Yet another "barn find" Porsche 962-108b

[Wayne 962]

Some of you may recall the previous chapters in our "barn find" series. We discovered the history and fully restored RLR Porsche 962-106b (now sold), as discussed here: Barn Find Porsche 962-106b...

Next up it was Porsche 962-112 which we rescued half-torn apart from a small shop in Stuttgart - Another Barn-Find - Porsche 962-112

Then we had the Can Am Porsche 962, which we are still trying to figure out what to do with (potential street car?) - Yet Another Barn Find - 962-911 CAN-AM (Interserie)...

Now, in the fourth installment, we are bringing back to life yet another one of these fabulous race cars. This one is 962-108B, raced during the 1987 season and heavily damaged at Sears Point in 1987 with Bob Wollek driving. The outing at Sears Point was unusual in that they had multiple in-car cameras watching the action. There's a neat video of the race and the accident, where Bob Wollek got out with minimal injuries. Wish that we could say that about the car. Here's the video:















The car sat for many years in a back storage room. We've been kicking around buying this for years now - never quite being able to make the financial numbers work out. Since we recently sold Porsche 962-106b, we were able to re-invest some of the funds in the restoration of 962-108b. The decline in the UK pound also helped lower the price (thanks Brexit!).

Here's the race history from http://www.racingsportscars.com/chassis/962-108B.html :

Date Race No. Chassis Drivers Entrant Result

1.2.1987 24 h Daytona 67 Porsche 962 #108B/C-01 (Chapman) Wollek / Busby / Brassfield Uniroyal Goodrich 62nd

1.3.1987 3 h Miami 67 Porsche 962 #108B/C-01 (Chapman) Brassfield / Wollek BF Goodrich 9th

21.3.1987 12 h Sebring 67 Porsche 962 #108B/C-01 (Chapman) Wollek / Brassfield / Dallenbach, Jr. Busby Racing 7th

12.4.1987 500 km Road Atlanta 67 Porsche 962 #108B/C-01 (Chapman) Brassfield / Dallenbach, Jr. BF Goodrich 4th

26.4.1987 500 km Riverside 67 Porsche 962 #108B/C-01 (Chapman) Brassfield / Dallenbach, Jr. Uniroyal/Goodrich 3rd

3.5.1987 300 km Laguna Seca 67 Porsche 962 #108B/C-01 (Chapman) Bob Wollek B F Goodrich 6th

7.6.1987 500 km Mid-Ohio 67 Porsche 962 #108B/C-01 (Chapman) Brassfield / Wollek Uniroyal Goodrich 2nd

21.6.1987 3 h West Palm Beach 67 Porsche 962 #108B/C-01 (Chapman) Wollek / Brassfield BF Goodrich 14th

5.7.1987 500 km Watkins Glen 67 Porsche 962 #108B/C-01 (Chapman) Brassfield / Dallenbach, Jr. / Wollek BFGoodrich DNA

26.7.1987 300 km Portland 67 Porsche 962 #108B/C-01 (Chapman) Brassfield / Wollek BF Goodrich 6th

2.8.1987 300 km Sears Point 67 Porsche 962 #108B/C-01 (Chapman) Bob Wollek B.F. Goodrich 18th

16.8.1987 500 mile Road America 67 Porsche 962 #108B/C-01 (Chapman) Brassfield / Baldi Uniroyal Goodrich DNA

[Wayne 962]

Here's what the chassis looks like today:

[Wayne 962]

The plan is to repair and restore the chassis and then reassemble the car using parts from a stash that I bought a few years ago. Here's a photo of the stash:









We're planning on installing the spare 962 air-air engine that we have in our stash:

[Wayne 962]

Here's the kit we've assembled as a starting point for the restoration of the car:

[Wayne 962]

We finally picked up the car, and have it at Thompson in the UK, so I feel okay about posting this here.

-Wayne

[merlinfe]

Very cool. Thanks for sharing Wayne.

-Steve.

[Matt Monson]

Wow. Theres some heavy lifting to be done.

