FNG in Pittsburgh, pics of my new RoW 78SC

[Mike_Lettrich]

Hello everyone.

I am new to the board and to the Porsche world, but have been reading the posts for the last month since I bought my first 911. It is a 1978 RoW SC Targa that I bought from a friend here in Pittsburgh.

It looks like the 911's two previous owners were in Minnesota. Does the car look familiar to any Minnesota Pelicans? It is a widebody that has some interesting upgrades, including a front oil cooler which you can see in the attached picture. It looks to me like the car was originally a metallic green color, but was repainted black at some point.

The car needs some interior work, seat covers replaced, etc. As you can also see, the front valance is beaten up from when my friend hit a parking block. I plan it to be my winter project. So far, I've replaced its shifter bushings, transmission mounts, and engine mounts (with Wevos). It gets fairly cold during the winter here in Pittsburgh, so it will give me something to keep me busy.

Anyway, I feel fortunate to have found this board. I can tell already that there are many knowledgeable people on this board that are passionate about their cars. I'm learning more about these cars from your posts every day. Great to meet you all.

Mike

Here's a few pictures of the car. (Hope this works. It will be my first photo upload)

[w21055]

Car looks great, congrats!

[kevin993]

Nice! Welcome to the Board. Where in the 'burgh? I grew up 15 miles south of town.

[M491driver]

Yeah! Widebody Targa. Very bootylicious. Sounds like you will have a nice winter regardless of how badly the Steelers season goes.

[89911]

Although the location says "nether region", its really Pittsburgh. If you ever need some help or have a question, give me a holler. I've done enough to my car (sometimes twice), I've run out of things to do. It would be nice to "give back" to the community.

[BernieP]

I'm in Plum boro and use a 1980 SC as a daiy driver. Drop me a line if you need any thing. BTW great looking 911!

Bernie

[Mike_Lettrich]

Thanks everyone.

[Phrog]

Welcome Mike, Great looking car! We're in Mt. Lebanon, let us know if we can help with anything.
Kevin

[EFullerton]

Looks like a nice winter project in da'burgh. Mabye we will get lucky and have another mild winter in Pittsburgh. I am in Mt. Lebanon. Let me know if you need anything and welcome to the Porsche family.


Phrog - Wow another Mt. Lebo Pelican!!!

[Gene Wilkes]

Looks like a beauty! Twinkie to my 911! Located in Gibsonia, if you need any help just 'hollar'(southern for "yell")! ;-)

[Panzer909]

Shout out to my Yinzer 911 cousins. Great looking car, BTW - you're gonna have tons of fun with it.


I'll eat a Primanti Bros. sandwich to that!

[Zef]

Welcome aboard....beautiful looking targa...Have fun now...!

[MattAlpha]

Welcome Mike!

I was born and raised in Pittsburgh and I can't wait to get stationed back on the east coast next fall so I can drive my car home. When that happens I'll be staying in Gibsonia most likely for a few weekends that fall.

I'd throw snow tires on her if you plan to drive her around this winter.

These cars were designed to drive in the snow and rain, though some may feel differently about that now.

Enjoy her and I can't wait to hear about some Burgh Pelican meet-ups!
-Matt

[livi]

Welcome!

Nice with ROW slender rear bumper pads, eh !

[EFullerton]

Even though it is Thanksgiving Day, that Primanti's sandwich would hit the spot...

[strupgolf]

What in the world is a Primanti sandwich. Looks like french fries on bread, any meat?

[EFullerton]

Below is a link to the story of the Primanti Bro's Sandwich. And Yes, meat is involved My personal favorite is the Capicola & Cheese with Egg and some Red Hot

http://www.primantibros.com/realstory.asp





If you are ever in Pittsburgh, they are worth trying.

Bon Appetit

Eric

[Mike_Lettrich]

It's great to see so many Pelicans in this area. I very seldom see other 911s around here.

I live in Whitehall, between South Hills Country Club and Caste Village, so I'm just a stone's throw from you guys in Mt. Lebanon.

Thanks to everyone who has responded. I assume that most of you go to the Pittsburgh Vintage Grand Prix. I go just about every year, and will be bringing the car this summer. I should have the repairs that I want to complete done well before then.

The car mainly needs some interior work. It has a cork interior, which I plan to keep. Fortunately, the dash is perfect. The carpet looked rough, and the seat covers are shot. I cleaned the carpet several times while it was in the car, and even steamed it, but it was just too dirty.

A replacement German sliverknit carpet set is over $700, so I thought I would take a shot at carefully removing the carpet so that I could clean it out of the car. If the carpet still didn't look right after removal and cleaning, I was going to order a new carpet set.

All the pieces came out without tearing. I wound up cleaning each of them individually in a wash basin just using cold water, Tide, and a brush. Being able to completely saturate the pieces and rinse them removed a tremendous amount of dirt. I then spun them in the washing machine to remove as much water as possible, then dried them on a drying rack. When they were dry, I gently brushed them with a brass brush to straighten out and lift up the pile.

It made a very big difference. The carpets look new. I am going to have to buy the two piece replacement set (for the footwells of the drivers and passenger sides) because they were missing when I bought the car, and plan to buy an extra yard of the carpet because I want to replace the piece that sits next to the clutch pedal (because a spot on it is threadbare). I'm going to use the old piece as a template to cut a new one. Fortunately, that piece doesn't have any of the vinyl trim around it.

By only purchasing those limited pieces, it should save about $500. When the carpet is back in the car, I'll post some before and after shots. If anyone is thinking about replacing their carpet, trying this may be worth a try. The old carpet will have to come out any way before the new carpet can go in. There is nothing to lose.

I've also picked up some replacement cork seat covers. I bought them from Cypok, who advertises on E-Bay. They arrived today. While I haven't installed them yet, the vinyl is a very good match for the rest of the cork interior. They look like nice covers. Hopefully they fit well, too.

The last plan for the interior is to re-dye a few faded pieces, such as the door tops. I'm going to have Leatherique color match some dye, unless anyone knows of a better source for cork colored dye.

When the interior is done I'll post some before and after photos.

Thank you to everyone who put together all the informative posts that are on this site. It seems like every day I'm learing something new from you guys.

And if you come to Pittsburgh, you definitely need to go to Primanti Bros for a sandwich.

[Mike_Lettrich]

Incidentally, Eric and Kevin, I bought the car in Mt. Lebanon. Its former owner lives off of Bower Hill Road close to St. Clair Hospital. Linda Lane, to be specific.

[Panzer909]

Caste Village - the home of Armstrong's...........the best Stromboli in Pittsburgh.

I live in Mt. Washington near Bower Hill Rd.

PM me next summer for the Pittsburgh GP. We've been going to it for years and its a great time to talk tech while drinking beer.