Great stuff. Enjoy it ! Steve
Great stuff. Enjoy it ! Steve
Thanks Gents, very much appreciate all the very kind feedback. It’s been a long haul, but it’s great to have this little beast back on the road and in better form than when I packed it away in 1994
Soterik - Yes, the Blutorange is original with the exception of the rear deck lid (which has some partial rust from a 1976 repair) and the left front fender (some chipping and bubbling). Other than that, I’ve done nothing to the paint since we unwrapped it in 2013. Here’s a pic of the rear deck lid :
Maverick - Yeah, I think I may be leaning that way as it has an awesome patina that goes with the overall story of this car. I do have some rust that I have to deal with, and while I think it’s relatively minor, I need to get some estimates for what I’m dealing with and see what my options are.
Mike - Yeah, sadly I’ve got a very narrow window this Fall before I store it for the winter. This week (after tomorrow) looks clear but cold, but as long as it’s dry I’ll be driving it as much as I can before the snow starts flying. We’re up in Glencoe (just up Sheridan Road from Winnetka) so I couldn’t ask for a better coming out party for Chester. Unfortutanely, I’ve got to fly to London on Sunday so I won’t be able to make it to the Fuelfed event so I’ll have to make that part of my Spring planning.
Thanks to all for your comments, and I look forward to sharing news of Chester as I wrap up final restoration work and as the family and I put a bunch of miles and smiles on this car!
________________________________
Early 911S Reg #3096
"Chester" - 1968 911 L, Fully Restored, Numbers Matching, Tangerine Orange on the original 5 1/2 x 15 Fuchs wheels
"The Beast" - 2010 911 4S Cab, Triple Black, 6 Speed MT, SSK, PSE with Fabspeed Sport Headers and 200-Cell Cats
"The Truck" - 2019 Cayenne Turbo, Jet Black, Sport Chrono, PSE, Rear Axle Steering & PSCB Brakes (for haulin' stuff... fast)
”Blue” - 2023 911 Turbo S Cab, Gentian Blue over Deviated Black Leather with PSE & PCCB’s
great story!. What I would do is find a good shop that can match colors and paint just the deck lid. Then find one of those hot rod type shops who knows some one who does major polishing or maybe even color sanding and I will bet there is still that original neon glow of tangerine the factory produced back in the day. Because today, with the different paint bases used; it would be hard to match that exact tone of orange you have right now. Enjoy Chris
- Chris-Early S Registry#205
- '70 911S Tangerine
- '68 911L Euro Ossi Blue
Great car with a great story. Glad to see cars like Chester stay in a family and be cared for. ENJOY! especially enjoy the real story of original paint....can't ever get that back
ESR # 3177
Now that is what I call a proper forum introduction. Great story and thanks for sharing it with us. Awesome for you to have held on to that car for so many years and that you are now going to enjoy it. And even more awesome that you are going to keep it in the family for your sons. Looking forward to seeing it around the Chicago area.
Scott H.
1969 Coupe LtWt
1973.5 911T
Quick Update on Paint & Body Plans for Chester
Well, knowing that I've just about lost the window for driving this Fall, I spent this week using Chester for my 45-mile round trip daily commute, and it's been an absolute blast. This little car just WANTS to drive down the road, and the rebuilt engine, rebuilt gearbox and new PMO carbs make my daily drive the best part of my day . I also spent the week digging through the mountains of receipts from my uncle while the car was under his care from 1972-1992 to affirmatively determine how much original paint I actually have on this car. Looking through 20 years of receipts/bills/work orders, it turns out that my uncle did more paint and body work than I had realized. And after running over the car with a paint meter, it turns out that less than half of Chester is actually original paint, not to mention a little more rust than I remembered ....
So I took a trip up to North Chicago this morning to meet with Tom Snellback at The Last Detail to have a brass-tacks conversation about what I've actually got in Chester from a body & paint perspective, and what my options are. Based on a total inspection of the paint and rust areas, as much as I really want to keep what I've got and just clean it up, I'm not sure that's a real option at this point. The good news is that virtually all of my chrome trim is in great shape, as is the interior and all of the glass, so I'm not gonna touch that at this point. But the combination more than expected amounts of non-original paint, some body work that's showing its age, and the usual amount of rust in the usual places for a '68, has me thinking that I may need to strip the paint, deal with the rust, and make this a "do it once and do it right" kind of deal.
