Welcome Craig and Susan Bryant

[Terminator]

One of the new things your committee has put in place is a welcome to any new members who sign on to the board with the hope that many will become rugular contributors to this board.


Craig, how about a brief post with the history of your P car ownership and some pics of your 69S for us to drool over.


Thanks in anticipation and welcome aboard.

[bryancra]

Hello world...

Hi All; nice to be on board with the club and looking fwd to meeting you over the coming months.

We bought our first P-car last year and I am really enjoying learning about the marque. Doing all the wrong things in making this (for my wife and I anyway) major purchase, we bought a car with no provenance, some glaring issues, no detailed pre purchase inspection, and worst of all, no skills for fixing the car myself. But I'd looked at it longingly for many month es before seeing the price on the window sticker come down, figuring out how to afford it - and finally getting my head around taking the plunge! I guess I'll figure the other details out as I go along.

Anyway, our 2.0 69'S has so far begun to clean up nicely and we're really enjoying it (well, particularly me if I'm to be honest - but Susans definitely on board). There are some major works required down the line but (touch wood it stays this way), the car fundamentally drives well at present. And in my eyes....it looks pretty good too!

Since taking ownership, I've had some work done on the dash board fascia, removed an 80's cassette player, fitted Carrera chain tensioners, new tyres (not sure about my choice on that one, but there were some extenuating circumstances), new battery (twice - again there were some extenuating circumstances), new seat belts, re-covered the original steering wheel, and in general spent a lot of time cleaning it. The high points in all of this however, are the once a week short outings up over the Dandenongs, or out the back of the Christmas Hills. I love the way the car drives - and sounds at 5000rpm- and can't wait to be at a point when I have the confidence in the car to take it for some significant trips.....and ofcourse the ironic thing about having bought a car that I know so little about with respect to it's background, is that I don't care about putting km's on it!

Ok. Time out - I'll shrink some pics one day soon and post them up.

[Terminator]

Craig and Susan,

Great to hear from you and sorry you cant make the Mirboo North run, it would have been a great introduction.

I guess one of the aims of this club is to be a resource for potential purchasers as well as existing owners so hopefully the members can be of help and assistance as you tackle the tasks at hand on your 69S.

Is it an Aussie delivery car and where did you acquire it from? Someone may know some of its background which may be useful in time to come.

Get cracking on those photos we want to see it.


Here is one of my 69S

[e72phil]

Hi Craig & Susan,

sounds like you may live in the northern suburbs if you head up to Christmas Hills for a blast, I am in Heidelberg and often drive up that way for a run.

What colour is your car ?

[bryancra]

Hi Clyde and Phil,....and all; First, thanks for tip on Thumbnails....I've successfully sorted the imaging issue.

Second, we live in Vermont, so the Christmas Hills etc are all nice and handy for quick drives.

Onto this little cars history.....which, as I said, I know very little about. But I have a sneaking suspicion some of the members of the club may be somewhat familiar with it because Phil Hearn has done some work on it and it lived in the Healey Factory for a bit while it was attempting to fetch dollars well beyond those it eventually moved for.

Chassis number: 119300977, engine number: 6391367. I believe it was originally delivered as a left hand drive car in Germany. It was, I suspect yellow, but at some point was poorly resprayed red, and now is silver (I think the third job was done on a budget too). It's been converted to RHD, which given my average driving talents, is probably better for me than if I were on the unfamiliar side. I think the conversion was done reasonably well, and the car feels good on the road, so while not ideal, I've never been that concerned about that issue. Russell of THF thought the car to be well travelled - ie., there was a stint in the UK and NZ before making it to Aus apparently.

The odometer currently reads about 39k, but whether or not it's 139, 339, or 839 would be anyones guess. Also, it runs in "reduced count mode" because the speedometer sticks to the 0 mark until it gets to about 40k/h.

I believe that Phil Hearn did some work on the gearbox and brakes while it was at THF, and I spoke to him a couple of times about it (I know I've got money to spend on it coming up!) during the purchase process.

