Porsche 901: from the beginning
Total 911 takes a drive in the third RHD 911 ever made, an example that marks six decades of impeccable Porsche production ever since
We head back to the start of 901 production, before climbing behind the wheel of the third RHD 911 to roll out of Zuffenhausen
There’s a dent in the nose where Stewart Kay once backed his wife’s car into it, and a nick in the left flank where one of his kids hit it with a door. At the back, the bent overrider bar and dings in the engine lid betray the previous owner’s habit of parking by touch. Inside, the dash has four holes where a fan was once attached, while one of the back rests is still wearing the makeshift patch job that was used to cover up the damage caused by the Alsatian that mistook his master’s 911 for a chew toy.
If you were a purist, you might marvel at the car’s patina. A cynic, on the other hand, would dismiss the old girl as having seen better days. Whatever your perspective, if this was just another old 911 you’d be forgiven for wondering why its owner hasn’t done something to restore it during its 50 years of existence at the time of writing – especially considering you’re almost guaranteed a return on your money these days, such has been the mercurial rise in their value.
But then, this isn’t just another old 911. This has the distinction of being the third right-hand-drive
911 to come off the line, and the first of its kind to be delivered to a customer anywhere in the world – and that makes it very special indeed.
Knowing this, you could rightfully expect that any self-respecting collector would scurry off to their preferred restorer, chequebook in hand, at the first opportunity. And why not? In the interests of preserving such an important part of Porsche’s heritage, it would almost be irresponsible not to. But Kay? Well, thankfully he has other ideas.
“She’s picked up a few battle scars over the years,” he grins. “Yeah, there are a few dents in it, but that’s what happens when a car has been used all of its life, and I’m happy to leave them well alone.
“From my point of view, I’m just the car’s custodian, so I’ll use it and preserve it as best as I can. But to have it restored within an inch of its life, as so many people do, would be to erase its history and destroy its character. That’s not something I’d ever want to do.”
As you pore over the car, you can’t help but be blown away by how original it has remained.
Kay reckons that it’s had a few touch-ups and a splash of paint along the way, but nothing has been fundamentally changed. When you consider that so many of its contemporaries were chopped and changed, turned into various replicas or scrapped, it’s all the more remarkable that it has survived these last 55 years completely intact.
It’s the summer of 1951, and Australian pump manufacturer Norman Hamilton finds himself driving a rented Oldsmobile through the Grossglockner Pass in Austria. Suddenly, a silver sports car blasts past on a charge up the hill. Small and curvaceous, it’s unlike anything he’s ever seen.
Curious, he gives chase, driving for miles and miles until he eventually finds both the car and its driver parked up at an inn on the side of the road.
Eager to find out about the car, Hamilton stops and gets talking to the driver, Porsche racer and test driver Richard von Frankenberg, who is only too happy to show him around the car.
Enthralled, he follows von Frankenberg back to the Porsche workshops at Gmünd, where on a whim he shakes hands on a deal to become the company’s first Australian agent. A few weeks later, Hamilton returns to collect the very first right-hand-drive Porsches ever made – a maroon 356 Coupe and a Fish silver Cabriolet, which he eventually sells to his friend Ronald Angas.
Born in 1890, Ronald was the grandson of George Fife Angas, who had been chairman of the South Australian Company and also an instrumental figure in the colonisation of South Australia. A pastoralist who happened to own most of Barossa Valley, Ron was an old-fashioned landed gent with a reputation for philanthropy and eccentricity – plus a passion for fast cars.
Ron Angas had owned everything from Silver Ghosts to Bentleys, and had built up quite a collection of Delages by the time Hamilton turned up in Adelaide with his brace of Porsches at the tail end of 1952. Although they were only in town to race and demonstrate the new cars, Angas was instantly smitten and bought the silver Cabriolet, despite the fact that it had just blown its clutch during the Sellicks Beach Races.
As the story goes, taking delivery of that 356 was the beginning of a long love affair for Angas. Every time a new Porsche came out, old Angas had to have it. Indeed, Hamilton’s business became so dependant on Angas that legend has it he would call him whenever he was a bit tight for cash. In response, Angas would simply write Hamilton a cheque and ask that he be told when his new Porsche had arrived.
When Porsche announced the new 901 at the 1963 Frankfurt Motor Show, Ron Angas was at the top of the list for a right-hand-drive car. Securing his car in April 1964 with a £2,000 deposit, Angas ordered his 901 Coupe in Stone grey with dark green leather interior, ‘English’ instruments, horn ring, luggage straps, sealed beam headlights and crested chrome hubcaps. It would cost a whopping £4,880.
