When this 1974 911 Carrera 3.0 RS arrived at Historika’s Ipswich workshops it went straight on the chassis jig. That resulted in a decision, says Nick Morfett who runs the Porsche specialist with father Kevin, ‘to pull it apart and give it a proper, bare-metal restoration’.

The car, sold new through French Porsche importer Sonauto in August 1974, had an extensive and varied competition career in period and subsequently in historic events. Owned at one stage by multiple Le Mans participant Raymond Touroul, it raced at the French enduro on two occasions, twice finished on the podium in the Tour de France and also competed in the Monte Carlo Rally with Bernard Béguin at the wheel.

‘It had done a lot of work over the years and competed in a lot of rallies,’ explains Morfett. ‘There are photos of the car with all four wheels in the air, so they do take a pounding. It wasn’t particularly true or square, so we needed to get it back on its factory points.’

Historika kept the original structure and panels.

‘I think we changed one door skin,’ says Morfett. ‘You always try to keep as much originality as you can, to repair rather than replace. This car was pretty much in its original spec and hadn’t been updated to the latest and greatest.’

The car is now back in its 1976 Tour de France livery and ready to go in historic events.

Historika, Witnesham, Suffolk
Tel: 07836 38499/07717 212911, historika.co.uk