Friday, March 29, 2013

Transport to Santa Fe 356 West Coast Holiday



356 Club West Coast Holiday from Wednesday, October 9th through Sunday, October 13th in beautiful Santa Fe. The event is book ended by the Santa Fe Concorso the last weekend of September and the Albuquerque International balloon Fiesta the same week as the holiday. Come early and stay late! 

For those of you who are not comfortable driving the whole distance from San Diego to Santa Fe we are offering a transportation service; we still have a couple spaces available for your Porsches. That way you can fly into Santa Fe  and just enjoy the driving tours, mountain drives and everything that Santa Fe has to offer. 

Contact us and register as soon as possible to reserve your spot for the transport. Spaces are on a first come first serve basis! Call us at the shop (858) 586-7771 or Wayne Baker's  Cell directly (619) 743-1356 or email us to waynebaker@earthlink.net waynebaker@earthlink.net. Thank you and looking forward to spending the West Coast Holidays with you! 


Club Registration on the official website: http://www.westcoastholiday.org/

Wednesday, March 27, 2013

How cute! 1960 Coupe Outlaw @ Personalized Autohaus

Mike has been working on the restoration of the '60 Coupe himself, which was originally fjord green. 
Very nice project by Michael Mead; owner of Torrey Pines Collision Center at 11633 Sorrento Valley Rd. 1C San Diego CA 92121 Call (858) 350-0397 or e-mail torreypinescollisioncenter@hotmail.com  





Detailing goes all the way around body - see under grill  and dashboard as well

Monday, March 25, 2013

La Jolla Concours D'Elegance - 2013

Friends and Car Enthusiasts:  the Bakers and Personalized Autohaus will be representing a red 1958 Porsche Convertible D at the La Jolla Concours this year. It is always a fun filled event so come out on Sunday April 7th and enjoy the sun, beautiful location of La Jolla cove, and of course all the historic vehicles being presented.
Tickets are $35 in advance or $40 at the gate. La Jolla Motor Classic is free.  See pictures below of previous taken at previous events.
 
For more Information go to: 




 

Wayne and Nancy Baker getting 3rd place in its category with the 1906 Model T  in 2010

Thursday, March 21, 2013

"Junkyard Dog" by Jeff Allison published in Vintage Motorsport Mar/Apr 2013

I've been fortunate to witness two of Porsche's more unlikely and most stunning performances in endurance racing - both at the Sebring 12 Hours. The first was the amazing 1-2 finish of the pesky little Type 718 RS 60s in 1960 (VM, 12.2 Mar/Apr 2012). The second was the win of Wayne Baker, Jim Mullen and Kees Nierop in a 934 at the 1983 12 Hours.
    Despite a record starting field of 84 cars, the quality of the 1983 entry wasn't top-notch as cars anticipated for IMSA's new Grand Touring Prototype GTP category hadn't materialized. The field was filled with the smaller cars of the GTO and GTU classes, so perhaps 1983 was to be the year of the underdog and the unexpected.
    Enter the 934 of Wayne Baker. This was no ordinary Porsche as its story will reveal. It began when Bob Garretson, driving for Dick Barbour Racing, crashed a 935/77 chassis at Le Mans in 1978. The crashed chassis was discarded and replaced with a new 935/79 chassis (009 0030) and new and salvaged parts were combined to build a new car. Dubbed the "Made in Mountain View, California by Garretson Enterprises" car, it was 2nd overall and won the IMSA GTX class as a 935 at the 1979 Le Mans 24Hours.
   Garretson bought the car from Barbour and raced it in 1980, converting it to K3 specs after the Daytona opener. As a 935 K3, the Garretson Enterprises car won the 1981 World Endurance Drivers' Championship and Porsche Team Cup. By now, the car had earned the nickname "Warhorse 935" In 1982, it was relegated to a rent-a-racer, and Wayne Baker bought it in the fall of 1982.
   Baker converted it to 934 specifications, including a 600hp 3.2 liter single turbo engine, to compete in IMSA's GTO class. In Betty Jo Turner's article, "Unexpected Victory: Sebring 1983" in Porsche Panorama (May 2008), Baker explained, "I was looking for reliability. We refined Porsche's development only in the sense that we turned the intercooler around, developed our own header and waste gate system, using the big K36 turbo which wasn't known to be great on throttle response but had been exceptionally reliable."


