Innholdsfortegnelse for May - June 2024 i Classic Porsche

Is the Targa making a comeback? I appreciate many of you — especially readers in possession of a semi-open-top Porsche — will be thinking the Targa body style never went away. Indeed, this distinctive ‘rollover hoop’ design has been a mainstay of the 911 line-up since the mid-1960s, almost two decades before a cabriolet was introduced to the range. The thing is, though, Targas have rarely been the first choice of 911 buyers. Often, purchase of a Targa is driven by cost, where the equivalent coupe is double the price. One only has to look at Porsche’s attempts to disguise the Targa as a tin-top from 993 production (until dramatic return of the iconic polished safety bar with the 991-generation 911) to understand how Targa styling has long been the…

If there’s a bustle in your hedgerow, don’t be alarmed now. No, it’s not a spring clean for the May queen, but likely our photographer, Ade Brannan, attempting to bury himself in scenery in order to capture drive-by shots of whichever air-cooled Porsche we’ve sent him out to spend quality time with. On this occasion, it’s the 1959 356 A owned by Classic Porsche reader, Alex Nash. Formerly in the possession of an Aston Martin fanatic with homes in England and New Zealand, this Fashion Grey coupe regularly found itself travelling the furthest possible distance from the UK, before spending time zig-zagging around The Land of the Long White Cloud. Thereafter, it would be readied for a return trip to Blighty. Obviously, freight time doesn’t register on a car’s odometer.…

When you own a company turning out top-flight restorations, some of the ideas floated by your customers are likely to rub off on you. Dean Jones, founder of award-winning vintage Volkswagen and Porsche restoration company, Classic Car Revivals, has been behind several high-quality cars featured in various magazines over the years, not least our sister title, Volksworld. Additionally, many of Dean’s stunning restorations have been showcased at the annual Volksworld Plus event. What you’re looking at on these pages, however, is his most recent personal project. It’s a classic Porsche restored by him, for him. In Europe, since the mid-1980s, owners of air-cooled Volkswagens have been taking cues from the Porsche scene. Look back at the chop-top DKP car owned by Keith Goss, as well as countless other classic Dubs…

On the list of things you don’t want to hear immediately after you’ve bought your dream Porsche, “it’s a bit smoky” ranks pretty high. As you’re about to discover, there are times John Platt doubtless wishes his 1980s poster car had remained an unobtainable dream, stuck on his bedroom wall some three-and-a-bit decades ago. Indeed, there are lessons to be learned from his story, but more than anything, we’re impressed by his philosophical acceptance of the buck stopping with him — nobody else was going to sort his 911. It’s a massive cliché, the whole ‘1980s poster car’ reference, but it’s absolutely a thing for those of us of a certain age, who fondly recollect the airbrushed trinity of Porsche, Lamborghini and Ferrari. “One day,” we all thought, before real…

Speak to a casual classic Porsche enthusiast in the UK or mainland Europe and it won’t take long for them to start talking about imported cars from the United States. Specifically, how bagging an air-cooled Porsche from North America is the best way to ensure a rot-free example of whichever model a buyer is thinking about acquiring. They’ll argue prices are cheaper than they are on this side of The Atlantic, they’ll cite reasonable shipping costs and then they’ll drop the motherload: words to the effect of saying all air-cooled Porsches in America are free of corrosion because they’ve lived pampered lives soaking up sunshine. All of them? Don’t get me wrong, there are Porsches to be plundered in Southern California, but the USA is a pretty big place and…

COMPLETE YOUR COLLECTION OF Classic Porsche ORDER BACK ISSUES AT bit.ly/issuescp NEW LOTS ANNOUNCED FOR BROAD ARROW GROUP AIR|WATER AUCTION As outlined in last month’s issue of Classic Porsche, the 1969 908/02 Langheck Flunder Spyder (chassis 908/02-005) scoring third overall at the 1970 24 Hours of Le Mans — where the car took the race’s Index of Performance award — is to be auctioned at the inaugural Broad Arrow Air|Water sale in Costa Mesa, California, on April 27th. In the weeks leading up to the publication of this magazine, more of the event’s star lots were revealed. Key among them is a 1976 Group 4 934 Turbo RSR. Previously raced and restored by Kremer Racing, this near 485bhp track attacker was supplied new to Eugen Kiemele, a well-known…

The one that got away. We’ve all been there — the right car at the wrong time. Or, as was the case with the right-hand drive SC you see here, the right car at the wrong price. “I first encountered this 356 four years ago,” says Brian Richardson, former professional golfer, now head of independent classic Porsche restoration and sales outfit, Rindt Vehicle Design. “It was offered through a Historics Auctioneers sale at Ascot Racecourse, but ended up selling for more than I was prepared to pay. Frustratingly, and unbeknownst to me, the sale fell through and the car ended up shifting for the kind of money I would have paid.” A definite case of ‘you win some, you lose some’. Wind the clocks forward to eighteen months ago, and…