Long Distance Restoration 1970, 911T

[Midlifecrisis]

You are going to have to help me on that one Cortina....I'm a bit lost?

[Midlifecrisis]

Spotted it - thanks!

[Midlifecrisis]

Just back from my trip to the U.S of A. The plan was to collect the car and drive it from Sandy in Utah to Huntington Beach in California. I had absolutely no idea how stressed out I would feel prior to the trip (and during it for the most part) as the pressure and responsibility of 2 years of long distance restoration was finally coming to an end. Firstly in all the threads I have read so far everyone seems to just grab a flight to where they need to go jump in the car and drive effortlessly to their destination. In my case the practicalities of driving the car seemed to take up lots of head space as well as plenty of emails across the pond. The main issue was not being a US citizen meant I couldn’t apply for insurance or register the car and get plates to drive it. After a long email exchange with the DMV in Salt Lake I found out I was able to apply for a ‘transit permit’ which meant the car could leave the state. This is a piece of paper that you stick in your back window which gives you 4 days to get to where you need to go. It costs $2.50 (!) but can only be purchased in person at the DMV offices. As for insurance I stretched the truth about my home address and managed to get special insurance for a foreign driver. This would most likely be refused after 30 days when I couldn’t come up with the right documents but for the time being I was insured.
After a great flight to L.A followed by a short hop to Salt Lake my friend David and I had a night at a really nice Hotel in town and then caught the train to the DMV early on Monday morning. All of my US mates told me that you could spend hours waiting to be served and that it was a bureaucratic nightmare. This wasn’t the case at all and we were done and dusted within 15 minutes with my permit to travel safely secured. We then headed over to Eric’s ‘shop’ in Sandy via cab and arrived around lunchtime to find the guys still working furiously on the car to get a few bits finished before we left. It looked absolutely beautiful, I was pretty nervous as the responsibility of owning such a great machine really dawned on me.











After going for lunch, taking a trip up to the mountains and generally waiting around it was beginning to get quite late and I was starting to worry that I wouldn’t be able to keep my eyes open for the first leg of our journey, 400 miles to Las Vegas. Finally around 9pm the car was ready, the electrics had been sorted and we were able to go. Just before we left however Eric was fiddling with a light bulb behind one of the gauges when…..there was a fizz, a bang, some smoke and some wires burned up behind the dash and killed the lights. Gutted.

More to follow....

[Bootsy]

Looks glorious though - will await next installment!

[squirejo]

Oh I REALLY hope this one has a great ending!

[Midlifecrisis]

The gauges were all restored by Palo Alto who by all accounts are one of the best worldwide. They looked beautiful but somehow in transit a tab at the back came loose of the fuel/oil gauge and had caused the shorting and burnt back wire. David and I decided to take a walk and let the guys decide what was best, it was nearly 10pm and I’m sure they would have preferred to be at home rather than working on the British guys car…. When we returned half an hour later Eric had rewired the gauge and we were all systems go. I loaded up the car with our luggage, stuck our permission note on the back windscreen and with all eyes on us pulled away trying to do it as smoothly as possible.Well OK I might have bunny hopped it a bit.. The thrill of joining the freeway was one of the best moments I have had for a long while, windows down, best friend beside me, setting sun and the car loved going between 60 and 70. It was about 20 minutes into the drive when David said “you do realise there a 5th gear don’t you”. Slightly embarrassed I popped her in 5th and everything got even better. The oil gauge jumped about a lot but finally settled down, and the temperature remained constant at just under 180. After an hour however I couldn’t keep my eyes open. The stress of waiting for the car and having had very little sleep for 48 hours was starting to take its toll. I was concentrating on keeping awake and remember at one point leaning really close to the windscreen, white knuckles trying to hold it together. We had only gone 60 or so of the 400 miles before our first stop and I was fried. We decided to pull into a gas station and grab a quick power nap. This came easily and after 40 minutes and a cup of the black stuff truckers drink that sort of resembles coffee we were back on the road.

The road from Salt Lake to Las Vegas is pretty straight and dull. During the day it can get up to around 40 degrees but with the windows down it was quite pleasant at night. We had bought a mini cooler and filled it with water bottles and ice. This was a really good idea, as we kept hydrated and didn’t need to keep stopping for drinks. At night there’s not really much to see in the desert, so we kept each other awake talking rubbish and checking the gauges. The car had been fitted with PMO’s as the zeniths just wouldn’t play ball. It was a quick decision and an expensive one and part of me still regrets not having more time to make the zeniths work. Eric tuned them but felt that the difference in altitude between Utah and California would have an effect. I have no idea whether this is correct but when we stopped for gas I struggled to get the car going again. She started eventually and I put it down to being inexperienced and we ploughed on towards Vegas.

