Project 'Porsche Midlife Crisis'...

Well Guys, Midlife Crisis gets all of us sooner or later (Pity the Wives and Girlfriends!)...the trick is how to manage it without getting hurt, broke or both! I figured the safe (and cheaper) bet is a cool car. The first 'Crisis' hit at around 29...Alright already, quit laughing! In a moment of supreme foolishness it hit me...'I gotta get me a 911 Porsche before I turn 30'...after all it's downhill from there. This is a picture of the real one I took at the Sinsheim Autotechnik Museum in Germany, very close to Karlsruhe where I was born. This museum has the largest exhibition of very rare and expensive automobiles, a real treat to go and check out. Double-click the pics to get the full size.

So I found this old, rusty, over-priced bucket and started planning...on a beer budget. Still working for the man, punching the clock for a modest wage, I started wondering..."Just how is this going to happen?" These aren't the cheapest cars to rebuild let alone modify, so I'll need to do all or most of the work myself to save the money. Makes sense...

After a lot of looking around at what is out there, I seriously considered buying a Turbo Flare, Bumper and Whale Tail kit and be done with it. But then...it's been done before and nothing special in the end. No solution for a serious Midlife at 30! No, I think I need to do something unique...like the new 959 they sold in Europe...Yeah! Between the old rust bucket in the garage, pictures and a detailed model I was able to draw some scaled proportions of the beast. No one was building anything like this yet and I would be the first dude on the block with a real neat 911.

Two weeks later, there sat my over-priced 'investment', stripped down to the bare shell and parts strewn all over the Garage. I noticed the floorboards must have been an option on this car because there weren't any! How am I going to explain myself? My Wife Tania started wondering if she had married a Fool...I started to wonder myself. At this point there was too much at stake to bail out, quit or make excuses so...

let's get busy!

After the initial shock had worn off and the depression was subsiding, it was time to strip the old paint off the shell and the parts. This proved to be risky 'cause the paint was the only thing holding the car together! The Aircraft Paint Stripper just sat there and mocked me...Tania was shaking her head in disgust and both the car and neighbors were chuckling. The situation started to suck...Alright then, a 36-Grit Sanding Disc and Mini-Grinder should do the trick, and it did.

Scratch-made metal panels, inexpensive VW Floorpans (swapped Right to Left) and my trusty little plug-in MIG took care of the rusted through panels. With the new steel in place, things didn't look so bad anymore and I started to gain confidence and enthusiasm again.

The rust damage was the most severe I had ever encountered in my years of 'Rustorations'...this thing took the cake. The car originated from Alberta and the severe salt corrosion was evident. Not just non-existent floorboards but also Left Hand Front Fender inner, Front Suspension lower Cross Member, most of the Engine bay and the Rear Seat area as well. The rust damage was so severe that even the inside Dash steel was rusted through in places. Not a whole lot of steel for the money...



It was now time to start shaping the 959 body work. I bought a pick-up truck load of reject Urethane Foam Sheets from a manufacturer for a case of beer...Good deal! I started by cutting and gluing (using a Hot Melt Glue gun) sections of Foam to the body shell until I got the rough shape of the panel I was working on. The tops of the fenders were shaved and re-curved to droop like the original car before building up the fender flares. This is one of the few details that were attended to in building a high-quality replica.

Tania soon noticed one of her favorite Kitchen Knives was missing...Oops! Good thing that was the only thing she noticed...

The cute kid in the picture is our daughter Jessica, now already 22 years old and moved out. I once had young children and a Minivan...didn't slow down the car dreams one bit!


Using the knife, Bodyfile, Sanding Block and Flexboard the body started taking the desired shape. When the curves of 'The Mistress' were just right, it was time to 'Skin' the bodywork with a single layer of 2-oz. Fiberglass Matt. This gave me a solid working surface onto which the body filler was troweled and sanded to the final finish. Most of the rough shaping (to Foam and Filler) was done with 40-Grit paper. The finer work was then done with good quality 100-Grit paper and left. The High-Solids Primer will easily fill the sanding scratches during the final blocking stage.

The Primer was applied after most of the deep scratches and Pin-holes were filled with Polyester Putty and final-sanded to 100-Grit. The panels can now be cut to their Bolt-On dimensions. More filling and sanding to get the Mounting Flanges and Returns shaped and once again Primed. A guide coat is applied and final blocking is done with 320-Grit paper to all of the parts. The Pin-holes were thoroughly filled so that virtually none remained. This is important if you want the molds to be of the highest quality...Final Wet-sanding was done with 600 or 800-Grit. Mold Release wax applied to Seven Coats and buffed out between each coat. PVA is then wiped over the entire part and allowed to dry. The Part shown is the Front Valence and it's ready to make the mold now. I'll get into this process a little later in our Technical articles and ebooks.


Days,months etc. later, the final Mold is complete! Jessica is again helping out her Dad...and she's a little older now.


I had wheeled the 911 shell out on the driveway one sunny day to remove the now useless plug pieces. Just as I'm using my 2-pound Sledge some of the neighborhood kids were walking by..."Look! He's Killing the Car!"

With the first parts successfully made, it was time to fit and graft on the body parts. The shell had been treated with a Rust Modifier on the surface rusted areas and then sprayed with Zinc-rich Primer.

When all of the parts fitted well they were once again removed, sanded and primed with High-Solids Green Urethane Primer. I finish-sanded the Door Jambs, Inner Panels, Bolting Flanges and painted them first a Ford Cayman Blue. The Engine Bay, Bonnet and Interior were then painted Satin Black.

The underside of the body, inner wheel arches, under the bonnet and Engine bay were sprayed with black body Schutz. All the necessary seals were filled with beads of Urethane Seam Sealer.

The 911 is starting to look pretty good now! No more scoffing, chuckling or negativity from anyone...everything was moving along smoothly and then...Oh No! I'm out of a Job. This really sucks because it was one of those 'Real Jobs' people kept talking about and now...?

To make matters worse, my 'Unique' Idea was no longer unique. On the cover of the European Car Magazine was a picture of a 959 Replica now available from a California based company. It was small consolation that my effort was better looking and detailed...theirs was Market-Ready!

This was the moment of Truth. It seemed that I may have made an expensive mistake...or did I? OK, so I missed the train on this one, but I built it with care and respect for what the 911 is, a well-built German Sports Car most anyone would be pleased to own. But is seems that the most valuable lesson was...

I learned to be Tenacious, Patient and Focused

As my skills also increased exponentially, I also came to realize something very important that would help me in all of my future pursuits...It isn't always about the Money, it's about taking Pleasure in the Work, the money would come later.

This baby is now painted, running and has been driven from time to time. It has been written up in the PCA 'Timberline' magazine, a Porsche Enthusiasts publication and also shown at numerous events. You can well imagine that it is a very noticed car...I still own this one today and it is part of our 'Shop Furniture'.

If you are interested in getting some parts to convert your 911 or would like to know more about this project, drop me a line at http://www.blogger.com/wolfzters@shaw.ca

I will be posting some more pictures of the finished car in spring. I need to give it a good clean-up. Check out my other Wolfzter Posts for more Interesting, Humorous and Inspiring tales of High-Adventure in the car business.

God Bless

Wolfzter