I have been asked to outline the process I got involved in during the restoration of my Australian delivery 2.4S Targa. I could write a book but I will keep it short as possible.
My first Porsche was 2.4E which I bought in 1995 and had Spyder do a mechanical rebuild while I undertook the task of cleaning the car from top to bottom and re painting all suspension etc.
It turned out a very nice car and is still here in Melbourne, on blocks unfortunately, but owned by a member of Australia 8's rowing team from the 92 Olympics.
I sold this car as I had decided I wanted an S and managed to convince John Taylor to part with his Aussie delivery 2.4S. I wanted to do a full concourse to this car and had started the project with Charlie Battisti when a business sale and house purchase caused some financial uncertainty and I decided to abandon the project part way. The car was sold to into Sydney. Later on I was to repurchase this car and sold it again when I decided I wanted an RS. Tony Caro is now the keeper of this great car.
The Targa came on the scene just over 6 years ago when the financial uncertainty had cleared and I was desperate to relocate an Aussie 2.4S (wish I had bought the RS then instead)
The only one available for ages was this car which was a Melbourne car having been driven in 3 Targa Tassie events. It was originally owned by Robert Atkins of Scuderia Veloce fame and was indeed one of only 4 RHD Aussie delivery 5 speed Targa cars to come into the country. I have always liked open top cars (my older sister owned an MG which I borrowed lots when chasing chicks in my early days) and hence the Targa didn't bother me at all.
So began a 6 year process.
Originally I cleaned the car up, drove it a bit and started accumulating the parts I knew I would need.
I wanted this car to be unique, the best it could be, if not better than original.
I had the car assessed and as expected a full engine and mechanical rebuild was required which was undertaken at Spyder. Everything was either replaced or refurbished in motor, gearbox, suspension etc. I had to locate an 85 litre tank and associated parts as this had been replaced and most of the internal trim was missing or totally destroyed.
Thank god for Porsche Cars Aust. where Paul Girt was awesome in helping me locate parts in the early days and later Alex Peters has assumed that role.
While the mechanical reubuild was underway I approched Joe Tupec, a well known private operator, to do the body work on the car a job he accepted. Accordingly the shell headed towards his factory.
After media blasting the car and spending lots of time getting rid of the underbody sound proofing material sprayed on at the factory lots of the metal had disappeared due to rust. :cry:
Further, a previous owner had cut 4 massive holes, 2 in the rear parcel shelf and 2 in the front lugage area for speakers for a sound system so these areas had to be repaired/remade also and after a hard previous life there were not many staraight panels left. A new LH door was located and lots of handforming was undertaken to recreate missing metal.
The sudden passing of John Gregory in 2003 caused a significant slow down in the process for a while and the usual repairer juggling game also made the process painfully slow at times. Those who have repainted a car will understand fully what I am talking about. Joe also closed his private business and returned to working for Charlie Battisti so only had weekends to work on mine and several other projects he had on the go.
Eventually in late 2004 the car was ready for painting and Paul at Rankins Panels did an awesome job following on from the great prep done by Joe. The whole car was painted in glasurit 2 pack in original silver and then clear coated.
The task of re_assembly was principally done by Mike at Spyder, with contributions from yours truly. Mike had taken over the mechanical work after Johns death.
So almost 6 years to the day the car had its first public appearance at the recent 356 day and it has only a few minor things to fix before it can be truly declared as finished.
Everyone asks what was the cost.
Well I paid $45,000 for the car and I was keeping very accurate records as to what I had spent for a long time until one day I added the cost up and nearly passed out.
Suffice to say there would be no change out of $150,000 and with the new pricing structure from Porsche I would hate to think how much such a project would cost in the future. I have Porsche Aust invoices totalling well over $40,000 for parts I had bought and thats not counting any mechanical parts supplied for the engine etc by Spyder. I was indeed fortunate that I was able to locate virtually every part I needed either new from Porsche or via EBay but that will probably not be possible in the near future either.
I am enjoying driving the car having done 1100 miles thus far. The motor is feeling better each time I drive. It will not be a garage queen nor will it be driven every day and I have no plans to part with the car and attack the RS as some people are assuming.
Hope you enjoy the pics as much as I have enjoyed the end result of a lot of effort from a lot of people.
