On October 18, Porsche announced that the 2018 Rennsport Reunion will be held at The Mazda Raceway Laguna Seca on the beautiful Monterey Peninsula in California.  The Rennsport Reunion is a four day extravaganza of all things Porsche, including a concours, vintage racing, and meet and greets with some of the famous Porsche Racing drivers.  Having missed one in Daytona some years ago, I have always wanted to attend.  However, I am a Corvette guy, and I would imagine driving my Sting Ray to one of these would not be in the best of taste.  To attend, I would need a Porsche, but I would like to have one that stands out in this elite crowd.  I think I have found my project car on Craigslist in Aiken, South Carolina, and the price is a bargain at $1,900.  This 1986 Porsche 944 has a lot of work ahead of it to bring it up to concours level, but imagine the looks on all the attendees when I show up in what is probably the only 4X4 944 in existence.

Now, I know what you are thinking.  It would be hard to restore this one before the Reunion comes around in late September of next year.  If you mean restoring it to factory correct for a 1986 Porsche 944, then you are probably right.  That leaves only one option: race car.  With a race car, I don’t have to worry about replacing the stripped out interior, and I can take some liberties with the body work.  This also allows me to paint the car in the famous powder blue and orange Gulf Oil livery of famous Porsches from the past.  I am sure the Rennsport attendees would cheer at the mere sight of such a beautiful beast.

The way I figure it, the previous owner’s installation of the four wheel drive system, an obvious homage to the 959 supercar, makes the decision to go racing an easy one.  I have looked over the vintage racing rules from the Smokey Yunick perspective: If it doesn’t say you can’t, then that means you can.  Nothing in the rulebook says that you cannot just drive across the grassy parts of the racetrack to cut corners.  While the manual hubs on the car may slow down a needed shift to two wheel drive for the longer straightaways, I am sure someone sells some remote locking hubs that I can install.

Underneath, we see that the previous owner must have been a racer as well.  Everything looks to be heavy duty, and the workmanship is, as Ted Knight would say, “Top notch!”  I especially like the upside down hitch ball, which must be a solution for a problem nobody has thought of yet.  At any rate, I would like to go a step farther and replace the less than attractive wheels that are on the car now with a set of “phone dial” wheels from a later 944 Turbo.  A 944 just looks perfect with these wheels, and it would lower the center of gravity on the car.

Adding to the uniqueness of the car, the engine is more easily accessed from the wheel well.  Given the slightly taller height of the car, this both makes sense and aids with the all important cooling of the engine in race applications.  Polite eagle eyed readers, who bother to read the story before filling the comments section with snide comments about the engine not having the correct color paint for that year of 944, may also notice that the engine is not a Porsche engine at all.  Rather, this is a 231 cubic inch Buick engine.  While I hope that this is a Grand National turbo V-6 transplant, I am pretty sure I am not going to get that lucky with this one.  If it was, Porsche would probably just mail me my trophy for the vintage race.

Inside, the former owner spared little expense in making this car a comfortable and safe environment for a top level racing driver like myself.  While I am distressed that they tore out the cup holders, I am certain that I can install one of those beer coolers with the cup holders molded into the top without too much trouble.  As for fire suppression, I am already composing a letter to that fire extinguisher company that had all of those recalls.  I am certain that they would want to enhance their reputation by being a sponsor for my racing endeavors.  Hopefully, they will send me a few of those recalled fire extinguishers for me to duct tape to the floor.  I’ve never had a fire in a car before, so having it ready to use is just more of that loser safety stuff we just don’t need in racing.  Fangio raced without a seatbelt, and he was the best (until Dale Earnhardt arrived on the scene).

While this is an unfinished project, as it still needs an exhaust system, a radiator, wiring, and the all important for racing steering system, I see this as a great opportunity to rub elbows with the cream of the American automotive community.  In anticipation of getting the car shipped to me, I have contacted Simpson Racing Products to order a racing suit with no sleeves.  I have asked them to provide it for free, since they didn’t have one in their catalog, and I have given them the idea for a suit that will undoubtedly be a best seller.  I will also need the readers to help me find a musical horn for the car.  While horns that play Dixie are still easy to find despite their recent negative cultural stigma, I am looking for one that plays the German National Anthem.  Given that this is my first Rennsport Reunion, I really want to fit in with all of the other Porsche lovers, and the horn would be better than offering cheap snacks from Aldi.

I’ll also need a pit crew, so I am hoping a few of our loyal readers will volunteer.  We will need a tall reader for the NASCAR style gas can I’ll be bringing, and another tall one to clean the windshield so I can clearly see the road to victory.  I haven’t asked yet, but I am sure that Jesse and Josh will be all in on this wickedly awesome plan, and provide a Barn Finds sponsorship that will cover the tab for pizza, beer, and some of those delicious smoked turkey legs that are always offered at events of this caliber.

Who’s ready to load up and go?  We’ve got less than eleven months before racing glory is ours!