After the dentist, we went to see my dad’s buddy, Dermot. Dermot was a gas man who ran a company out near Cork airport, importing German hi fi gear which we sold in our music shops. Dermot, the airport and Jury’s Hotel were my top three things about Cork.

When we arrived at Dermot’s HQ and warehouse, it was obvious I was not enjoying my first day as a teenager. He promptly took us through to the back and opened up a crate that had just come in. Inside were some Formula 1 look-a-like cars that were actually FM stereo radios. One of those got the party started. Then it was tea and biccies upstairs looking out over the airport and the (admittedly not many) planes coming in and out. The finishing touch was a bit of business with Jack, followed by a spot of lunch at Jury’s. My birthday had gone from dead loss to dead good in a matter of seconds. 29 years later, I remember it vividly.

While I was riding the emotional teenage rollercoaster down in Cork, another Porsche fan was having his own ups and downs in the French Alps. Deep into the 1981 Monte Carlo rally, Jean-Luc Thérier (below) was battling to keep his Alméras Frères 911 SC ahead of a pack including Bjorn Waldegaard and Ari Vatanen in Mk 2 Ford Escorts, the always-entertaining former European champion Jochi Kleint in the Ascona, Mikkola and Mouton in their Quattros (first WRC outing for them), Ragnotti in the R5 Turbo and Fréquelin and Henri Toivonen in the hard-charging Sunbeams. Also racing was a certain Herr Barth in a Porsche 924.

Jean-Luc’s first WRC event had been in 1973, the year of his first French Rally Championship, driving an Alpine A110. On the Monte, J-L took his first stage win and finished fourth, behind Mikkola in the Escort. The Alpines had been a force to be reckoned with: 6 of the top ten were A110s, with Porsche man Bob Wollek finishing 14th in another. Rear engined, rear wheel drive set set the scene for Thérier’s year: the erstwhile 110 powering him to victory in Portugal, Greece and San Remo.

In 1975 and ‘76, Jean-Luc ran the Monte in A310 Alpines and retired both times. 1977 and ‘78 brought a Toyota drive, and retirement from every event he started. ‘79 brought him back to the Monte in a Golf (if only everything in life was as reliable), but again retirement beckoned. The dawn of a new decade was a chance to wipe the slate clean. For the Tour de Corse, Jean Luc and the faithful Michael Vial jumped in a Porsche: an SC built by the Alméras brothers in Montpellier. They won the event.

Life was pretty sweet for Jean-Luc when he rolled into Monaco on January 23rd, 1981 and did the recce in a car he knew could win. He was immediately on the pace and, by the last day held a useful lead over Ragnotti’s Renault.

That final night, some spectators pushed a load of snow into a corner close to the end of a stage. Thérier’s SC, first on the road, slid wide, damaging the nearside rear corner (seen above en route to the scene of the accident). Jean’s lead was gone, and the 911 was out. Dead good to dead loss in a matter of seconds. Note the face in service afterwards:

1982 was a good year for JLT: a second French championship, again in a Renault and another Monte 911 drive, this time finishing third. The 911 was in good company: behind Rohrl’s Ascona 400, which had led commandingly all event and the Quattro of Mikkola, which had fought back on the last few slippery stages of an otherwise dry event to snatch second.

And so, Jean Luc, we salute you. Porsche life would be so much poorer without the following Super 8 footage of your exciting Esso 911 SC charging through the Alps on the way to what might have been, and so very nearly was.

Part 2 is SUPERB but watch part 1 first.

This ‘78 SC, apparently quite an original Australian example, was bought by the brewers of VB Raw beer in 2009 and transformed into a back-to-basics driving machine by former advertising creative, now visual artist and designer Paul Begg. Here’s a link to a time-lapse montage of the build process.

Perhaps transformed isn’t quite the right word: remodelled might be more appropriate, as the overhaul seems strictly cosmetic. The look isn’t to my absolute taste, but there are some nice touches and it’s certainly food for thought. The car was given away as a competition prize when finished – new owner Shane Nelson might be having some fun with it right about now.

As beer advert eye candy, it’s better than a darts-playing bear, but falls short of a slinky northern bird in an ice cream van. As a talking point – well, it got our attention, right? It certainly has VB Raw on my list of drinks to try, if I ever see a bottle.

Made in smooth enamel over polished nickel-plated brass, these badges are of a quality that compliments the Porsche 911s made from 1974 to 1989. This is the fourth edition of badges we have done; note the orange wheel nuts to set them apart from the rest. They are perfect for your Porsche or daily driver; all my cars have one, including the Prius.

Four colours of enamel (orange, red, black and white) are set against classic nickel to set your 911 off a treat. The badges have a two-post rear fixing and come with threaded fitting posts, locknuts and nyloc nuts with washers to enable them to be fitted and then bolted up to the grille. Fitting is an easy DIY job and takes ten minutes at most.

Go here to buy your Porsche 911 Grille Badge.

One of the days I’ll bring back the IB shop. We have more merchandise on the way so watch this space!

Thanks to the ungalvanised chassis, many of the cars well used from an early age have caught the rust bug and – thanks to historically low values – been scrapped. Others manufactured with the so-called “narrow body” shells (cars without the SC rear arches) have been used to rebuild pre-’73 Porsches that have long been more desirable and worth more money.

Times have changed however. Cannibalisation of the impact-bumpered 911S has taken so many examples off the roads that the car is now a rare specimen. And a car in good condition is a very unique car indeed.

Consider the RHD example seen here then: spotted at Tuthill Porsche in Wardington today for some routine servicing. Far from being a tired and tatty pop top, this car is one of the best examples in the UK, whether right or left hand-drive. Where 911S Targas with a valid MOT once changed hands for under £5K, this car should be valued at £25-30K for insurance purposes.

What a difference a few years can make in the world of classic cars. How long will it take the 2.5 Tiptronic Boxster to go the same way?

This was not ideal, but there was little any of us could so about it. 2010 will be different.

The year ahead promises to be pretty busy as far as gatherings go. We have the possibility of an early Spring track day to kick us off, then the Le Mans Bugatti and Spa track days, the trip to Classic Le Mans, and the Silverstone Classic and Porsche Picnic events, which we will attend en masse. There will be other smaller events too no doubt, morning meets such as the Husborne Crawley Porsche Autojumble, not to mention our regional meets every few weeks.

If you have an Impact Bumper Porsche 911 and are keen to meet up with some fellow owners and discover a few like-minded souls, clear a space in the diary for an event or two. It’s time well spent towards getting maximum return from your pride and joy. Full details of all upcoming events are on the forum!

Hi everyone.

I am giving the site a freshen-up over the next few weeks so watch this space. The new front end will make it much easier to add content and manage the shop etc. I’ll update the forum as and when more news is available.

Porsche fan and all round wonderguy Lewis North is giving me a hand with the logos as he is such a top chap. Lewis’ web design company is MethodandClass.com. He is the go-to guy for new websites.

Cheers all,

John Glynn (Bumpermeister)

Note: you can link to the Impact Bumpers.com Classic 911 forum here.