Perhaps the craziest restoration story of the year is happening at TRIEBWERK.
Searching for clues, barn finds, basement children, forgotten treasures, unexpected resurrections – stories of this weight have been read by everyone interested in historic automobiles. But does that also apply to the following anecdote from the “Lost Place”, a forgotten building complex in the far north of Germany? Spread over several halls that had not been entered for years, a Wuppertal car dealer created a veritable treasure trove of vintage vehicles, engines, individual parts and all sorts of small stuff there. When the man finally passed away, he left his son a handwritten register that recorded the estimated value of all his treasured, decaying valuables with the precision of a fully qualified merchant. The son had known since childhood that he would also find a 1966 Porsche Carrera 6 (Type 906) in the old man’s collection-but where exactly was the rare prototype, which is so highly valued today, to be found in the midst of the maze of precious metals?
Eike Dürrhagen, a distant relative of the heir, contacted Christian Wilms. The co-founder of TRIEBWERK in Schwelm and passionate technology tinkerer suspected the answer even before his first foray into the “lost place.” “I assumed that the rare sports car would be in pieces in the property – so I set out to find it together with the heir,” he reports. In fact, it was a hard-to-find restoration project that had begun. It was largely completed and extensively documented. One challenge remained: the elaborate restoration had not been completed; the plastic parts of the bodywork, for example, had been discarded unpainted, and the same was true of the other trades. Only the lattice tube frame on which the racing sports car launched in 1966 was based was in mint top condition – an ideal foundation on which to build further. Christian Wilms traveled to the “Lost Place” a few more times to look for more parts – and found them each time: Once he caught a wheel suspension that had been replicated years ago, the next time the even more valuable original. But it was also clear that the puzzle alone would not be enough-a professional, i.e. comprehensive, refurbishment of a 55-year-old contemporary witness to the Porsche brand requires above all time, personnel-and budget.
The latter was not available indefinitely to the descendant of the extraordinary collector. A concept had to be developed in order to be able to finance the restoration. The solution: First of all, the components of the family estate that were easier to utilize were to be brought to the man (or woman) in order to raise the necessary funds. In this respect, too, Christian Wilms with TRIEBWERK provided the necessary help and network – always with the intention of being able to deal with the fascinating racing coupé from the sixties in the event of success. In the meantime, the project has been launched at the Schwelm site, the inventory has been taken, and the first concrete construction phases will begin shortly. Swen Hensel is acting as project manager. Together with him, Christian Wilms is looking forward to exciting months: “At first, I felt like I was in one of those TV shows with Tine Wittler, but it has already been more than worth it to have rummaged through the automotive past!”
More to come soon in this space – to be continued!
Responsible for content and photography: Carsten Krome, netzwerkeins GmbH
