I Miss My Car!

My 70S is down for a full restoration. This photo, taken with a cell phone, is from our last good drive more than a year ago. I cant wait to do it again!

Drive Em!

Hunziker - Snow Dance

My pal N Hunziker just posted up another of his fun Youtube paintings. I love watching an artist at work even if there are no "happy trees" anywhere to be found.
I am thinking of asking Nicholas if he would do a painting of my car this year. It shouldn't be very expensive, after all it only takes 5 minutes, right?

Stéphane Dufour Art and Clothing Line

Was scrolling through one of my favorite Porsche Blogs, Dedeporsches Blog (see blog list for link) and saw a mention of Stéphane's work. Some very nice stuff here...both artwork and clothing. Certainly worth your time to take a look.   http://www.sdufour.com/8bolt/

Delux '73 911 Full-Color Brochure For Sale

This is a very cool 13.5" X 9.5" glossy dealer brochure/catalog and includes the "Technical Specs" insert. Slightly yellowed and has a lightly dog-earred upper LH corner. Otherwise in good condition.

$old

Mag Americans Day

As a follow-up to last weeks post re: magnesium American Racing Torque-Thrusts, here are some other examples of great 911's on Americans.

This first one is Jason Kim's 67 911S. The image is from one of my favorite blogger/photographers Maurice van den Tillaard aka "Dutchman Photos". (http://www.dutchman-photos.com/blog/)

The following images are period racing shots of some of my favorite early 911's that I have swiped from the web. Enjoy!

Whatzit???

My buddy Dale Oakes from Euroclassics in Dayton Ohio was out at SEMA this year and snapped these photos for me.  Looks like a cool little custom Karmann Ghia doesn't it?  Well, look a little closer. Do you see it?

The interior should be the big giveaway. Pretty cool look for an old Boxter eh?

Road America 1958

Road America 1958 from Roger Johnson on Vimeo.

My Fellow Americans!

In this age of economic uncertainty I have decided to invest in MAGNESIUM. 20 years ago I started wheeling and dealing in vintage American Racing Torque-Thrusts for domestic cars (hot-rod's, etc) to help finance the Cal-Look VW that I was building. I would scour junkyards and swap meets all over the country for old wheels. Then one day I discovered that American also made Torque-Thrusts for Porsche's and VW's. Waaaa?


I immediately searched out a set of aluminum Porsche bolt pattern 15x7's for my own VW and had the fronts narrowed to 4". Later I located several more sets and tricked them out for others in the VW hobby. Then I got my 911.I found a set of first generation magnesium TT's that had been purchased for an SCCA race Speedster back in '68. It took nearly a year, but I eventually got them for myself.

Since then, magnesium has become a bit of an addiction...

These are all specifically Porsche fitment. Nothing about this wheel is the same as the magnesium torque-thrusts made for American cars. Obviously the bolt circle is different, but so is the offset, the shape of the spokes and the design of the center. This particular style was available in 15x5", 15x5.5" and 15x6". American also made a 15x7" and 15x8" mag that was very similar to the magnesium Corvette D-spoke. (5-ear center caps and similar shape, but slightly different offset)

This style of Torque-Thrust was also called a "D-Spoke" because it was designed to fit over the caliper of a disk brake. Note the way the spoke has a bit of an arch or "claw" shape to allow it to wrap around the caliper. Normal Torque-Thrusts had a spoke which ran straight from the hub to the rim.

This is a really cool wheel. A friend found it in an old tire store, NOS.  This is what I call a "Third Generation" magnesium wheel. The first of these wheels did not have the webbing on the side of the spoke and the back of the spoke was hollow. The second generation grew radial webbing on the back of the spoke to strengthen it. Third generation wheels sprouted the webs on the sides of the spokes. Note the uber-rare center caps. I have only seen a couple sets of these.

The Hollywood Starlet

A friend of mine recently unearthed this wonderful little 1955 356 1500 Continental Coupe in LA. The car was a one family car and spent its entire life in the Hollywood area. It is a very well preserved car with only one old paint job and no collision damage. There is a lot to be learned with a car like this that has never been taken apart, banged on, welded up and restored. For example, look at those tight panel gaps and how sharp the edges are on the door openings. Most restored cars have soft round edges - makes the paint less likely to chip off. But that isn't how they were originally.
So, the big question! What would you do if this was yours? Honor the patina and live with the bumps and grinds, or completely restore it?  Tough call...or is it?

Gabrielle 1997-2012

Lost one of the real joys in my life this morning. We had 15 good years together.
The back yard was never safe for small creatures when she was around, but she had the sweetest disposition ever. I am going to miss my Gabby dearly.

Bergrennen on Video

Just a little hint of what the average road looked like on the Bergrennen tour
.

RGruppe Bergrennen - Day 3

Day three was much better. The sun was bright and strong, the roads dried out and a lot of territory was covered. The cars were flawless, no major issues reported anywhere. To top the evening off, some more local "beverage" mysteriously showed up in the hotel parking lot later that night.

Karl H

Jim G

Michael E

Scott Z

Jared R

Next year's dinner!

Mark M

The reason my cell phone didn't work

Dave M - Bob A

R Gruppe Bergrennen - Day 2

Day two started out wet. Most everyone took their time at breakfast and got a fairly late start. Throughout the day, the rain would come and go, but once the roads were experienced, nobody was complaining. After the drive, most hung out in the parking lot, bench racing, enjoying a few beers and even a little bit of moonshine that was donated by an unknown local that had an appreciation for German machinery.

Luke M breaking into Dave Miller's car. He got the stereo, $6 in change and Dave's Debbie Gibson CD's

Gray Wolf - Curt Egerer

Jim F's RS replica

I swear to God that if you don't leave me alone I will put fingerprints all over it!

Dave B made the trip out from TRE-land. Shoulda brought RainX

Scott Stamper brought the Turbo.

Rob Abbot's 68 S

Farrell Martin's slick 912 sunroof coupe

Scott Hansen's Whitey aka Whitney