The Twelve Builds of Christmas 2019: Part 6

Part six of the 2019 Twelve Builds of Christmas – a review of just some of the Porsche projects that have travelled through our workshops in the last twelve months – is the restoration of a 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS.

First registered on June 1st, 1973, this 2.7 Carrera RS Touring had been in long term storage before a strip down for restoration began elsewhere. When the little or no progress had been made on the project after several years, the owner removed the car and the various boxes of parts and brought them to Wardington.

We completed the chassis strip and boxed all of the parts for cleaning, inspection and either refurbishment or replacement. The car had some race history from years ago, but was being restored purely for road use, so we removed the old roll cage and mounting plates. The body shell was then mounted onto one of our dollies and sent for media blasting.

Stripping the metal work revealed one minor area of previous damage but less corrosion than is usually seen on 911s predating Porsche’s introduction of full body galvanisation in the mid-1970s.

Damage to the nearside front corner was repaired and we also repaired corrosion to the front and rear screen corners and one A-post. The shell needed new kidney bowls. We ended up replacing the heater tubes and the inner and outer sills. The inner sills were not too bad, but they had to be removed to access other areas.

The bodyshell required several new external panels, including the thinner gauge rear quarter panels and one door skin. When the metalwork was done, the body was sent to our paint shop for lengthy preparation and a full repaint in its original colour.

Repainting these original cars to factory standards takes several weeks. Once that was completed, the restored chassis was rolled into our main workshop and reassembly with a mix of refurbished and brand new parts began. That stage is now almost complete and the engine rebuild and gearbox overhaul process is also reaching its conclusion. The project is on target to be completed early next year: another legendary Porsche 911 Carrera RS saved for future generations!