Another hot rod

Period photographs of ST circuit racers and rally cars show three basic horn grill treatments:

1. open horn grill cavity

2. standard production car horn grills installed

3. expanded wire mesh coverings installed over horn grill cavities

A review of the Ultimate ST thread will dazzle the reader with possibilities but as a general proposition, options one and two are by far the most prevalent treatments.

Option three, however, attracted us as being a bit less common than standard grills but also providing a bit more of a finished appearance than an open cavity.

We picked two examples that serve as illustrations for option three that we liked the most; both from period images of 2,3L cars.

First, we liked the green BP Waldegaard car at the Anderstorp race meeting as shown in the first three images attached below. Its horn grills are covered by simple unpainted expanded wire mesh.

His red BP rally car shows similar unpainted wire mesh grills in the last two images shown below.

The shop fashioned simple unpainted expanded wire mesh coverings for the horn grill cavities of the project car to provide the look of the two Waldegaard examples shown in the prior post.

At the same time, fresh SWB head lamp housings and Euro spec directional lenses were installed to complete the look of the red Waldegaard car. Thanks to fellow board member John M. for the SWB head lamp housings.

Here is a nice image of the nose in profile.

Kenny's work on the front bumper shows in the unbroken sweep of the line of the wheel cut out transitioning from the fender down along the trailing edge of the bumper. Looks nice.

Until 1984, the Harvard Square stop in Cambridge, Massachusetts was the northern terminus of Boston's MTA Red Line. Automobile traffic was heavy, parking difficult. The Harvard Square Garage of the 1960s provided only limited indoor parking and monthly spaces became available only when a regular tenant gave up their spot. But the gloomy old structure provided warm, dry storage and refuge from the snow plows in winter and the Cambridge car thieves who plied their trade year round. When the garage operator phoned to say that my name had come to the top of the waiting list I drove over straight away.

That was in 1967 and these days I cannot remember much about the ground floor other than its steeply inclined ramp leading to the upper levels: a small mezzanine area and a second floor. But I remember everything about the mezzanine level as if it were only yesterday. Paperwork completed, I proceeded up the ramp to my assigned spot and there on the mezzanine, along the far end wall, stood a well lit store-front garage faced in white tiles with a sign displaying the mysterious name "Seferian Escadrille."

As a schoolboy I had avidly read of the exploits of the Lafayette Escadrille, the illustrious French Army Air Corps squadron during the Great War, whose greatest American ace was Captain Eddie Rickenbacker, CMH. The Seferian Escadrille appeared no less wonderful on that dreary day in the autumn of 1967. At Seferian, the shop coat clad technicians tended not to fragile SPAD XIIIs and finicky Vickers guns but rather to the straight six injected three liters of Gullwings, lovely little sand cast down draught Weber 40s on four cam 356 Carrera GT coupes and in striking contrast the heroically scaled engine block of a Springfield bodied Henley Roadster. SAE, metric and Whitworth tools of every description filled the peg boards on the walls.

Parked out in front of the shop on the concrete floored mezzanine, in the spot reserved for the squadron commander's crate, sat his daily driver, a dull silver bolide squatting on well scrubbed race rubber, thin blue plush lining its cockpit, one engine turned spoke of its wood rimmed steering wheel bearing the logo LL. A man of uncompromising disposition and tastes, Peter Seferian's personal crate showed the unmistakable signs of constant use, its lightweight grp flanks displayed stress cracks earned from cornering hard and braking late. Diminutive, with little to no flake in its silver gray paint, worn, but all of a piece, it was altogether a very tidy example of Type 904 Carrera GTS.

The work performed at Seferian's reflected the values of the man: careful maintenance, flawless preparation, fastidious record keeping and most of all unfettered enthusiasm, always relied upon to carry the day. Upon first meeting the man, one got the feeling that Seferian tolerated no excuses and equated compromise with defeat. At the Escadrille, things were done to the standards of Peter Seferian.

Like a good squadron commander, Seferian had a way of developing a cadre of like minded enthusiasts, while letting others know that at the Escadrille, dirty and neglected machinery, no matter how exotic, or perhaps those cruder examples of the sports car idiom, could not really hope to gain admittance to his care and their owners to his tutelage. Alas, I fell into this category. Still, I continued faithfully to gaze through the plate glass of the Escadrille's mysterious store front at the many wonders displayed within. Then I moved away from Cambridge and went on to other things.

