DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

After reading so many restoration threads, it is time to start my own!

I bought my first Porsche August last year. This is how it looked on the ad:



I was tempted by the low recorded mileage, near 61k, and the fact that it was a narrow body. A check on the registration showed no accidents, nine previous owners and a colour change in the eighties. Which is fine because I am not a big fan of Guards Red anyway...

The car was located in Wales, so I called up a local specialist (Mark of RS911) to help me with a PPI. Set up an appointment, and learnt some more. Porsche club member, also has a 944 and a VW Beetle. Kept in an integral garage in a nice farmhouse in Wales, the car was SORN but started up right away. So I proceeded to examine my first proper money pit:

1)The colour change did not affect the engine bay, that had just been coated in Waxoyl. The paint code tag confirmed the original colour was Ice Green Metallic - fine by me!


2)The current owner had kept the car for nine years. Lots of bills from specialists like Autofarm and Tuthills. It has had a new clutch a couple of years ago (before a trip to Le Mans) and not used much since. Not a drop of oil on the garage floor, it seems this engine will only need a cleanup and a service.


3)I had some reservations about the speedometer having a double scale MPH/kmh, but the MOTs (all but the first three years) suggest that the mileage must be correct.


I left for a pub lunch with my "inspector" during which he confirmed rot under the headlights, under the nearside door and its rocker panel. Apart from that, very solid car. I asked him for an estimate about how much it would cost me to mend all this properly, subtracted this amount from the market value of a 911 in good nick from that year and went back to the owner, armed with knowledge and determination to only buy at the right price. Which was considerably less than the price advertised...

The car was on later 6x16 Fuchs. The owner still had the original 6x15 cookie cutters as well, but these were left behind during the negotiations. No owners' manual. Almost complete toolkit, no compressor. I examined the documents again, the last two owners seem to have regularly replaced lots of little parts, so (apart from the body) the car has been looked after. And it passed every single MOT without advisories.
My offer was finally accepted, and arranged to pick it up the following week...

(to be continued)

looks like the start of a great story, here's hoping for a happy ending................

It made sense for the car to remain SORN until it was ready, and as it was still on a valid MOT it was driven on test plates to the bodyshop to begin the works. The plan was to have it ready for my birthday two months later.

Here we can see the last time the (replica) carrera tea tray was going to be used. It did not latch properly, was distorted and the owner did give me the original metal engine lid anyway. Chartreuse is more than just an early 70s Porsche colour... it was used to ink the deal for the body repairs


I did in fact consider, as we were going to remove all red paint, to have the whole car resprayed in Chartreuse instead, and I started playing with Photoshop

So many interesting shades of green to consider...

...and I was confused by the fact that Ice Green looks a lot more like blue in photographs


During the disassembly, the original colour started showing up and loved it more than any picture I had found on (endless) hours on the internet. Therefore, I decided not to mess with history and bring it back to 266 Ice Green Metallic.


I have decided that I will have non-correct new black headliner and carpets, but hey it's my car. Have not quite decided whether I will keep the front plastic spoiler. Have decided I MUST have foglights...

Anyway, without further ado here is the naked truth!

Which brings us to last October. Red paint being stripped off, and properly replaced with etch primer.
Note the original Ice Green Metallic on the inner rear wheelarches.


Only surprise was an old rust repair which must be leaded in...


...and another one that will require more drastic measures
This panel had been beaten out, then (badly) welded and filled. Expensive to replace - but I went so far now, that I just can't stand the thought of five mill deep filler. Good news is, we had accounted for new sills but these proved to be very solid and won't need replacing. So - not an entire loss at least. A-pillar and rear wheelarch it is then!


Brand new front wings, just laid on the car to see the light at the end of the tunnel.

I always intended the Porsche to be a project - so whilst I trust a specialist with the bodywork, I'd like to do as much as possible myself

Small parade of products


Quarter window chrome trims. Not much I could do about the pitting, but elbow grease had its effect. Before and after. I will look for anodised alluminium ones, but they are too good for the junk...



Engine lid grille - genuine but looking a bit sorry

A good scrub first, then a generous dabbing of black trim conditioner

Much better now


Engine bay fuse cover, removal of red overspray by (gentle) dabbing with paint thinner and later application of black wax.

So, while red paint is being removed from the whole body,


we have front wings being primered and painted. Same for inner front arches.




Also, the front seats had seen better days. The previous owner was a big lad, and there was evidence of the backrests having been swapped at some point. Southbound obliged. Before and after...

Its looking nice. Its also nice to see how these G models are starting to gaing reto popularity. The more we can save the better.
More pics please....

Hello and many thanks for the kind words of encouragement!

The restoration could have taken two months, had I chosen to just live with 5mm of filler in places on the nearside rear quarter. Finding out about it in October rather than March gave me the strength to do the right thing and order a new panel. It's been a long wait, apparently they are in really short supply and just yesterday I've been told I will have one in ten days. Project should resume at speed in two weeks time


As I needed to change the front wings, someone had suggested the best thing to do with the car was to backdate it, but I disagree. I grew up drooling over impact bumpers, and one such car without flared arches or holes in the dashboard is just what I want!

Three hours of TLC mean that I now have very acceptable main tail light units. Including Arai helmet lubricant on the seals...



Wire-brushing one of the two rear covers exposed a hole, now I am trying to source a replacement - or it will be leaded in next weekend. The good one has been hammerite'd black. 4 new screws and some fresh sealant (probably windscreen "dumdum") will give me perfectly reconditioned units! Harness had been botched and had red paint all over, so new harness is on the way from OPC.

I used epoxy to fill holes in mine 20+ years ago, still water tight (Araldite)
Smoothrite still on there too using special primer for the zinc die cast housings.

Thank you for the araldite suggestion, but I have found a (free!) replacement rear panel from a friend on Impactbumpers forum. Work kept on, and so did my deliveries... Compressor (albeit for a 964) and period "new old stock" fog lights delivered this morning by the postman


Three hours of road congestion (I hate fridays on the road) and I made it to the bodyshop in Wales for the first time this year. The excuse? This has finally arrived, after five loooong months of wait


So - the car is finally ready to be reassembled together. Sourced a good front lid to replace the bodyfiller horror it had on... will be stripped and repainted.
One week from now, it will all be in primer ready for its exterior paint

I feel proud of myself. One hour of work on the very last interior bit that needed TLC...

before - dirty, thirty years of muck, red overspray and faded buttons


after - disassembled, cleaned, new stickers, reassembled and WD40 on the springs...

looking good and liking your bits of personal work

What did you use to blacken the seat belt thingies?

scalino65 wrote:What did you use to blacken the seat belt thingies?

Good quality black trim wax, Applied with a brush, let cure for ten minutes and wiped away with a soft cloth.