted. He did tuning work on the Lola and seemed joyed when I bought it down to Hatch End.
The 911 after 30 years and still wearing my DIY cellulose paint in my 1 car garage started to look shabby, certainly wearing it’s patina with pride, but shabby.
In the winter of 2018 I had the car re-painted by a small repair shop close to me, some small welding jobs, some tidy-up and painted in the same colour and 2K paint. I tried to re0build it nicely, fresh fasteners, all the same, paint details etc. It cost me £1500 all-in, nothing is too much for this 911!
I saw the RHD conversion for the first time since 1993 and was chuffed to see all the welds were solid.
The lovely 3.2 has now done about 130,000 miles and never been apart, uses no oil and gives 32 mpg if the wife is with me.
It sits next to the Lola in the double width garage, my 31 year old love and my 12 year old mistress!
I hope you have all enjoyed this Long Story of a truly fabulous motor car that has given us so very much.
Graham, '911hillclimber' by name!