But my forgetfulness lasted only until 15 months later, when I found myself living back in Cambridge, trying to keep my newly acquired but bastardized '56 Speedster in some semblance of repair. During the interim Seferian had relocated to Central Square and I drove over to take a look. In the front of the shop sat an Irish Green 356 SC Cabriolet sporting a factory hard top fitted out with a factory sunroof, a specification I had never imagined. Just then, Seferian stepped over to see what I wanted.

The year was 1971 and the Speedster was in desperate need of a tune and rear shocks. Seferian studied me when I inquired about fitting the new de Carbon shocks manufactured by Bilstein. After a pause, Peter explained that while Bilstein might be well suited to the sedentary Benz sedans of aging burghers, they could not be considered suitable for the sports cars manufactured by Porsche, to which only Koni should be fitted. The Speedster emerged two days later: it had never run better and the orange Konis were a big improvement.

But in that same year, another garage owner, some thousands of miles away in Cologne, was not only fitting Bilstein products to this Porsche, he was actually winning races with a Porsche 911 "ST" so equipped in the FIA sanctioned races for Special GT Group 4. Perhaps the success of the Kremer 2,3L and later 2,5L cars convinced the Race Department in Stuttgart to incorporate Bilstein products in the factory specifications for the 2,8L RSR and I think was instrumental in creating a new high performance image for Bilstein, which left behind forever its dowdy profile of having supplied the sedentary Benz sedans of aging burghers, as Seferian had so disparagingly remarked.

In the meantime, however, all the 2,3L 911 "ST" constructed by the Race Department continued to use Koni shocks as original equipment, employing the exact same parts as the regular production C and D series 911 S. Until the Kremers opened the eyes of the factory race engineers to the advantages of de Carbon technology, the Werks no doubt shared the sentiments of Seferian when it came to dampers. After all, Koni had been a standby of the Werks and the sports car set in general since the 1950s. Simply put, Koni shocks, resplendent in the national color of the Netherlands, were the standard by which all other dampers were judged.

As things turned out, the MY 1971 911 S coupe that we purchased for the hot rod project came to us without its original Koni dampers and had instead an old set of Bilstein struts and shocks bolted onto it. Erwin Kremer is often credited with being the first to raise the spindles 18mm on Bilstein struts, in an effort to obviate the need for bump steer modifications on a lowered chassis, a modification used on the 2,3L ST he campaigned in 1970-71, and then gusseting them as well, just like the ones that came on our 71 S, ch nbr 694. It seemed most appropriate to keep the project car on its old green Bilsteins, given their "Koln" modifications, in homage to Kremer's success in Group 4 competition during the years when our S was still new.

Our old, admittedly after-market Bilsteins that came on 694, now re-valved to the shop's race specs and given a fresh coat of John Deere green paint, appear in the first image attached to this post. These came on the project car, already modified to "Koln" specs with spindles raised 18mm and gussetted.

The second image shows the Kremer 2,3L "ST" at the Nurburgring in 1970, its livery replete with Bilstein sponsorship stickers.

But second thoughts still linger.

Peter Seferian, RIP, passed away in 1989.

You see, all through these years I have kept the ideals of the Escadrille in mind for each new automotive pursuit. And now I like to think and hope my old squadron commander will forgive this lowly wingman for not using Koni on his old crate.

Tom

I have to say I am loving your early S posts on the "Hot Rod Project".

I find my mind wondering during the day about the history of the very early 911 race cars as I recall the great detail you have included in your posts.

I imagine that a Champagne christening ceremony will be in order when the car is ready to roll in anger for the first time.

I need to get up to AA to see for myself first hand.

Tom,

What a delight to read...

John

Great stuff Tom. You have seemingly somehow managed to channel two of my favorite automotive writers, Jenks and Henry Manney III. Please keep going, it just gets better and better.

Yr obdnt srvnt,
J.A.G. :D

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Jim Garfield

Great stuff Tom. You have seemingly somehow managed to channel two of my favorite automotive writers, Jenks and Henry Manney III. Please keep going, it just gets better and better.

Yr obdnt srvnt,
J.A.G. :D

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I agree entirely! You may have missed your calling sir!

Tom its been a month or so.

The cravings are coming back......;)

Nickel me this and anodize that
dark sand cast mag
and bright shiny zinc;
best top it all off
with German weave amber
and a brown bakelite cap.

Merry Christmas to all from Another Hot Rod!

Beautiful Tom! Merry Christmas.