Another hot rod

Tom, as I said at RITV this is the most comprehensive ST information available anywhere - at the minimum, the thread should be re-titled more accurately and 'stickied'. As for a book, I've been making my own by simply converting each page to PDF format and then printing it. Hope you don't mind :D

Free PDF Converter

Bravo, well written Tom!

Start posting and I will rent a tuxedo just so that I can follow along here at home. :)

Eloquent Tom..........

Thanks from the Registry

Oh yes..."Life is Good Again." :)

John

Tom,
Meeting you in person finally was a real highlight of this past weekend for me.

Of course this thread is among the best ever on this board if not THE best. After getting to know it's author, that it IS that makes absolutely perfect sense. You are truly a Porsche enthusiast and aficionado of the highest degree who also happens to be a terrific person.

Well written intro to Act II of your ST build. I am looking forward to the show. Too bad we couldn't have this as the "centerpiece" during dinner at your place. That would have been quite the conversation piece.:)

Quote:

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Originally Posted by varunan123

Tom

As this project gets it's final phase of execution,should it not be re-named an accurate copy(still leaving room for not wanting to be exact) as opposed to another hot-rod.That will be the last thing that will come to my mind when i get to see it in the flesh.

Raj

maybe there is a better simpler term but not hot rod

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Dear Raj,

No doubt there are many on the board who share your consternation at my choice of title for this thread. And, perhaps you are correct that there exist more edifying designations that one could assign to the project car.

However, here is my explanation:

First, we all need to recognize that when we change a car from how it emerged from the Werks that its originality is irretrievably lost. I tend to share this view. In the past I have attempted to prepare projects to absolute originality and abnormal standards of cleanliness. I find these to be satisfying during the build process but to be tricky to own as I cannot bring myself to drive the car back to 85 pts from a state of near perfection.

Second, my car enthusiasm dates back all the way to 1954 when I started buying Hot Rod, Custom Car, Car Craft and all the other California car culture publications.

And OK, I guess it did take me an inordinate amount of time to graduate from these admittedly mouth breathing, knuckle dragging rags to Road & Track and Car and Driver let alone The Motor and Jenk's column in Motor Sport.

I confess: I am at heart, first and foremost, a hot rodder and sports car guy second.

There are many PCAers who consider cutting up a perfectly good D series S to be sacrilege. To these I submit that the project car already sported flares and that its original engine case had experienced a catastrophic failure at a POC event in the distant past. My S is no virgin. But it was perfect for what I wanted.

As I considered a title for the thread, I thought about how the Race Department made makeshift solutions to catalog race parts for competition oriented 911 enthusiasts to contest Special GT Group 4. The solutions devised for the 2,3L ST were certainly extensive, thorough and as things turned out, quite effective.

The solutions arrived at entailed an increase in displacement (in fact the long stroke 2,5 introduced in 1971 was bored AND stroked) satisfying the First Axiom of hot rodding: THERE IS NO SUBSTITUTE FOR CUBIC INCHES.

The balance of the program showed a meticulous adherence to the Third Axiom: less weight equals more horsepower, perhaps best postulated by the late Ken Miles as SIMPLIFICATE AND ADD LIGHTNESS.

In addition, performance gears of every desciption were provided, which in combination with a limited slip transformed the 911 ST into a giant killer.

These themes are common to the old 1950s California approach to extracting a very high level of perfomance from a vehicle never really designed for the task and accomplishing it largely with bolt-on hardware. I recognized this approach to be hot rodding, albeit at a higher level of sophistication, but hot rodding still the same.

Finally came the look of the 2,3L ST: Slightly nasty with its wheels sticking out, almost in the airstream, and mismatched rims with impossibly wide looking minilites on the back matched up with rather skinny looking 7Rs on the front. Pehaps unknowingly, Piech employed the "big 'n little" look, the universal code recognized from Woodward Avenue to Sunset Boulevard that just screams "hot rod."

Then it became clear to me: The 2,3L Porsche 911 S Competition Type, the Special GT Group 4 giant killer, the "ST", from the moment it was rolled out from the Race Department into the clear light of day, really was:

Another Hot Rod

Perfectly stated!

Assembly of the car takes place in an orderly progression starting from the front bumper and working back.

We've had a look at the steps taken to modify the front bumper but here it is again, this time from a rear perspective.

Now with its bumper brackets painted in satin black and attached with freshly plated fasteners I sense that the project takes on a different aspect. It is a very small step, but somehow now there is a look that says "It is going to get done."

Plus 1 Tom!:)

John