Classic Porsche 08

Classic PORSCHE

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THE MAGAZINE FOR ALL CLASSIC PORSCHE ENTHUSIASTS

FROM THE PUBLISHERS OF 911&PORSCHE WORLD

PORSCHE’S 911

IN ITS PUREST FORM

ON THE ROAD WITH A 1968 911T

November/December 2011

DROPRED GORGEOUS! Award-winning 356 restoration

SPORTOMATIC: Porsche’s original semi-automatic

MOTORSPORT THE MIGHTY 961 Porsche’s 4WD racer in all its glory!

HISTORY FILE

AUSTRIAN CONNECTION And you thought Porsches were German?

£4.75 US$11.99 CAN$13.75 www.classicporschemag.com

TECHNICAL

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Black Attack

Although worthy in its own right, the 914 was always destined to be overshadowed by the 911. But what if Porsche had taken a leaf out of Ralf Schellhorn’s book? Things might have been different…

Words: Britta Bau Photos: Stefan Bau

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he close family ties with the range-topping Porsche 911 had helped the four-cylinder 912 enjoy a relatively short-lived popularity. It fitted perfectly into the Porsche family line-up, with a driving experience which – if truth be told – wasn’t far behind that of the contemporary 911. Therefore, even in the eyes of its staunchest critic, the 912 could hold its head high. Even as late as 1968, the 912 was outselling the 911, but its days were numbered. The 356-derived engine was simply too old, and the performance gap between the 911 and the 912 grew ever-wider. The 912’s demise was inevitable.

The problem now was that Porsche lacked an entry-level car. Meanwhile, up the autobahn in Wolfsburg, Heinrich Nordhoff was beginning to wonder if it wasn’t time for Volkswagen to consider something a little more racy to bring customers into the VW showrooms.

It was Ferry Porsche who eventually seized upon the idea of a joint venture with Volkswagen – the cooperation was supposed to be a win-win deal for both companies, who had been partners behind the scenes for a long time and, albeit unofficially, had previously already exchanged a few ideas.

To cut a long and often-told story short, they agreed upon the idea of building a two-seat roadster with a mid-mounted engine, and two engine options: a new air-cooled fourcylinder ‘boxer’ with Bosch fuel-injection, developed and built

by Volkswagen, as well as a second version with the 911T’s Porsche six-cylinder motor with Weber carburettors. The task of building the bodies was entrusted to Karmann, with Gugelot Design given the job of looking after the styling. The only specification in terms of design was that the car should in no way resemble existing Porsche or Volkswagen models.

Numerous ideas were drawn up, from the most futuristic to the somewhat traditional. Eventually, the most significant and convincing design was a modern, crisp and – above all – distinctly independent design, which included a removable Targa-top, and two luggage compartments. The roof could be stowed away in the rear one when required. The front suspension was to consist of MacPherson struts, a design taken directly from the 911, while the rear suspension featured semi-trailing arms with coil springs.

Prototype work began in 1967 and as early as the spring of 1968, the first four-cylinder model was presented to the public – the project was now all-systems go! The four-cylinder models were completely assembled at Karmann in Osnabrück, while unpainted bodyshells were sent to Zuffenhausen where, alongside the Porsche 911, the sixcylinder version was built. The project got off to a good start and showed signs of selling well, but the agreement between

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HOT-ROD 914/6

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RACEAGAINSTTIME Hillclimbing and sprinting your classic Porsche can be fun, says Brian Hunt. Ride along as he looks back over several years of racing against the clock, and offers advice to anyone thinking of having a go Words: Brian Hunt Photos: John Colley and Brian Hunt album

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HILLCLIMBING YOUR 911

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aving had the pleasure of owning over 40 cars in the past 50 years, I’ve found that some stand out more than others. Like the Cortina GT, for instance, and Mini Cooper S which I used to autocross in the 1960s, and which taught me how to carry speed into corners. But, following marriage and the arrival of twins, it became necessary to acquire a Volvo estate to accommodate prams and pushchairs.

