That's just what Graham Henderson is setting out to accomplish, his dream car. No small undertaking, it now stands at something like 150 mph and that's in a body design that's about 60+ years old. To do this he has enlisted the help of Kent Porter of Precision Chassis Works in Arizona who understands the task well. Part of the plan is to build a tube frame below the body, install a 911 engine, not hanging out over the back, but in a mid-engined configuration, do all the safety mods that are required, like a full roll cage and fire system along with all the small tuning to make the car run like a tiger out of the Malaysian Jungle.
Graham owns a few classic air-cooled Porsches from a 993 down, however he fell in love with Porsche 356A coupes when he was a very young architect working in London, and spotted a little silver torpedo sitting on a local street. He was smitten and decided that one day he was going to own one. Subsequently he found and bought a right hand drive, type A coupe in Malaysia. The car has been in storage for the past 13 years in Kuala Lumpur and just in the last week it arrived at the Port of Los Angeles where it will be trucked to Gilbert, Arizona for the beginning of the project.
The "Along For The Ride" blog will follow this adventure with Team HHR to record the story and show photo updates as the car is rebuilt to make a run at record speeds. A separate page (that can be found along the top header) will provide updates to follow all the way to "The Salt". Be sure to check it out and send your comments and questions here.
The 356 A coupe minus widows and trim as rescued from Malaysia. Image © HHR |