DDK - Die Deutschen Klassiker

Hi,

I'm James, located nr Edinburgh and I'm going to need all the help and wisdom I can get from this forum for my restomod project based on a MY66 RHD 912. More on that in the next post but first off how I ended up here (sorry if its a bit long winded)...

I first fell in love with the 911 in the mid 90s when I had a spin in a friend-of-a-friends 911. I think it would have been an SC. I don't remember exactly what it was about that brief experience but it was strong enough for me to focus on getting one and a few years later I owned an '87 3.2 Carrera Sport Coupe in dark blue. At that point it was only about 10yrs old of course. If I've passed the newbie initiation then there should be a picture of that car below (excuse the low res, it's a photo of a print. Sadly I had to sell that car only 12mths later for the deposit on my first flat. I remember I got £14k for it (!). But, I promised myself I'd get another one, one day...

It only took about 20yrs but in 2019 I managed to buy my current impact bumper 911, an '88 3.2 Sport Cab in grand prix white (see other pics). She is in fantastic condition and I've spent many hours fastidiously improving her, mainly underneath. This is relevant to the 912 restomod project so bear with...

As a youngster I'd done-up various bangers before uni, then young working life, then family life, got in the way. In 2017 I rediscovered the joy of getting hands on in the garage and spent 3yrs restoring my parents-in-law Landy (an early Defender 200TDI from '92). Overlapping with that was the purchase of the 911 and once the Defender was finished, and a bit of light fettling of the 911, I embarked on a nut & bolt resto of a highly-original Series II Landy that had sat in a barn for 40yrs (I am the 2nd owner!). The combination of all of these things and the desire for a long bonnet 911 (of which I couldn't afford a running one) got me thinking about combining the two hobbies and look to do a resto of a pre-73 911.

I learned about DDK at the Porsche In The Glen event last year when I got chatting to lovely bloke called Rich who shared lots of info about his experiences modifying his '72 T. So, here I am finally having got around to registering because I've hit my first challenge on the project after mostly just doing grunt work dismantling it down to the shell. I'll outline the project in the next post and after that I think maybe I'm supposed to start a thread in the Restoration Threads forum?

My first 911: Current 911: The underside is now almost as lovely as the top after a lot of work treating that:

Welcome to DDK! Sounds like an interesting project.

Many on here have been through there whole process end to end so post away and we will (normally!) be helpful

I wanted a RHD and cut a long story short managed to buy an unfinished project which at its heart is a MY66 UK-registered RHD 912, registered Nov '65. I suspect the project was aiming for a '73 RSR tribute based on the very widebody kit and wide wheels it came with. It was only a rolling shell so no engine or gearbox (but I have separately bought a 2.4 MFI and a 915 to go in it, both needing a rebuild). The car was last taxed in the 80s so I expect it has been off the road for almost 40yrs and this is reflected in the generally pretty solid condition of the shell, but there are some bad bits as to be expected. Apart from the (5) dials in the dash, there are very few original 912 features/parts surviving on it. But I'm OK with that because I want the freedom of a restomod rather than being constained by adhering strictly to originality (such as is reqd on the aforementioned Series II resto). I'll be putting it back to a narrow body.

So, late last year I took the dodgy decision to shelve the unfinished Series II resto (200hrs in) - see previous post - in order to do the 912 restomod. My rationale being I didn't want to rush the Series II in order to get onto the porsche. So, the Series II is set aside to be resumed (in multiple years time undoubtedly) once I've finished the 912.

There's a lot to say and I'm not sure where to start describing it really. I have got so, so much to do. I think it might take me approaching 1000hrs given my fairly novice abilities...and that's not including time spent reading/researching what to do and how to do it. I've got a reasonable idea of what I want to achieve but as merely a moderately-competent DIYer, I have a massive amount still to research and learn. I intend to try and do as much of the work as possible myself partly for financial reasons but mostly for the joy of doing hands on work (instead of the day job in IT in front of this darned computer). I need to get stuck into all the informative threads on this site and I promise to try and find the answers that are already out there before posting the same questions. What I have learned from the Landy resto is try to focus on the job(s) immediately in front of me, make progress by getting them done and avoid thinking too much about the WHOLE PROJECT and ALL THE STUFF that's going to need doing!

Dumb newbie question about forum etiquette...am I best to post my questions, etc within, say, a dedicated thread in the Restoration (sub)forum or as separate posts on each individual point/question? Point is my thread won't be one of those amazing ones I've read demonstrating the superb skills and abilities of those posters, and it will be something that's been done many times already (a 912-based hotrod/restomod)...but maybe it'll help DIYers in the future avoid the mistakes I will inevitably make! It is going to take me I reckon 3-5yrs elapsed as I have to fit in a full time job and family life around this fun stuff so it will be a slow-burning thread.

Project about to be started, but already on minilites I bought to roll the shell on having sold the ludicrous RSR-width fake fuchs that it came with. That's the Defender I restored (pre-T-cutting the rear portion to bring the colour back to match the freshly-painted front half): As it is now, down to the shell and part-way-through the laborious manual process of removing god damn underseal from all non-painted surfaces:

Welcome to DDK.Sounds like a great project.

Re . Questions … we don’t have rules here , ask in your resto thread as then it’s part of the journey and if you don’t get an answer post in the tech areas etc

Yep welcome to the forum. Everyone loves a resto thread.

Share as much as you can including pics and people are interested to see what is happening.

Great intro and looks like a great project.

As Sloppy says - lot's of information please!

Welcome! 912-based hot rods are the best...

Thanks for the warm welcomes and encouragement. I'll try and crack on and get the Resto thread started asap

Warm welcome… enjoy!