Later, several quick BMWs passed through my hands, including a 3.0SI saloon in 1975, which was followed by other BMWs and a number of VW Golf GTIs. My current road car is a Porsche Carrera 997S, which is an ideal fast touring GT – but my fun car is the 1969 FIA-spec, 911S ‘lightweight’ shown here.

During the late 1990s, with children grown up and my touroperating company sold, early retirement and motoring competition beckoned. Thus a low-mileage 911 Carrera Clubsport, registration E550 WDA, which was originally used

by Dick Lovett for circuit racing, was purchased. I replaced the heavy seats with lightweight racing items, reducing the weight to 1120kgs, and had the engine ‘chipped’ to 250bhp.

The suspension was also lowered and set up for track work.

I competed with this car, racing under my personal registration SBH 3, for several years with modest success all over the UK. I won a number of events and finished successively 3rd, 2nd and 3rd in my class in the Porsche Speed Championship in 2000, 2001 and 2002.

In 2004, I sold the 911 Clubsport and purchased my present competition car. MFX 242G, later also registered as SBH 3, began life as an extremely rare and rather valuable RHD 1969 911 2.0S, with FIA appendix K historic racing passport, and numbers-matching engine and gearbox. 1969 was the first year of the long-wheelbase 911s.

Only some 34 of these RHD 1969 2.0S models were made, of which probably only 12 or 14 cars still exist. In this same year, Bjorn Waldegård won the 1969 Monte Carlo Rally in a 911 2.0S, with Vic Elford finishing second in an identical car.

1969 is also the last year in which cars are eligible for historic racing and rallies. Thus, with FIA papers, these cars command a high price from well-heeled gentlemen who want a turn-key entry into historic events.

PREPARING FOR BATTLE On acquiring my 911 2.0S, I immediately commissioned a complete restoration down to bare metal by Steve Monk of The Bodywerkes, one of the foremost early Porsche race specialists, aiming to lighten the car to the 890kg of the period factory rally cars.

The body was stripped out inside and fitted with an FIA rollcage, homologated Group 4 rear wheel arches and Lexan plastic windows to the sides and rear. Front and rear bumpers, bonnet and decklid are now in glassfibre. Suspension features uprated Bilsteins, Turbo torsion bars and anti-roll bars, with later style trailing arms and 3.2 Carrera discs and pads. All the original parts and bodywork are stored so the car can be returned to 2.0-litre FIA specification if required.

The car is currently fitted with a much-modified 2.4S magnesium crankcase engine and close-ratio 915 gearbox, with a Sachs competition clutch. Porsche specialists Tognola Engineering have fitted new barrels and pistons, increasing the capacity to 2.7-litres, the cylinder heads have been ported and gas flowed, compression ratio increased to 10.5:1, and Carrillo con-rods and GE 40 cams fitted. The crankcase has been gas-flowed, shuffle-pinned and dowelled, and fitted with a balanced crankshaft. The engine now produces about 245bhp and 200lb ft of torque.

In this spec, my 911S matches the in-period works rally cars’ 890kg dry weight, and weighs about 935kg with oil and a quarter of a tank of petrol. This gives a power-to-weight ratio of about 265bhp per ton, or similar to that of a current Porsche 911 GT3. At a hillclimb, it has been timed at 2.08 seconds for the first 64ft from a standing start, and will go CLASSIC PORSCHE

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The Austrian Connection It might have been a world war, allied bombs and a twist of fate that dictated that the first Porsches were built in a remote Austrian village, but chance had nothing to do with the fact that every key engineer involved in the design of the first Porsches was an Austrian by birth‌ Words: Delwyn Mallett Photos: Porsche Archive and DM

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PORSCHE HISTORY

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Opposite, clockwise from top left: Ferdinand Porsche; Karl Rabe, Erwin Komenda (standing) with Ferry Porsche; Karl Rabe; Count Eberan von Eberhorst; Ferdinand and Ferry Porsche; Ferdinand Piëch Below, left to right: Frans Xaver Reimspiess with Professor Porsche; Josef Kales (standing); Karl Abarth – later to become known as Carlo Abarth…

hen Ferdinand Porsche started his Stuttgartbased design bureau in 1930, the nine engineers and designers who joined him were all handpicked former colleagues and all were Austrian.

