Road to Race and Back Again

There’s a part of every petrolhead that dreams of taking a hard-as-nails racecar and sticking it back on the road, to enjoy a little piece of race pedigree on the public highway. Connecticut Porsche guy Drew Brown has just done that with the ’72 911T he is selling, and the results are pretty good.

Drew first advertised the car for sale on Pelican a few months back in race guise, complete with VRG and HSR log books. The car had won a few events, including some Sebring night racing, and a 1st in class at Road Atlanta. With all steel bodywork (albeit bonded RS flares), a 210bhp Euro-spec motor with 30 hours, low miles on a rebuilt/regeared 915 transmission with Wevo shifter and 7:31 R&P, aluminium flywheel, race brakes, front oil cooler,  huge suspension build, it looked a billy bargain at $25k.

Drew left it up for grabs for 3 weeks until deciding that the better bet would be to stick it back to road spec. He took it off the market and set to work. It has just popped back up on Pelican, looking every inch the hot rod.

To ready it for road use, Drew has removed the cage and all internal bracing, welded up the holes, refitted the glass and seals, with rear popouts carrying lexan inserts (love that), replaced the lights and removed the engine MSD, installed factory engine tinware with SSIs and a sport muffler, reinstalled the heat and front blower, fited a Pelican carpet kit and built up a pair of seats on stock rails. The result looks pretty good in the pics, as you can see. Drew says that “this one is the way an R Gruppe should look, run, and drive” and I wouldn’t argue with that for one second: it looks like a lot of fun.

My experience of buying in the US and Europe via the Internet from here in the UK is that research is the key. Do your research, cut to the chase quickly and don’t prevaricate on pulling the trigger all the way to being blocked via email, and you can sometimes buy yourself something nice at quite sensible money – it’s how I have bought all 4 of my 911s. My one look out here would be the line about there being “no such thing as a rust free ’72″. Though I agree with that common sense statement, there is a definite threshold where rot is concerned: I’m willing to live with a tiny bit if the price is right, but it’s a pretty fine line.

I’ve recently been giving some thought to toning down my lightweight C3, setting it up as more of a road car, with carpet and rear seats etc and perhaps selling it to get something from ’71-’77 that is more bona fide racer. If I had the money in the bank, I’d definitely be dropping Drew a line.

Buying any early 911 is a definite case of Caveat Emptor at the best of times but, while there will undoubtedly be some obvious clues to this car’s track-biased past, it’s the right colour, has some great bits and looks pretty tasty. If an independent inspection of the body all checked out, this hot rodded 911T might make a sweet deal for the right buyer. Link to the latest Pelican ad here.

Tagged as: 911, hot rods, Porsche, R Gruppe, USA