The Restoration, History & Story of a 1976 Viper Green Diamond 930 Turbo!!!

[rdwinelover]

I was fortunate to have stumbled onto this beautiful early Turbo in June of 2015 and chose to do as perfect of a restoration as I could.

Finally 1.5 yearly later, this finished car (below) will be in my garage in next week and I am ecstatic!

I felt that it is finally an appropriate time to share what I have learned about this car, it’s past owners and the process of a complete restoration back to this cars original glory.

I am grateful to this board which was so instrumental along with the “Ferrari Chat” 930 Turbo, 350 page thread here in helping me gain the knowledge and insight in bringing this car back it’s former glory.

Over the next few days I will post pictures, share history and snap shots of the car being restored and answer any questions I can.

So without further ado, he she is finished today!

[rdwinelover]

The car was originally purchased by first owner Ernesto Soto in Mexico.

The car was completed in Germany on 06/1976 and delivered new in Mexico via Messrs. Turbo Carrera based upon this document from Stuttgart in 1987.

It is a RoW 930 Turbo with the additional 15 HP that came factory vs US cars.

[rdwinelover]

Second owner: Harry “Butch” Linden purchased the car in 1987 with 11,000 miles on the odometer.

He continued to keep records including the original pink slip from the California DMV from 1987.

He was the care taker for this car for 28 years until he sold the car to me in 2015.

Butch's other passion besides cars was surfing and was a serious contender in the 1960’s.

Butch was a member and the first president of the Malibu Surfing Association which was formed in 1961. Also he is a longstanding member of the Santa Barbara Surf Club.

[rdwinelover]

Upon purchasing the car from Butch, I asked him to drive the car to Oxnard and leave it in the capable hands of Ed Palmer of Kunden Sport.

After a game plan was set with Ed, the car came down to bare metal.

[rdwinelover]

From the factory most 1976 & 1977 930 Turbo's came with only a drivers side flag, mirror.

For an early Turbo to have a passenger-side mirror, it would be stated on the COA under options and would have been a special ordered option.

I knew that after researching that my car came from the factory with only 1 driver side mirror and the passenger side mirror was added at a later point in time after the car left the factory.

Most of the time from what I have read and learned, these were added at the dealership.

One way in which we knew with 100% confirmation that the car came with just one driver-side mirror was that the holes that were drilled into the passenger side were jagged and not cleanly machine cut like on the drivers side.

Upon the COA "not" stating that the car came with a passenger mirror and the holes on the passenger side being jagged, I knew that they should be closed up with sheet metal as can be seen in this picture.

Below are pictures of two different US Turbo Carrera COA's options. One of them states that the care came with a passenger mirror and the other didn't.

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[rdwinelover]

Parts were all pulled and prepared for plating and restoring.

The engine and transmission were pulled and both sent out for rebuild.

Aaron Burnham at Burnham Performance received the engine.

Burnham Performace is located in Camarillo California and I cannot recommend Aaron and team highly enough.

I wouldn't hesitate to send him another one of my 911 engines in a NY second.

[rdwinelover]

The car was primed.

[rdwinelover]

The trim is incredibly challenging to get the same finish as the cars came with new from the factory.

The original trim came with a satin black anodized finish. Over time, if a car was left out in the sun, the finish would change as can be seen from these pictures from original 40 year old trim.

Half of this trim sat outside the car, exposed by the sun and the other half sat inside the car, protected.

You can see how the finish changes over time.

[rdwinelover]

The options were to paint the trim satin black for a perfect color match or anodize the trim as was done at the factory and risk the finish being not exactly perfect.

I chose to anodize it and on the first try, thought it was WAY too glossy (pic below) and was really bummed out.

[rdwinelover]

After being incredibly disappointment with the outcome and how shiny the trim was, I chose to send the trim back out for a second time, this time to the King of Trim ( a different restorer of trim).

The original trim is on the left, while the newly refinished trim is on the right from the King of Trim. The match was much much closer and I was very happy to have spent the additional money.