Blackbird, the 'Reaper' story
The Porsche 935, for many just the thought of such a legend conjures images of epic battles at Daytona, flame throwing shifts and the great Norbert Singer. I approached 911 ownership in a different way than most, it all started with a lover’s words…
While celebrating my second birthday (25) since I had been married to my lovely wife Erin, knowing I’m a man who has all that I could possibly want, asked me what I would like as a gift. The usual response was something easily forgettable, but she prodded me to find something I wanted, so off to Rennlist forums classifieds I went.
I’ve been a Porsche nut since I moved to Germany during my high school years, the perfect equation of thought, passion and restraint that only the most powerful of cars could have. The first Porsche that made its mark in my heart was a 930S, bright red with 18” wheels and red gauges…its really all a blur but those images stand out. So low and behold I find an ad stating a 1982 Euro 930 steel slant nose replica for sale as a roller, so I bite.
A quick phone call later and she’s mine, metallic maroon of all colors, but a clever gal nonetheless. Then I slip on the slope…I needed an oil cooler, so that necessitated a fiberglass front bumper, plus I think a satin black will really tie into its sinister shape, right? Enter the dragon.
A blur later I find myself getting off the phone with A.I.R. having ordered 1974 RSR 15” flares, rear bumper, GTR tail, 935 front bumper, 935 slant fender flares and other misc. components. What caused me to do this? To rebody a PERFECT 930 chassis with the most loved Flachbau perfectly crafted in steel and installed in the early 1980’s? A picture, a grainy flash of a certain 1976 Martini #9 935 stole my heart within a nanosecond of gazing upon its universally true beauty, inarguably the most exquisite representation of this little car company’s talent, of Mr. Singer’s will to win. More intriguing is the fact that the body work as I saw it was only worn for 2 events before switching over to the official Group 5 bodywork for the silhouette racers. Something no one replicates, a setup seemingly lost in time between the infamous 934's and the later wicked 935's that ruled the day.
While taking stock of what I’ve just done I call my shop to talk to Fred Garcia, shop owner of Valley European Inc. in Van Nuys. I ask him to talk me down and out of my rash decision to undertake such a project, and what does he say? “I can do it, but we’ll have to get the centerlocks to make it right”, everyone hears the ubiquitous phrase, "I know a guy"...well Fred Garcia is that guy. So after an enlightening conversation concerning the still non-existent power plant and tranny decideing what my power goals were to be, we reached the conclusion to build a 3.3 liter twin plug motor to ease myself into 930 ownership with a stock gearbox to train myself on. Afterall I’ve never driven one, sat in one, heck I’ve never touched one…
As usual, the plans of mice and men oft go awry, such is true with every semblance of rationality on the car. A sensible man will admit a setup of 17 inch by 11 inch rear wheels & 9 inch front wheels provide more than adequate grip. A sensible man will say, “With 400 horsepower I feel as if I’m strapped to the Yeager X1, breaking the sound barrier for the first time.” To my discovery, I am not a sensible man. These statements quantify my worst fears, an agreeable wife, a wild imagination and a competent shop yield an insane project, an insane dream, an insane creator…wait that’s me…ohhhhh God did I just fall off the cliff from the slippery slope of doom?
So of course I stumble on a set of original 935 19” rim halves for the rear measuring over 15” wide once assembled with 17” x 11” fronts to match, magnesium centers crack free and ready for duty to complement the factory 935 hub setup that’s been waiting at the shop for such an occasion. I just happen to find a motor making over 850 horsepower at the wheels courtesy of 3.8 liters, two highly pissed off custom turbos, an intercooler the size of a large farm in Kentucky and Doctor Strangelove running the standalone EMS.