In addition to his son, 21-year-old Ferry, Porsche’s righthand man and chief engineer was Karl Rabe. A warm and friendly person, he was known in-house as ‘Father Rabe’.

Superstitious and responsible for allocating project numbers, he chose to start the numbering off with the ‘lucky’ number 7, and also skipped the ‘unlucky’ number 13.

If he had started at number one, the Porsche 356 would have been a ‘350’.

Rabe was born in 1895 and he met Porsche in 1913 when they both worked for Austro-Daimler, Porsche as technical director. Rabe wanted to become a partner in the Porsche company but his wish was not granted.

Nevertheless, he devoted his career to the company, staying with them until shortly before his death in 1968.

Josef Kales (born 1901) was an engine designer who spent his formative years at Steyr before joining the Avis aircraft company as an engine specialist. At Porsche he had a big hand in designing the Auto-Union 16-cylinder engine and, more importantly for the future VW project, the opposed four-cylinder air-cooled engine for the NSU ‘Volksauto’ prototype of 1933. Deeply involved in developing the VW, Kales, in 1939, became the chief engineer of the Volkswagen works where, post-war, he rebuilt the design department and stayed until his retirement in the 1960s.

Franz Xaver Reimspiess (born 1900), another engine man, joined Porsche in 1934 and was largely responsible for developing the VW engine, based on Kale’s NSU design and which later, of course, evolved into the 356 engine.

Reimspiess also designed the now world-famous VW logo, for which he was paid 100 Reichmarks. During the Second World War, Porsche installed Reimspiess as chief designer of the Nibelung factory in Austria, run by Steyr-DaimlerPuch, where he headed the tank development centre.

Post-war he briefly continued at Steyr before returning to Porsche, where he remained as their suspension

specialist until his retirement in 1966.

Karl Fröhlich (born 1898) was a gearbox specialist and was responsible for the VW four-speed gearbox, which was also used in the 356 until replaced by the Porsche synchromesh ’box in 1952. When in 1944 half of the Porsche personnel were relocated to Gmünd, Fröhlich remained in Stuttgart as manager of the Porsche factory.

Two lesser-known engineers at Porsche were Josef Zaradnik (born 1900), a suspension specialist, and Otto Zadnik (born 1887), who was an expert in mixed petrol/electrical transmission and turbine systems – he became known as ‘Porsche’s electrician’.

Aerodynamicist Josef Mickl (born 1885) was the inhouse mathematical wizard. Before joining Porsche, Mickl had a distinguished career as both an aero and nautical engineer. In 1910 he designed the first seaplane to be built in Austria and during the First World War he was in charge of the naval air-corps design office and manager of naval ship building at the Vienna Arsenal.

After the war, he worked under Porsche at AustroDaimler designing the bodywork and engine for the famous Sascha racing car. Through the 1920s, Mickl was technical director of the Yugoslav aircraft and vehicle plant, Ikarus AB. After a chance meeting with Ferdinand Porsche on a Vienna street in 1931 he agreed to join his new venture in Stuttgart.

An expert in the rapidly developing new science of automobile aerodynamics, he was a key figure in the evolution of the Auto-Union Grand Prix cars and record breakers, and also designed the extraordinary body of the Porsche-designed Mercedes T80 world-record attempt car.

Probably the most aerodynamically advanced car built before the Second World War, it sadly never turned a wheel in anger due to the conflict. Mickl retired in 1950.