   Baker's first race with 0030 was the Daytona 24 Hours  in 1983, finishing 9th overall and  4th in GTO. Next was Sebring with Baker, Mullen and Nierop - all had experience at Sebring. Mullen, writing in MotorSport, described the car as "... a junkyard dog among pedigreed greyhounds, garishly painted in school bus yellow with sponsors' names often in press-on lettering." Gene Felton's Camaro qualified fastest in GTO and 0030 qualified over five seconds slower in 14th. Hardly the stuff of legends, but stay with me.

   At race end, many of the faster GTP cars had fallen short. Amazingly, a GTO car, the Racing Beat Mazda RX-7, had led hours nine and 10 until sidelined by suspension problems. See, 1983 was shaping up to be the year of the underdog and the unexpected. By the 11th hour, 0030 was a solid 3rd place when suddenly the leading Bayside Disposal 935 and 2nd-place GRID-Plaza S1-Ford Cosworth retired. Baker abruptly assumed the lead with around 20 minutes to go. He recalled, "I had a car that was ill-handling and low on fuel, I was lowering the boost, driving at half throttle, trying to keep the times where the crew wanted them..."  Baker's crew wouldn't let him pit.Unbelievably, he didn't know he was now 1st overall, and the crew kept him in the dark until after the checkered flag. Baker ran just 11 laps (of 231) in 1st overall, crossing the finish line 94.802 sec ahead of the fast-closing (7sec a lap) Bob Akin Motorsports 935.
   After the race, the crew found the right side suspension had collapsed and the left side fell down as 0030 was pushed into the truck - obviously the cause of the ill handling. It had been an exciting race with eight different leaders and 23 lead changes - both records at the time. It was the first time a GTO-class car was 1st overall in an IMSA competition. It was a race some have called one of the greatest upsets in endurance racing.
   Baker went on to secure the 1983 GTO championship with 0030, winning at Sebring, Road Atlanta, Riverside International Speedway and the Charlotte Motor Speedway. In late 1983, the car was converted back to a 935 K3, running in 1984 as a 935. Baker sold the car to Chet Vincentz in late 1984, who reconfigured it back to a 934 and raced it in GTO with Electrodyne sponsorship from 1985 through 1987.
   Several sources indicate the old warhorse of many guises and lives ran 72 races from 1978 through 1987, winning two major international races, two major championships and numerous class wins in probably as many as 70,000 racing miles. I'd say  the well-traveled car more than earned the nickname "Junkyard Dog!"



Special thanks to Jeff Allison at Vintage Motorsport see www.vintagemotorsport.com
All material and photos are credited to Jeff Allison and Vintage Motorsport
     

Tuesday, March 19, 2013

Wayne Baker Racing at Willow Springs

Wayne and two of his race customers Mel and George had a great weekend racing at Willow Springs International Raceway; the same weekend as the 30th anniversary of Wayne Baker's 1983 12Hours of Sebring win. Mel finished first in his class (driving No.54) and George finished second in qualifying race (driving No.76).
Wayne Baker Racing provides vintage Porsche race support, transport and mentoring. Call Wayne Baker for more information (619) 743-1356 or e-mail waynebaker@earthlink.net

Lined up and ready for the track  - in front of Wayne Baker racing's rig
Mel in the 904 No.33

  Nice representation of Wayne Baker Racing
George and Mel relaxing between rounds...
Traffic jam @ Willow....
George leading at horseshoe (90 degree wraparound turn)
Mel is ahead at turn 9 in his class

Mel finished first in his class! (in glasses on the right)

