The Seattle weekend went great in my newly restored Titan MK6b Formula Ford, winning three of five races in the 21 car FF grid. We also got the FF fast lap of the weekend at 1:44.2. Needless to say, I’m very happy with the car and the restoration.

There are typically many fantastic vintage race cars at the NW Historics and this year was no exception. One of the highlights of the weekend was seeing John Shirley run his 1957 Ferrari 250 TR (Testa Rossa). This car is 250 TR #1 - the first one built - and it retains it’s original engine!!

The Ferrari TR, or 250 Testa Rossa, is a race car model built by Ferrari in the 1950’s and 1960’s. These cars dominated their arenas, with variations winning the 24 Hours of Le Mans in 1958, 1960, and 1961. They were closely related to the rest of the Ferrari 250 line, especially the legendary 250 GTO.

In all, 34 250 Testa Rossas were built, from 1956 through 1961. The phrase “Testa Rossa” means “redhead.” The most well known, the 250TR, was produced from 1957 to 1958; only 2 factory cars and 19 customer cars were built. After the 250 GTO, the 250 Testa Rossa is the second most valuable Ferrari model, often valued at more than US$8,000,000. (courtesy of Wikipedia)

Seeing this car run at speed was fantastic - John didn’t hold back, he drove it hard all weekend! WOW, one of the most valuable cars in the WORLD racing in Seattle!

Testa Rossa 250 #4 sold in May of this year for $12,400,000, a new world record price for a car sold at auction.

This is a 1958 Porsche Speedster VIN 84306 with a Super matching numbers engine #81489 (616/2). It was built on December 19th, 1957, but was sold and titled as a 1958.

I purchased the car, with a fresh high end restoration, in 2006. The previous owner purchased the car in 1968 with 90,000 miles on it, the odometer currently reads 21,000 and 121,000 is the correct original miles.

Kardex Listed Options

• Aquamarine Blue Paint (5707)
• Sealed Beam Headlights
• Speedometer with Mileage Counter
• USA Bumpers

Features

• Full ground up high end restoration
• Less than 1,000 miles since restoration
• Rare Carrera roll bar
• Matching numbers original engine
• Paint is Aquamarine Blue Metallic, a special order color in 1957
• Fresh BBAB transmission from the Pellow auction
• Excellent condition original tool kit
• Original correct Speedster seats in red leather
• All panels correctly dated
• All wheels correctly dated 10/57
• Original spare tire
• All chrome and lights etched properly
• Discreetly converted to 12 volts for bright lights

Engine

• The original 1957 case, #81489
• Rebuilt approximately 15,000 miles ago by Chuck Woodward in Seattle
• Balanced 1720cc, 912 rods, Tricom cam, Aluminum valve train
• Zenith carbs

The car is located in the beautiful resort town of Bend, Oregon. Direct daily flights from LA, San Francisco, Salt Lake, Denver, Portland and Seattle. Fly in, take a vacation and drive it home.

I’m not a dealer, this is my personal vehicle. I’ve set a very reasonable reserve based on recent Speedster sales.

$2,000 Paypal deposit within 24 hours of auction close. Balance due within 5 business days via wire transfer only. Buyer is responsible for any shipping cost. I will help coordinate pick-up with your shipper if desired.

Click on the photos for a larger version…

I have had several requests for underside photos. I took the car to a shop today (8/12/09) and put it on the lift. Here are the underside photos. The battery box, floors and longitudinals were replaced at the time of restoration. Click photo to see a larger version.

My stomach was in a bit of a fit as the plane came over the mountains to land at the Ontario Airport, east of Los Angeles. The air was calm and I fly a lot, so there wasn’t a fear of flying. It was nerves - my second attempt to buy a car that I found on the Internet.

The first one was an old VW, a couple of years ago, when I took the sellers word about the lack of rust and I got burned - no, actually I froze because the heater channels were rusted thru.

If all went well this would be MY first Porsche, a 1973 911S I found advertised on the Early 911S Registry web site. I was more diligent this time, lots of questions, photos, phone calls and a pre-purchase inspection. Every thing said “GO”, so I sent a non refundable deposit and bought a one-way Seattle to Ontario plane ticket (a sure way to get the full body airport security screen).

This had been a long time coming - when I was a kid my father and I coveted the early 911’s. Then in 1978, when I was 18, Dad flew from our home in Boise to Portland to pick-up a brand new SC. Somehow my little sister got to go along for the drive home and Dad still tells the story of Sis crying for fear that he was going to jail when they got pulled over for speeding through the high desert of Eastern Oregon. The only time I ever drove his SC was the 5 miles from our home to the airport, on my way to boot camp and life as an adult.

Flash forward fifteen years - I married a great woman who among other attributes is a sports car enthusiast. Soon after the wedding we decided it was time to do some car shuffling and I convinced her to give up her Miata, because I needed a new SUV. She wasn’t happy at all driving the old ‘big’ car and before long she had a nice 82 911SC parked in her spot in the garage.

A few more years went by and the SC turned into a 2000 Boxster - still parked in ‘her’ spot. I’d been relegated to the SUV’s because I need room to haul my surfboards (yes, we do and yes, it’s cold). Occasionally, after much negotiating I was allowed a day in one of the fun cars. I know, I know, but for peace in the home we make our sacrifices. Anyway, I’ve always said there is nothing sexier than a nice looking woman behind the wheel of a beautiful Porsche.

