Another hot rod

[Flunder]

Marco:

The headers are factory RSR headers with 42mm diameter, approximately 1 5/8". The headers came on the engine from ANDIAL and were still there when we got it.

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your post. Scott used cast rockers for the restoration of this engine and left the RSR forged rockers on the shelf...cheap insurance for missed shifts is the rationale.

Sithot,

If we were just gonna run this thing out at the farm maybe the open megs would be OK...otherwise we better have some sort of muffler on there...

[blue72s]

The reader should keep in mind that the designation "ST" was just a term used internally at Porsche to describe a 911S built for sports purpose use with a lightweight tub with thin steel panels for the roof and rear seat area. In fact, these tubs were nothing special, most likely production 911T tubs pulled off the line at Karman, who used thinner (cheaper) steel in those areas as standard practice on all the 911Ts that they built.

As Randy Wells wrote about Chris Nielsen's car in Excellence magazine, the ST was never a factory cataloged model. It was more a collection of various parts selected by the owner to prepare his car as best he could.

Good theory about 911T Karmann tubs but I think that's unlikely. If these cars started life as a standard 911S, it would have been the same as any other 911S. I doubt Porsche would have given an S chassis number to a Karmann tub.

It's a bit like one trying to order a new GT3 with a Carrera 2 tub today. Can you imagine Porsche allowing that?

[Cornpanzer]

Hot Rod Withdrawal here!

[CamBiscuit]

Ditto...!!

[rstrahota]

On July 10, 2011, Tom was kind enough to allow Connecticut Valley Region of PCA to display his "Hot Rod" at our evening "Dinner with Patrick Long and Murray Smith" in Litchfield, CT.
Turns out Patrick was in the area "on business" and agreed to stay over an extra night to spend some quality time discussing his career as a factory driver for Porsche and related topics. According to Patrick, he had little knowledge of Porsche’s rich history when he joined them as a factory driver. Now, he views the opportunity to drive examples from the factory museum as one of the key perks of his job. Patrick impressed me as a terrific and articulate young man who takes his responsibilities representing Porsche very seriously.
But for many of us, the highlight was seeing several special display cars that were presented by Automobile Associates of Canton, CT and their customers. Alongside of Tom's car, there was a 993 Supercup (believed to be the last air-cooled race car built by Porsche), a 56 Speedster, and Murray's 54 Speedster (10th Speedster built, according to Murray). Plus, about 35 other Porsches of all vintages that were driven to the event by CVR members. All-in-all, it was a great evening with Tom's car certainly a highlight. Thanks again, Tom!
ds

[teenchy]

Great post, great photos, great-looking hot rod, and great perspective from Patrick Long. Did I say "great" enough?

Thanks for the post.

[Flunder]

She awoke in darkness.

The February chill in the room failed to slow her morning routine: a thorough wash, stick straight blond hair neatly pinned up off the back of her neck, and finally the donning of an immaculate outfit of quietly tasteful business attire complemented by simple jewelry and a lady’s stainless chronograph by Heuer.

Before slipping out onto the quiet street she peeked through the starched white curtains of her rented room in Frau Gelsen’s house that stood in a still slumbering neighborhood of central Stuttgart. The street scene was a time-tinted photograph. A heavy, cold mist hung from the maze of overhead wires, yellowed as if by age in the damp glow of street lamps standing watch on a deserted Leipziger Platz.

She rode the early bus, alone but for its sullen driver, and took respite in the solitude to review the prepared list of tasks and appointments for the work day that lay ahead. It was going to be a busy day at Porsche KG for Marietta Augenthaler.

Unwelcome tasks generally fell to the junior-most member of the controller’s staff and the file on her desk that morning had the words “Augenthaler, please handle” written across its cover. Inside were the budgets prepared for the construction of three new Werks rally cars by the Race Department. The budget for the project had been approved by the Marketing Department and had been signed off by the Controller’s office. The expense was not inconsequential in the best of circumstances but the 1971 model year was already shaping up to be less than satisfactory. She knew the truth of the matter: a significant negative variance would be totally unacceptable.

