In March of 1960 Zych, Nicholas, Spankey, Kelley, Kelley Sr. and Tierno of the infamous BARC Boys made the trip down from New York to Florida for the Sebring 12 Hours. Good thing they packed their cameras.
See the rest of the set on the BARC Boys site.
I can think of worse ways to spend the next few minutes than riding shotgun with Walter Röhrl in the Porsche Museum’s 6-cylinder 904 GTS. Love the heel-toe cam!
via Top Gear
German carmakers sure have an unfair advantage when it comes to testing a racing prototype. Who needs a test track when you have easy access to the Nürburgring? And why box it up and ship it when you can just take the Autobahn there?
Here’s the Porsche development team testing out at 550 Spyder on the Autobahn in the weeks before the 1954 Mille Miglia. How amazing is that VW “Barn Door” Transporter? Looks to be the same one they used as the support vehicle for the Mille itself.
I have a slot car of that #351 Hermann/Linge Spyder, I’ve always loved that car and the legends that surround it.
via Gmund Brokerage, which is jam-packed with fantastic VW & Porsche info. More on #351 at Type 550.
John Surtees owned this car for 20 years, and I’m sure it provided plenty of smiles after his retirement (of sorts) from the track. But it isn’t the first Porsche 356 that has spent time in the Surtees stable. His first was a Super 90.
He wrote of it in his Supercars I Have Known:
“My father knew the Aldingtons at AFN, the Porsche agents, so I ended up with a 356 Super 90 that had been used as a demonstrator and had hardly any miles on the clock, It was a marvellous little car, but you had to be very wide awake to drive it, In those days we didn’t have such a variety of tyres, so we couldn’t change the handling characteristics of a car: today, people say cars of that period handle well and are fun after trying them on modern radial-ply tyres. You have to remember that our tyres were much more primitive.”
It seems Surtees changed his opinion of the bathtub Porker in the years between these two experiences. Of course, perhaps the tires have something to do with it. Then again, perhaps there’s also an ocean of difference between a Super 90 and a Carrera 2. I’ve never driven either, but would love to know first-hand… invitations will be accepted 🙂
This car on offer (chassis YKE250A) is 1 of only 437 Carrera 2 variants produced. Which makes it a gem already, with the ownership history of the only Formula 1 AND motorcycle world champion, it’s quite a rare beast indeed. The car was restored in ’98 by Team Surtees themselves, which sweetens the deal in my eyes, with mechanical help from 4-cam maestro Robert Garretson (with parts supplied directly from Porsche).
Some look at the Carrera 2 and see nothing but a plain-jane 356 plus the added headache of 4-cam maintenance.
There’s something I find alluring, however, about the non-descript supercar. A bit of a wolf in—well, not a sheep—maybe a wolf in less-intimidating-wolf’s clothing aspect that feels right to me. Capable. Not flashy.
Today the car is available from the Coys showroom sales department. More info on their inventory details page.
Browsing through Flunder’s tremendous build thread on the Early 911S Registry forums, I was struck by this interesting phenomenon of the competition 911s of the early 1970s: Fuchs 7R fronts and Minilite 9×15 rear. The combination creates a marvelous stance and an interesting big & little wheel combination. Mismatched wheels may look a bit jarring to contemporary eyes, but there’s no question that it’s a racey look. This is racing, after all, and we’re after results, not beauty. If it just so happens to be beautiful—as I think it does in this case—then all the better. Some commenters have suggested that the wider Fuchs weren’t yet available, or weren’t as strong as the Minilites.
Flunder’s entire thread is worth a look. I was discussing with a friend recently the concept of rare parts hoarders. I’m sure you’ve run into a few, they’ll have benches full of rare race parts, mechanical fuel injection systems or period turbos wasting away in the corners of their basement. Usually I get grumpy about these folks, that they’re speculators holding onto parts for their increasing value with no intention of ever putting them into their cars.
Flunder has proven that there are still “good” parts collectors. After a 3 year search for a seemingly endless list of rare factory race parts (factory aluminum door skins, plexiglass, conrods, the works), he put together a stunning tribute to the Group 4 racers of the early 70s. “Tribute” is probably the wrong word, this thing is probably more authentic than most surviving Group 4 cars.
Thankfully, he also went with Fuchs in front and Minilites in the rear. It’s probably going to cause some folks to scratch their heads on the street, but it’s these small acts of courage that make me enjoy the vintage sportscar world so much.
Shane Balkowitsch’s Porsche 356 Outlaw project that we wrote about back in September has returned to the street, and looks set to turn heads everywhere it goes.
When we last checked in on the project, the bodywork and paint were complete—and stunning—but we hadn’t seen much about the performance upgrades that would boost the stock powerplant’s 95hp to an estimated 150hp (dyno test to come later). That’s a pretty substantial upgrade; thanks to a race crank, bigger jugs, and performance cam. Shane’s shared the details (and more shots of the car mixing it up with some modern Ferraris on her maiden voyage) on his project page. It’s a marvelous document of the build, and I hope to one day create something similar myself.
Congratulations again, Shane!
Have a restoration project, interesting car in the shed, or racing story to share? Drop me a line.
Porsche pits are beehives – with sportswriters from all over posing as self-styled experts during these thrill-packed seconds.Charlie White has shared this amazing artifact of Mid-50s Porsche ephemera in the form of the Factory Sales Binder for the complete model run. These manuals, which acted partly as brochure and partly as educational tool for dealers ride an interesting line halfway between internal and external document. As we expect of a car brochure that would go to the public, there are plenty of photos of the machines in action. For dealers, though, there are plenty of straight-up tables of data of the type that contemporary brochures almost universally lack. On top of that it’s just a tremendous document of the era and the cars.
Another interesting departure from the brochures and sales literature we’re used to seeing in the modern era; there’s no universal look and feel to these documents. This is truly a “sales binder” and feels like a loose collection of scrap book items and ephemera of every type.
Click on over to DerWhite’s 356 Literature for the complete set.
Porsche Speedster
New wrap-around windshield
New racing type bucket seats
new transmission mounting
new body styling
100 M.P.H • $2995 Delivered New York • 27 M.P.G.
Years ahead in engineering means miles ahead on the road
The Hoffman Motor Car Company, Inc.
487 Park Avenue, New York City, Tel. PLaza 9-7034
Competition Motors, 1219 Vine St., Hollywood 38, Distributor for California
On request we would be happy to supply descriptive literature on all models, and the name and address of your nearest dealer.
Dealers from coast to coast.
Let me just point out that “new transmission mounting” is listed above “new body styling” in the list of features. That simple fact could practically be a dissertation worth of analysis on the shifting desires of automobile buyers.
Nicely done, Stuttgart.
When I look through the images of Simon Dagless’ incredible scratch-build Porsche 908 model, I can’t help but wonder, “how much more effort would a 1:1 scale version be?”. It’s a truly astounding project; so amazing, in fact, that I’m linking over to his project discussion on Automotive Forums before it’s complete. Once it’s finished, it’ll be nice to see the photos of the finished product, but I think seeing it slowly take form over time is the greater joy. We’re over a year into the project, which just demonstrates that Simon’s patience is far greater than mine. I’m usually skipping through to the water-slide decals in the kit before I’ve even finished assembly.
Here’s a few more photos. It’s almost easier to believe that a giant is holding real Porsche 908 parts. Click on over for the in-progress build discussion.