Stop ! This is going to sound a bit strange but before I tell you a bit about the car , it’s important , no, vital , that I tell you about the owner / builder / restorer of it. Unfortunately, he , my friend Paul Martin is no longer with us - he died suddenly and unexpectedly , about 8 years ago - part way through his 2nd restoration of the car. I know Paul had dealings with quite a few on DDK , both on the purchase and supply side.
Paul was (among other things) a rally driver – mostly in a Mk1 Escort. At 24 years of age – he won the 1974 Ulster Rally Championship !! in OKT 719 G . In those days, the championship was composed of blind rallies (no pace notes) ... and Paul poo poo’d my rally driving attempts many years later , because we stooped to using pace notes !! He was (mostly) a self taught motor engineer / garage proprietor who for virtually all of his working life ran a business specialising in older Porsche 911’s. (See attached advert)
He upset Mr. Porsche , by calling his business Porsche Services Ireland , and using the Porsche logo , for many years (as per his attached note to me in 1987) , It was changed to 911 Services Ireland not long after that. He was very very particular – with very high standards – the attached article about one of his ex apprentices – puts this better than my words.
In about 1985 he decided that PCGB Region 27 actually needed to be revived and have a representative. Porsche Club Ireland did not exist – and the region 27 was “designed” to cover the entire country. Paul was the man behind getting this started up again – and the first event that had been held in Ireland for many years , was a BBQ at Nuts Corner Motorsport centre , where the star attraction was the ex Rothmans SCRS 911 (attached photo with Paul’s car) – then recently bought essentially by Agnews ... came along, and many of us were taken for high speed laps in it !!!
Paul made a new friend in Jan 1973 , Bert Gear came to work in N Ireland for about 3 or 4 years , Bert bought a 911S for about £1750 , and Paul bought a 911T for approx £950 (Paul’s car was bought from the McCartney bros. in Larne !) – both were 1969 models. This was in 1974 , and good fun was had by all (by all reports) . Bert went on to marry Lyn , and eventually founded Berlyn – selling Porsche parts to many of us over the approx 26 years he had the business, and Paul stayed in the “Garage “ business.
The car was apparently quite rough (surprising for a 5 or 6 year old vehicle) – it was originally White , registered AOI 50 , and registered to our local Porsche dealer -Issac Agnew , for the first 2+ years of it’s life , and had only one other owner before Paul. It was the subject of a restoration early in it’s life, and Paul changed the colour to Orange (red in Tax book) and essentially made it into a rally car replica. The original crankcase is still in the car, but over the years it changed guises many times - different fuel systems , different cams , different heads , etc etc. I think it was always and still is a 2 litre engine , but in it’s current set up (all rebuilt by Paul) runs a Bosch Mechanical injection set up (pump rebuilt by RS diesels ?) and is essentially S spec. A year or two before work stopped on it , Paul decided to do yet another full rebuild of the car , and change it’s colour to Irish Green. I went to see it after painting - engine and box were installed and the car was running like the proverbial swiss watch. BUT ..... Paul , true to form was not happy with the fit up of one of the rear opening windows. (It looked fine to my eye) ... but no , nothing would do except a local repair - to sort the offending fit. This needs repainting . (All other panels had probably been on and off and adjusted many times each prior to paint – not sure how that one slipped through ?).
Anyways , x weeks later he was gone , and the car has just sat there ever since !
It’s a “put it back together” project. The hard work – body , paintwork , engine , box , brakes have been done (I would assume brakes will need revisited after this time) , and there are boxes and boxes of bits everywhere. I spent quite a few hours with my home made check list , going through parts last week - some photos attached. Not a 100% check – but I saw enough to tell me that things are 98% complete. The only “major” item I did not see was ALL of the instruments – so assume there may be some items to source. On the plus side , when I went looking for things like door handles / headlights , and other things - I turned up multiple quantities – I think I saw 4 door handles for example ..... you get what’s there. I did not find / see the original carbs - assume they are not present , but may well be in a box. Things like seats had been re-covered , but other items like door pockets had not been refurbished – instruments I did find had been worked on. The only “complaint” I would have , is that the black “underseal” that Paul used, has hardened – become brittle , and is falling off in some places ... this would obviously need redone.
Not a simple one to price / value. There will be some big wins for the buyer , there will be some expenses too. I would be very surprised if the engine wasn’t up and running within a day or two. I know from my own restoring of a 1973 911E , that this assembly stage is the best bit (compared to the cutting / welding / grinding / painting part ).... and relatively quick , I was on the road a couple of months after painting vs two years for bodywork !
The asking price is £57,500 since you have to start somewhere - open to sensible offers , but it IS one you need to come see / talk about before doing so. Think hard about this one - it’s not the run of the mill car or “condition” – probably more suitable to the DIY restorer vs paying someone to do the job for you. It has been advertised for a short time on PCI , now onto DDK ... and that’s as far as I want to go.
I can offer a pick up and take you to view service , from any of our NI airports or ports ... and if you behave yourself , I’ll even drop you back again. If it’s too far to come for a view , never mind the £60 return flights that can be booked in advance ... then it’s probably not the car for you
Remember – I can’t ask Paul what cam shafts are in it , or what compression ratio it’s running , so don’t waste time asking me. Sensible questions and discussion I can handle ! Photos of Paul and car taken by me at PCGB concours event – Droitwich ? 1985. Reg is BIB 5566 (no I don’t think you’ll find it live on any system presently) and I could only find one MOT certificate !!
Cheers
Alan
I'm going to attempt to attach about 30+ photos to this - will do in several bites ... bear with me please
