Please avert your eyes.

[ibmiked]

This thread may not be to everyone's liking, but here goes. About a year ago I got a call from my friend Don Ahearn. Don has known that one of my 'bucket list' cars is a US Carrera. I guess the best way to make sense of that desire is that I feel the US Carrera is a mid-year car but with the impact bumper looks that as a pre-baby boomer symbolized Porsche for me growing up. It's a car that has a foot in both worlds and deep down I needed to know what owning one felt like.

Now the car that Don had found checked a lot of boxes for me. It was owned by a Porsche mechanic and had less than 10k miles on a rebuilt engine. The mechanic had sent the case out for upgrades and then rebuilt everything with euro-spec high compression pistons and cylinders, hotter cams, and carbs. ALL of the original mechanical bits were still with the car so that it could be converted back at any time.

The paint had been completely redone two years prior and had maybe 1k miles on it since. The paint job was a very high dollar endeavour and the car presented with a stunning finish. But there were problems. Deal breakers for me actually. First, the car was Copper Brown Metallic. Brown. Damn I hate brown. I mean brown can look nice when Porsche sprays it on a new 997 and calls it Macadamia, but the reality is that '70s brown takes a concerted effort to like (in my opinion). Also, the interior was cork. With black Recaros. Yep. Add in the fake 16" black centered Fuchs and you've got one hell of a black hole.

But Don pressed me, "It can be sooo cool." The car definitely was in fantastic shape and the price caused me to do a double take. I guess brown isn't helping this guy sell no matter how good the paint but do I want to be the next guy who grabs this hot potato? Don was insistent. The car was in truly amazing condition if one could get past the color. With a sigh of resignation I did some half-hearted negotiating and then bought the car.

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continued...

[ibmiked]

So now here I am with a brown car and I've got to figure out what to do. So I start looking for some inspiration. Let's see, who else owns this color that I can commiserate with? As luck would have it, one of the nicest guys in our early Porsche world: Keith Ennis. He consoles me and explains that all is not lost. I start looking at pictures of his (now gone) 'Dirty Penny'. Whoa. Yeah, we can work with this. Keith and I discuss interior colors, exterior accoutrements, and the general badass-ness of brown when done right (empty Kool-Aid containers littered the floor of my garage).

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Now reinvigortated I dig a little deeper and start thinking about what I like and who has a shorthood that inspires me. Then I remember my friend Jim Garfield and his shorthood (with a long story...). Jim has Cibie hoodlights on his car. Now prior to this I always thought the definitive hoodlight car was Mark's (Morrissey) but Jim's car still presents as a shorthood and I'll be buggered if Cibies don't just tie it all together. Jim's car is the red one for those of us who don't know a shorthood from a longhood.

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And then there's the coolest US Carrera of all. It was owned by Curt (Egerer) who probably wouldn't know me from the waiter at dinner last night. But it was cool. And there was a lot to be learned from it.

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continued...

[platas]

I love the colour ! lovely car ! will take a seat !

[davewadd]

A plug for the short hood. This is The Blue Goose. Mexico Blue. 3.2 w/ 40mm PMOs. .... I actually bought this car, after missing out on the Dirty Penny a couple years ago. I love the non-flare body. Nobody expects this car to pull off the autox times it does, and on 225 tires....

[ibmiked]

So now I'm deep into researching this project and a whole year is just ticking by while I compile data. In 1974 Porsche released the US Carrera and the first 50 or so cars had 1973 Carrera RS flares before the factory minted their new flare (which was essentially what would become the SC flare). Then in 1975 Porsche went to the later 'whale-tail' style spoiler but about a dozen early '75s still had leftover '74 ducktails. It was also some time in '75 when Porsche went to red bar hood crests, but some early cars still had orange. Armed with this information I felt a little artistic license was not only in order, it was required.

I also got lucky and Don had some early Porsche interior color books, specifically those from the '70s. Let's just say that there was a lot in those books that has never been viewed by these eyes, and I've read the whole 'Show your Seats' thread! Couple that book with the fact that the factory was already accomodating eccentric customers with the 'Special Wishes' department and you've got a recipe for almost whatever you want.

Here's the part where you may want to avert your eyes. Brown is a hard color. If you do a black interior then it makes the exterior look darker. Tan is boring and essentially what was in the car. Orange and green were suggested and dismissed. I just didn't have the cajones to put an orange interior into a brown car. Too expensive if it went horribly wrong. So in the interest of trying to downplay the brown but stay true to what was in the factory books (and the spirit of the Special Wishes dept). I chose Linen. Oh yeah, and brown tweed. God help me, but I actually like it.

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[uptheorg]

subscribed!

(by the way, I LOVE brown . . .)

edit: you posted the photos of the seats while I was posting this -- those seats are a total class act (as if you didn't know)

[ibmiked]

I should add that Dave at TRE came through for me in a big way. I needed a set of '74-'80 Sport Seats and he had a set that needed a full rebuild. He was the consummate gentleman and sold them to me at friend's pricing. There are seriously genuine people involved in what we do.

Next I was able to purchase a fiberglass over steel ducktail which turned out to be a repro but was so well priced that it was still a steal. And then Don came through for me yet again. He had a set of 15" Fuchs (7s & 8s 'natch) that were freshly back from refurbishing. A good friend can look you in the eyes and see your aching. Don handed me the wheels on the promise that I would replace them with identical ones. VICTORY.

Without further adieu,

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Done (for now).

[Cornpanzer]

My grandma had that exact upholstery on her sectional sofa back in the late 70's. She lost it along with her collection of velvet Elvis's in a tragic mobile home fire...


Car is looking great Mike.

[rmakosaito]

I really like what you've done, particularly your interior choice. Very nice.

Welcome to the dark side!

[Macroni]

Sweet...... Those seats are one of my favorite features of early IB cars..... Who did the seats for you?