Hester

The Fire Extinguisher: I thought about keeping it where it was and mounting the new Halon somewhere else but I don't want to keep a non-working fire extinguisher in the car for fear that someone might try in vain to put a fire out with it. (Safety First).

The Wheels: I will take the wheels off and note any markings on them so we can better identify them without speculating.

The Tires: for now, she will keep wearing the tires that the professor put on her. You guys keep encouraging me to drive her so I will replace them with the tires that are going to perform best (i.e., prevent the a$$-end from coming around).

The Carellos: Hans Weber told me yesterday that Dick Barbour spent a lot of time with him when he was ordering it and I think he had something to do with the choice of the Carellos (either that or Mr. Weber's European sensabilities guided the choice(he grew up in Germany). I'll ask him about them more when we get together after the holidays.
In the meantime, I will get the numbers off of the Carellos and send them to Brad Anderson. It would be the coolest thing ever (well, almost) to get those lights up and working again.

The Mileage: I asked Mr. Weber about the mileage and he refused to believe that it was possible for Hester to have 173k and that it could only be 73k. He sold the car to the professor and he knew that the professor kept it as a "third car" Sunday driver like he did. Mr. Weber insisted that it would be impossible for the car to have 173k and Steve at Dieter's didn't think it was possible that the car had 173k if the engine hadn't been apart.

Speaking of the engine being apart, Mr. Weber told me that, on a trip to Northern California soon after he took delivery, he burned a piston because the MFI was set too lean. He told me that they broke the engine down and put new pistons in it and described some coating process they did to them before they went in.

Mr. Weber told me that he had his mechanic riding in the passenger seat with a gas analyser hooked up as he drove it as fast as he could on Interstate 8 up the grade toward the Cleveland National Forest. Mr. Weber explained that, having grown up in Europe, he thought nothing of doing 130 up a grade while his mechanic checked the parts per million of carbon dioxide! Mr. Weber said that, after that, the car ran beautifully.

Mr. Weber also told me that he always drove blue cars but, when he ordered the Porsche, his wife made him get the red metallic.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by boxster03

All those miles and thats original paint ? Hard to believe not a rock chip to be seen.

---

Micheal,

The owner stated early in the thread that Hester had been repainted a some point. There is overspray in the fuel cap area, hinges on engine lid are red metalic not black. I wonder if the trunk is body color or black?

Donald,

Very cool to read the response from the orignal owner.:) Great to know the seats are original along with the radio & speaker delete. Be sure to ask him for any photos of the car that he might have buried away somewhere. Add as much documentation as possible. Isn't this fun?:D

The inside of the trunk lid is body color. I'm with you there on the pictures and documentation trip, Brian. The Original Owner told me that he has some pictures, one of which he said was of the car, him, and his wife when they were all much younger (30 plus years ago). He told me that he was 28 years old when he bought it. I got the impression that it was refreshing for him to talk about that old Porsche.

The correct tire for those 906 wheels would be 215/60-15. Clearance is going to be tight on full lock in front, but since you're running spacers there should be some amount of adjustability. Get the tires on before you lower it, so you know how low you can go! 185/70-15 was the original size factory tire on 6 inch wheels - they will work on 7's, but the tread will be 1.5 inches narrower than the wheel.

IMO, you want to maintain the 'tall' look of the original tires with this car. 215/60 will do this since they are identical 25" overall diameter to 185/70. More modern, lower profile tires will look out-of-place.

To have the ultimate setup, you want to take it one step further and find a tire with a 'vintage' tread design. Most modern tires have some version of an aqua-plane V-tread and look a bit odd on a 35 year old car. This Avon CR6ZZ rallye tire would be the perfect choice.

http://www.sascosports.com/products/...php?type_id=39

I really like the sound of that tire size 215/60 seems like the way to go. A tire size calculator that I found at http://www.wheelsmaster.com/rt_specs.jsp says that the overall diameter is 2mm shorter than the 185/70s.

As for the period looking tires, the original owner told me yesterday that he paid the money for the 7" wheels because he was anticipating the trend and wanted to be able to put bigger tires on her when they started making them. (How cool is that?)

This is Hester living in the 21st Century. The tires that we have available today are much cooler than the old, post World War crap that Mr. Weber had available to him back then. When I was in high school, I had a rat 72 Firebird that had a couple of tires that looked just like that Avon <cringing>. When I'm dead and gone and Hester is parked in the museum Grady is building, they can put period correct tires on her. for now, we are going to act like we're alive and run with trendy tires. 215/60 seems like the way to go.

The size was the hardest part. Now all I need is a deal on some premium tires...

Donald,

Make sure you take the car or just the wheels to a shop that will take the old tires off and put the new ones on with machines that won't damage your wheels. Your wheels are very valuable.

Also make sure the shop understands these wheels should be balanced usind the lug holes not the middle hole in the wheel. These wheels are lug centric not hub centric. If need be, to get the balance correct with the least weights, don't hesitate to have some add weights placed on the outside lip of the wheel.

Donald,

Great story that continues to get better! Thanks for sharing, you are living the dream we all wish for.

Tires are a tough call. I appreciate the vintage look, but performance wise on the old style tires, I have to wonder. 215/60/15 is the way to go for 7R's in the rear. Brian offers excellent advise on getting them mounted/balanced properly. I'm not aware of any San Diego shops but I would trust Al Reed Polishing in Anaheim, CA or certainly the master Harvey Weidman in Oroville, CA to assist you. One option is ordering your tires, ship them to Harvey w/. your rims, he will get the balance perfect & then ship them to you.
Or better yet, drive up & have him do it, give Hester a chance to run :D

Weidman's Wheels
Harvey Weidman
1675 Wyandotte Ave
Oroville CA
530-534-7903

Al Reed Polishing Inc
3010 E Coronado St # A
Anaheim, CA 92806
(714) 632-3907


Enjoy the ride...

"Be sure to ask him for any photos of the car that he might have buried away somewhere."

"I got the impression that it was refreshing for him to talk about that old Porsche."

++++++. My experience echoes this. The original owner of my '71 owned it for 30 years, and I've developed a good relationship with him over the past few years. Regarding pictures, I gently asked for any pics he may have, and he sent me some 6 year old pics. BUT, after a year, I received original pictures of when he picked the car up at the factory and driving it new in the Swiss Alps. Priceless! Like you describe above, I think that he really enjoys going down memory lane from time-to-time, and even emails me every few months to check in on how his old car is doing.

I'm sure your new friend is thrilled that "Hester" has found an enthusiastic caretaker.

P.S. Don't right off vintage looking tires with vintage handling until you go for a spin in a car running them. (O.K., I'll now officially get off my "period tires" soap box and recognize that it's your car :))

Cheers,

John

Those CR6ZZ's will outperform most (all?) street tires. It is a tarmac racing tire, a virtual racing slick with grooves cut into it. The biggest issue, of course, will be wear due to the soft compound. Well that, and the fact that they are technically not legal for the street despite the 'DOT" rating .... ;)

Careful... Curt likes to entice others to the dark side ;) Really though... my next step is to get a set of vintage looking tires - made with modern compounds that perform very well. The Avons would be a great choice.

Here's a pic from a few years ago after I mounted my Pirelli P6000s. Shows 195/65 front, 215/60 back on 7R "flat" wheels that were made up for a correct '73 look. All wheels have the 4.5mm spacers that clear the springplate bolt to the inside of the rear, and allow me to keep stock lugs. The offerings in these sizes are very limited. The P6000s were cheap, and they've been a good tire but I'm itching for something new with a period look.