So... what do we have? Good news section

Evaluating the shell with Barry. 

I've been holding off posting pics and my ignorant opinion about the state of the metalwork. 
But now the shell has been seen by a few folk who know what they are talking about, here goes. 

Mustn't speak too soon, because it's not yet been blasted. But I think there's a fair amount of good news. 
Based on research so far, it looks like my car left the UK for Australia quite early in its life. No salt on the roads there, I'm told. It seems a lot less rusty than some UK shells I've looked at - see what you think of it from the pics.

Barry is optimistic we can keep the front inner wings (with localised repairs).
Bulkhead is good, no accident damage kinks, and we can see some original Signal Orange paint there. 

Moving inside the rear seat area is original and seems good. 
Surprisingly (to me) the floors are also original - new edge repair sections have been used to blend them into a sill repair, but the main section (and the floor boxes, central tunnel etc) is all factory metal.

Round the back, and completing the good news section, we have nice straight rails and the original rear slam panel.
No sign of previous accidents here and all nice and sound.

2015Richard Fry
VIP Visit

We had a VIP visitor yesterday, welcomed with mediocre coffee. 
At least the sun was shining. 

I've been on Barry Carter's waiting list for a while, but am now getting somewhere near the top. So yesterday was the day Barry came over to have a good look at the car and the motley collection of other panels shown in the pic. 
We had a chat about plans, and about the big pile of metal I now need to buy from Porsche.

Feels like progress. Other pics to follow.

 

2015Richard Fry
Barry Carter

Barry Carter is a bit of a welding legend here in the UK. He's done the metalwork for some beautiful early 911 and 912 restorations.

For example:

Studio shots above are by the excellent Jamie Lipman, and the Bahama Yellow 912 is his car. To see more of his work, click here: jameslipman.com

Also, Barry has never been defeated. No matter how hideously rusty the starting point. Let me illustrate: one UK car, nicknamed swampy, had suffered indignities including a workshop fire and subsequent period out in the rain. At its low point, it looked like this on Barry's jig:

Having seen a lot of his work, and chatted to him at length, I was convinced I wanted Barry to do my shell. At that time he was pretty busy, so I've been on the waiting list for over a year, but he's coming to visit and look at my car in the next week or two. Should be interesting.

2015Richard Fry
Inspiration

My Signal Orange UK 70S had two sister cars, same colour, seemingly all registered by Porsche UK. Demonstrators or Press cars perhaps. They were early in the production run. 
I was contacted by the owner of one of the other two orange S-es - he had recently finished the resto. It was a pleasure to be invited to see that car last weekend - thanks! - and to check out the fine details. It's been beautifully done. Something to aspire to.

2015Richard Fry
Parts - Highlights

The car had been stripped down by the previous owner, and came a stash of various parts. About 10 cardboard boxes full, plus various additional large bits. Some duplicate parts.

Overall the car was pretty complete. Highlights of the parts stash included:

Aluminium deck lid. Genuine Porsche, in the factory primer. An iconic "S" part, amazingly light. Very lucky to have this.

Front mounted oil cooler. These changed over the years - this type is correct for my car but the design changed to a simpler trombone style from '72 on, I think. This type is no longer available, so getting a New Old Stock one with the car was a big bonus.

Engine ancillaries. MFI pump and intake stacks all correct. Oil console (unavailable, difficult to find) also correct. In general the engine looks cosmetically good, turns over by hand, has not suffered excessive corrosion.

2014Richard Fry
Parts

Here's what arrived with the car. Lots of parts. It's a full size build-your-own-early-911 jigsaw puzzle! With some missing pieces and some extraneous bits from another puzzle.

2014Richard Fryporsche, 911, parts, 1970, restoration
Collecting from Southampton

This part of the import process was also very easy. Turn up at warehouse, bit of paperwork and id checking, winch car onto trailer, off we go. A van was also involved, for the many boxes of spares.

Thanks to Mel of flyingbluedog transport. Mel did the trailer bit while I was being Man with Van.

2014Richard Fryporsche, 911, 1970, shipping, import, Restoration
Leaving Queensland
Leaving Queensland

Here's my car at the docks in Brisbane.

Some spares were stashed inside, some can be seen on the pallet. Engine, gearbox, suspension and steering were all temporarily back on the car, so it was a rolling chassis to make it easier to handle.

I'd never imported a car before. The process of booking space in a container, and sorting out the various paperwork, was made very simple by my shipping agents. Many thanks to Kingstown Shipping (in Hull) for that.

Import Duty and VAT on modern cars are a significant cost, but there is an exemption for historics. Using the Certificate of Authenticity from Porsche and a few other documents, Kingstown helped me to get the required exemption from the UK tax authorities. Total import duty and VAT were about 5% of purchase price. 

2014Richard Fryporsche, 911, 1970, Restoration, history
Australian eBay
Australian eBay

I live in the UK, own a couple of Porsches, and was looking for an early 911 as a restoration project. Preferably an S, preferably RHD. 

As you know, the condition of these cars can vary enormously, so it's important to see the car in the metal and get an expert inspection. So... buying this one on Australian eBay was probably not the wisest thing I've ever done.

There was a lot going for it though, in my rose-tint-obscured eyes.

  1. It's an S
  2. RHD
  3. Matching Numbers (chassis, engine and gearbox), with Certificate of Authenticity from Porsche
  4. Not ridiculously rusty, not obviously mangled
  5. Original colour: Signal Orange. We like. You might not! But it is a proper 70s colour. A Safety Colour, in fact, in Porsche terminology. Hence the name of this website.
  6. As well as the engine and box, most of the important ancillaries seemed to be there: Original MFI system, Oil console etc
  7. Came with some interesting spares, including a couple of NOS parts that are not easy to find

A UK car, exported to Australia quite early in its life. Unlike a lot of resto projects found in the UK, it doesn't look as if it's been in a swamp for 20 years - road salt kills our cars. No road salt in Australia. 

The vendor was super-helpful and had posted an extensive set of pics of the parts included in the sale. He had intended to restore it but the project had stalled. He'd got as far as stripping it down, had some work done on the front pan, sills and rear wings. The usual areas. Engine and gearbox untouched. I think they last ran sometime around 2011.

Deal done, time to think about shipping.

2014Richard FryPorsche, 911, Restoration, History, 1970