1968 T/R - "Out Of Africa"

Thanks to all for contributing to this post. It's simply fantastic!

In John C's photo of the blue door latch panel - look closely at the catch, it has an arrow shaped nub (both on the top and bottom) that references on the those two stamped nubs. Look at Bantam's photo (the black/orange panel - just below the Hamilton photo) there is the nub on the inside lower edge too.

John has made a very good observation that the 1964/65 cars did not have nubs and used the enclosed catches. When the catch changed in 1967 (mid 1966?) the nubs appeared.

I would venture a guess the stamping for the lid release on the Crystal blue 68 (post # 29) and Hamilton car (post #70) was left un-opened and not completed as a normal production panel would have been...becoming another cool factory race item.

Tim:

Regarding the rear flares....for me, I would leave them as they were initially modified...40 years ago as far as you know. I think they are well done and unique, and are part of the history of this car that has survived all these years. I think they add quite a bit to the car and will allow you to go with the 27 mm spacers and fill them out pretty well. Whether to 'go back to original' or some evolution version is always a question for every restoration. If it were a radical 80's mod...'forgetaboutit', but since this was done for function and most likely very soon after arrival in Africa, it seems more a part of the car than the little time the factory version lived on it. And while being 1 of 4 or 5 makes it pretty special, there is only one that looks like the "Out of Africa' T/R. But, I am an R Gruppe guy at heart, and the 'factory only' crowd will disagree.

Gib

Wow...barn find of a lifetime!

While these ST details are very interesting, we are distracting the owner from telling us the best part...THE STORY!!!

Please give us at least a little more of the story...just a teaser. :D

A few details on the engine - type 901/02 2 litre S, number 408xxxx, production number 15xxx; in the list being compiled by Dave this puts it as a fairly late 1968 model year engine.

From what I have found out so far I have no reason to doubt the 54490 (miles) on the speedo.

This is the car's original engine and from the correspondance with the factory it came with "Rallye Kit, cylinder heads and intake manifolds polished, flywheel, clutch and sparkplug connectors for racing". To get to the bottom of the full spec I want to get the full details from the build sheet followed by a careful strip down by an experienced engine man to see exactly what we find.

Once the engine and gearbox come out I will obviously post more detail.

For now a few photos:

Bantam's great find Out of Africa showcases the many fascinating details of the MY 1968 911 T-R ("TR").

In an earlier post Bantam mentions that Porsche outlined the basic specifications of the TR in the official 1968 factory performance manual Information Regarding PORSCHE Vehicles Used for Sports Purposes.

While many on the board have access to the Sports Purposes manual, perhaps it would be useful to provide for others a few relevant pages of TR reference material relating to PORSCHE PRODUCTION COMPETITION CARS 1968. The TR is a factory built competition car and preparation follows a generally consistent pattern as described in the following scans.

Here are a few pages that will serve to orient the reader to the basic specs of the TR noting the Vehicle type 911 T for GT Group 3.

I'm looking forward to Bantam filling in all the details, to wit unique B posts, carpet headliner, etc. and most importantly the story.

These pages are excerpted from the edition dated 6th March 1968.

Tom very cool documentation. You amaze me with all the cool bits you have!

Very neat project, I cannot wait to see this project through! !

JW

Hi Jon:

Here are two more pages that are relevant to Tim's TR featuring accessories that we all like: Fuchs and roll bars.

These Sports Purposes excerpts show the wheels fitted to the front and rear, Fuchs 5 1/2s and deep sixes, respectivley.

Another page provides the details relating the roll bar, just as fitted to the Out of Africa TR.

Tom

Thank you .. Very cool saved and printed and tossed in the binder!!

JW

Firstly thanks to Tom for posting the relevant pages, helps to give the thread some structure and I will try and use them in a later posting to give a better overall understanding of the spec.

The accurate initial spec and to some degree "the story" are sort of work in progress at the moment as I try and piece together things I know to be true, with what looks likely, and things that you would assume but I am trying to avoid assumptions where possible as I think it is all too easy to start getting the two merged!

In terms of the story here is a brief summary of what I know:

Ordered by and supplied to Gordon C.R. Crow (East African porsche main agent at the time - see rear wings in photo below, NOT my car I must stress) Nairobi, Kenya. I was told that Gordon Crow actually visited the factory to agree the spec for the first owner - this may be able to be confirmed if I can get access to factory paperwork.

The first owner used the car in Kenya before taking it with him to Uganda when he was transferred with his work in the early '70's.

In approx 1970/71 he had the rear wheel arches widened and fitted Minilite wheels all round, putting the original 5.5” and deep 6” Fuchs into storage.

After approximately one year he was told to leave the country personally by Idi Amin (a common occurrence for white business people in Uganda around this time) and was given just 12 hours notice so he put the car into storage.

In the late 70’s the car was “disinterred” by a local Ugandan and put on Ugandan plates.

Rallying was still taking place in Uganda at this time (even though up to an alleged 500,000 had been killed) because Idi Amin was a keen motorsport fan (I believe he had been given two works Maserati engined Citroen SM’s by the French president). The car was used in a few local events such as sprinting/hill climbing at Entebbe near the airport.

Aware of the original owners's search for the car, the current user fitted a ducktail, and a megaphone exhaust in an attempt to disguise the car. (There were not many early 911’s driving around Uganda at the time!).

In 1979 Idi Amin was deposed; it took the owner a further 4 years to legally recover the car. The car had no Licensing Authority file and it was not easy for him to register it in Uganda from his home in Kenya so he decided to sell it in Uganda. The car was still in a good condition and was reregistered and put back into storage due to the new owner spending considerable amounts of time out of the country.

At some point the garage where it was being stored went bankrupt and the car was pushed outside resulting in the spares going missing, namely the original engine lid, the minilites and the spare wheel (fortunately the original Fuch wheels were not taken).

In the early 1990’s the car was lightly resprayed in purple!

At the end of the 90’s the owner discovered that the car was a “special order” car and planned to restore it although this never happened.

In 2001 the car changed hands again in Uganda, still with only 54,000 miles on the clock, with a view to restoring the car. The owner obtained confirmation from Porsche Cars GB that it was an original RHD T fitted, from new at the factory, with the “S” engine, Rallye Kit etc........ in other words a 911 T Rallye or T/R as they have now become known; although this was never an official factory model designation.

The car was subsequently shipped to the UK in the summer of 2008 where I became its new owner. Subsequently the cars outline build details have been verified by the Porsche Classic Department at the factory; I hope to obtain full detailed build specification later this year.

Tim