SECOND LIFE
Having brought countless 911 chassis back to life, Marek Lappok was as undaunted by the bare bones starting point of his own project build as he is about enjoying it, whatever the weather
As the new decade rolls in, the 2010s might well be remembered as a period of huge uncertainty; of shifting politics, the rise of social media and the automotive industry’s inexorable march towards its promised connected, autonomous and electrified future. But it’s also spelled change for the Porsche community, as wider popularity and rising classic car prices have made desirable members of the marque’s back-catalogue shift from attainable poster cars to appreciating museum pieces. It’s become a curious cornerstone of financial stability, in an otherwise chaotic world.
Your own stance on this will, of course, hinge on perspective and timing of Porsche ownership. For those lucky to get in early enough, this has become a hobby that can pay for itself if you buy carefully. For those who didn’t, collectability is making good examples harder to come by and tougher still to justify for regular use. Porsche’s allweather supercar, engineered to withstand every drive, every road and every season owners could throw at it, is often being saved for fair weather. Such preservation is fine, but Marek Lappok has different expectations.
‘I miss the classic club days back in the 2000s in Copenhagen,’ he tells us. ‘I’ve had numerous Porsches over the years, and back then nobody cared if your car was matching numbers, or original. We just enjoyed what we did, and we drove to a meet not caring who showed up. I’ve seen cool gatherings like the Onassis 800 where people come to enjoy their cars – we should have more of that.’
To some extent, it’s a case of getting his money’s worth. Porsche ownership has got pricier over the last decade but, in Denmark, it’s set amongst an already costly automotive market. The Danish government has some of the highest vehicle import taxes in the world, usually outstripping the cost of a modern car and still sizeable even with reduced rates for classics. But it also has a strong car enthusiast community and, with a garage that’s home to a hot-rodded Alfa Romeo GTV, ’59 Beetle Cabrio, three 911s and a work-in-progress 914/6 replica, Marek has no intention of leaving them locked up unnecessarily.
‘I always had a love of classic cars,’ he continues. ‘My father worked for the Morris importer in Denmark, so I had several Minis and MGS in my youth, but my love of classics really started in the mid-1990s. I was in the music business at the time, and I bought a Mercedes-benz 190SL as a restoration project – forming my own business hadn’t been the plan, but one thing led to another.’
It seemed almost fated to happen. Although Marek was born in Denmark and has lived there all his life, his family roots are in Poland and – as a result – he’s a fluent Polish speaker. This would prove useful when, by chance, he bumped into a Polish classic workshop at the Essen Motor Show in 1996 and negotiated shipping it home for a full restoration. Impressed by the quality of the work, classic car induced border-crossing has become a regularity since.
‘I ended up buying the company in Poland, restoring cars and selling them to dealers in Germany. So I was working there for three or four days a week and travelling back to Denmark for family time, which wasn’t easy. But our work was gaining a good reputation among German restorers,’ he recalls.
‘By the early 2000s I was being asked if I could restore Porsches as well – at the time there was only limited chassis parts available. We were fixing the most impossible cars, often in boxes and in pieces, and specialising in chassis work, welding and paint. I believe we’ve done between 200 and 300 911 chassis over time, and taking it to a higher level and quality.’
Today, Early911parts manufactures hundreds of highquality reproduction components for a global customer base, filling hard-to-find gaps in classic Porsche restorations. In turn, it’s given Marek exactly the sort of contacts book needed to unearth his own projects – including cars most potential owners would see as beyond saving. Even in that company, he remembers this one being an ambitious starting point.
‘It was total junk,’ he says, laughing. ‘But it was cheap and, when you’re restoring cars every day, you end up collecting a stack of parts over the years. So this is made mostly of parts I already had in storage, and I’ve also used it to test-fit products I make. It was a very cheap resto build, inspired by the “Sports Purpose” package offered when this car was new.’
That’s quite the turnaround. The VIN shows this was one of the final short wheelbase chassis off the production line, sold as a ’68 model year 911L to a customer in Austria. Ironically, as a low-power, high-spec version, it couldn’t have been less of a ‘Sports Purpose’ spec as new, but life had gone beyond any light-weighting that Porsche might have put its way from the factory. The floorpan was beyond saving and most of the bolt-on parts had gone elsewhere – including the engine, interior and most of its non-structural exterior panels. In other words, it was a blank canvas.
Fabrication work was done at the workshop in Poland. Returned to a rot-free structure, the body was refitted with the missing narrow-body panels and returned to its original Ivory paint, albeit with a yellow-nosed nod to the works 908 livery of its production year. Longdeparted chrome trim fitted to the 911L has mostly been left off, and the aluminium rear panel is left unpainted for a more pared-back, track-ready style.
Marek is quick to point out that it’s no replica, built very much to his own unique sense of what he wanted from the car. ‘I’ve always been a sucker for racing decals,’ he says. ‘The graphics were inspired by some of the older Porsche racing cars but are also a tribute to my roots. The checkerboard sticker is the Polish Air Force logo, and the sticker along the side was adapted to include Mr Linea from
“MAREK IS QUICK TO POINT OUT THAT IT’S NO REPLICA…”
the cartoons I used to watch when I was a kid.’
For all the good luck having rare parts to hand, starting with a short-wheelbase chassis threw some complications into the mix. Beneath the decklid, the 911 now features a 2.0litre MFI engine from a 1969 E – a complete unit he had in stock, given an amber-tinted clearcoat to match exterior details. But the upgrade from 130bhp to 160bhp, aided by an Eisenmann exhaust and Classic Retrofit CDI+ ignition module, was hard-fought. Electrical differences required a full custom wiring loom, made by Kroon Wiring Harnesses in the Netherlands, and differences in the fuel system only made the work harder.
‘It’s not something I would recommend – to adapt it to a SWB car was a lot of work with relay boards and fuel pumps. The MFI engines also need pre-heating so it had a manual cold-start pull from the inside, and it needs a few pulls when it’s cold or after standing still too long. I also still need to make a custom cover for the stacks.’
That power boost is augmented by a few of Marek’s own choice parts. The 100-litre fuel tank is an Early911parts reproduction, a subtly modernised and stronger version of the original design, while the coupe also features the company’s adjustable rear spring plate conversion which, with Koni suspension, helps dial out a bit of the ride height. Light magnesium Minilite wheels with high-profile Vredestein Sprint
Classic tyres are wrapped around the original brake setup.
It’s also pulling less weight than the original engine. Marek built the car to be driven – seasonal usage restrictions for vintage cars in Denmark permitting – so it’s been kept simple inside. A 917-inspired gear knob sits on top of the 901 gearbox’s short-shifter, its gate pattern mapped out on the horn push of the Momo Prototipo steering wheel. Pinned in place by the genuine S/t-style Recaro 1328 bucket seat, but not deafened by the engine note due to the carpeted rear, it’s a distraction-free space to enjoy the mechanical parts he’s cherry-picked for the coupe.
‘It’s my car – built for me,’ he says, pinning the decklid in place. ‘I wish I had more time for road trips, and I’m planning to go to Le Mans Classic 2020, but like everything else in the garage it gets used regularly. In Copenhagen we have cars and coffee every Saturday morning, at the legendary fuel station designed by Arne Jacobsen. Hundreds of cars show up on sunny days.’
Which makes for a useful part of the collection; a paredback and ultra-focused interpretation of the 911 formula that’s still civilised enough to use as its engineers intended. For all the changes facing the automotive industry as it moves into its new era, it’s preserving a snapshot of an increasingly rare driving experience – one that’s unlikely to fall out of fashion any time soon.