Copper Brown, the new Tangerine...

[ennisk1]

A little over a month ago I ran across a great basis for my next hot rod, a two owner, super clean, rust free, non-sun roof '78 911SC. Perfect in all ways except it was.....brown. Okay, not really brown, copper brown metallic to be exact. After finally setting up a time to see the car I travelled three hours to check it out. It was way too nice and straight to pass up, so a deal was struck and it was loaded on the trailer for the ride back home. It is a two owner car that was purchased new in Tallahassee, Florida. The second owner bought in 1987 and took great care of it. He used it for PCA DE's at Sebring up to 1993. After that the car was kept in the garage and barely used it over the next 15 years. Fortunately he drove it and maintained it over that time. This is how I found it...


The car was clean, but the paint on the right side was peeling away due to poor prep from a late '80's respray. The motor was tight and gearbox shifted well. No surprises, just it was BROWN! Of course, on the way home we had to swing into Sebring as this was the where the car ran all of it's DE's.


On the way home I stopped by visit my friend and body guy, Danny. I hit it athe right time as he had an openning and was looking for a quick job. We unloaded the car, I wrote him a check to get started and off it went to the shop for paint and body. It was then that he came up with the name Dirty Penny to describe the color....it stuck. Within two days the car was stripped down to the bare metal and was ready for primer and paint. No surprise in the body....no rust, no filler, just a couple of dings and minor garage dents.



While the Dirty Penny was getting a new coat of Copper, I started with my plan to create an SC hot rod. I sourced some real 934/935 lollipop seats, a roll bar, and yellowbird front and rear bumpers, a duck tail decklid, 15x7 and 15x8 Fuchs. Then I decided that the Dirty Penney needed some muscle to back up the look....out went the old motor and in went a built SC motor bumped to a 3.2 short stroke with 9.5:1 compression pistons, 964 cams, and plenty of porting and polishing. The gearbox was in very good shape so no changes there. In addition the suspension received Bilstein Sport shocks in the rear and 26mm torsion bars. The front torsion bars were left alone.

The interior was changed from cork to black and the entire car went on a massive diet. The result is an SC with plenty of grunt and the lightweight feel of an early car. I cannot wait to drive the Dirty Penny on the track. It was finished just prior to this past weekend's PCA Zonefest in Mt. Dora, Florida where my son and I enjoyed it on the great roads in the area.












Oh, and I like Copper Brown and am glad I resisted the urge to change it. It seems to work on this car...

[JV911SYDNEY]

good work mate!!!

[billybek]

Dirty Penny, I think I know her!!!
Car looks great, have fun with her!

[rdrr]

Looks great! Enjoy!

[Nine17]

N-i-i-i-z-e car! Love the seats, the pipes, the end caps, the IMSA sticker on the horn button. Don't knock "dirty penny" brown. I know a certain fellow who owns a 962 and a 935 among other P-car exotica who just bought a brown '84 as a driver. Brown Pride!

[johndglynn]

Wicked Keith, Dirty Penny looks seriously irresistible. Great work!

What exhaust have you got on there?

[berettafan]

DRTYPNY

might be a good tag!

LOVE that car! It would've been hard for me to keep that color doing a repaint but it sure does look fantastic. well done.

[jjwood]

Congrats. Very nicely executed. Where did you source the body decals? They 'go' nicely with the ext color. Do you plan to color match the wheel to the stripe?

[Carl Bauer]

Those 935 'lollipop' seats look so right in that car. Are they replicas? If so, who made them?

[ennisk1]

Actually, my plan is not to color match the wheels to the graphics. In fact, I am not thrilled with the current finish on the wheels and my plan is to strip them and leave them natural with a dull clear coat. I just saw a set done like this at Klub Sport and they looked great.

The graphics were done by the same guy that does the Brumos race cars, Klub Sports, etc. He did an excellent job with all the decals, including the window decals.

The seats are not reproductions. They are real factory lollipops that were in like new condition. Even found an old Belgium coin in one. Stefan at GTS is getting ready to make a reproduction. The beauty of the real ones were that they bolted directly in. No drilling or fuss. They are incredibly comfortable, but not made for anyone with an ample waist or behind!

[Greek55]

Metallic Brown adds at least 20% more value.
Have you thought about painting the Fuchs the body color? Brown everywhere.

[johndglynn]

I think it looks just great with the 'natural' wheels. My car has the same "straight from the press" finish but on 16s: 7s and 9s. I just bought a set of 7 and 8 by 15s and they are being stripped and anodised this week. Then I am probably putting TB15s on it in time for Classic Le Mans. Mine was originally Copper Brown also, but I'm very happy with the new colour:

[berettafan]

the blasted look wheels are what makes it work IMO.

[SandyI]

Very cool.

Where did you get those floor mats?

[ennisk1]

Believe it or not, the floor mats are probably the least expensive thing in that interior! Just pick up some black rubber mat from your local harware store! A little "trick" from Klub Sport! Those guys have years of putting these cars together and were very helpful with this project as I started running out of time in getting it ready for a Pca event over Memorial Day weekend.

[nameisbauer]

love it. great job

[4flyboy]

That was a great read Keith and good pics ta boot!! Wish I had your checkbook I'm drooling all over the keyboard.

Scott

[mikeferg75]

Tell me about your H4 lenses, thinking about French treatment for my Carrera...

Ferg

[RSstop]

Keith,
The Graphics really set it off! I am surprised you got the graphics & interior done in a few days Hopefully it ran good on the Rally because we certainly didn't shake it down before?
The "Dirty Penny" really turned out nice!
Lyn

[ennisk1]

Lyn,

Thanks to you the Dirty Penny drove great right out of the box. My son Cameron and I had a great time blasting around the hilly roads of Lake County while on the rally. The best part was chasing Pete down while he was driving the Martini. I was surprised when it was announced at Sunday's dinner that Cam and I finished third overall! Not bad for a first time out.

I had a bunch of help on the interior and graphics from Klub Sport. I was a bit overwhelmed and Phil helped me out!

I'm going to try to get out to Danny's tomorrow or over the weekend. Thanks again!!