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71 E -> Gentleman's M471 thread
As several of you know from recent parts purchases and odd posts, I am in the process of taking a recently acquired 71 E and turning it into a fairly faithful clone of something like the M471 with the intent of having a "gentleman's race car." The idea is to have the ultimate car that I can drive to the track, do a DE event or autocross, and then drive back home. I can't pretend to be like so many of you who actually do much of the restoration work, but I do tend to obsess over details and do small projects which I'll try an record here for the benefit of the broader community. To that end, having this resource and such wonderful people has really made early Porsche ownership enjoyable and easy, so hopefully this is additive to that (and in many respects, having a build-ish thread is more to my own benefit of soliciting your expertise more than anything else).
First, a little background. I was fortunate to learn to drive on a '69 912. My mother had picked one up in Stuttgart in her early 20s after being convinced by my grandfather that Porsches were much better cars than the MGs she had learned to drive on. She put 8+k miles on it that summer driving it around Europe. After a few years and too many alternator belt replacements on the Merritt, my grandfather bought it from her and she bought a 914. As she likes to say, I spent my first year in the footwell of a 914 while my brother (two years old) rode shotgun. The 912 became the favored toy of my grandmother and was promised to my brother and I when we reached driving age. The 912 was the beach car and frequently made trips to the dump (in addition to holding a golf bag, a week's worth of garbage can be stuffed in there). As kids, whenever we visited my grandparents my brother and I would run to the garage to play in the 912.
The "Baron" the last time I saw it.
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At 16, I spent the summer with my grandmother moving her out of her house and learning to drive the 912. There are some good stories on this forum about the 901 transmission, but learning to drive on one, while your grandmother is in the seat next to you screaming at you for riding the clutch is...stressful. At the end of the summer, my mother came up to retrieve me with the intention of her driving the car home. But her test ride didn't go particularly well and it was declared that the car would get its clutch replaced. A few weeks later, my grandmother showed up in our driveway with a bright-red Ford Bronco acquired from Griffin Ford at considerable expense, with only a very small portion paid for with the 912 trade-in. I got a very stern talking to from my mother for the look of horror on my face when the Bronco appeared and I was told that "my" 912 had been traded in for it. Needless to say, I have wanted a longhood since.
After getting some money in the early 2000s I looked at buying one but the price seemed high (I think ~30k for a S!) and the practicality was low as my wife and I needed a second car so I could go to the dump and stop ruining our daily driver by driving it off road to fish. The Porsche would have to wait.
Fast-forward to a few years ago, with a larger garage, more disposable income, and what looked like a little froth taken out of the Porsche market, I started to look again. I wanted a long-hood, and a targa - because the targa is the most beautiful car ever made and I love driving "open-air." Also, because of the '69 912, I wanted a LWB with a 901 transmission, which also would have all of the details that I remembered - in particular the basketweave on the dash, and the chrome on the comfort seat hinges. Details matter. Looking was rather painful, because I didn't know where to look, but at least had the good sense to ask for PPIs. I have paid for many PPIs for cars that I did not purchase, and it was the best money I ever spent.
Finally I found a '71 that ticked all of the boxes (or so I thought), except I wasn't thrilled about light ivory. I wanted blood orange. Funnily, my mom subsequently told me that she had every intention of ordering hers in blood orange, but when she went to the Porsche shop in Manhattan, the salesman dissuaded her by saying she'd never be able to re-sell it in that "wild" color, and she'd be better advised to stick with a conservative color like burgundy. In any case, the PPI came back reasonably well (I think I was willing to see through some things) - the car had clearly been neglected for a decade or so, but had very good bones and was mostly original if frayed at the margins. Most importantly, other than the battery box, the car had no real rust issues. It was shipped to Canton to have Automobile Associates fix the rust and generally do a mechanical refresh.
When I finally got the call that the car was ready, I was lucky enough to have my brother with me who was just as eager to see my "new" Porsche. The best part was when both of us stood over the car, we both sniffed it and said at the same time "it smells like our grandparent's garage." A bit crazy, but every time I get in an early 911, the smell is the same, and it is wonderful. It is why I am so obsessed with keeping everything on the targa original. When my Mom's 912 was 20 years old, it looked the same - the basketweave insert in the dash shrunk a bit showing the glue behind it. The grain pattern on the vinyl a bit worn down and shiny.
This is Rick. Don't ask, but that is what my girls named the Targa, hence my username. Rick was a bit rough around the edges (note the different hues of white), but has been about everything you could ask for as an introduction to the cars. I put ~6k miles on Rick in the first year of ownership, including some long road hauls and some autocrosses and track sessions, and nary a complaint. I had never driven a car for pleasure before getting Rick - it simply was never on my radar just to hop in a car and carve up backroads as a leisure activity, nor would I have known what HPDE was...of course the first thing my Mom did when I bought the car was send me a CVR PCA hat and ask me when I was going to drive it at Lime Rock, so to some extent I was simply unaware of the subconscious influence. But then the first time my mother rode in the targa she complained about how much noisier it was than her 912, and how badly it stunk of fuel...
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If I still have your attention, the car was great, but once you start to dip your toes in, it becomes a slippery slope. Replace those comfort seats with sport seats, add sway bars, upgrade the wheels...I started to realize Rick was burning a bit more oil thank you'd like (though NO drips, which is amazing), so I started asking about an engine rebuild, and then...god bless Auto Associates...the idea was planted in my mind that maybe I shouldn't waste my money on rebuilding a 2.2, and instead just drop a 2.7 RS-spec engine in it. You might as well be walking if you are driving a 2.2 T compared to the 2.7. And once you do all of that, you start to realize the targa is great for Sundays when the track is closed, but you need a Saturday car...
Which brings me to the '71 E. Some of you may know it. PO is a great guy and to my knowledge a hell of a driver. The PO-PO of the mechanical bits has quite the reputation too. So like most of these cars, it has a history...
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More to follow...thanks in advance for your indulgence and wisdom.
