Outing one of our Members

[Flieger]

sweet ride

[Great_Escape]

Can't wait to read about this one. And it does not have a bad angle.

[jimhuiz]

Works done for the day...I guess it's time to start.

Like many on this board I've spent years (decades) going to shows and attending cool events like the Monterey Historics and spent lots of time trackside day-dreaming about being on the other side of the fence (sound familiar?). Hell, I've sat in my desk chair and made my own motor noises (I've got the downshift blip just right) and "drove" many of the tracks in a 935, 908, and 911R in true armchair racer fashion. I bought this car to realize that vintage racing dream I’m guessing many of us have.

The reality is that although I've done lots of HPDE events and demonstrated that I can hustle a fast car around a track like Mid-Ohio fairly well, my original thought of "jumping in" has been hampered by lots of OCD, excessive planning, and a general high respect for safety generated over years of working in an ER...and preceded by a good dose of military time filled with high speed and lots of lives ended way too soon. Fact is, I’m not as ballsy as I once was and I'm happy nowadays to simply take it a bit slower and do it right.

My own liabilities aside, the car has been a HUGE problem. You know, the kind of serious problem we have over here in the first world. She really begs to be driven and as you'll come to see, she's earned her right to be on the track with any other historical Porsche ever raced. The problem is that unlike many (most) other race cars from "back in the day", she survived near fully intact and I continue to struggle with making the changes necessary to safely strap in, leave pit lane, and put the cane to her. Truthfully, there can't be but a handful of historic Porsche racecars this original.

Enough about me and my cognitive dissonance. Agatha (Aga - tha) is the star of the show, perhaps only upstaged by the people who were with her when she spent her younger years terrorizing the track alongside some of the great ones in history. Guys with names like Donohue, Gregg, Gurney, Parnelli, and Everett.

I have hundreds of pages of documentation, hours of phone conversations, in-person meetings, and a fairly in-depth knowledge about Agatha. I guess I could just post it all at once but I'm going to try my version of a docudrama and let the story of Agatha, Erhard, Tommy, Bernd, Jerry and the rest come out in bits and pieces.

[jimhuiz]

Febuary 3rd, 1967 – Daytona

79 degrees and sunny. “I’m a long ways from Detroit in more ways than one” thought Erhard, squinting at the sun. He was looking at Gurney who just pulled into the pits about 30 seconds ago. “Ahh, dat Gurney…he’s fast but he’s a bit of hot head” muttered Erhard as he watched Gurney have a small hissy fit. Gurney qualified on the pole with Parnelli and was going strong but it looks like he broke hard…his car came into the pits sounding like it had a loose coffee can full of nuts rolling around under the hood. “Must have thrown a valve,” thought Erhard.

“Now what was dat guys name I’m supposed to find?” Erhard reached into his pocket and found the paper Cici had scribbled on. “H-e-r-b Dramm, dat’s right” said Erhard. Herbert Dramm was the general service manager for Porsche of America Corp. He came over from Germany about the same time as Erhard and had been shepherding Porsche cars into American culture. Erhard had heard about Mr. Dramm during a meeting with a dealer rep back in January. Mr. Dramm had a racer’s heart and a racer’s disposition and was known to be quick to the point. He was described as tall and wiry, which was a bit opposite Erhard’s stocky stature. Herb Dramm was going to be hanging out in the pits of a new Porsche 911 jockey by the name of Gregg. Now all Erhard had to do was find Gregg’s crew. He could see Gregg circling the track in his white 911 with the red and blue stripes; he seemed to be racing amongst the V8 cars all by himself. Erhard thought the sound of the rumbling V8s was no match for the shriek of Gregg’s 911… “German engineering… can’t beat it” thought Erhard. Just then Gregg almost lost it on the infield and Erhard let out an audible “Holy Sheet.”

“Don’t worry… Pete can drive like that all day and still bring the car back in one piece,” Erhard heard from right behind where he was standing. He turned around to see a couple of guys with grease under their nails in a typical pit setting. Standing next to the talker, was a tall, well-dressed, wiry, gent. It had to be Dramm.

Erhard nodded to the pit crew and approached… “You ahh wouldn’t happen da be a Mr. Herb Dramm wood ya?” asked Erhard, sticking out his hand. “Yah, dat’s me” said Mr. Dramm who reached out for the handshake. What Dramm wasn’t prepared for was Erhard’s zest when it came to shaking hands. Herb almost ended up on the ground as Erhard shook him hard and pulled him in. “Damn glad to finally meet ya” said Erhard.

The whole point of the meeting was to discuss a new racing program Porsche was starting to quietly advertise with the dealers. A special 911 built for the SCCA Trans Am series. The car was going to be built to the limit of the rules right from the factory… and where the rules weren’t clear, it was going to get the werks treatment. “It gonna be roght fast” said Dramm…”and don’t worry about da 148 rating”, he added with a wink. “Yah” thought Erhard…German horses were stronger than most. “Send me da letter and I get back to ya real quick” said Dramm, and he just turned away to look at Gregg go speeding by again. The meeting was over.

March 20th, 1967 - Erhard Motors Sales, Detroit, MI

CiCi was sitting at her desk looking out on Grand River Avenue. It was a bit cold but Detroit was starting to wake from its winter slumber and the sun was shining through the windows. Erhard’s maintenance shop, turned dealership, had grown up quite a bit over the last decade or so and there were lots of new cars inside and out. “Not bad for a teenager who showed up here in the states with about 2 bucks in his pocket,” thought Cici. The 356 Erhard was so fond of was now officially gone and the new 911 filled the show room. Cici liked the new car a lot, and she was in good company as the whole dealership was proud to have this new model lined up outside. Cici heard the door open and then the familiar steps of Erhard shortly thereafter. “Hey Cici, how ya doing today sweetheart” said Erhard with his usual grin. “Just fine”, said Cici as she quickly put away her nail file. “Hey Erhard, that letter you’ve been waitin for is on your desk…I marked it IMPORTANT”.

[jimhuiz]

This letter was sent to Erhard after a meeting and discussion about the new 911 racing program.

[jimhuiz]

And Mr. Dramm's subsequent instructions...

Google translate helps out with the German:

wettbewerbsfahrzeug fuer Trans Am Rennen = competition car for Trans Am racing

Motor auf hoechstleistung nach tourenwagenreglement = Engine to its peak performance after touring car regulations

[jimhuiz]

I'll finish for the evening with this little tidbit...which puts us just a little ahead of the story.

One might think the specification for the motor in Agatha was simply the rally kit motor (a 2000R per the sports purpose handbook) but the seat of the pants feel of this motor (which was rebuilt back to it's factory specs using the original heads, block, etc.) feels quite a bit stronger than the advertised 148hp would seem to generate. This was communicated to me by a knowledgeable source who probably knows these cars better than anyone else.

If you look at the window sticker you'll notice the last option doesn't even have a reference code associated with it...and it cost almost twice the entire rallye kit option! So it seems that aside from what was done to the engine in association with the rallye kit, quite a bit of extra work was done in the race department and in the end...a special racer built for the SCCA Trans-am series came into existence.

Lest you think this an anomaly or a typo...note that the Kardex has the same type of notation. - erhohte PS Leistung = Increased Horsepower

More to follow...

[pu911rsr]

Jim,

That is just awesome, thanks for sharing! You must of been a very good boy this year, merry Christmas!

Phil

[jos.hall]

most definitely subscribed to this thread

[a911s]

Best thread in a long time... Thanks, Jim.

Dave, time for another article. I've got that other one covered.