The I15 is fairly quiet at night with the only transport around being the massive trucks and trailers. They don’t have the same speed restrictions as ours so it wasn’t unusual to be overtaken at 80 mph by one of these beasts. About an hour outside of Vegas I started to wonder if the lights on the dash were less bright. I knew that I was tired and they looked like they were still working on the road so thought I must be imagining it. About 10 minutes later we have very very little light left and I realised we had a problem with the alternator and were running out of juice. There are no lights on the freeway. Unlike home they don’t have street lamps as it is the desert and so we were driving in the dark with virtually no lights. It was one of the scariest moments of my life as I didn’t want to go slowly for fear of being rear ended by a truck but I was struggling to make out where the frickin edge of the road was. A few trucks passed us blasting their horns as we desperately tried to find an exit. About 5 miles later we managed to turn off the road into a truck stop and turn the car around so that it was facing downhill. In the end David got out of the car and used his iPhone light to make sure we didn’t ground it out on the side of the road. We decided to wait until dawn and then assess our options….

[Darren65]

...hope the happy ending is coming soon!

[squirejo]

...hope the happy ending is coming soon!

I guess that's in Vegas.

[sladey]

Fantastic stuff - keep the story coming

[Midlifecrisis]

Thanks guys,

I managed to sleep for two hours and woke as the sun was coming up. David who is 6ft 6 had originally had his door open and legs outside, he then thought he might get bitten by a snake so pulled them back in and then struggled to sleep. We discussed our options and realised at 5.00am that if we waited for a tow truck or garage to open we could be sat there for a long time and as it was the Nevada desert neither of us relished that idea. We checked the brake lights still worked and then pushed the car back onto the slipway and bump started it rolling down the hill. It started but was very unhappy. Once back on the freeway I realised the engine died if it didn’t have enough revs and when we slowed down in traffic I had to use the handbrake to slow down whilst revving the accelerator. It was really stressful as we were in 5 lanes of traffic and there was no hard shoulder. We limped our way round the ring road looking for our hotel ‘The Wynn’. Thankfully its a bit of a landmark so we navigated our way towards it by sight rather than using a map. This was good and bad because although we could see the hotel it also meant making quick decisions to turn in a car that really wanted to give up. I was riding the clutch a lot and worried that I could be doing some permanent damage but by this point I had no option but to try and get to the hotel at all costs. With it in sight we were just coming up to the main junction with ‘The Strip' when the lights changed and we were stuck at the front of the queue. Revving like mad the car finally stalled and we were stranded at the front of four lanes of traffic. David and I jumped out and started to push the car across the junction, cars behind us sounding their horns and screeching past us at speed. It was totally nerve racking but I threw myself back into the drivers seat and managed to bump start her again, roared off leaving my companion in the middle of the road. In my rear view mirror I could see him darting in front of cars and trucks as he staggered towards the sidewalk. Feeling guilty for leaving him I took a couple of quick turns and parked directly outside the main entrance to the 5 star hotel. Within seconds staff were coming over shouting how I couldn’t possibly park there (and to be fair I looked like a tramp stepping out of the car. In shorts,long hair stubble and a completely soaked T shirt) and had to move it. After David emerged unscathed I blagged my way inside and promised to move it as soon as my mechanic opened his shop up….

[Midlifecrisis]

After consulting with Eric, I was told the best Porsche guy in Vegas was Tony at Carls Place. It was only a mile or two from the hotel so after a quick nap I walked over. I forgot how hot it was and turned up an hour later dehydrated and looking even more dishevelled. Tony and Diane are absolutely amazing. They took over running Carls Place nearly two decades ago and are the most hospitable people I have met for a long time. They got together in college and have been involved with Porsches ever since. Diane answers the phone, books in the customers and usually knows whats wrong with the car before the mechanic has seen it. Tony is an engineer and immediately apologised for only having 35 years experience on working with and racing Porsches - but assured me his mechanics had more! I explained the situation to them and after a quick tour of their workshop, stacked with beautiful early 911s, and a few others we hoped in his car with a few tools and a spare battery. Back outside the hotel we swapped the battery over and I followed him back to his shop.  As suspected the restored alternator had died and so Tony put an order in for one to be delivered later that day. I went back to the hotel to rest and recuperate safe in the knowledge that it was in good hands.

Around 5pm David and I went back to Tonys to pick up the car. He had replaced the alternator and changed a dodgy battery lead. They closed up when we arrived and then we sat around chatting about Porsches, racing, their various cars and they were  very complimentary about the work done on mine. Tony recognised the wheels as being restored by Harvey Weidman and asked whether I planned to show it when I got back to England. I was starting to feel less animosity towards the car as the day came to an end. I am still very grateful for their time and for putting us to the front of the queue, as Tony said "well you’re part of the Porsche family”. If you ever need a mechanic in Vegas or just want to meet a couple of really great Porsche people I would recommend stopping at Carls Place. 


Tonys racing car at Carls Place (not my photo)

[mrk]

What a rollercoaster ride! Amazing to read...

[jamie]

Great story Jos. Get used to rolling into an unfamiliar town in an old Porsche, and encountering some of the nicest people you'll ever meet - it happens a lot, and is what makes owning these cars truly special.

[jamie]

PS - your car looks amazing. Look at the lovely straight reflection down the side.

[yoda]

What an adventure - I can really sense your emotions in the story!!