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Thread: 1968 T/R - "Out Of Africa"

  1. #1
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    1968 T/R - "Out Of Africa"

    Having followed a number of recent threads on the early competition 911’s I thought it was about time I contributed to a forum that I have found to be invaluable/entertaining/educational for a couple of years now.

    As has already been discussed in other threads the term T/R, or T Rallye, seems to be a title adopted in more recent times to differentiate a particular group of cars; one could probably argue the same for both ST’s and maybe RSR’s in the early days prior to say Kremer involvement, when the factory knew them only by a model number – I have yet to discover such a model number for the T/R but like so many things to do with the “early years” I would not be presumptuous enough to say one was not used internally by the factory in addition to the part & kit numbers for the various “sport option” parts – as one of my old teachers used to say ‘you never know how much you don’t know’.

    Whilst there was undoubtedly the option to take a standard T (or other models I presume) and specify a number of ‘competition’ type extras/modifications carried out either by the factory(?) or the dealer, we know from the FIA homologation document (577) together with the “Information Regarding Porsche Vehicles Used For Sports Purposes” booklet that a planned programme of enhancements were available for the 911/911L/911T & 911S for Touring Car Group 2 & GT Group 3 competition.

    As a keen follower of the early “sports purpose” 911’s I thought the chances of me ever owning one were slim (my view) to non existent (my wife’s view), however, through a somewhat lengthy series of events and old connections, I have ended up owning an interesting car which although subjected to a crude repaint in its troubled past, is from what I have discovered to date, fairly complete and original.

    Firstly a few facts (i.e. that have been confirmed in writing by Porsche UK and subsequently by the Classic Department at the factory) about the car from new:

    Chassis No. 1182xxxx (‘T’)
    Engine No. 408xxxx (‘S’)
    Gearbox No. 928xxxx
    Colour – Tangerine (6809)

    The car was ordered by Gordon C.R. Crow (the then East African Porsche agent) and was delivered new to Nairobi, Kenya and is therefore Right Hand Drive with options including ‘Rally Kit’, Roll bar and Limited Slip Differential. Subsequent correspondence details “Recaro sports seats instead of serial seats, rubber mats instead of carpets, sport brake pads, stronger generator, front bumper lighter, without additional heating, engine: cylinder heads and intake manifolds polished, flywheel, clutch and sparkplug connectors for racing”

    Whilst all of the above is present on the car there are also a few other things I have spotted to date such as up rated drive shafts and slight body differences (more detail to follow) so I will reserve judgement on the full specification until I have visited the archive; I hope to visit later this year to try and get the full build detail on the car plus any other information I can pull together on the so called T/R’s.

    Over the last month or two I have been slowly dismantling the car and cataloguing the parts (picture below), up to now all date stamps found point to a June or July 1968 build. I aim to capture as much detail as possible (and post accordingly) having been inspired by the sort of detail found on a number of threads; I am particularly enjoying the detail Tom (“Flunder”) is unearthing on the parts he is using on his great build.

    The only non original parts I have found to date are a ducktail rather than the standard engine lid (even I could spot that one! – this was from an interesting part of the car’s life which I will go into in more detail at a later date), the windscreen (see photo below), and a 380mm steering wheel (part no. 914.347.803.10 date stamp 12/72, it still has the foam thickening under layer but has lost its leather so will require refurb – I will retain this wheel on the car because although not original specification it is part of the cars history and at 6’4’’ is of help with leg room!).

    Having spent all of its life in Africa, Kenya then Uganda, the climate has been relatively kind to the panels in most areas but less so to the interior although great to still have all the lightweight door panels/handles etc....I suppose one advantage of it being in Africa for 40 years is that there were not Porsche dealers in every town for parts upgrading so should be beneficial in terms of originality.

