stan townes 1967 911 speedster

I am interested in finding information about a speedster conversion done by
Stan Townes from a 67 911 coupe. It was displayed at the Oakland Roadster
Show in 1971. I would like to obtain pictures of the car and technical
information on the conversion. Of particular concern is strenghening the
body following the removal of the top. In addition, I am concerned about
the removal of the windshield and replacement with a "speedster like" frame
and glass. Photos of the project were in the "Nugget", PCA GGR's
ewsletter( whatever PCA GGR is). I have look high and low for information
on this project. Can anyone help? Thanks.

GGR is the Golden Gate Region.... http://www.pca-ggr.org/

There is a picture of it in the first edition of Bruce Anderson's book, along with a little bit of info.

Neat looking car! (although it would seem to be a whole lot easier to start with a Targa, rather than a coupe, as the Targa has a lot of the frame stiffening in place already).

Brian

[THIP99]

This car was at the 2010 Porsche Parade. A few things not orginal, but it was the car and it now lives in Chicagoland. Pretty cool!

[rfloz]

Chicago, hmmm. I have seen this car on the street near my office in Sherman Oaks, CA, from time to time - note California plates. Perhaps it has changed hands recently.

The owner's name is ahown in one of the above pictures. Perhaps a little detective work would track him down.

[THIP99]

It was bought by a Chicagoland collector in 2009. He had it shipped from California to Illinois. This was its first public showing since he bought it.

[Peter Zimmermann]

I used to maintain that car, a very long time ago! I might be mistaken but I thought Seinfeld bought the car back in the early '90s. Lost track of it at that point.

FWIW; the car didn't have sufficient reinforcements to take care of cowl shake and other convertible-related, flexi=flyer issues.

As you can see, it still proudly wears my (now Marc Bixen's) shop license plate frame!

[EarlyPorsche]

Some period correct wheels and bumpers and that Porsche might just look good!

[haycait911]

the most beautiful 911 ever built...........................

[URY914]

I still have the Road & Track article on it.

[rfloz]

The new owner has posted on early911sregistry.com (see post 32):

911 speedster...early - Page 3 - Early 911S Registry Bulletin Board

[douglas bray]

Way cool, though I was googling the term "sawzall"

[haig]

I purchased the Stan Townes Speedster in 2009 After a 15 year hunt it literally fell in my lap. The story of the transaction is worthy of write up in "Cobra inthe Barn". Needless to say it was a gut wrenching 10 days. The car resided in Sherman Oaks prior to my purchase. I am the fourth owner. Mr Seinfeld never owned the car. When I received the car it suffered from neglect but not abuse. I'm slowly bringing it back to the way Mr Townes built it. The car originally had sport seats which were swapped when Stan would gymkahna the car. Both sets were long gone before I bought the car. The seats that were in the car were trashed junk. I mounted a set of original Recaro ST seats which fit better than the higher sport seats. The American mags are gone so I may mount repops since I like the look better than the current Fuchs. One surprise was the car had a early 911 rear storage deck instead of the rear seats. Despite a prior comment of it's originality it is quite original though it was restored in the 80's by the second owner who to some artistic license at the time. A minor shunt in the rear occured in the early 90's. I have tried to contact Mr Townes twice by mail. However he has not replied so I will respect his privacy. The COA confirms it is a numbers matching 67 T Coupe though it screams like an S. I have paper work beginning from 1978 when Stan sold the car. I had plans to duplicate the car since I never thought what happened to happen. After looking over this car, the amount of work, let alone the parts (2 speedster windshield frames would cost $10k and where would one find a 1958 Speedster cowl let alone the price?) it would have cost a princely sum. I'm certainly appreciative of being the steward of this gorgeous car. It is in very good and capable hands. If I ever have the car restored my only question is the color of the stripe. I've read it may have been Navy Blue not it's current black. Any information and or pictures would be most appreciative. Hope this puts the rumors and stories to rest. Regards, Haig Haleblian

[Grady Clay]

Haig,

Good for you.
That is an important 911 that needed TLC.


BTW, That is me inspecting the LF fender sometime in the ‘70s.



I think that is the green ’67 4-door behind me.

Best,
Grady

[haig]

Thanks Grady, I think you posted some small color pics on the early 911 S site. Great shots. Thanks for all your input in the past. hh

[haig]

Boy if I could find those wheel and tires....

[Mitch Leland]

Originally Posted by haig

Boy if I could find those wheel and tires....

I've had some rare cars and airplanes in the past, looking for parts and meeting people along the way can be as much fun as owning the car. I'm sure your parts are out there, this post is your first step in finding them.

Good luck...

[haig]

Mitch, And thus the post. Airplanes and cars are my passion. Been flying GA since 1969, Racing cars since 72.

[haycait911]

Originally Posted by haig

Boy if I could find those wheel and tires....

aren't they american racing torque thrusts? look like 15x7. the goodyears shouldn't be hard to find. please, please, please post more pics of the car. there's so very little out there.

[haig]

American Torque Trusts are still around as repops. Tires are a different story. Even Coker doesn't carry them. Happy to send pics to the site. hh