[Bill Douglas]

Thanks from us Porsche people for putting your time/money/knowledge into rescuing a wreck and putting it back into shape for everyone to enjoy.

[kevin993]

Wow. What a huge lift. It may not have all the original pieces and patina, but what better use of the spare parts stash. Best of luck with the project. Thanks for sharing.

[Trakrat]

Originally Posted by Wayne 962

We're planning on installing the spare 962 air-air engine that we have in our stash:

LOL!!! I should look around... maybe I have a spare 962 engine sitting around in my 'stash'?

[RNajarian]

These various Barn Find Adventures would make a great book. Each barn find a different chapter.

Would make an interesting coffee table book, and a great Christmas Present to the Porsche enthusiast. Each chapter starts with the history of the car and details the reader on the restoration process.

Look forward to following this particular chapter in “Barn Find Bonanza,” or “Operation Porsche Phoenix.”

[Wayne 962]

The chassis was recently dropped off at Thompson to being the repair. We actually happened to have a brand new one owned by one of my friends that loaned it to us. This is a Chapman tub and there were only about seven or eight of these tubs manufactured. So, to have a spare one to compare to right next to the crashed one, it's a really opportunity.




Also picked up a tail with the chassis (spare from 108c):

[PCA7GGR]

I was at T1 that day. It was a very serious shunt and, amazingly, Wallek walked away without any serious injuries. Then to lose him in March 2001, while leaving Sebring International Raceway following practice for the 12 Hours of Sebring. Wollek had a tradition of cycling between the circuit and his accommodation. While he had been riding close to the edge of the pavement, he was struck from behind by a van driven by an elderly driver.

Here's a video of the shunt and the laps leading up to it.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_WD3KW4ajQk

[DonNewton]

Need a "subscribe" hot-button for old, lazy people like me. This is way better than anything on TV.

[bkreigsr]

Originally Posted by DonNewton

Need a "subscribe" hot-button for old, lazy people like me. This is way better than anything on TV.

Second line of (blue) pull down menus - "Thread Tools" - 'subscribe to thread' - click - click a second time.
done.

[MrBonus]

Wayne, you find the best toys.

[DonNewton]

Thanks "bkreigsr". Nothing like making a web site intuitive and easy to use! Many years ago when I worked for Oracle, we built database front pages for elementary level users. In beta testing, we asked each other all these questions. If a question came up more than once, it was addressed. Again, thanks for the steer!

[Trackrash]

Wayne, you are to be applauded for your efforts to restore these cars. Our hats are off to you.

BTW, great videos.

[Wayne 962]

Originally Posted by Trackrash

Wayne, you are to be applauded for your efforts to restore these cars. Our hats are off to you.

BTW, great videos.

Thanks for the kind words. All of the previous cars we'll probably make money off of. I'm not sure about this one - it's a LOT of work to get this thing back on the pavement.

-Wayne

[Wayne 962]

In performing more research on this car, we have gathered the following information on the Chapman tubs (chassis) built in the late 1980s. Our records seem to indicate that there were a total of seven chassis manufactured by Chapman. These chassis are somewhat unique, so they are easy to distinguish from photos of the interior of the car. In particular, they are easy to spot by looking at the rolled edge of the "door sill", which is this way because they were manufactured with a single sheet of honeycomb in this particular area:





We have tracked down the seven tubs to the best of our abilities, based upon our research. Here's the results:

1- 962-HR7 – Miller car that ran in 1988 or so, didn’t have too much history, photos can be found here: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/Category:2008_24_Hours_of_Daytona

2- 962-108B – crashed at Sears Point in 1987, currently being restored by Katana LTD in the UK for Dempsey MotorSports

3- 962-108C – the Miller car, won Daytona in 1989, currently owned by Mecum

4- 962-C04 – Bob Akin car, ran in Yokohama red / black livery in the US in 1987

5- 966-C05 – Gunnar racing open-topped 962 in Sunoco Livery

6- 962-C06 – Alucraft livery, owned by Erich Wilms

7- 962-C07 – Spare chassis / repaired/rebuilt tub that is being built into a full car by Erich Wilms

More info to come as we continue the restoration!

-Wayne