Here I go again: '74 Euro Carrera

[ibmiked]

After almost 2½ years of working on this project I thought it was finally time to post here about it. Let me first start off by saying that this project could not have happened without a lot of help from friends and previous owners who helped me to not only finish the car, but also piece together the complete history and documentation back to 1974.

The car is a 1974 'Euro' Carrera. As many here probably know, these cars were the spiritual and mechanical successors to the legendary 1973 Carrera RS. This particular car is special for a variety of reasons, but as I dug deeper into these little understood cars I discovered that the very early '74 cars have their own uniqueness.

In much the same way that the early '73 RSs were special because of lightweight panels, glass, and other features, the earliest '74 cars had the same rear flares, torsion tube reinforcement, orange hood badge, and rear grill as their predecessor. According to sources, somewhere in late '73 early '74, these features were phased out of production of the '74 cars.

This car is one of the earliest cars, built in October of 1973 only two months after the summer break and the factory started to produce the G-Body cars. The original owner worked for Porsche Hamburg and he was a racer who also taught at the Scuderia Hanseat driving school at the Nurburgring. He raced 3 times at LeMans in the '70s. Because he intended to use his car at the track, he ordered it with optional 7" & 8" Fuchs (6" & 7" were standard) and the optional upgraded suspension with Koni shocks.

Because at the time he could not order a ducktail in Germany, he did what many Germans did. He had the dealership install the ducktail and then had the car individually certified at the local TUV before taking delivery. In addition to the dealership installing the ducktail, he also requested that they install a roll bar, which was TUV certified at the same time. Luckily I was able to find all the documentation for this by way of the car's Farhrzeugbrief.

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[Dmill]

cant wait to see this one!

[ibmiked]

In the intervening years the car has lived a storied life. While in still in Germany in the late 1970s, a subsequent owner fell in love with the look of Porsche's new Turbo and (using all factory parts) had the car converted to a Turbo look and painted black. It was eventually sold to a U.S. Serviceman who imported the car into the United States.

After a few years of ownership, the car was sold to another gentleman in North Carolina, at some point being painted white and converted for track use by his son. I have been in frequent contact with father & son, and they have been overly generous with their time and stories.

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[ibmiked]

After it's life as a track car, it was sold to an energy speculator in North Carolina and ended up in the hands of Chuck Miller at Miller Motorsports. Chuck disassembled the car and had the body returned to original spec and color, awaiting a mechanical refurbishment. Unfortunately, the owner of the car had a change of heart at some point, and the car got sold as an incomplete basket case.

I saw the car a few years ago while in this state. Luckily I was able to buy the car from the interim owner. Finishing the job has taken much more time and money than I anticipated, but when is that ever not true? Using the internet and Ryan Snodgrass's seminal Carrera book I think it's safe to say that we're pretty close to completion. The 911/83 engine has been completely rebuilt from top to bottom, as has the transmission. I did take the liberty of installing an LSD, which was not on the original build sheet.

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[ibmiked]

The body itself was repainted in the factory original Continental Orange (E7) and thankfully needed only the minimal amount of work to return it to completely factory spec. Full credit goes to Chuck Miller and his guys at Miller Motorsports. If the body and paint hadn't been done to such a high standard I would never have embarked on this journey.

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We did have to paint the undercoating body color, as it left Chuck's shop in black.

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[ibmiked]

Other than painting, powder coating, and plating, we kept the suspension mostly stock except for adjustable swing arms. A fair number of new bits were used, but I really wanted this car to run and ride as close to it did in 1973 when it came out of the factory. Take note: we refinished the Konis after these pictures to a more accurate orange-red.

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Technically, the Fuchs should be black for this year but I couldn't resist taking a little liberty and going with an RSR finish, capped off with a set of Pirelli CN36 tires.

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[ibmiked]

Inside the car remains mostly stock, with the addition of a set of '1974 correct factory sport seats with Blackwatch Tartan inlays. The correct blue carpet and midnight vinyl door cards were sourced as well. Take note: the seat hardware has since been corrected.

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Since the car has chrome exterior trim, I also built up a set of chrome window switches from period Mercedes and Porsche parts. Apparently, the tell for a chrome trim '74 is that these window switchs need to have chrome surrounds. Most cars I've researched have the easier to find black window switches. The midnight vinyl is hard to detect unless you're in sunlight.

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[miles]

Now that's interesting. A 901 gear box in a G body car. Is that a special some sort of a special order?

[Gumby]

looking good Mike

[ibmiked]

Now that's interesting. A 901 gear box in a G body car. Is that a special some sort of a special order?

Sorry, I uploaded the wrong picture.