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1971 Burgundy 911T

Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2024 9:27 pm
by Lightweight_911
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After a gap of ~ 13 years I now find myself the (unexpected) owner of an early 911 again.

Having sold my Climax Elite at the NEC back in November, my plan was to find a suitable LHD 356B & gradually modify it in the style of a Factory GT.

Unfortunately I soon came to the conclusion that I'd need to sell another of my cars in order to be able to buy a decent 356B with enough money left over to fund the planned modifications – so the project was put on hold for the time being.

Then this car surfaced &, although I hadn't intended to get another 911 – having owned several different models in the past – I bought it !!


It's a 1971 LHD 2.2T imported from the US in 2003 & which had been with its (DDK) owner for the past 18 years. It had been repainted in its original colour of Burgundy back in 2006/7 but a few years later had started to develop micro-blistering which, in turn, had led to the owner becoming disillusioned - resulting in the car getting used less & less …

Initial observations were that it seemed a straight/honest car which had obviously been quite heavily-optioned from new with:

- sunroof
- appearance group (alloy sill trims, leather steering wheel, velour carpet, S gauges,
gold 'Porsche' lettering on the engine lid & S bumper trim)
- radio & aerial

(original build specification was confirmed by Porsche).

Here's how it looked when it was delivered to me:

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Very presentable bodywork with excellent panel gaps, good brightwork & deep six Fuchs (a later addition) in great condition.

However, the interior was very tired with torn & sagging seats, cracked dashtop, worn carpets plus typical door pocket problems


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- & the underbonnet area & engine bay needed a thorough clean …


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Initial plans – apart from a deep clean & general tidy up – include a more sporty lightweight interior with different seats, steering wheel, etc, plus the general deletion of any superfluous items in a move towards losing a bit of weight - all fully reversible of course …

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Re: 1971 Burgundy 911T

Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2024 10:40 pm
by Lightweight_911
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So, the first thing to do interior-wise was to fit some more supportive lightweight period bucket seats ...

After removal of the current passenger side comfort seat:

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- & the (superfluous) rear seat backs

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On removal of the passenger floor mats it was nice to see the original floor pan in excellent condition:

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Re: 1971 Burgundy 911T

Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2024 11:04 pm
by Lightweight_911
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I freely admit that I have an obsession with 'period' bucket seats (& steering wheels) & usually have a selection 'knocking around' ...

Indeed, I had a pair of seats that I felt would suit the 911T - & was amused to see an almost identical (single) seat on German ebay for ~ 2000 euros:

Ebay seat:

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- & one of my seats:

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I just needed to work out the best way to install/mount them ....


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Re: 1971 Burgundy 911T

Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2024 11:34 pm
by Lightweight_911
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After considering a number of options - all of which were rejected due to being either too expensive &/or too heavy - I opted for a combination of some lightweight crossbars :

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- combined with a set of height-adjustable runners:

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- utilising some 8mm thick/3 in wide aluminium flat bar to mount the seats to the runners for a trial fit :

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Re: 1971 Burgundy 911T

Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2024 12:01 am
by Bootsy
Excellent, looking forward to this

Re: 1971 Burgundy 911T

Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2024 7:51 am
by sladey
Me too

Re: 1971 Burgundy 911T

Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2024 11:42 am
by jonno1
Very cool. I must have looked at the ebay ad for that one at least 100 times :lol:

How is the paint? Saveable?

Am sure the car will look great with the plans you have for it and will be a lovely usable car.

Re: 1971 Burgundy 911T

Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2024 12:12 pm
by Lightweight_911
jonno1 wrote: Sun Mar 10, 2024 11:42 am Very cool. I must have looked at the ebay ad for that one at least 100 times :lol:
Yes - that seat's been for sale for a long time - not surprising at that price !
jonno1 wrote: Sun Mar 10, 2024 11:42 amHow is the paint? Saveable?
No - the plan is to tidy the car up & use it over the summer - then decide what to do (if anything) about the paint ...

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Re: 1971 Burgundy 911T

Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2024 12:17 pm
by Lightweight_911
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Whilst in the process of swapping the seats I thought I'd see what the relative weights were ...

Original comfort seat back & headrest = 6.3kg
Original comfort seat base with hinges & runners = 13.2 kg

Total (one seat) = 19.5kg


Bucket seat with lwt crossbars/height-adjustable runners/Al bars = 10kg

Pair rear seatbacks = 6.6kg

Pair rear seatbelts inc bolts = 1.2kg

Therefore, removing original seats & runners, rear seatbacks plus rear seatbelts & fitting lightweight bucket seats & bases saved ~ 26.8kg

Next in line for deletion will be the n/s battery ...

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Re: 1971 Burgundy 911T

Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2024 1:02 pm
by Lightweight_911
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Bit by bit I am also making (slow) progress on the clean-up - aiming to transform areas like this:

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- to this:

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As is often the case, I found that the cowl drain hose was perished/disintegrating & the circular (grey card) cover over the bulkhead hole - where a vent for the Webasto heater (if fitted) would be - was missing:

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- so I replaced the hose & made a cover for the hole (not exactly the same as the original but OK for the time being)

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Re: 1971 Burgundy 911T

Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2024 1:32 pm
by jonno1
Nice progress.

I meant the ebay ad for the car :wink:

Re: 1971 Burgundy 911T

Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2024 2:21 pm
by Lightweight_911
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I don't think this car has ever been advertised on ebay - not that I'm aware of anyway

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Re: 1971 Burgundy 911T

Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2024 7:45 pm
by jtparr
Great to see this Andy….am sure you will do the car proud….

Re: 1971 Burgundy 911T

Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2024 8:25 pm
by inaglasshouse
Excellent. Thanks for sharing, Andy. Looks like a very nice car and a good opportunity to tidy and improve. I'm sure it will be even more lovely when you've finished with it.

Re: 1971 Burgundy 911T

Posted: Sun Mar 10, 2024 9:57 pm
by yoda
Looks excellent and a nice project.