Another hot rod

[Flunder]

Merry Christmas to all from Another Hot Rod!

[letsrollbabe]

Merry Christmas to all from Another Hot Rod!

And the same to you, Tom. With all the warm weather on the east coast this Christmas maybe you can get the Olive Tart out for a rip down the road...

[Jm993rs]

Subscribed to this thread !!

[Darren65]

It's been some time.......how's the car looking Flunder?

Cheers,

[70SATMan]

So, this is like the 30th or 42nd time I've read through the entire thread. I forget.

Re-acquainting myself with luscious details, remembering impressions, outright bloody awe and gut-punch feelings. I re-read my posts and it's like hearing your own voice on tape,,,, Do, I really sound like that?

So Tom, today I was looking for something particular in your thread. Could have sworn I read it here but, it seems I've mixed up a couple of threads in my head.

Funny thing,,,,, Looking for this small seemingly innocuous bit of historical fluff, I realize that there is something about the ST's and your build that we've not discussed. SHOCKING RIGHT??? I,,,,KNOW! Maybe you've covered it since last we talked,,,, or maybe I missed a small, easily overlooked sentence or a glimpse from a slightly fuzzy action photo. However, I think it's glaringly missing and I don't think you've explained to us "why?".

Put your suspicions aside, this isn't a nefarious attempt to satisfy the emptiness we've all felt since you completed that unicorn. OK, maybe it is,,,,,,slightly. But, between your car and my Cubs winning the Series last year, there's not much else I'm really looking forward too. This missing detail is real and I hope beyond hope that by "Tinkering with the Tart" (good name for a Celtic Rock Band) over these last few years, that oversight has been corrected.

I'm going to hold the rest of the board in suspense for awhile. Hop in the Tart, snuggle in to that tartan and "look back" on the build to see if you ken my meaning.

[Flunder]

Christianna Avenue peters out a little ways past the gates to the old Masters estate, just beyond the town line. That’s where it changes to Locust Point Road, a poorly maintained county two lane with piney woods and scrub oak that press in on the shoulders of crumbling Macadam. Eventually the shoulders disappear altogether and the path grows narrow. At the end of that narrow path, Locust Point dead ends at the old county boat ramp deep in the woods out on the western branch of the river.

Nobody at all goes out there after Labor Day. It’s a good place to go at night after the season ends when you feel like being alone. I keep an old lawn chair stashed in the brush near the boat ramp. Its real quiet there at night and after dark there is no ambient light from town to spoil the experience. I can sit back and watch the evening sky as it turns to night and spreads the full majesty of the universe across the heavens.

I decided to push the season a little and headed out there last night ahead of the Labor Day weekend. It was a perfect night to go. It gave me a moment to reflect and take a look back, just like 70SATMan asked (and yes I do ken your meaning; as Michael points out, there is no interior rear view mirror on the Tart, but we will get to that on another post.)

I think a lot of the members here share a certain interest. I know that Michael and I definitely share that interest – a keen appreciation for certain old parts. It got me thinking about some of the old factory comp parts we came across ten years back and ultimately hung on the “art project” as Gib once called it.

Listen, the next time you see an old comp part sitting on the bench at the shop or at the swap meet, just pick it up and hold it in your hand for a moment and maybe you will feel what I am talking about. Those old factory comp parts, the ones from the days of the long hood 911, were made in limited runs and often show the tell-tale signs of being handfettled. They are nearing 50 years on now and most are well used. But there is still something special about them. I sat there and thought about what that something might be; something beyond the "mute testimony of intent to race" first communicated by the fixed back buckets and roll bar of the ST encountered at 72nd and Third.

I thought of all the men who made the parts. They are long since retired and mostly no longer with the living. And while their legacy remains, we know it only in the form of old race parts. Perhaps those parts are really three dimensional documents: documents for us to interpret, read and study, allowing all those men, now without a voice, to speak.

image by Cornpanzer

[letsrollbabe]

Tom,

I could almost hear Ken Burns narrating your words. He could eloquently describe how men from that magical period in Porsche history looked for meaning in Motorsport victories, taking something out of a car not needed to go faster, using lighter weight body parts, calling the factory for those performance parts that would give an edge over the other guys in the field lining up on race day. Your narrative in pursuit of those coveted Sports Purpose parts to build into your 'art project' are what we all were drawn to. Your finding the documentation that verified things, and then a NOS part, or a well built race engine from the day...all of that is what all of us enjoyed and learned from.

[Flunder]

Gib

Thanks for the all the good thoughts you have shared over the years on this thread!

And,

Merry Christmas to all from Another Hot Rod!

[John Straub]

Great to hear from you, Tom! And Merry Christmas to you!


John

[LongRanger]

Time for an üpdate? . . .


. . . + some more pics would be REALLY nice





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