Here I go again: '74 Euro Carrera

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In the intervening years the car has lived a storied life. While in still in Germany in the late 1970s, a subsequent owner fell in love with the look of Porsche's new Turbo and (using all factory parts) had the car converted to a Turbo look and painted black. It was eventually sold to a U.S. Serviceman who imported the car into the United States.

After a few years of ownership, the car was sold to another gentleman in North Carolina, at some point being painted white and converted for track use by his son. I have been in frequent contact with father & son, and they have been overly generous with their time and stories.

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After it's life as a track car, it was sold to an energy speculator in North Carolina and ended up in the hands of Chuck Miller at Miller Motorsports. Chuck disassembled the car and had the body returned to original spec and color, awaiting a mechanical refurbishment. Unfortunately, the owner of the car had a change of heart at some point, and the car got sold as an incomplete basket case.

I saw the car a few years ago while in this state. Luckily I was able to buy the car from the interim owner. Finishing the job has taken much more time and money than I anticipated, but when is that ever not true? Using the internet and Ryan Snodgrass's seminal Carrera book I think it's safe to say that we're pretty close to completion. The 911/83 engine has been completely rebuilt from top to bottom, as has the transmission. I did take the liberty of installing an LSD, which was not on the original build sheet.

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The body itself was repainted in the factory original Continental Orange (E7) and thankfully needed only the minimal amount of work to return it to completely factory spec. Full credit goes to Chuck Miller and his guys at Miller Motorsports. If the body and paint hadn't been done to such a high standard I would never have embarked on this journey.

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We did have to paint the undercoating body color, as it left Chuck's shop in black.

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[ibmiked]

Other than painting, powder coating, and plating, we kept the suspension mostly stock except for adjustable swing arms. A fair number of new bits were used, but I really wanted this car to run and ride as close to it did in 1973 when it came out of the factory. Take note: we refinished the Konis after these pictures to a more accurate orange-red.

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Technically, the Fuchs should be black for this year but I couldn't resist taking a little liberty and going with an RSR finish, capped off with a set of Pirelli CN36 tires.

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Inside the car remains mostly stock, with the addition of a set of '1974 correct factory sport seats with Blackwatch Tartan inlays. The correct blue carpet and midnight vinyl door cards were sourced as well. Take note: the seat hardware has since been corrected.

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Since the car has chrome exterior trim, I also built up a set of chrome window switches from period Mercedes and Porsche parts. Apparently, the tell for a chrome trim '74 is that these window switchs need to have chrome surrounds. Most cars I've researched have the easier to find black window switches. The midnight vinyl is hard to detect unless you're in sunlight.

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[miles]

Now that's interesting. A 901 gear box in a G body car. Is that a special some sort of a special order?

[ibmiked]

Now that's interesting. A 901 gear box in a G body car. Is that a special some sort of a special order?

Sorry, I uploaded the wrong picture.

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Assembling the rest of the car has taken way more time than I imagined. Even though so much is still available from Porsche, buying the car in boxes means that we are constantly having to stop and chase down even the smallest parts. I have strived for near-perfect when it comes to hardware, although I don't intend to have the car judged.

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Some of the fun details boil down to paying homage to the previous owners. I found this vintage grill badge for Scuderia Hanseat on German eBay. As the original owner was an instructor and later helped manage the club, I thought it would be a cool touch. I also bought a vintage LeMans decal because of his subsequent race history.

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Since the car was built in early October 1973 and Porsche had only cinched the Championship at the end of September I think it's more accurate that the car carries the earlier '72 only decal. I don't believe that Porsche would have been able to design and print a batch of '73 stickers at the time this car was completed.

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Because the car was also ordered with a roll bar, I was able to source a correct German made Matter roll bar from Don Ahearn. I also tracked down a correct date stamped Gloria Avus fire extinguisher from right here on the Early S registry. Also, as an homage to the IROC series, I covered the radio delete plate in the appropriate shift sticker.

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Not pictured are the extensive amount of period receipts and comprehensive factory brochures that I put together for the car. Basically the car has every piece of paper you can have for a 1974 Euro Carrera, including all period magazine articles (in English and German). My goal was to make the most complete example of these cars as I could, seeing as how I was starting with such great raw materials.