    Whilst I do not have the skill to restore the car fully myself I do want to undertake the disassembly/cataloguing plus restoration of some of the parts (H1 headlights and front & rear light units completed) so there will no doubt be plenty of requests for help and advice! With this approach and financial constraints this will not be a “passed to specialist, phone me when its finished restoration” so it may well take some time! I will be using a number of the very skilled people we have in the UK for certain parts of the project so that I finish up with a car that meets my overall aim - one that I understand, have personal effort invested in, is to as high a standard as possible in terms of quality and authenticity.....but most of all is a great drive and goes like ****!

    More to follow....

    Tim
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  2. #2
    Cool! Great flares! More pics please
    Renn-Spot - Cars & parts For Sale - http://renn-spot.blogspot.com/
    1970 911"S" - Black (originally silver)
    1974 911"S" - Silver
    1973 911"T" - Bahia Red - Now Sold
    10 sec 67 VW
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  3. #3
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    Yes the flares, great aren't they! The original owner had the rears crudely flared and the fronts rolled to run a set of Minilites, these were stolen whilst the car was pushed outside from one of its long term storage garages in Uganda when it went bust but fortunately the originals were still inside. These are interesting in their own right because the fronts are 5.5" (dated 5/68) whilst the rears are 6" (dated 6/68), however all four have the 5.5" part number but the 6" are stamped 6J by 15.......I am sure I saw a short thread talking about this on another car but have failed to find it again, if anyone knows it I would be grateful if they could post a link.

    I will post more detailed photos this coming week.

    Tim

  4. #4
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    Hi Tim - I had heard 'through the grapevine' that you'd got this car & have been eagerly awaiting an official announcement with details & pictures.

    Congratulations on the purchase - looking forward to more details & pictures...
    Andy

    Early 911S Reg #753
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  5. #5
    Member #1525 gilbert911's Avatar
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    Spot-on Tim!
    Fantastic to see the car in the week and good to see it here now, out in the open.
    Looking forward to another top class thread..
    Cheers
    C

  6. #6
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    Thanks Andy - I have had it a while but wanted to get my head around what exactly I have plus understand a little more about the subject in general before I started to post......plus the usual family demands eating into time, for some reason my kids don't seem to share my level of interest!

    Hello Chris - Yes finally got my backside into gear, speak soon.

    Tim

  7. #7
    Great to see it finally 'outed' Tim, looking forward to following your progress and thanks for sharing it with us.

    Best of luck, Mike
    cheers, Mike
    Member#1664
    1972 911 S/RSR to Martini Prototype specification
    http://www.ddk-online.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=15294

  8. #8

    Out of Africa

    Tim: What a great car; I am looking forward to a full accounting of all the special parts and dates on the car - with plenty of pics, please! I would be tempted to just leave the rear flares but put a 68 correct engine lid and grill on it. It wil be 60s fab in Blutorange!
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  9. #9
    Loud lederhosen saves lives hoffman912's Avatar
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    I am eager to see how this comes out. I want to know all the details! interior, suspension etc.


    btw, youre absolutely sure it was 6809? i know the paint plates can sometimes be hard to read.. and that paint is dead on for 6808 (burgandy red). you dont see too many people who would repaint a car burgandy.. so i had to ask.

    (btw, im turning my 912 in to a T/R inspired car, and its burgandy so it would have been awesome if that was the original color)
    Harry Hoffman
    1968 912 #3656, burgundy red 'Fritz'. Some mods..
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  10. #10
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    Mike - Good to hear from you, looking forward to more of your engine updates. You don't know anyone who wants to buy an RSR replica project do you?!

    Tom - I have already picked up a good early lid plus a grill which I have striped down and cleaned up. If the flares had been done well and I still had the wider wheels then I would leave as is but given I have the cars original wheels then I think back to narrow as it left the factory is the way to go.

    Harry - The paint you see is a very poor respray done in Uganda along with the ducktail fitment to try and disguise the car (another story!). The factory have confimed the original as being 6809 Tangerine and the paint tag is still in place although some **** has had a good scrape at it so it will require some tender work - in Uganda they use a type of filler as undercoat and then the burgundy applied with little care so there is tangerine to be found with little trouble all round the car.

    Tim
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