This could be a “war and peace” advert ... so please bear with me
Feb or March 1985 ... I spotted a 911 for sale on an “open” forecourt – late on a wet Sunday night while driving through Belfast. I stopped and hopped over the ropes, for a quick look ... badged as a 911E ,it might have been what I was after – but looked in too good a condition and had a rather steep £4500 sticker price. To cut a long story short – 6 weeks later , after test drives – detailed inspection and discussions with previous long term owner ... it was mine for a well haggled £3,550 !!
I drove it for about 6ish months , did many thousands of miles in it – from 63,027 miles to 68,470 to be exact (at about 14mpg average !) ... but eventually it was time to embark on my first ever “nut and bolt” restoration. I knew it was required , the detailed inspection had revealed a lot of rot – which for a 12 year old car rather surprised me ... but anyway , it was going to get done , and done properly. (and by myself ..... NOT by others)
There was no DDK , it had not been done by many people before me , the country was not “full” of experts , there were essentially no digital cameras , and pc’s were not really here yet (no internet !!). Think about that .............
It took me approx 2.5 years .... there were lots of dark times , when really I wondered what I had taken on ... there was a house move in the middle of it .. anyway , apart from the prep and painting – it was all my own work. It was finished in 1988 , just in time for the first Ulster Classic car show , where it got pride of place , write ups in magazines , invited to the press launch and photos taken with nice girls beside it.
The engineer in me had it all logged .... photos (6 volumes) , 2 volumes of notes , time tracked , receipts logged – and a nice lady put it all onto her Amstrad word processor for me (I still have the green screened machine in the roofspace !) ..... and printed it off.
All “external” panels were renewed – with new Porsche parts . The only used panel fitted was the front bumper (could not get a new one then) , and the only panels not replaced were 2 doors , and the front suspension cross member ..... one of the scanned photos should show why ! (roof was left alone .... in fact the roof cloth remained in it (protected) for the entire process). So , off the top of my head ... new front and rear wings , inner sills , jacking points with support plates , kidney bowls , and outer sills, new bonnet (gulp), engine lid , rear bumpers , rear centre panel, front wing support plates ... and that’s all the main bits I remember.
In addition to this , there were literally hundreds of new parts bought – from front suspension arms , and front master cylinder protection plate to brake pipes and fuel pipes , rubbers and gromments and brackets .... etc etc. At one stage I was getting up to 30% discount on Porsche parts (I have the receipts ...... disbelievers) ... these were the days of hand written receipts, no computers , and Porsche had decided NOT to put the older cars onto microfiche ....... so it was a moth eaten parts book for me ! (and I suspect, I was the only customer using it)
OK – that should have most of you to sleep now
History of the car (and I don’t know all of it): Built in the last days of 1972 (this WAS important at a time !) Chassis no 9113200598 , engine no 6230880 remained unregistered till March of 1973 – It MAY have been registered FLY 61 from new (UK Mainland) – it certainly had this number when it came to NI sometime in 1976 ... I still have the old original (NI) green log book , which refers to no other reg number. (I know nothing about car, from March 1973 until import into NI)
It passed through two owners here (whom I have never tried to trace) before ending up with a rather famous rally driver. I think he would not appreciate me naming him “in public” here , so hold that thought ... he acquired the car as a “spare doner shell ... albeit a driving one” in case ever required for competition duties .... it was not , and it remained registered in his name - driven by his wife , for many years. It then passed to another person (now deceased) whom I also knew well – before coming to me.
My aim with the restoration , was to end up with a very useable , standard / original spec car. Most of the car parts , were reused - getting cleaned / tidied up / painted as necessary – but without going over the top getting things replated / replaced just because they were a bit worn. So – it’s using things like the original shocks and torsion bars , door frames and windows etc. But things like front suspension bottom arms were simply replaced with brand new items.
The car went back on the road in 1988 , , and was used semi – regular (but not often) , till 1994 with around 73,600miles (so approx 5000 miles in 6 years) . 1994 to 2001 it took 2nd place to rallying my Cortina ... in 2001 we left the country for work in Brazil and then India ..... car then went back on the road for 2008 and again in 2012 till now – current mileage just over 76,000.
It does not go out in the rain, or salty roads. It does not do short runs , it gets driven gently from cold. It does not get washed very often , it has rarely seen polish , and never really got finished 100% before being put back on the road (door pockets still as removed , ashtray not put back in, bonnet light never fitted ... and that type of thing) It gets regular oil and filter changes – VR1, dictated by time not miles. It got it’s gearbox oil changed this year – B373 , which it seems to like. Apart from air and fuel filters in addition to this , it basically has not been touched since I rebuilt the engine in 1988 (top half only – no reason to touch btm end) - top end did not really need it either , but got things like new rings and valve springs just because I was “in there”. Biggest favour I did the car was send the injection pump off for a rebuild ... transformed the low speed driveability.