Since then, I've been working on the little things that hopefully are making a difference in the way the car presents, and as I said in earlier correspondence, Carrera chain tensioners have now been fitted by Spencer down at Black Stallion - just in case. (Sorry PH and Lisa and all others also in the business - Spencer is within walking distance which makes life a lot easier, and he seems to be very capable so this makes practical sense for me).

So, the bottom line is that currently, my cars history is unknown to me prior to about August last year. Now I've started a file documenting the work I'm doing to it, and over time we'll see what we uncover.

On the whole however, it looks nice and reasonably close to how it should be. I've even had some complementary notes left on the windscreen and even an offer to buy it which was nice!

Deviations apart from those mentioned....at some point the front over riders were removed, and the rear engine grille has been sprayed mat black - but I like it like this so it will be staying that way. The interior has been re-carpeted in black, but it's not good German square weave, and it wears a black headliner which was an option I believe, although whether mine is original I'm not sure. The rear parcel shelf has been recovered and no longer has the strap hooks unfortunately, but it's Recaro seats look to be original - although the drivers side in particular will at some stage need a little work.

The biggest let down cosmetically at the moment is the glass and some of the surrounding bright work. I can only conclude that a first day apprentice was let loose in the panel shop with a belt sander. I'm looking forward to eventually rectifying this, but not the bill that will go with it!

Highest priority work however in the medium term (hopefully through winter) will be rejuvenating the engine which has a leak of "measureable flow" proportions, some faint but not-so-good bearing noises, timing chains that are at their limit, a bit of an MFI anomaly at 3-4000RPM causing some hesitation, and an annoying cold start issue (fixable with air start every time). All that being said, I must say that it sounds wonderful when being stretched and seems to still pull really well given it's 37 years old.

Anyway, photos are attached...hopefully!

See ya.

[Terminator]

Craig,

Now you know how we want more pics please.

Looks good in the pic and I remember the discussions about this car on our old Yahoo Chat site when it was for sale at The Healy Factory.

Keep saving, you have a unique car, the 69 year series had lots of one year only pieces, helps for rarity hinders when looking for the bits.

[bryancra]

Another photo....

[Terminator]

Hmmm sports seats very nice!!!! They alone are worth $5000 Aussie on the US market.

[NT911]

Hey Craig - Welcome and we need more pics - the car looks great!
Nick

[bryancra]

I'll try the lucky dip and see how we go again! (....you can post multiples!)

Oh yeah; unfortunately I can't make Sunday, but I would be interested in meeting some locals around Easter at some stage to pick your brains, learn a little and see some other nice cars. If there is any interest in offering me some wisdom (free?), let me know over the coming week or so....but more to the point, I'd love to see what is possible with time, money and elbow grease. Many of your cars look truly stunning.

[Terminator]

Carig,

I think you can post three at a time max, I have tried 4 and it never works.


Easter is a busy time but always available to help if possible particularly if checking out a car I haven't seen is on the agenda and helping a fellow Porsche owner is always a high priority for me anyway.

[reedminor]

Craig / Susan,

Car looking nice... nicer than when I saw it at THF. I have a colleague who is restoring a Healey 3000, and makes it a point of visiting whenever he's in Melbourne! Suffice it to say we had to arrange a business meeting at THF!

Just do a bit at a time... I still have little things to correct on my car, and I've had it since 1998. For pics check under profile reedminor... assuming you are interested... its the Irish Green 911L.

Justin R

[bryancra]

Thanks Clyde for the offer - Lets see how time pans out over the coming weeks.

Cheers too Justin, I'll have a hunt around for your pics.

[johnh]

Just confirming - yes I (John Hoey) am a 901 Reg member, but have been a bit quiet of late.Stll enjoying exTony's 70T greatly, and can also confirm I don't have trousers to match THAT jacket.

Quick question: When jump starting a two battery car is it better to connect the donor battery to the left (passenger side) battery nearest all the electrical gear or doesn't really matter?

John H

[Terminator]

John,

Good to see you have been watching and now on board.

Lets get some pics of your very nice car on the board for others to drool over.

I have always jump started from the passenger side battery and most cars that run one battery eliminate the drivers side version.

Not sure of the mechanical/electrical reasons however.