The X---- Porsche cars

[Trevor]

From Adam's blog. https://unobtaniuminc.wordpress.com/2009/05/04/abarth-and-904-pics/








EDIT: According to post # 30867 by Porschinelle, this is Chassis number 1009.

[GT3]

Denzel?

[Trevor]

No, Porsche Glockler #3.

[Drdenzel]

The photo of Jim Wellington and his Abarth 1004 brought back a lot of memories. In the early and mid-1960s I was in graduate school at Stanford in Northern California. The first time I visited Jim Wellington was when Bob Garretson and I drove down to San Jose to visit him. At that time he was still a high school shop/auto mechanics teacher. There was a 356A coupe in the school shop that Jim was setting up to take to driver's school and to then race; as I recall he put a four-cam engine in it. By this time he had started to rebuild Hirth roller bearing cranks.

Not long after, Jim purchased the Abarth. It had the original drum brakes on it, with the front ones being 60 mm wide. He converted to 356C disc brakes, which were a definite improvement. Don Wester was the first racer in Northern California to run American Mags (on his 904), and Jim soon put Americn Mags on the Abarth. The drum brakes from the Abarth went to a Carrera GT Speedster I eventually purchased, and when I later sold the GT Speedster I put the brakes on a Porsche 1600 Super Speedster (still have the 1600 Super with the Abarth brakes) .

Jim had the Abarth for a year or two, and sold it with a 1500 Carrera engine to Bob Martindale in August 1965. He sold it for $6500, which we regarded (at the time!) as an astronomical price to pay for an Abarth with just a 1500 engine.

That sale was lucky for me, as Martindale put his 1964 356 SC GT coupe he had been racing on the market. I was the first one to go look at the car and bought it on the spot. It had close ratio gears, limited slip, aluminum doors, Plexiglas windows, leather pull straps to raise windows, GT seats, etc. etc. It was in great shape, except the engine was burning lots of oil and blowing blue smoke out the exhaust. Dick Osgood and I immediately put a set of new pistons and cylinders in it, and the problem was solved. I have the SC GT to this day, fifty years later.

I'll write later about the Abarth (think it was 1017) I owned for only a few years before selling it to buy an RSK. (Remember that 550s, RSKs, 904s etc. became obsolete race cars within a few years, and drifted from major races to minor races. For example, by the time a 550 was seven or eight years old, it was a difficult car to even sell, as it was a very obsolete race car and vintage racing in the U.S. was almost non-existant.)

Jim

[JTR70]

Jim, thank you for sharing this story and for giving us a glimpse into a magical time when these really were just old cars and parts that no one really valued. Your last paragraph really made my imagination run wild! I've heard the stories as well about the A/C Cobras at this time languishing on used dealer lots which were hard pressed to even give them away. An incredible time to be young man. Thanks again!
BTW: If you have photos of your stuff then and now we'd love to see them. Think about a life and times of "Jim" thread, please.
Justin

[Porschinelle]

Hi everybody

Sorry to have drop this topic these last three weeks
I was travelling over Europe doing a marketing survey for my former Company
Thanks Trevor, Jim, Shawn and Justin for your posts during my absence

So end of the Abarth story
We stop with chassis number 1012 next one will be 1013 a Porsche factory race car already well documented in this topic as for exemple the Buchet/Schiller car at the Le Mans 24 hours 1962



and an interesting pic of 1013 towed by a VW bus in the Porsche plant just before the Trento Bendone hill climb

[Porschinelle]

1014 sold new to Ian Frazer Jones in South Afrrica

[Porschinelle]

1015 Nsold new to Fritz Leinenweber a German pilot who raced many Porsches (356-Abarth-904-910-911 and 914 up to mid 70's

[Porschinelle]

[Porschinelle]

1016 the 2nd new Abarth of Paul Ernst Strahle a car also already well documented in this topic







1016 and the German singer Peter Klausinger who used it to promote one of his song

[Porschinelle]

Paul Ernst Strahle at the Solitude GP in July 1962

[Porschinelle]

1017 bought new by Fritz Hahnl
Fritz Hanl at the 1961 Tourist trophy
and at the 1961 Nurburgring 1000 kilometers

Nassau in 1963


Jim if you read this post it will great for all our friends if you may post pictures of this car when it was yours

[Porschinelle]

1000 kms Nurburgring 1961

[Porschinelle]

1018 Bought new by Emile Claude Clemens a Germann born driver living and working in Belgium in the diamond business

Clemens extensively raced his car in many many local Belgium, German and french races
Here at the Huy 12 hours 61

1018 at the Le Mans 24 hours 1962


To day at the Solitude revival

[Porschinelle]

1019 bought new by Werner Brockhaus a car also well documented in this topic