GREEN MACHINE

Green Machine

Ollie Palmer Smith’s Porsche shows us how to keep it simple and go overboard all at once.

It’s easy to go overboard when starting with a blank slate, and not always for the better. Anyone in the custom car world knows this, but what happens when you put that kind of time and unhinged attention to detail to a ground-up rebuild, with a dedication to keeping the spirit of a classic Porsche intact? Well, Oliver Palmer-Smith’s 1969 911T happens, and it’s a pretty extraordinary thing.

“I didn’t want to take away from the original look of the car, I just wanted to make it cleaner, removing all the bits you don’t need so the details stand out more.” Ollie says, after craning his neck to maneuver his Conda Green lightweight. Why? Well, that would be the lack of door mirrors, two of the many items which found their way into the bin during the car’s restoration process.

Not that there was much car to begin with, because Ollie bought this originally-white car sight unseen from a seller in Compton, California, back in 2018. “I was told it was rust free, and supposedly just needed putting back together after the previous owner ran out of money,” he recalls.

Yeah, not quite, because the photos Ollie showed me of the teardown revealed a 911-shaped mass full of body filler, old newspapers and…not much else.

“Almost nothing original could be reused, and when it arrived I had to make the decision. Do I sell it as is, or rebuild it?” Ollie chose the latter, and once the body had been stripped, blasted and repaired, an estimated 80% of the seam-welded metalwork was brand new.

It’s not just steel, either, with the goal being to lose as many kilograms as possible in the process. That meant a carbon fibre bonnet and bootlid, a fibreglass front bumper and lightweight glass. With the semi-stripped interior, Kevlar bucket seats and ‘shaved’ bits and pieces around the chassis, this 2.3-litre, 8,000rpm screamer weighs just 880kg (1,940lb).

That’s wet, with a tank of fuel and a chromoly half roll cage. It ought to be tied down for fear of blowing away in a breeze.

The car is full of touches that would keep you up at night just piecing them together. It may be gutted inside, but the doorcards and dashboard are trimmed in woven leather.

The CAE tower shifter isn’t period correct - neither are the Schroth harnesses - but the 911R steering boss and Momo Prototipo wheel bridge that gap. The Porsche 908 metal throttle pedal is another vintage nod.

Under the skin, this car is far removed from what it once was with a 911 GT3-style subframe and rose-jointed swingarms in place of the original torsion bars.

KW Competition coilover suspension paired to a mix of 935 rear hardware and RSR anti-roll bars all round keep it composed on England’s leafy country lanes, while 930 Turbo brake calipers all round have been shaved down to fit behind the polished 15-inch Fuchs wheels. The period Avon CR6ZZ tyres look fantastic, too.

For all of the 911T’s intricacies, the real artistry comes courtesy of the engine bay. Again, the 237hp, 2.3-litre build may feature modern touches such as a Motec ECU, fuel injection and twin spark plugs, but it’s all wrapped in amber fibreglass - just like the flat 12 in a 917. Hidden away is the magnesium 915 gearbox with a limited-slip differential.

“I didn’t want to take away from the original look of the car, I just wanted to make it cleaner, removing all the bits you don’t need so the details stand out more.”

“It’s blown past every expectation. The gearbox and shifter took getting used to, but that was a small price for the noise and the handling. It might look like a show car, but it was built to be driven properly.”

The intake trumpets are of particular note, a unique set commissioned from surfboard and classic BMW builder Paul Lefevre in Costa Mesa, California. They’re so thin you can practically see through them.

“It’s blown past every expectation,” Ollie beams. “The gearbox and shifter took getting used to, but that was a small price for the noise and the handling. It might look like a show car, but it was built to be driven properly.”

“With how bad the car was originally, I couldn’t ruin it any more than it already was. I’ll leave it a while before diving into another big project, and I’ll steer clear of anything advertised as ‘rust free’…”