I am an addict…because after all of that I decided to “just freshen slightly” the interior. Well that consists of new carpet, RSR door panels, a Hargett shifting setup for a 930 box, 6 point harnesses, Brey Krause truss, gauges reworked at North Hollywood Speedo and carbon GT3 seats in the super stealthy black alcantara. Of course you guess that since the carpet is new, all the other panels in the car have to be redone to match the new deep black, so why not have all the panels remade and covered in black alcantara to complement the seats? After all, I just saw something like this in a modest little 997 GT3…so I should do it too right? Right.
So here I sit, typing away at my desk having my gargantuan wheels shipped up to Harvey Weidman to get my rear inner wheel halves cut down an inch or so to 14 inches to fit the 355/25/19 tires because we had one pop off at the shop while it was just sitting there. Who has these problems, really? The tire looked like we stuck a 205mm spare on a widened RSR rear Fuchs wheel, the sidewalls were almost horizontal. "This is the biggest Pirelli has to offer?", I asked every tire expert within email or phone distance. All the while I should be realizing that maybe I went a little too over the top, but I keep having this feeling that I need something more, more cowbell you ask? Sure, why not.
So here we are, a couple months away from finishing the car, the interior mostly done, wheels off to receive their long awaited restoration, taking delivery on the order for the gold foil to cover the intake manifold and intercooler piping…wait, I told you about this one right? Well, gold is the best heat reflector, the material employed is a synthetic representation but it still rejects 78% of radiant heat at 1mm distance and looks like I stole parts from NASA’s geek lab.
The Blackbird sits awkwardly high in the warm morning air, awaiting the fresh motor currently being cosmetically enhanced as Fred Garcia does not tolerate anything out of place, let alone offending plug wires. The tilton 3 plate clutch patiently waiting, knowing the task asked of it in the near future, waiting for its chance to feel the power seldom do outside a Carrera GT cockpit, a certain 4 speed gearbox and Quaife differential cuddle together dreaming of glory and high rpms.
Yes today is a good day, as Kelly Johnson must have felt at Skunk Works watching his workers task away, obsessing himself over every last detail. I eagerly await the deafening sound of the uninhibited turbochargers, keeping the stance only few cars have ever had the right to hold, raising itself to the mystery shrouded glory it deserves in the simple name and all of its associations, BLACKBIRD.
While celebrating my second birthday (25) since I had been married to my lovely wife Erin, knowing I’m a man who has all that I could possibly want, asked me what I would like as a gift. The usual response was something easily forgettable, but she prodded me to find something I wanted, so off to Rennlist forums classifieds I went.
I’ve been a Porsche nut since I moved to Germany during my high school years, the perfect equation of thought, passion and restraint that only the most powerful of cars could have. The first Porsche that made its mark in my heart was a 930S, bright red with 18” wheels and red gauges…its really all a blur but those images stand out. So low and behold I find an ad stating a 1982 Euro 930 steel slant nose replica for sale as a roller, so I bite.
A quick phone call later and she’s mine, metallic maroon of all colors, but a clever gal nonetheless. Then I slip on the slope…I needed an oil cooler, so that necessitated a fiberglass front bumper, plus I think a satin black will really tie into its sinister shape, right? Enter the dragon.
A blur later I find myself getting off the phone with A.I.R. having ordered 1974 RSR 15” flares, rear bumper, GTR tail, 935 front bumper, 935 slant fender flares and other misc. components. What caused me to do this? To rebody a PERFECT 930 chassis with the most loved Flachbau perfectly crafted in steel and installed in the early 1980’s? A picture, a grainy flash of a certain 1976 Martini #9 935 stole my heart within a nanosecond of gazing upon its universally true beauty, inarguably the most exquisite representation of this little car company’s talent, of Mr. Singer’s will to win. More intriguing is the fact that the body work as I saw it was only worn for 2 events before switching over to the official Group 5 bodywork for the silhouette racers. Something no one replicates, a setup seemingly lost in time between the infamous 934's and the later wicked 935's that ruled the day.
