ONCE IN A LIFETIME FIND

Once in a Lifetime Find

How Mike Sapena went about restoring an incredibly rare Porsche 935 K3 from scratch.

“At first I didn’t believe it was a genuine, factory-built 935. There are many replicas, so I brushed it off and didn’t pursue it. Two weeks later, my friend called and asked whether I’d gone to see it. He insisted it was genuine, and told me I might even recognise it. That finally convinced me to make the trip.”

It’s mind blowing that “barn finds” like this even exist. The idea that there are legendary race cars sitting abandoned somewhere in storage just waiting for someone to wipe away the dust seems hard to believe, which is why Mike Sapena almost never bothered to investigate what turned out to be a genuine Kremer 935 K3 sitting just an hour’s drive from his home.

“When I arrived, I was immediately warned that the car was in terrible condition. I was told that if I wanted a major project, it would be perfect - but if I expected a running car that needed minor repairs, this definitely wouldn’t be for me.

We went into this large, abandoned warehouse. As the lights slowly flickered on, I could see the dim silhouette of a Porsche 935 at the far end. I have to admit, I was getting excited. I still didn’t know whether it was genuine but even from a distance, the car looked incredibly cool.

As we approached, the full extent of its condition became apparent. The car was badly disassembled and in serious disrepair. The gentleman taking care of it pointed toward a pile of boxes and said, “the engine is in there.” Pieces of bodywork were stuffed inside the cockpit, all four tires were flat, and practically every section of the body appeared to be hanging on by a thread.

I began inspecting. Almost immediately I started recognising the special details Porsche put into these cars to reduce weight. After examining the chassis and serial number closely, I could confirm that it was, in fact, a genuine 935. Even more remarkably, it was a Kremer K3. At that moment, I knew without question that I was going to buy it.”

Just days earlier, Mike Sapena had been barely aware of this car’s existence. Now it was sitting on his driveway, committing him to years of restoration work ahead. Sometimes a project car is so special that you don’t really get to decide when it’s going to enter your life, you just have to be ready to figure it out when it does. So how does one go about restoring a 935 K3?

“After a few days, it became apparent that the car needed complete restoration. I called in a buddy to help strip it down. Neither of us had ever worked on a 935 before, and we certainly didn’t know all of its detailed components, but we decided to take it apart and carefully organise every piece.

"As the lights slowly flickered on, I could see the dim silhouette of a Porsche 935 at the far end. I have to admit, I was getting excited."

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"After a few days, it became apparent that the car needed complete restoration. I called in a buddy to help strip it down. Neither of us had ever worked on a 935 before..."

Once reduced to a bare chassis, I began my internet research. I came across a company called Gunnar Racing in Florida. They had just completed a restoration on the Interscope 935 K3 and had published an abundance of before-and-after photographs. I was astounded by the quality of their work and immediately realised this was not a project I could complete myself.

I called the owner, Kevin Jeannette, and I told him about my 935. He asked me which one, because he knew them all. He said ‘Oh, that’s Fitz’s car! Chassis 11, I raced against it for many years.’ - he even offered to buy it, which I politely declined.

After a lengthy discussion, I asked him to take care of the bodywork, paint, brakes, and suspension. I was going to handle the engine and transmission. The entire project took approximately 3 years.

Originally we had planned to refinish the car in its Sachs livery, as it had run in its IMSA days. One day, I received a phone call from Kevin. He’d received a CD of photos from a photographer in Germany who shot it in its original Jäegermeister livery, when it was a Kremer team car. After several discussions, we agreed it should return to its original orange.

I’ve owned it 22 years now, and I can honestly say when I open the garage, I still get the same excitement I felt when I saw it for the first time. I believe it’s the best looking 911 ever produced.”