Tuesday, March 12, 2013

Weekend drives with Wayne Baker

Wayne Baker and couple other 356 enthusiasts, including Jean N. from Sweden,  have joined over the weekend to drive out from San Diego to Julian, CA. They had a great time and also seen some snow on the ground.
Always fun to have a few friends join together for a fun drive! Below - from left to right:
'58 Speedster, '58 Convertible D,  '57 356 coupe, '63 red coupe
 

 Speedster climbing up the mountain... here hitting a wet spot


To repair, service or tune up your early Porsche give us a call (858) 586-7771 and visit our website www.personalizedautohaus.com

Wednesday, March 6, 2013

Rebirth of a '58 Speedster

Personalized Autohaus has helped bring a 1958 Porsche Speedster back to life after she has been sitting in the garage for the past 10 years. Our valued customer Jim C. has been dreaming about driving this beautiful Speedster again...now he has to relearn how to drive her after all these years. It's not that tough when you have a beauty like that!
These are some of the photos taken when the car was on the tow truck on the way to our shop, inside the shop and the car running again. All it needed to be heavily worked on were the breaks. We also rebuilt the fuel pump, dual stage master cylinder among others. She is in top condition to be a daily driver! Customer is very excited getting it out on the road!


On the tow truck on the way to the shop...

 
The Speedster up on the hoist at Personalized Autohaus 
Proud Owners:  Jim C. and his wife Marie

Speedster is at home again - enjoying the California sunshine 










If you have an early Porsche project running or not on your hands we would welcome the opportunity to give you a free estimate. Talk with experts give us a call at (858) 586-7771 or e-mail waynebaker@earthlink.net  http://www.personalizedautohaus.com 

Tuesday, March 5, 2013

All-Porsche Swap Meet 2013

Continuing the story line of the previous post of the Lit Meet...
Wayne and Tom woke up early the next day and arrived by 7am and stood in the long line to get in at the Swap Meet in Anaheim. While standing there we were watching Porsches drive by to get into the parking area. We were browsing unique parts and items displayed for sale but it was also fun to see and reconnect with old Porsche friends even from the east coast and Europe as well. Wayne found various electric parts needed and a Pre A original tool kit. Wayne and Tom spent several hours looking at cars displayed, a few of them were up for sale. We look forward to next year's event!

 Trying to take a good look at the swap meet and Porsches on display
 Waiting around in line to get in early morning
 Just enough light at a 24H race
 Wayne raced against No.86 in 1985 in IMSA
 Porsche Diesel Tractor
 Wayne with a fellow vintage racer Bata Mataja
 This was a good place to try to sell your car since interest was high
 Wayne and Tom posing with the countless Porsches displayed
Wayne with Gordon Maltby, editor or Porsche 356 Registry

Monday, March 4, 2013

All-Porsche Lit Meet 2013

Wayne Baker has been gone for the past 3 years racing Sebring the first weekend in March so due to the schedule conflict he couldn't attend the yearly gathering. This year Wayne decided with his friend Tom Harbourne, who owns a 1963 356 Porsche coupe, to go up to the All-Porsche Lit and Swap Meet. For Tom it was a new experience, since he has never been to a literature or swap meet before.
Wayne and  Tom left from San Diego at 4am in the morning and arrived at Hilton Los Angeles Airport and by 7 am were attending the Lit Meet. Literature was original Porsche and Volkswagen posters, books, small parts for early cars, model cars, toys etc.
Wayne and Tom really enjoyed the event and reconnected with old friends. Wayne also found some rare Porsche items.


Thousands of enthusiasts gathered at the Lit Meet

Stanley Gold Off-road Rally Racer with Susann Miller on the right author of Porsche Book 1983-84




Miscellaneous buyers and sellers of wheels etc.
Tom from Northern California with a friend selling parts
Fred - longtime '67 911S racer
Specialist of brighter dash lights
Celebrity spotting: Jerry Seinfeld
Early antennas for sale
See our next post about the Swap Meet that was organized to be on the next day....