While taking stock of what I’ve just done I call my shop to talk to Fred Garcia, shop owner of Valley European Inc. in Van Nuys. I ask him to talk me down and out of my rash decision to undertake such a project, and what does he say? “I can do it, but we’ll have to get the centerlocks to make it right”, everyone hears the ubiquitous phrase, "I know a guy"...well Fred Garcia is that guy. So after an enlightening conversation concerning the still non-existent power plant and tranny decideing what my power goals were to be, we reached the conclusion to build a 3.3 liter twin plug motor to ease myself into 930 ownership with a stock gearbox to train myself on. Afterall I’ve never driven one, sat in one, heck I’ve never touched one…
As usual, the plans of mice and men oft go awry, such is true with every semblance of rationality on the car. A sensible man will admit a setup of 17 inch by 11 inch rear wheels & 9 inch front wheels provide more than adequate grip. A sensible man will say, “With 400 horsepower I feel as if I’m strapped to the Yeager X1, breaking the sound barrier for the first time.” To my discovery, I am not a sensible man. These statements quantify my worst fears, an agreeable wife, a wild imagination and a competent shop yield an insane project, an insane dream, an insane creator…wait that’s me…ohhhhh God did I just fall off the cliff from the slippery slope of doom?
So of course I stumble on a set of original 935 19” rim halves for the rear measuring over 15” wide once assembled with 17” x 11” fronts to match, magnesium centers crack free and ready for duty to complement the factory 935 hub setup that’s been waiting at the shop for such an occasion. I just happen to find a motor making over 850 horsepower at the wheels courtesy of 3.8 liters, two highly pissed off custom turbos, an intercooler the size of a large farm in Kentucky and Doctor Strangelove running the standalone EMS.
I am an addict…because after all of that I decided to “just freshen slightly” the interior. Well that consists of new carpet, RSR door panels, a Hargett shifting setup for a 930 box, 6 point harnesses, Brey Krause truss, gauges reworked at North Hollywood Speedo and carbon GT3 seats in the super stealthy black alcantara. Of course you guess that since the carpet is new, all the other panels in the car have to be redone to match the new deep black, so why not have all the panels remade and covered in black alcantara to complement the seats? After all, I just saw something like this in a modest little 997 GT3…so I should do it too right? Right.
So here I sit, typing away at my desk having my gargantuan wheels shipped up to Harvey Weidman to get my rear inner wheel halves cut down an inch or so to 14 inches to fit the 355/25/19 tires because we had one pop off at the shop while it was just sitting there. Who has these problems, really? The tire looked like we stuck a 205mm spare on a widened RSR rear Fuchs wheel, the sidewalls were almost horizontal. "This is the biggest Pirelli has to offer?", I asked every tire expert within email or phone distance. All the while I should be realizing that maybe I went a little too over the top, but I keep having this feeling that I need something more, more cowbell you ask? Sure, why not.
So here we are, a couple months away from finishing the car, the interior mostly done, wheels off to receive their long awaited restoration, taking delivery on the order for the gold foil to cover the intake manifold and intercooler piping…wait, I told you about this one right? Well, gold is the best heat reflector, the material employed is a synthetic representation but it still rejects 78% of radiant heat at 1mm distance and looks like I stole parts from NASA’s geek lab.
The Blackbird sits awkwardly high in the warm morning air, awaiting the fresh motor currently being cosmetically enhanced as Fred Garcia does not tolerate anything out of place, let alone offending plug wires. The tilton 3 plate clutch patiently waiting, knowing the task asked of it in the near future, waiting for its chance to feel the power seldom do outside a Carrera GT cockpit, a certain 4 speed gearbox and Quaife differential cuddle together dreaming of glory and high rpms.
Yes today is a good day, as Kelly Johnson must have felt at Skunk Works watching his workers task away, obsessing himself over every last detail. I eagerly await the deafening sound of the uninhibited turbochargers, keeping the stance only few cars have ever had the right to hold, raising itself to the mystery shrouded glory it deserves in the simple name and all of its associations, BLACKBIRD.
