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THE EARLS COURT 901<br />
The 2-litre flat six wasn’t<br />
without its early issues.<br />
Sorjo’s car used to coke up<br />
after a few days of city<br />
driving, but ran well after a<br />
good thrashing!<br />
4000rpm, then the pipes would kick in, the tacho would<br />
go twang and in no time at all we’d be up to about<br />
6500rpm. The early engines had pretty wild cams in<br />
them, and coupled with the tuned exhaust, they would<br />
just go. It was like a turbo kicked in, and you’d have to be<br />
prepared to back off before you bounced the limiter.’<br />
The same heater boxes are still on the car today<br />
because subsequently it languished for a long time in<br />
mothballs when Sorjo and his boys took up karting. ‘The<br />
Porsche took a back seat and it sat in the garage in dry<br />
storage,’ he said, ‘though we took a look at it sometimes.<br />
It was one of the family, really; I was never interested in<br />
any other car. It was laid up for 20 years.’ Aira was equally<br />
faithful: ‘Absolutely. When it left our place to come here I<br />
took so many pictures, and the last time I saw it heading<br />
demanding Porsche delete the zero in the middle of its<br />
model numbers – and hence the subsequent 911<br />
designation. To be crystal clear, the 901 isn’t a prototype,<br />
it is a pukka production car.<br />
Meanwhile, Ruf had acquired 901 chassis 27 in Los<br />
Angeles, and was keen to see the original interior of<br />
Sorjo’s car since it was so close in date to his own. ‘While<br />
Alois was restoring his car he picked our name out of Bob<br />
Fleming’s list of early 911s and asked if he could take<br />
some pictures of the interior, door hinges and the petrol<br />
filler flap, nitty-gritty things like that.’ The first 2- to 300<br />
cars were assembled on a hand-to-mouth basis and<br />
there are plenty of minor detail differences, which<br />
intrigued Alois all the more. Said Sorjo, ‘the following year<br />
Alois came over to look at our car because he wanted to<br />
“<br />
Peugeot demanded Porsche delete the zero in<br />
the middle of its model numbers, hence 911<br />
”<br />
off round the corner I really had tears in my eyes. I had<br />
tears in my eyes again when I saw it in Ruf’s workshop.’<br />
Though his reputation as a top quality restorer of<br />
classic Porsches is growing apace, Alois Ruf is best know<br />
for his steroidal treatment of modern Zuffenhausen<br />
products. But if proof were needed of his commitment to<br />
the 911’s legacy he also owns two 901s, chassis 27 and<br />
37. Nevertheless, it’s a long way from Canada to Bavaria,<br />
so how did Sorjo’s 901 find its way there? Long story<br />
short. Back in the late ’80s Sorjo advertised the car for<br />
sale in the Porsche Club of America magazine, but ‘it ran<br />
for a couple of months and nobody wanted to know,’ he<br />
said. ‘Everybody wanted the newest model, more<br />
performance, wider tyres.’ However, Early 911 registrar<br />
Bob Fleming spotted the ad and asked Sorjo for relevant<br />
details. Wisconsin-based Fleming runs a register listing<br />
232 of the early cars, along with owners’ credentials, and<br />
needed to bone up on 901 chassis 24. It was one of 82<br />
units that left the factory in ’64/’65 with a 901 chassis<br />
tag before Peugeot threw its toys out of the pram,<br />
check up on more things for his own 901, and he said,<br />
“well, we have to get your car to Germany to restore it!”’<br />
Alois was as good as his word. When preparing to ship<br />
another 911 from North America, he offered to share its<br />
container with Sorjo’s 901. There was no timeline on the<br />
restoration of chassis 24, which suited both parties. It<br />
was fitted in around other more pressing jobs and, three<br />
years later, here is the pristine result.<br />
Taking the pragmatic view, Sorjo and Aira plan to leave<br />
their 901 at Pfaffenhausen and simply use it as their<br />
European vacation car. Times change, and it’s<br />
questionable they’ll be doing the kinds of speeds they<br />
clocked in the ’60s: ‘It must have averaged close to<br />
100mph for the first 29,000 miles of its life because there<br />
just weren’t any speed limits, and you could drive it the<br />
way it was meant to be driven, so it was great fun.’<br />
Great fun to drive, and just as appealing to look at in<br />
its gleaming white coachwork; a delight for Porsche<br />
purists and historians alike. A canny trend spotter back in<br />
’64, Sorjo’s still one lucky guy. PW<br />
CONTACT:<br />
RUF Automobile GmbH<br />
Mindelheimer Straße 21<br />
D-87772 Pfaffenhausen<br />
Germany<br />
Tel: 0049 (0)82 65 911 911<br />
Email: info@ruf-automobile.de<br />
911 & PORSCHE WORLD<br />
45