Regardless of my final decision on the body & paint work, I have decided that I will NOT immediately turn to the body work for at least a year. I am having too much fun driving this car to lose the opportunity the enjoy it now that I've finally got it back on the road and running so smoothly. So my plan is: I'll enjoy what's left of our Fall here in Chicagoland, store it for the Winter along with my 2010 4S Cab, then drive the bejeebers out of it this Spring and Summer with an eye to probably plan this work for next winter so I don't lose any seat time. For those in the Chicago area, I'd love any suggestions for high quality shops to visit and discuss my options. So far, I have been pointed to The Last Detail (in North Chicago) and Posemato's (in Gurnee, apparently a favorite with the 356 guys). Any thoughts on these 2 guys plus any other suggestions would be hugely appreciated!
________________________________
Early 911S Reg #3096
"Chester" - 1968 911 L, Fully Restored, Numbers Matching, Tangerine Orange on the original 5 1/2 x 15 Fuchs wheels
"The Beast" - 2010 911 4S Cab, Triple Black, 6 Speed MT, SSK, PSE with Fabspeed Sport Headers and 200-Cell Cats
"The Truck" - 2019 Cayenne Turbo, Jet Black, Sport Chrono, PSE, Rear Axle Steering & PSCB Brakes (for haulin' stuff... fast)
”Blue” - 2023 911 Turbo S Cab, Gentian Blue over Deviated Black Leather with PSE & PCCB’s
PM'd you...
Scott H.
1969 Coupe LtWt
1973.5 911T
Well, I can’t believe that I haven’t updated this thread in over 2 years, but I’ve honestly been having way too much driving Chester . So here goes an update on my progress ....
I’ve been driving the heck out of Chester the last 2 summers (Summer of ‘18 and ‘19), storing him indoors for winter. No major issues on the mechanical side other than a bad starter that was replaced under warranty from the work done in 2017. But looking at the small dents, dings, rust and uneven paint over the last two summers finally motivated me to pull the trigger on knocking out the paint and body work to complete the restoration of this numbers-matching little beauty. I bought it from my uncle in 1992 who was the second owner when he bought it in 1972. I rebuilt the engine, tranny, gearbox and redid all the electrical & gauges over the last 4 years, so I’m finally getting to the exterior this winter.
I’m doing the work at The Last Detail in North Chicago, and here are a few pics of initial teardown and clean up ...
As nerdy as it sounds, I’ve spent the last few months finally compiling 51+ year’s worth of receipts and pictures to fully document literally everything that’s been done to this car since it came off the assembly line on Feb 13, 1968 (4 days before I was born!). Thankfully, my uncle was a meticulous record keeper so I have receipts for everything for the 20 years under his ownership, all the way down to replacement bulbs for the interior lights from 1975! Add to that everything I’ve done to it over the last 27 years and it’s a pretty thick stack of documents. As an original and numbers-matching car, having complete documentation is crucial, and last week I finally compiled everything into a binder for every single receipt and work order. Here’s what I’m working on this morning to wrap up all the documentation to tidy up the full history on this little beast .
________________________________
Early 911S Reg #3096
"Chester" - 1968 911 L, Fully Restored, Numbers Matching, Tangerine Orange on the original 5 1/2 x 15 Fuchs wheels
"The Beast" - 2010 911 4S Cab, Triple Black, 6 Speed MT, SSK, PSE with Fabspeed Sport Headers and 200-Cell Cats
"The Truck" - 2019 Cayenne Turbo, Jet Black, Sport Chrono, PSE, Rear Axle Steering & PSCB Brakes (for haulin' stuff... fast)
”Blue” - 2023 911 Turbo S Cab, Gentian Blue over Deviated Black Leather with PSE & PCCB’s
Not sure if we crossed paths last season. I know that everytime a see a Tangerine early 911 at one of the Chicago area meets it gets my attention. I just read through your history with Chester. Great story! I'll be looking forward to seeing your car out of paint.
I was surprised to see how Jim F's 69S car looked vs. mine. Here's a picture from Zuffengruppe 2 last summer (my 70S is next to Candyce's Sepia Brown 73S). Looking forward to meeting you and Chester.
Great story.
What happened to the door?