My first Porsche was 2.4E which I bought in 1995 and had Spyder do a mechanical rebuild while I undertook the task of cleaning the car from top to bottom and re painting all suspension etc.
It turned out a very nice car and is still here in Melbourne, on blocks unfortunately, but owned by a member of Australia 8's rowing team from the 92 Olympics.
I sold this car as I had decided I wanted an S and managed to convince John Taylor to part with his Aussie delivery 2.4S. I wanted to do a full concourse to this car and had started the project with Charlie Battisti when a business sale and house purchase caused some financial uncertainty and I decided to abandon the project part way. The car was sold to into Sydney. Later on I was to repurchase this car and sold it again when I decided I wanted an RS. Tony Caro is now the keeper of this great car.
The Targa came on the scene just over 6 years ago when the financial uncertainty had cleared and I was desperate to relocate an Aussie 2.4S (wish I had bought the RS then instead)
The only one available for ages was this car which was a Melbourne car having been driven in 3 Targa Tassie events. It was originally owned by Robert Atkins of Scuderia Veloce fame and was indeed one of only 4 RHD Aussie delivery 5 speed Targa cars to come into the country. I have always liked open top cars (my older sister owned an MG which I borrowed lots when chasing chicks in my early days) and hence the Targa didn't bother me at all.
So began a 6 year process.
Originally I cleaned the car up, drove it a bit and started accumulating the parts I knew I would need.
I wanted this car to be unique, the best it could be, if not better than original.
I had the car assessed and as expected a full engine and mechanical rebuild was required which was undertaken at Spyder. Everything was either replaced or refurbished in motor, gearbox, suspension etc. I had to locate an 85 litre tank and associated parts as this had been replaced and most of the internal trim was missing or totally destroyed.
Thank god for Porsche Cars Aust. where Paul Girt was awesome in helping me locate parts in the early days and later Alex Peters has assumed that role.
While the mechanical reubuild was underway I approched Joe Tupec, a well known private operator, to do the body work on the car a job he accepted. Accordingly the shell headed towards his factory.
After media blasting the car and spending lots of time getting rid of the underbody sound proofing material sprayed on at the factory lots of the metal had disappeared due to rust. :cry:
Further, a previous owner had cut 4 massive holes, 2 in the rear parcel shelf and 2 in the front lugage area for speakers for a sound system so these areas had to be repaired/remade also and after a hard previous life there were not many staraight panels left. A new LH door was located and lots of handforming was undertaken to recreate missing metal.
The sudden passing of John Gregory in 2003 caused a significant slow down in the process for a while and the usual repairer juggling game also made the process painfully slow at times. Those who have repainted a car will understand fully what I am talking about. Joe also closed his private business and returned to working for Charlie Battisti so only had weekends to work on mine and several other projects he had on the go.
Eventually in late 2004 the car was ready for painting and Paul at Rankins Panels did an awesome job following on from the great prep done by Joe. The whole car was painted in glasurit 2 pack in original silver and then clear coated.
The task of re_assembly was principally done by Mike at Spyder, with contributions from yours truly. Mike had taken over the mechanical work after Johns death.
So almost 6 years to the day the car had its first public appearance at the recent 356 day and it has only a few minor things to fix before it can be truly declared as finished.
Everyone asks what was the cost.
Well I paid $45,000 for the car and I was keeping very accurate records as to what I had spent for a long time until one day I added the cost up and nearly passed out.
Suffice to say there would be no change out of $150,000 and with the new pricing structure from Porsche I would hate to think how much such a project would cost in the future. I have Porsche Aust invoices totalling well over $40,000 for parts I had bought and thats not counting any mechanical parts supplied for the engine etc by Spyder. I was indeed fortunate that I was able to locate virtually every part I needed either new from Porsche or via EBay but that will probably not be possible in the near future either.
I am enjoying driving the car having done 1100 miles thus far. The motor is feeling better each time I drive. It will not be a garage queen nor will it be driven every day and I have no plans to part with the car and attack the RS as some people are assuming.
Hope you enjoy the pics as much as I have enjoyed the end result of a lot of effort from a lot of people.
As long as I can drive it and it doesn't break down on me, I'll be happy.
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