She reviewed the familiar papers and ran her eyes down the list of 62 modifications required for each of the three chassis. All the line items for labor were costed at the standardized hourly shop rates for the mechanics, fabricators and body men in the Race Department. The special parts required for the modifications were similarly listed and tallied, each checked off by Frau Braun to confirm availability from the competition parts inventory on hand.

Most importantly, long lead times and planning had allowed Karmann ample production flexibility to manufacture three un-numbered shells for the project. She expected the Karmann invoice presently as the shells had been delivered by lorry a fortnight ago. She re-checked the internal paperwork in the file to confirm that a regular production 911S chassis number from the current production sequence had been designated for each fresh Karmann shell.

Once the Marketing boys were finished with them, the rally cars would be sold off, quite possibly in Group 4 specification, to recoup a (hopefully) significant portion of the investment. An estimate of the post season residual value was netted below the line for the total cost budgeted. It was here that she had included a fudge factor, just in case...

The race engineers favored the Karmann shells when possible due to weight savings, while the production managers at Reutter preferred to avoid the disruption and cost of change-overs on their new high efficiency line. The finance team, of course, saw merit in the cost savings afforded by the use of Karmann shells for such projects. Marietta knew that the family financed the activities of Porsche KG out of the meager net cash flow of the business and their own pockets, preferring an immaculate balance sheet to one burdened with the financial risk of bank debt. Frugality was the watchword.

It fell to Marietta to carry the approved budgets over to the Race Department so that work on the new chassis could commence. Members of the finance team tended to avoid projects involving the Race Department. After all, it was a cost center and accordingly every effort was made to keep it on a tight rein, a task not easily accomplished pitted as they were against the vast ego, sharp tongue and shameless political clout of its hard charging chief, Ferdinand Peich.

She stepped out of the administration building into the factory yard and made her way to the Race Department, housed as it was in a collection of old makeshift buildings that even in their prime had been little more than sheds. She was used to seeing drivers in the old buildings, usually nosing around the latest engines and chatting with the mechanics and engineers. On this particular morning she was surprised to see a customer with his young wife in tow, or perhaps it was the other way around.

Pedro Castelo Branco was a successful wine merchant in Lisbon. He bore the name of an aristocratic family that traced its lineage back to the Crusades and he enjoyed the lands and privileges of his patrimony. But it was his business acumen in the wine trade that provided something most aristocrats sorely lacked, cash flow. Plenty of it.

Trade in Port and Madeira fueled his passion for motor sport. Towards the end of the last season he had purchased a well used but perfectly good MY 1970 light weight narrow body single plug M471 911S Group 3 car at a race meeting in Spain.

Once duly imported as a used car into Portugal and registered for road use, it was immediately returned to the Werks for “heavy collision repairs.” What this really meant was that at a cost of nearly 25,000 marks, the erstwhile Group 3 car was to be completely re-manufactured by the Race Department to the latest wide-body Group 4 Special GT homologation, essentially duplicating M 491 specs with GFK panels, Plexiglas glazing and converting the engine to twin plug 911 20 specifications.

The Werks turned a blind eye to the “heavy collision repair” ruse. It was employed not infrequently by team owners and privateers like Castelo Branco, to avoid the prohibitive excise and customs duties imposed by certain European jurisdictions, Iberian, Belgian, Scandinavian or otherwise. Marietta took but little comfort knowing that at least no German laws were broken.

Predictably, Castelo Branco’s Group 4 car was turned out in a lurid Signal Yellow livery. But, as Marietta Augenthaler stepped out into the factory yard, now under an unusually clear February sky, the thought crossed her mind that she would much prefer to see it sprayed Olive.

[John Straub]

Very cool!

John

[Cornpanzer]

You are something else! Love it!

[tom1394racing]

OMG!!!

When will the complete novel be published?