Back to News
The fourth story in our 2018 Twelve Builds of Christmas review covers another one of our 1965 Porsche 911 builds for the first season of 2.0L Cup.
12 Builds of Christmas 4: 1965 Porsche 911 2-litre race car restoration and build
Restoring this 1965 Porsche 911 and rebuilding it as a race car for the owner of one of Europe’s largest Porsche dealerships was a test of our restoration skills. Sourced by our customer, the short wheelbase Porsche was not in great shape. Corrosion had a firm grip on the bodyshell and many new panels were required to bring it back to original condition.
As always, the first job in the restoration and rebuild was to strip the shell of all parts, set those to one side for inspection and fix the bare shell to one of our rolling frames so it could be sent for media blasting. Once the shell returned from being cleaned up, the scale of the corrosion was obvious. This would not be a simple restoration.
The project began in February. The owner wanted to race the car in the 2.0L Cup and there were not many weeks to the first race at Spa in May. It was a tight schedule for such a big project!
Shell repairs took several weeks. The entire lower half of the shell was badly corroded, so we ended up fitting a complete floorpan, front panel and inner wing sections, inner and outer sills and more. The shell was strengthened where permitted and the bolt-in roll cage mounts were installed. New front wings, rear quarters and doors were used.
Once the metalwork was finished, the car left the fabrication shop and was rolled into paint. The shell was sanded by hand and cleaned several times before the usual routine of seam sealer, primer, underseal and top coat. The original plan was to paint the car Light Ivory, but a last minute change of heart by the owner led to Silver with blue R-style graphics to match the 911R already in his collection.
The painted shell was transferred to our competition workshop and built to 2.0L Cup/FIA spec using a raft of new parts including all new electrics. The owner added several personal touches, such as sound deadening to the rear panels and roof and a rear panel trimmed in early ‘boucle’ carpet.
Fitted with our powerful 2-litre engine and transmission package, the car made its competition debut at the Le Mans Classic, finishing amongst the top five two-litre cars. We look forward to seeing it back on track in 2019!