What condition is the car in now ?? Fair question – hard to answer in 2 or three words. It certainly is NOT : immaculate / mint / in superb condition .........! Upper body: I think that for a car that was painted in Dec 1987 / Jan 1988 , it has stood the test of time very well. Helped by few miles covered , new panels mostly , the way it was prepped and painted , and the way it has been used. There is one damage mark on the front RH wing where a light fell on it – never fixed (the mark I mean) , and an extra letter fixing hole on the engine lid ... ohps !. Probably fair to say that on most panels , there are areas where the paint is now showing it’s age .... some would repaint it , I would not (just drive it !!). The areas of upper body that DO need attention , are the doors .... neither were replaced or reskinned , and they now need it !
Underneath : I treated different areas in different ways ... probably about 4 in total. Internals – sprayed with warmed waxoyl – using flexible nylon conduit to get down boxed in areas. Main floorplan / flat areas - bare metal was primed , then hand painted with smooth hamerite (blue !) ... I wanted any defects / leaks etc to show up clearly , so I wanted to avoid black. Inner wings / inside of front and rear wings – where primed where necessary (ie where panels were not new) then hand painted with underseal. Other areas underneath eg in round torsion bar tube – primed , painted with black hamerite , then waxoyled on top of that. Areas that have been exposed to stone chips and road spray are showing their age now – light surface rust – heavier in places like inside rear bumpers. But I am of the opinion that there is no rot set in anywhere. No clean up / rework has been done ... so you can see it “as is” ... fresh black underseal would make me run a mile from a car. The one area where work IS required .. is the front suspension cross member. This was the one item(and I know it’s more than one part !) NOT replaced during restoration , and it now needs it !
Mechanically – I think it is sound , it goes well ,stops well (fairly recent discs and pads and handbrake shoes - all round where applicable) no rattles or bangs. Had it out on a recent Porsche Club Ireland trackday , and nothing caused me concern .. I was mildly surprised , when I looked underneath afterwards and saw no drips on the ground where it had sat ... I stopped circulating when oil temp went above 200F. Gearbox is fine for a 915 – it was not rebuilt at engine time. It does not get abused from cold – gets given time to warm up , and performs as I expect it should.
Other : Inside – original seats and trim apart from seat centres which I had renewed with as close to original as I could get – luggage compartment carpet never refitted ... should be about somewhere ? There is one SSI heat exchanger fitted , with another to go with the car , in exchange for the mild steel one back again (rally car needs it) Wheels could do with a refurb – 5 with the car , I have no idea of dates on them. Front bumper rubber just needs replaced ... I was too tight at the time ! .... and the “to do” list from there can be as long or as short as you want. To put some numbers on it - this car took me around 720 hrs of work from start to finish ... the SWB 911 I am currently working on , has had about 1100 hrs spent by me to date , and the body shell is not ready for painting yet .... this simply reflects the level of work needed on the shell .... the 73 car really had very few repairs required to the inner body / floorpan ... from memory : battery boxes , inner rear wing near oil tank , a couple of small floor holes , and the btm of the drivers side door pillar. The fuel tank had a pinhole leak on reassembly – it was removed and covered in glassfibre (new tanks in those days were very expensive !) ... I would replace this now , at the same time as doing the work to front suspension member.
The car needs to be inspected , not to find any hidden defects ..... but you need to be the person who decides on the condition of the various bits and pieces mentioned above , what the car needs spending on it , and therefore what it’s worth to you. I would like the car to go to a private buyer who wants to keep the car – spend some money on it , drive it , and enjoy it like I have. I would not be keen on seeing it bought , “tarted up” , and sold on at .......... well , better if I say no more. I am not interested in ANY offers , without a proper inspection / chat / discussion .. yes , .... even the full asking price.
If you are interested – talk to me , jump on a plane (if necessary) spend a day with it and me ....on my ramp. Start a discussion thread if you want more info / photos
There are several things (standard options ) which are a bit different – eg the trim on sills and wheel arches , nudge bar at the rear , and that type of thing ... these I think are positives , there is the odd negative – eg a minor (tig ?) weld repair to a mounting lug on the rear of the engine case ... all are as I got the car.
Asking price is £75K.
I am “here” till 12th Jan 2016 ... then away for just over three weeks ... motorcycling.
PS Please excuse spelling !
PPS More info can be gleened by looking at some of my previous posts - looking at 911 E registry , and generally being a good detective ............