The contribution of Erwin Komenda to the evolution of the Porsche car cannot be underestimated. Komenda was another Steyr colleague of Porsche, which he left to become chief designer at Mercedes’ body development department before responding, in 1931, to the call to join his old boss. Komenda was the man who gave Porsche its

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Backfrom thedead They say seeing is believing and, take it from us, if we hadn’t seen the photographs of this car when it was unearthed, we’d never have believed just what a basket case it used to be. Now, after a full restoration, it’s one of the finest short-wheelbase cars we’ve ever driven Words: Keith Seume Photos: Michael Ward

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e all dream of discovering a long-lost Porsche tucked away in a barn, or languishing unloved in a garage. In fact, most of us at one time or another have heard of such a car – maybe even seen one – but what follows usually takes one of two directions. The first is that the owner doesn’t want to sell, as he plans on fixing up his car one day. The second is that the owner is happy to sell, but the car is so far gone that it’s simply beyond repair.

In the former scenario, you know a restoration’s never going to happen, and so does the owner. But the problem is that he can’t bear to think of someone else enjoying what was once his dream car. In the second instance, even though you know you’d love to be the person to save that rotting hulk, reality is that it’s beyond resurrection; fit only to donate its parts so that another may live…

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Or is it? What if you could see through all that rust (figuratively, not literally) and, more importantly, had the skills to rescue such a sorry specimen of a Porsche? Well, believe it or not, most of us would have put money on the 911 you see before you ending its life as a parts car – it really was that bad. Its saviour was Alan Drayson of Canford Classics near Bournemouth, down on England’s south coast. Alan, as anyone who has looked through his restoration threads, either on his own website (www.canfordclassics.co.uk) or the ddk-online forum, will be familiar with his one-man crusade to rescue what others regard as little more than parts donors.

Alan well remembers the start of this project to rescue another early 911: ‘The car was brought to Canford Classics as a restoration project; it was literally a “barn find”, unused for many years and found in an old shed,’ he recalls. ‘But it was a rare RHD 1968 911T, registration OYO 5F, with its

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SHORT-WHEELBASE 911

Car was in a bad way when found, with a broken torsion tube and extensive rust. Canford Classics saw through the bad and could only see the good… Many new panels were used

original engine still tucked away in the back, albeit in a very poor condition.’ And when Alan says ‘really poor condition’, you know he means it.

‘The sills, fuel tank surround, all four wings and rear inner wings were totally rusted out,’ says Alan, before continuing, ‘Even the torque tube was so rusty it had snapped in two!

The severity of the rust and the evidence of previous poor repair work forced the owner into making the decision to look for another project. I simply couldn’t resist taking on another full nut and bolt restoration and thus Canford Classics became the new owner of OYO 5F!’ Closer examination as the car was being torn apart confirmed that this wasn’t just a rusty 911, or even a very rusty 911: it was a very rusty but original 911 – with the added bonus of having the steering wheel on the right. ‘The bodyshell was completely stripped and the hand-written script on the dash top showed the car was painted on the 27.9.67, thus confirming it as a 1968 model. When stripping

the doors, further hand-written dates were found, both doors bearing the legend “28.9.67”.

‘In many ways, this was a typical UK-supplied car in as much as some parts were incredibly nice, yet others were simply awful,’ says Alan. ‘For example, the wiring had remained untouched – there was no sign of an alarm being spliced into the loom and no aftermarket stereo had ever been fitted. Yet, by way of contrast, the right-hand inner rear wing was held together with hammer-formed plates, which had then been bonded into place on both the inside and outside! It was clear this 911 would need both rear outer and inner wings, along with a long list of additional new panels.’

Looking at photographs taken of the bare shell prerestoration, it’s quite incredible how anything can be allowed to get so bad. This is a Porsche, for heaven’s sake, not some mass-produced Ford hatchback. Yet, for whatever reason, somebody decided to park their former dream car and leave it sit until it began to take root. Maybe it suffered a

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SIMPLY RED!