So now, after 25 years, it was my turn - as long as the plane landed safely, the seller showed to pick me up, the car wasn’t a wreck and it would make the long drive back to Seattle. No anxiety, just a little nerves.

As it turned out the plane landed right on time, the seller was there, the car was more beautiful than the photos, the deal was done and I was on the road in two hours.

Driving an early S, for the first time is quiet an experience, not one I suggest trying on the L.A. freeways. My nerves were turned up again for the first hour until I found northbound I-5 and got out of the basin. What a rush, climbing the hills! Traveling alone with the windows down and the sun beating in, the high revs of the engine were all that I listened to for hours. She just seemed perfect - tight, fast, clean and shiny.

It’s a 1,250 mile straight shot home on I-5, but after spending the first night in Sacramento I new we needed to hit the mountains. On the road early as the sun was peaking over the eastern mountains it cast a perfect 911 silhouette shadow along the side of the freeway. From the drivers seat this would be my first photo shot of the trip.

Blasting up I-5 into the southern Cascade Mountains I finally started to really feel what the early S is all about - exhilarating, corner hugging, power and speed. It was better than I anticipated - absolute fun. After passing Mt. Shasta I detoured off I-5 on Hwy. 97 towards the Oregon border and Klamath Falls.The highway in Northern California was nice with plenty of passing lanes and a 65 mph speed limit. On the same highway, but crossing into Oregon, led to 55 mph speed limits and far fewer passing lanes. The fun quotient dropped by several levels, but none-the-less I was driving my S and loving it.

I got a great photo along this stretch when I spotted an aging water tower and a handful of old buildings cast against the back drop of autumn grain and brilliant blue sky. I pulled the bright red S over, stopped, jumped out, ran to the middle of the highway, snapped one shot and took off. Turns out that the composition of the photo is pretty good - it looks staged, but I was stopped no more that 30 seconds.

Later in the afternoon I was coming back down out of the Cascades heading towards Medford. I was stuck behind a long slow line of cars for several miles, when I saw an opportunity to move to the front of the line I took it. Just as I was winding down from the 90 mph pass, one of Oregon’s finest came around the corner in the up-hill direction.

I saw his brake lights in my rear view mirror, but by the time he got turned around he was behind the long slow line of cars. I stayed right at the speed limit it and took him several miles to pass and catch-up, for awhile I thought I’d gotten away. Turns out he was pretty nice about everything, seemed to understand the passing and was real interested in all the details about the early S. No ticket - fair warning.

Back on I-5 we needed one more night of rest in Eugene and then 6 more hours of boring freeway the next morning. Finally at home the red S got a bath before I did and then tucked into the paddock next to ‘her’ Boxster. Now I just have to wait out the rainy season - and no, she hasn’t driven the S yet.

This article first appeared in Porsche Spiel magazine (Jan. 2003), published by the Porsche Club of America Pacific Northwest region. Copyright Mark Powell 2002.

This is a 1967 911S, chassis number 306318S with the original matching number engine 960486.

I’m the fourth owner of the car, the previous owner kept it at his Palm Springs vacation home for 22 years where it received little use. The odometer reads 73,000 miles and is believed to be original, but the mileage isn’t confirmed. The car came with the original 4.5″ Fuch wheels with steel lug nuts.

My plan was to keep the car original and drive it as I received it. But after spending some time with it those plans changed. The engine had good compression, but after some driving we discovered metal flakes in the oil (bearing corrosion due to lack of use). The paint and interior were showing lots of fatigue - no support in the seats and bare metal exposed in the door jambs.

So off she went for a full restoration including the addition of the ultra rare early 911 Sport Seats.

Offered for sale at $85,000.

Built on a DKW chassis from the Junior/F12 series with a Centaur fiberglass body kit. Powered by a Porsche 4 cam motor running on 2 cylinders (yes it’s true).

Much later modified for autocross and updated to a 2.0 liter 6 cylinder Porsche motor.

Restoration by Emory Motorsports. Now running a Porsche 356 motor.

This car was featured in the November 2008 of Excellence Magazine.

If you have any information or photos of this car please contact me.

Photo Galleries

Porsche TM Special Photos - As Purchased

Porsche TM Special Photos - History

Porsche TM Special Photos - Body Restoration

Porsche TM Special Photos - Chassis Restoration

Porsche TM Special Photos - Final Assembly

Porsche TM Special Photos - Today

The Speed Channel just started their 39 hours of live coverage with an opening comment questioning how the economy will impact the auctions. One of the commentators stated we would know on Sunday.

The second car Speed showed going across he block was a one owner 1963 Porsche 356 B Coupe with a Super engine. On TV it looked reasonably complete and straight (you never know unless you see a car in person). Assuming this car wasn’t a rust bucket, it was sold at an incredibly low price of $15,500!

We may not have to wait until Sunday to know how the economy is impacting the collector car hobby.

Here is the catalog copy on the car:

An Emerald Green 1963 Porsche 356B in great condition. The engine was upgraded to a 75 Super in 1974 and the vehicle has been recently gone through. An original owner car with low mileage less than 50,000 original miles.

Details An Emerald Green 1963 Porsche 356B in great condition. The engine upgraded to a 75 Super in 1974. It was in storage from 1992 to 2008 and the vehicle has been recently revamped in a local auto repair shop. The engine was gone through, also has new tires installed along with new brakes, master cylinder and fuel pump. All hoses and lines were checked and replaced and the tank was cleaned. An original owner. Tried to repair the tachometer and odometer but they remain inoperable.