1969 'Rally-Rod'

[smclaughlin]

I wanted a rally-inspired road car, something like an ST, but it was never my goal to adhere to anyone’s definition of a clone or tribute car, or to what was appropriate for a particular model year, or to restrict the build to parts and technology from a particular era. I didn't want the fastest, lightest, loudest or most extreme – I wanted the most entertaining. Everyone will define that differently. My definition can be found in the thread that follows, and focuses on usability with maximum vintage mechanical connectedness, the very thing at the core of my deep obsession with the Porsche 911.

This isn't going to be a 'traditional' build thread because it's all done. Here it is:



-Scott

[smclaughlin]

I want to describe the process and decisions made along the way as a way of saying thank you to Aaron Hatz of Flat Six, Inc. in Minneapolis who orchestrated and executed the build, and to the Early S Registry forums, which provided a lot of inspiration and information, and from which the ‘donor’ car and many of the parts were found and purchased from both private and commercial sources.

Note I will be slowly but surely adding pictures and additional information to the following posts on different aspects of the build. I hope someone contemplating their own hot-rod build will find some useful information here.

-Scott

[smclaughlin]

This car started life as a 1969 911T found right here on the registry forum. I had just returned to the U.S. in January of 2007, after a five year work assignment in Germany. I spent three months working in San Luis Obispo, California before heading back to Chicago. I knew this was my chance to find a long-hood 911 in the mythical land of rust-free classic cars known as California. The ad here on the registry forum was very succinct and did not include pictures - 1969 911T, viper green, rust free, 59,000 miles, 1 owner, $15K. Sounds too good to be true, right?

[smclaughlin]

Right. It was a 69T, and the 59,000 mile claim is at least plausible, but it wasn’t viper green, it wasn’t rust free, and it wasn’t a 1-owner car. It was originally sand beige. It had been disassembled and given a Maaco (cheap) paint job in signal green. There was evidence of some sloppy bodywork and a bit of rust, evidence of an A/C system that had been removed, it had a crumbling tan interior with newer high-back vinyl seats, and just a few records indicating it had at least three owners before me. Oh, and had he forgotten to mention it had not been reassembled after being painted? It did appear to be straight and (mostly) solid, and it was a non-sunroof ’69 Karmann-built coupe – the lightest long-wheelbase 911 body. It was a bit of a gamble but the price was right - fairly priced for what it was, not for how it was originally described. I bought it, and a plan was hatched.

[smclaughlin]

I spent my evenings of those three months in San Luis Obispo assembling the car in the warehouse/workshop of my company’s offices there. As I did so, I knew it was temporary, and it would be coming apart again someday – someday soon, I hoped. To my delight it did indeed drive quite well when put back together and only needed a little tweaking here and there, such as rebuilding the carbs and brakes.

The pictures below were taken by Aaron just before it went under the knife. At first, Aaron was hesitant because it seemed a little too nice...but he soon changed his mind (as I had in 2007) and decided it was just the right amount of wrong to use as a donor.

[smclaughlin]

I enjoyed the car in this form for a couple of years while Aaron was working on my ’76 MFI Carrera. As that work wrapped up, work on the ’69 began.