Where to begin to tell the story of this particular Porsche?
The first time I saw it was circa 1985/1986, when my best friend’s father acquired it from a former business partner. I was 16 or 17, and only kind of liked cars at the time, including this Porsche.
Bernie, essentially my stepfather, was an instructor at Bob Bondurant school of driving at Sears point, California, as well as being employed at Huffaker engineering.
He took me for a drive in it, and even let me drive it for about an hour or so.
And I was absolutely hooked! I knew I had to own a Porsche before I left this world.
Over the years since first driving this car, I was in the military, went to college, got married, and had three kids, worked as a mechanical engineer, and finally opened up my own automotive repair shop.
I passed up numerous opportunities to pick up other Porsches over the last 40 years or so, but I never pulled the trigger.
Then came Covid.
In May 2020, I reached out to Bernie to inquire if he still had the Porsche. He said yes, and I made the following proposition to him: I will buy the Porsche for an agreed upon amount, get it running and stopping safely, and allow him to drive it until he couldn’t drive anymore.
He initially agreed to the terms, and a date was set for me to go pick up the car. The night before, he called, and I could tell he was sad. He said that one of his children decided they really wanted the car and he couldn’t go through with the deal.
Yes, I was very disappointed, but I completely understood, since they were all family to me.
Fast forward to about April 2024, when Bernie called me and told me to come and get the car!
I was absolutely beside myself; I told him to give me a day or two, and he agreed. I called them back a day or two later, we struck up a deal. He then reminded me that the engine and transmission had been removed back in 91 or 92, due to low compression on cylinder number five and was sent to his younger brother’s shop out in Columbus, Ohio.
This first picture shows it on the trailer after picking it up. More on the blue paint later on.
This is how this Porsche looked the first time I saw it back in high school.
Interior had not been replaced by the body shop that did the paint job, more on that and another post. However, it still had the UNGO box and associated crappy wiring!
in August 2024, I drove out to Columbus, Ohio, to retrieve the original engine. It had sat in the corner of a storage room since being received 30+ years earlier.
It was a mix of emotions for me, once I opened up the shipping crate to retrieve the engine. I mostly felt like Ralphie when he got his red rider BB gun, but it was accompanied by slight disappointment/sadness.
The engine had been sitting in a non-environmentally controlled room, meaning, there was a lot of corrosion on the aluminum and magnesium parts. But it didn’t matter, as I had the engine, and was heading back home to California.
This is the first time in over 30 years, that this engine and chassis have been in the same room with each other
