A fine pair of Porsches – a perfect 911S and a hot-rod 911R tribute
It all started in 1966 with a ’58 Speedster purchased for $900. Several other Porsches have since entered and left Jim Lo Giudice’s life. His stable of air-cooled cars now includes two 911s of the highest calibre, a stout ’68 R tribute and a ’72 S. Time for a spin around the streets of Orange County, California perhaps?
With the value of numerous vintage 911s and 356s now reaching stratospheric levels, we often look at the Porsche enthusiasts’ life in the 1960s with a certain envy, if not disbelief. Newspaper adverts were filled with inexpensive ‘used’ 356s in particular, including Speedsters. Some folks deemed them uncomfortable or even crude, especially compared to the better equipped Cabriolet with roll-up windows.
But others saw the nimble and fun Speedster as a great entry-level Porsche. One of them was a young Southern Californian student named Jim Lo Giudice, who bought a ’58 model for $900 in 1966 from a neighbour. While only eight years old, the well-used little tub served as reliable daily transportation, until it was rear ended at a set of traffic lights. And so ended the life of that Speedster, which Jim replaced with another air-cooled classic… a 1954 VW convertible purchased from his dad’s accountant.
During the following years, Jim’s heart bounced between Porsches and Volkswagens, a statement that rings true to this day. He joined the Newport Beach Volkswagen Association in the 1960s, built a California Look ’67 Beetle in the ’70s (one of the very first with Porsche Fuchs rims), and even hung out with members from a prominent high-performance VW club of the era, Der Kleiner Panzers. As the pictures from this article will show, he currently owns a 1952 Split-window Beetle, in this case, a rare and very basic Standard model.
His love for the Porsche marque also led him to the purchase of several desirable vintage models, in the following order: ’70 914/6, ’59 356 Cabriolet, ’65 911 and ’54 Pre-a coupé. Today, he and his wife Mary enjoy two other stellar classics, a blue ’72 ‘S’ and a white ‘R Tribute’ based on a ’68 coupé. They reside in his freshly built garage, next to his gorgeous historic 1930 mansion, set in old town Tustin in Orange County, California.
We met the retired engineer at his house on a hot Californian summer day and first hit the road in the Porsche Light Ivory car, in the direction of our photo shoot location. Over the sound of the Dansk Sport Muffler and 46mm PMO carburettors sans air filters, he told us: ‘I’ve wanted an R Tribute for many years; but finding the right one was very difficult – I really didn’t want to go through a full restoration.’ He ultimately located the perfect
candidate in California, in the shape of a converted ’68. It was precisely what he and Mary longed for.
Synergy Motor Sports in Virginia originally built this Rinspired 911 in a race car configuration, based on a very straight coupé, for the owner of a race team. ‘I had already seen pictures of it at various times, and it won some awards at a PCA Porsche Parade’, Jim continues. ‘It was really cool; but didn’t correspond to what I was looking for, as I wanted a car for the street. It sold to another person in Maryland and, not long after, came to California still in the same race configuration.’
The new owner wanted to make it street friendly, yet usable during club racing events. Converting the vehicle involved replacing the R-type fibreglass doors with steel units, while reinstalling standard equipment such as the dash, gauges and seats. The same gentleman elected to keep the 911 R-style ’glass wings/fenders, bumpers, plus front and rear lids held in place with the requisite rubber hold-downs – notice the lightweight hinges in the back, too. Three years later, the car was finished; however, during the first hundred miles, the 2.0-litre flat-six had an oil starvation issue due to a faulty bypass valve… The engine was toast.
This led to the assembly of a fresh 10.6-to-1 compression ratio motor (as seen in our pictures), thanks to the combined talent of Aase Motors and Carparc USA, two So-cal-based shops featured in Classic Porsche.
Based on a 2.2-litre case, the displacement now measures 2.5-litres courtesy of 87.5mm Mahle high-compression pistons/cylinders and a 2.7-litre crank. This combo also uses Elgin 306/288 camshafts, along with ported/polished twin-plug 906 heads with 46 and 39mm valves. The ignition relies on an Electromotive Crankfire system, engineered to easily adjust timing advance and rev limits, to ensure the engine survives any mishap.
Considering the aforementioned oil starving issue,
Aase Motors re-engineered the oiling system by eliminating the 911 R-style tank and external oil filler installed in the past – the fender/wing required being repainted afterwards. The new setup called for an ‘in engine compartment’ oil tank, a Porsche 993 custom pump by Glenn Yee, and a front-mounted Elephant Racing cooler. Over 210 horsepower travel through a lightened copper-faced 911S flywheel and a Sachs pressure plate/clutch disc combo, before reaching the 1968 901 5speed transmission. Synergy Motor Sports assembled the ’box, equipped with a ZF limited-slip differential, whilst Carparc USA recently freshened it up.
The coupé corners like a champ, thanks to the use of four Bilstein adjustable coil-overs. No issue stopping the lightweight beast either, with 911S vented disc brakes and matching calipers… Avon tyres measuring 185/70R15 wrap around the compulsory Fuchs rims, specifically 6Jx15s and much rarer R-type 7Jx15s. The 911 R outfit is
“IT WAS PRECISELY WHAT HE AND MARY LONGED FOR…”
complemented with the model’s distinctive front/rear lights and turn signals, together with Lexan windows (except for the windscreen) that have been optically coated to be scratch resistant. Attention to detail in the trunk area is second to none, with a Fuel Safe gas tank and a fresh wiring loom.
By the time Aase Motors and Carparc USA had finished their work, the owner had lost interest in the project, having spent a load more cash than he ever intended. He therefore contemplated selling the car. Jim continues the story: ‘I had heard that it may be for sale. I went to check it out. It was pretty much what I wanted and put together a deal. Since I bought it, I’ve just been breaking in the new engine and sorting out the current suspension setup, as it is brand new with only about 500 miles on it now.’
Jim loves driving it, though he concedes that the hill climb gearbox ratios are a little too close for street use, so he might install a taller fifth gear down the road. The cockpit proves comfortable with a pair of lightweight Recaro Sport seats, complemented with a 380mm Momo Prototipo steering wheel and Wevo short-throw shifter. Standard 911 gauges fill the dash, while the upholstery mixes black vinyl with Pepita Porsche fabric – note the Perlon carpet kit, too. Race car-oriented details include a custom roll cage, harnesses on both seats, plus leather door and window pulls.
When not using the white coupé, Jim and Mary enjoy another fantastic 911, a blue ’72 ‘S’ found by coincidence as he explains: ‘At a Porsche show, we saw an Albert Blue ’73 RS tribute that had a red interior, and we fell in love with it; so, we started looking for a car with this colour combination – no luck. We thought that we might find a nice blue car and maybe redo the interior. After about a year, we heard that the ’73 RS tribute was for sale, and immediately contacted the seller, CPR (another Californian
shop featured in CP in the past – Ed), which had done the restoration. They informed me that it was already sold.’
Over the phone, Jim went on to tell CPR’S representative that the blue and red combination was precisely what he wanted, and asked him if they had ever
“I’VE JUST BEEN BREAKING IN THE NEW ENGINE…”