YOU AND YOURS

The term‘enthusiast’ covers a broad range of Porschephiles – at one end of the scale is the proud owner of a superbly-maintained example of themarque, while way out at the other end of the spectrumwe find the likes of Phil Jarvis – a passionate collector

Phil Jarvis and his eclectic collection of Porsches and VWS

Phil Jarvis has been passionate about cars since childhood and, as a teenager, he purchased his first car – a bright yellow VW Beetle. Of course, like most teenagers that grew up in the ’80s, he loved the styling and sound of the legendary Porsches of the era, but the price tag was a bit strong for a 17-year-old, hence he opted for the budget VW option. The VW thing was more than just a flash in the pan, though, and Phil went on to modify and tune various old Volkswagens over the years. Today he still owns a bevy of his favourite VWS, including a beautifully restored Aussie-import Split screen Camper, a ’58 Beetle, a superb ’52 Split window Beetle and perhaps the wildest of all his classics, an ex-fire service Split screen van, which he drag races. It’s no slouch, either…in fact, it’s currently the second- quickest Type 2 in Europe and is capable of smashing most superbikes on the quarter mile! The 2387cc 4-cylinder motor runs Weber 48IDA carburettors (machined out to 51.5mm) and, thanks to a 180hp shot of nitrous, it currently pushes out an impressive 467hp, which has pushed it on to an 11.422-second quarter mile at 117mph. To put this into perspective, the GT3 makes similar power (500hp, naturallyaspirated etc) and will hit 60mph in 3.4seconds (Pdk-equipped), while Phil’s VW van hits 60mph in just 3.01-seconds! Phil told us, ‘The motor is currently being reworked and I’m hoping to be back on the track in the spring, hopefully setting a new European record, too.’

Now, you’ll probably have noticed that there are some early Porsches in these photos, and also some pretty rare historic VWS, too. And this is what we love about Phil’s passion – it covers everything from pure vintage right through to modern sports and collectors’ cars. When he’s working in London, Phil might choose his 996 Turbo to make the trip from his hometown of Albrighton in Shropshire a fast and fun journey. And then, at the weekend, he could be drag racing his VW van, or even taking his wartime Schwimmwagen out for a drive in the country (and a dip in the river, too). Phil is all about enjoying his cars, and we love that he makes the most of them all at every given opportunity. After all, a wartime Schwimmwagen is an incredibly rare vehicle these days and many collectors would consider this to be a museum piece. Not Phil – he loves nothing more than putting it to work, and has even met up with other likeminded Schwimmers to create a flotilla of these super-rare and historic vehicles! Phil commented, ‘I’m not what

you’d call a wartime collector or anything like that – I’m just a fan of all things VW and Porsche, and wanted to know more about the engineering and workings of the vintage forerunners to the classic air-cooled, rearengined cars’. He continued, ‘Plus it’s pretty cool to drive a car into a river or roll through the town with a decommissioned machine gun on the back of your vehicle!’

When we visited Phil to photograph his restored 912 (more on this car shortly), he asked ‘Would you like to see the 1943 Kübelwagen?’, which he promptly fired up and drove out of the workshop. It’s not every day we get the chance to enjoy looking around such a rare vehicle, and it was great to learn that Phil’s example was fully road legal and ready to roll. Of course, the guns are all properly decommissioned, and the grenades were replicas (!), but that doesn’t detract from the fact that this thing turns the heads of fellow road goers like nothing else!

Phil explained, ‘I’ve owned a few 356s in the past, but I fancied either an early 911 or 912 hence, when my friend, Steve Walker, offered me his Us-import 912 at a decent price, I snapped it up’. The car is a ’68 model and, when Phil picked it up, it was the typical ex-california project, i.e. running and driving but a little rough around the edges and in need of some TLC.

Phil explained, ‘My buddy, Paul Lippett, and I stripped the car back to a bare shell, which was then handed to Andy Finch of Spike’s Vintage Restoration in Essex to be stripped, repaired and repainted.’ He continued, ‘To cut a long story short, once stripped back to bare metal, the body turned out to be in great condition, requiring only a few minor repairs before it was ready to be refinished’. What followed was exactly what SVR is famed for – a show-quality paint job. The process included epoxy primer, high-build primer, plenty of block sanding, more primer and finally the Porsche Blut orange (the original Tangerine colour) base, which was clear-coated and buffed to perfection.

Phil tackled the mechanical overhaul and the painstaking reassembly of the car at home, while Anthony Ward at Dubholstery handled the interior retrim.

The car was originally supplied with steel wheels but Phil sourced a set of 14-in Fuchs (the ‘comfort’ option), which were hand-polished and detailed by his friend, Buzz Adams. Fitted with period-correct Avon tyres, they look great on this superbly restored 912.

Phil told us, ‘I purchased a turn-key 1720cc motor from Karmann Konnection, which provides a little extra pep, but otherwise it’s mostly factory-spec throughout.’ The end result is perhaps one of the nicest 912s out there, and a tribute to Phil’s dedication.

Phil joked, ‘I really like this car but I recently took it to a show where it was parked near an almost identical tangerine 912, which made me wonder if it’s perhaps a little too ‘normal’ for my taste!’ He continued, ‘But don’t worry, I’m not about to modify this one…’ instead he’s keeping an eye for an early Outlaw 911 to join the fleet!

Speaking of Outlaws, it’s the ’58 356A, which stands out as perhaps the most striking car in Phil’s collection. Phil has owned this car for several years and, until

Phil is all about cars and making the most of them at any given opportunity

recently, it was essentially a stock looking car, which had been painted red at some point in the past. Phil had enjoyed driving the car for some time but described it as ‘an older restoration, which was needing a little TLC here and there.’ And so, having been impressed with the quality of work provided by Andy Finch and his team at SVR when restoring his 912, Phil handed them the 356 and asked them to ‘freshen it up’ for the summer. However, as is so often the case, one thing led to another and before long the ‘freshen up’ had become a total overhaul. Yes, another bare metal repaint, and yet another straight body to start with… Phil certainly knows how to pick a good project. With just a few small issues on the sills and the bottoms of the doors to fix, the car was soon prepped for paint. Phil explained, ‘I had asked Andy to paint the car in a factory hue known as Turkish red but then I stumbled across a car whilst surfing the net one evening and I fell in love with the colour.’ The colour in question is from the 1955 model range and is called Terracotta.

The racing stripe was added to break things up and to make the car look as unique as possible. Add to that the blackpainted steel wheels with white lettering on the tyres and the slightly lowered ride height and things really start to take shape. We love the little details such as the blanking plates covering the bumper iron apertures – these also mean that Phil can refit the bumpers in the future should he choose to.

Phil commented, ‘I’ve driven it to a few European meetings so far but I’ve also had a few mechanical issues…oh, and an engine fire, too!’ A misfire led to the car coughing back through one of the carburettors and setting fire to the aftermarket foam air-cleaner but, fortunately, Phil had a fire extinguisher to hand and managed to catch it before things got out of hand. However, the mechanical issues include the destruction of the gearbox whilst tuning the car on the rolling road, which pretty much ended the 2017 season for this car. The good news is that the gearbox has been fully overhauled and is back in the car now, and the engine is running (and looking) great, hence Phil is waiting for the 2018 show season to start as he’s itching to get this Outlaw back on the road and to have some fun with it. Keep your eyes peeled for this (or any of his cars) at a show near you! PW

Phil certainly knows how to pick a good project