904 Article

[cegerer]

This is from Panorama October 1968. It tells the story of a guy who bought a competition 904 and converted it to street use. What I find interesting is the somewhat checkered history of the car (which was only 3 years old at the time) and some of the modifications he made which would've made the concours guys stroke out in today's world!

Hopefully, these scans are readable. I had to reduce them significantly to fit the 100K limit ....

[cegerer]

[RENNMAN]

Curt,

So you are saying you do not like the hinged T tops? Wonder where it is now and it's condition today. Great stuff.
Best,

Don

[cegerer]

haha .... that and the part about "the gas tank took up so much room ... so I just sawed in half" !!!! I wonder too where this might be today.

[Ernie W]

Curt,
I met Vern Covert and his wife at the 1985 Porsche Parade, Costa Mesa, Ca.

[cegerer]

Wow!! So the car still lives - T-tops and all.

Hmmm, wonder what's up with the "906" plate?

[Ernie W]

Vern told me that the car is numbered as a 906 because it was one of the prototypes equipped with a 6, I took the photos in 85. Not sure it's location today...

[Cornpanzer]

Wow! What a neat story. That is my kind of guy. I hope that he and his wife are still alive and kicking and still enjoying that car!
How cool would it be to have a 904 and a wife willing to travel cross country in it

[TRE Cup]

Actually no.. the car was bought by Jeff Lewis who then took it , T tops and all , to Kevin Ryan (Ryan Restorations). Kevin meticulously disassembled it, saved as much real 904 as possible, and proceeded to restore it to a very high standard. Once completed Jeff campaigned it in HMSA (Monterey Historics, etc). In 1999 the car went to Europe and competed in Tour Auto. It has subsequently been sold to yet another vintage Porsche racer/ collector. The car is awesome
We saw the car in the Reno Porsche Parade, where Vern duly drove it up from Arizona and entered every driving event the Parade offered back then- cool guy

[cegerer]

Interesting Ernie. I see the article does list Serial # 906012 and a 1965 registration date. Although the original 6 had been replaced with a 2L Carrera motor.

And Dave, I like the photo on Page 5 with Vern - sawzall in hand - going after the roof section!!!

[cegerer]

Did the restoration include a 6 cylinder engine?

[Cornpanzer]

This was recently posted on one of our VW photo gallerys along with some Cal-look VW stuff from the 70s. Anyone know anything about it?
Here is the description
This is 1970? Anyway, this is a REAL Porsche 904 in the parking lot of Builder's Hardware store in Pomona, California. A professor at one of the Claremont Colleges drove this on the street. See the smog sticker on the windshield. That's a Pinto next to it. There was a Porsche garage in Claremont "Tony's". Anyway, there was also a real spider "James Dean" at the colleges with a American Flag painted on the door.

[TRE Cup]

6 cylinder engine: oh yes.. Jeff likes his cars original and correct as possible. The car flys, but it is very noisy without ear plugs. Color is silver

[cegerer]

The chassis number is listed here:

http://www.classicscars.com/chassis/porsche/904.htm

[Cornpanzer]

Im somewhat torn. I love a correct restoration, but its a shame to hear of someones "baby" being totally unpersonalized. I bet there were a ton of great memories in that car and those pics of it in its red incarnation are just stunning (even if not correct).

[Randy Webb]

It's articles of that sort that convince me that I am really not insane with my own project.

[RickM]

The T-tops, Inner tube seats and 20 gallons of resin kind of stuck out for me. These cars seem to be very roughly built (at least the exterior) from the factory.

BTW: Thanks for posting the article.

[svandamme]

they should have made more 904's.
they might have been able to market it as a more exclusive/expensive model than the 911..

[Dutchie]

Curt shows an article.
Ernie met them and has great pictures.
Dave comes in and tells where it,s now and what happend to it.

gotta love this forum

Thanks all for a great story !

[TRE Cup]

If memory serves me correctly, Heinkl (yes that WW2 bomber/fighter factory) helped with a lot of the fabrication. It was a complex car to build, it had great torsional rigidity compared to the later tube framed 906, but very difficult to repair , in case of accidents. A lot of the fiberglass was bonded over the folded metal framing.
Thankfully we have Chuck Beck, whose replica is outstanding (and handles a 3.6 Vario with 915 box!) if you want one today