Ten months after Angas placed his order, production of right-hand-drive cars began and on 3 May 1965 his car was finally built. Bearing the
chassis number 301 503, it was the third RHD 911 off the line and one of three cars delivered to Australia from that first batch.
As he happened to be working at the factory, it was left to Alan Hamilton to take delivery of the cars and put them on the boat for their voyage to Melbourne, although not before he decided to run in Angas’ car for him by making the 1,400km round trip to pick up his dad, who had just got off the inaugural Qantas flight to Vienna.
For the next four years, Angas and the 901 could be seen tearing back and forth between the Barossa and Adelaide, with the distinctive snarl of the aircooled six becoming a familiar sound for the locals. Always chasing the latest model, Angas would sell the car to his friend Roy Wilson in February
1969 with 54,000 miles on the clock. Although he wasn’t a Porsche fan as such, as an architect Wilson appreciated good design and bought it as a daily driver. As fate would have it, he would still have the car in 1989 when a student named Stewart Kay turned up to interview him for a university paper.
“He actually lived just around the corner from my folks’ house in Adelaide,” remembers Kay. “I went to talk to him about his days as an architect, and he offered me a tour of his house. We eventually got to the garage, and there was this 911, just sitting there.
“I’d always been into old cars, but it was at this point that I’d started dealing in number plates. I was given a list of all the early registration numbers beforehand, and noticed a registration for a Porsche that read ‘119’ Collingrove, Angas. I can remember thinking, ‘What a cool number to have for that car’ – and there it was sitting in this bloke’s garage!”
Intrigued, Kay made a note of the chassis number and got in touch with Porsche Australia to learn more. Needless to say, he was stunned to discover its significance. “After I found that out, I had to own the car – even though I was only 19 at the time. I used to wash it for him every now and again just to keep an eye on it. Then, out of the blue, he phoned up and said, ‘Do you still want that car? If you do, come round tomorrow and pay cash.’
“It was 1992, and as luck would have it I’d just sold my little Golf and had a company car. I had $7,000 of
my own, he wanted $22,000 for the car, so I borrowed the extra $15,000 and bought it.”
By the time Wilson sold the 911, he had added some 85,000 miles to the odometer in the 23 years he had owned it and, aside from the plastic fan indents and teeth marks in the seat, it was still completely original and in good condition. What’s more, it even came with its original toolkit and all its manuals, along with several folders and boxes crammed with everything from the Solex carbs it was supplied with, to receipts for every bit of work it ever had done to it and, of course, Angas’ impressive collection of speeding tickets.
“Finding a car that came with all that history was like a dream come true,” beams Kay. “It’s amazing
“That’s what I love about 911s; they’re like a Swiss watch, they do exactly what they were designed to do”
just how original it is. It’s got the original seats and the original carpets. The original AM radio is still there – the fact that no one was ever tempted to replace it is remarkable.”
Kay has had to do little to keep the old 911 going. He fitted a new set of Koni dampers and had the gearbox rebuilt with a longer final gear to make it more useable on the road. Aside from that, the car has required nothing outside routine maintenance.
“It’s remarkable just how reliable the thing is,” says Kay. “It’s not as if I’ve treated it like some garage queen either. It’s been on holiday with us, I still drive the kids to school in it and take it for a blast up the Adelaide hills at the weekend.
“I drove it as hard as I’ve ever driven it when I was on the track for the 2012 Rennsport festival, and it was perfect. It didn’t miss a beat. That’s what I love about 911s; they’re like a Swiss watch, they do exactly what they were designed to do.”
Of course, if you’re going to use a 911 as its maker intended, it’s always going to pick up some war wounds along the way, and that inevitably
leads to the dilemma of just how far you should go with a restoration – if you decide to restore it at all.
“That’s the $64,000 question,” says Kay. “I’d like to have it repainted at some point. The original colour was a bit darker than it is today, and it would be nice to return the car to how it’s supposed to look, but I don’t want to restore it as such.
“It’s got the patina of a car that’s been used all its life, and that’s part of both its history and its appeal. So long as it’s not deteriorating or rusting away, I just want to preserve it as best I can.”
Although there’s been no shortage of interest in the car over the years, Kay has no plans to sell his beloved 911. For starters, he has no idea what he’d ever replace it with. But, perhaps more importantly, it’s been with him for so long that it’s become part of the family and, as far as he’s concerned, that’s where it should remain.
You can forgive young Lachlan then for not getting too excited about the prospect of inheriting his old man’s car. One day, though, he’ll be old enough to understand just how special that old 911 is, and the responsibility that comes with it.