Factory 68 Rear Flairs Trimmed???

[rick2]

Long story short, last year I cut up a 68 for parts due to terminal rust and the PO sold the roof. The rear flairs were stock and look to have been cut to accomidate wider wheels. The lip was narrower at the top. I set them aside since I'm a Porsche Pack Rat (PPR for short.)

Fast forward to yesterday, I attended Vortex's Swap Meet in Tampa and saw a 68 flair that had been cut the same way. The owner said his flairs were stock as well and that the factory started doing this at the end of the 68 run.

A Pelican has a set of stock 68 flairs for sale and said his were stock and cut the same way.

Is this a trivial fact or is there a coincidence?

[Aldo]

My early build '68 912 is that way- with a thin rolled lip at the top of the wheel opening. '68s incorporate a factory rear wheel spacer, too.
Alan

[68911+1]

The '68 front wheel arches are shaved at the inner top of the arch. They are a one year only fender.

[ttweed]

My '68 Karmann S/R coupe has the lips trimmed as well, front and rear, and 7mm spacers on the rear, incorporating the rotor set screws to hold them on. I have always heard that this was due to the addition of the wider 5.5" wheels that year.

TT

[Fritter]

Yep, my '68 has the thinner tops on the front fenders as well. To accomodate 5.5" wheels methinks.

[Richard]

Mike is correct. Prior to 1968 the widest wheel (other than on a 911R) on both 911's and 912's was 4.5". In 1968 Porsche widened the wheels on both 911's and 912's to 5.5" but the body remained the same as the earlier cars...i.e., no flares. So the fender lips on 1968 911's and 912's are narrower than on previous years to accomodate the wider 5.5" wheels. These wheel measurements apply to both steel wheels and Fuchs wheels. The '68 fender is a one year fender only. By 1969 the cars gained small flares and the Fuchs went to 6" wide and the steels stayed at 5.5" wide. The front fenders from a 1968 will fit any earlier 911 or 912.

[ttweed]

The front fenders from a 1968 will fit any earlier 911 or 912.

This is true except for a few details like the headlight mounting and the sidemarker reflectors on the USA-spec '68 cars which were not present on the '65-67. There were 4 L-shaped tabs spotwelded in the headlight bucket on my '68 that were not present on my '67. When I tried to backdate the '68 to the '67 look, the early Hella headlight assembly would not fit in the bucket without removing at least 2 of the brackets, and I welded up the 2 holes for the reflector.

YMMV,
TT

[Richard]

Tom makes a good point about the headlight bucket tabs on the '68 fender. I put '68 fenders on my '67S and used H1's and everthing fit fine. However, on a '68 car I have I ran into a clearance problem with the '67 style factory headlight assemble clearing and the tabs. Something to be aware of.