What began life as a tired restoration project awaiting a new owner, ended up as one of the stars of the Porsche Club GB’s recent 50th Anniversary concours!

Classic Porsche takes a look at René Santos’s award-winning 356B Super 90 Words: Keith Seume Photos: Michael Ward

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here are some cars which quite simply stop you dead in your tracks. Few of us can fail to be moved by the sight of a Gulf-liveried 917, for example, or a gleaming silver 550 Spyder. Anything finished in red is usually a winner, too. Like René Santos’s drop dead gorgeous 356B coupé.

We’d unknowingly been following its restoration over a period of a year at Devon-based Roger Bray Restoration, about whom you can read more on pages 58–61 of this issue.

I say ‘unknowingly’ as there was little to suggest in the early days of the restoration that the rusty bodyshell sitting in the workshop would end up being a magazine cover car – unless, of course, you happen to fully appreciate Roger Bray’s determination and owner René’s enthusiasm.

The Porsche featured here, and on the cover of this issue, started its life in California, home to so many Porsches in the 1950s and ’60s and hence today the natural starting point for anyone after a restoration project. The car was imported into the UK some years ago (we don’t know exactly when) and clearly led a hard life on both sides of the Atlantic ocean.

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Many people are mistakenly under the impression the words ‘California import’ equates to ‘rust-free and well cared for’. If only that was the case. Many old Porsches have spent their lives close to the sea, parked in wooden garages in one or other of California’s trendy ‘Beach Cities’ (Newport, Huntington, Redondo…), often forgotten when their owners earned enough to buy a more modern or luxurious means of transport. In the 1960s and much of the ’70s, old 356s were little more than cheap imports, overshadowed by the more modern 911 and no longer considered chic. That would come later – much later.

Salt sea air, sweating beachside garages and years of neglect can take their toll on any car, but a Porsche 356 especially so. Never renowned for their rust-resistance, old Porsches suffered more than most. On the one hand, that’s a bad thing – on the other, it does mean that, if you’re prepared to put in the work (or pay someone else

For almost 50 years, René Santos dreamed of owning a Porsche 356B T6 coupé, and here it is at last! It looks stunning in Ruby Red

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PORSCHE 356B T6 COUPÉ to do it for you) there are some good buys (if not exactly bargains) to be had. But it’s not something to take on lightly.

René Santos, from near Dorchester in the heart of Thomas Hardy country, Dorset, graduated and initially trained as an electrical power systems engineer with the UK’s then electricity authority. He progressed to working within the oil and gas industries worldwide before retiring – well, partly retiring, as he still acts as a consultant in the power industries. Oil, power and Porsches – yeah, that works!

It was way back in 1962 that René first read of what was to became his dream car. In a British VW magazine – almost certainly Safer Motoring – he read a road test of the new Porsche 356B Super 90. He was smitten, not knowing that one day he’d own just such a car.

Back in the early 1970s, as a student he bought himself a runaround in the form of a Porsche 356B T5 Cabriolet – not your usual student transport, that’s for sure. That was followed over the years by a whole series of Porsches, including a 914, a 1974 2.7 Carrera, a pair of 1976 Carrera 3.0s, an ’89 Carrera 3.2 and then a 2005 993 Carrera 2S. Currently he also owns a 2008 997 Turbo. But it’s not all been exotica in the Santos garage: he’s also owned a dozen Beetles, ranging from a 1958 1200 up to a late Tomato Red ‘GT’ model.

Engine (top) has been rebuilt to 1720cc-spec in-house at Roger Bray’s and then detailed to the max. The interior has been trimmed in pale grey leather, with high-quality German square-weave carpets thoughout. Nardi woodrim steering wheel is a nice finishing touch, too CLASSIC PORSCHE

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