Ten Fifty-nine

[LongRanger]

With the four-day Thanksgiving Holiday at hand, and not much going on, I decided to take some time and poke around inside 1059, do some tidying up . . .

Looking into all the nooks and crannies of one's old Porsche can be a little nerve-racking. PPIs and Mechanics doing maintenance are one thing. And Body Guys doing panels/gaps/paint are another. But doing my own hands-on expeditions into the nether-regions, well . . . let's just say I can pick up on things that most people would miss. Or not want to see.

I expect to find less than perfection here. I do see and admire the work and dedication it takes to make something special out of these cars --- to fix things, make them like new. Like the work John did --- wonderful. My problem is that I don't 'live' there. I can keep things tidy and maintained, well enough . . . but 'perfect', even 'clean,' just don't last with me. I use stuff. So, if we're talking about the visual, use spoils perfection. And I'm OK with that.

I really like 'beat' cars . . . vehicles that have been places, done stuff. So dirty and crusty don't bother me. And even though the car was pretty comprehensively re-finished --- 1059 is no show car. Never will be. I like good, solid cars --- 'honest' vehicles --- with all their bumps and bruises and battle damage out where I can see them. So, with that in mind, time to dig in . . .

. . . Starting with the interior.

This is NOT gonna be pretty. So all you concours/show car types can just turn away now. I'm not restoring anything here --- not if I don't have to. Instead, my goal is to preserve and document what's left of 1059 after forty-odd years of service --- so far . . . .

1) Door panel --- with the 'speed-bump' on the passenger-side arm rest (Ever notice how the pass-side is usually worse than the driver's? I wonder why?)

2) Crack/perforation --- same

3) Baggy door pouches --- I never use these --- flimsy, even cheesy, half expect them to just tear off the door

4) Original non-retractable seat-belt/shoulder harness (passenger side) --- a pain to get into and adjust (watching someone get into these for the first time is kinda hilarious), plus no inertia-reel, so there's no 'give' when you want to reach for something inside the car --- more pain --- although I'm getting used to them, and the whole idea of 'no give' . . . Also, the plastic covers over the seat-belt receivers fall off just looking at them.

5) Corduroy separation on pass-side headrest --- looks like the corduroy part is just stitched over the regular vinyl

[LongRanger]

1) Spray-painted sun visors --- now that's putting the 'K' in kwality

2) Weirdo German-language fire-extinguisher --- whoa! Fitted waaaay back, you think? How cool is that? A 40-year-old --- uhhh, on second thought . . .

3) Vintage VULKAN extinguisher (. . . with 'mystery wiring' in the back-round); I think the 'key' in that little bag is for the antenna --- which, once I thought about it, I should've removed, and closed-off the hole in the fender, when the car was refinished --- a radio in this car is pretty pointless

4) . . . and its bracket

5) Wire 'cluster' --- I think I'll hold off on firing up the radio, for now. (Fire --- get it?)

[LongRanger]

1) and 2) pass-side rear footwell

3) Here's a shot between the seats, showing the hand-throttle and heater levers --- not a lot of wear-&-tear, on any of this stuff

4) rear pass-side floor --- I always thought that the waffle-pattern on the floor was something the floor insulation/covering already came with . . .

5) . . . but there's no 'insulation' here, per se. It looks like some kind of tarry coating has been applied and it's reacted with the nubbies on the underside of the carpet, leaving that waffle pattern imprint on the floor

Carpet pieces were as stiff as old cardboard, kinda crunchy. Still sticky, too --- 'reactive' --- same with the floors. After looking around, all I did was take a vacuum to everything --- carpets, floors, upholstery --- then put everything back

[LongRanger]

1) Pass-side front carpet piece --- stiff and conformed to the floor it sat on; carpet is pretty stained, but I just vacuumed it off, for now

2) Topside --- leather tie-strap . . . kind of a neat little touch, just a rough little bit of leather, riveted to the carpet. Carpet locates on a small square loop, on the bulkhead under the dash, and is secured by putting this strap through the loop.

3) Leather strap is only finished on the outside

4) Underside --- carpet piece looks like it has some kind of 'dumb bell-shaped' hole punched in it, to clear the loop. Notice the 'stuffing.' Workmanship is strictly functional

[LongRanger]

I knew that the 1059's floors were solid from the original PPI. But still, the floors were interesting . . .

1) Driver's seat attachment, outboard front --- looks like red (lead?) primer, under the black paint --- no trace of green anywhere, not even overspray

2) Pedal cluster --- looks like the plywood floor board shows signs of staining and waffle-pattern transfer from the carpet piece. I'm also looking at the wear to the pedal pads --- 1059 is currently showing 64k KM and the wear shown here doesn't contradict

3) Driver's side well pouch --- bulk head carpet piece is strapped, as well. No foot-rest but most of the carpet wear is actually where its lower edge of this section meets the longitudinal

4) Good enough --- doesn't show well here but there's a big bowling-ball sized donk coming up in the left side floor well

[LongRanger]

1) Driver's side front carpet piece --- aside from shape, only difference seems to be the addition of the rubber pad to the top of the forward portion. Heavy, maybe half again as much as the pass-side.

2) Some wear-through starting in the middle but otherwise good enough . . . and again doesn't contradict the indicated mileage

3) Underside, at the cut-out for the throttle --- lotta layers . . . . rubber top mat, velour carpet, cotton backing, jute?, then the reactive rubber-nubby part

4) Underside, again --- carpet piece has molded itself to the floor, right down to the donk

5) Everything put back

[LongRanger]

1) Driver seat upholstery is just starting to split, left side bolster is worn, and seat springs are pretty baggy --- love to get an old-time Recaro or Scheel seat in here, same corduroy

2) Driver seat tipped forward --- shows seat and belt hardware; some chrome is starting to flake a bit

3) Faded coco mats --- not a big fan, but these must've been pretty vibrant when they were new

4) Tunnel cover

5) Vintage box of Huggies Baby Wipes --- found under the pass seat

Except for the vintage extinguisher (and the fossilized a-wipes) . . . no surprises here. But I wasn't expecting any. I remember when I saw the first shots of the underside of the car, back during the initial PPI --- things were old and worn, but nothing had been touched. The interior's the same.

At some point, I'll get a carpet cleaner, some warm water with Simple Green, a little polish and some protectant, then go back over this stuff, scrub, clean.

In the mean time, I just drive it . . .

[LongRanger]

Here's a 'look-around,' starting from the pass side . . .

[LongRanger]

More . . .

[LongRanger]

More . . .