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Re: You dont see one of these every day

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2018 7:12 pm
by Alan Hall
When I had an RS-60 in the 70's, the parts manager at Vasek Polak gave me one that they had in the parts department to see if it would work w/ my RS-60, it really wouldn't work w/the RS-60 windshield but it went with the car in the late 80's.

Re: You dont see one of these every day

Posted: Tue Mar 20, 2018 9:20 pm
by Rainer Cooney
Ned, While I have no doubt what you have is original it is not a top for a 550 Spyder which has a rear bow with wire clips that hook into the rear deck lid leather strap end cap. I had one very similar to yours last year that I was to make a rear bow for to fit a 550 Spyder. Upon inspection I found that , while the construction technique is the same the parts and bends are completely different. Turns out it was a top for an RS60 and I declined the request for me to modify it to fit the 550. Shown in my first photo is the 550 top fit to the car with two other top frames on the bench in the background. Second photo shows the top clipped to the chrome strap end at the rear bow.

Re: You dont see one of these every day

Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:25 am
by Ron LaDow
Sebastian Gaeta wrote:
Jules Dielen wrote:lol, yes that was the Piech trick, right? They had to show there was a run of 25 (?) but it did not specify they all had to run at the same time so only a few had a power train.
Jules, similar to what Ferrari is alleged to have done in 1962 with homologating the 250 GTO: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/feat ... exico.html
Jules and Sebastian,
Yep, that was exactly the sort of reference, but my original reference to the 'spare tire' was wrong: It was the 'luggage" rule. And, amazingly, the web does not deliver!
I remember photos from the '70s ('80s?) in R&T of a suitcase plopped in the back of a factory race car to show you could put luggage in there as everyone looking at it tried to suppress a giggle...

Re: You dont see one of these every day

Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:29 am
by Adam Wright
Ron LaDow wrote:
Sebastian Gaeta wrote:
Jules Dielen wrote:lol, yes that was the Piech trick, right? They had to show there was a run of 25 (?) but it did not specify they all had to run at the same time so only a few had a power train.
Jules, similar to what Ferrari is alleged to have done in 1962 with homologating the 250 GTO: https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/feat ... exico.html
Jules and Sebastian,
Yep, that was exactly the sort of reference, but my original reference to the 'spare tire' was wrong: It was the 'luggage" rule. And, amazingly, the web does not deliver!
I remember photos from the '70s ('80s?) in R&T of a suitcase plopped in the back of a factory race car to show you could put luggage in there as everyone looking at it tried to suppress a giggle...
Is that why the 904 has the hatch in the back?

Re: You dont see one of these every day

Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2018 1:11 am
by Ron LaDow
Adam Wright wrote: Is that why the 904 has the hatch in the back?
Pretty sure that was a sop to the rules, and (old fart memory) there was an image of a Ferrari with a suit case crammed in the back somewhat sideways.
You can gripe about Smokey Yunick, and by all accounts of those who had dealings with him, he was as obnoxious as Steve Jobs, but he did nothing other with NASCAR than Porsche did with the FIA:
He was busted for excess fuel capacity: the rules stated -6 fuel hose, nothing in the rules limited the length.

Re: You dont see one of these every day

Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2018 1:52 am
by Alan Hall
The suitcase rule, along with a high windshield rule came with the 1960 season. That is why RS60's had a full framed windshield as well as an FIA suitcase well in the rear. Only problem was, if you put the suitcase in you blocked the engine cooling air path....but the rules didn't say you had to have the suitcase in place, just that it would fit.

Re: You dont see one of these every day

Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2018 7:48 am
by Ned Gorski
Rainer
as soon as adam posted the close up pic showing the rear bow, i became suspicious as to what car this top actually went to. There is no doubt in my mind its porsche. just what one ? i was googling looking for pictures . i wasn't sure if the 550 had a different top for different years or possibly the rear bow was missing but that wouldn't explain the gromits . you mentioned that frames are different is there any way to tell for sure if this is rs60 top ? i searched the internet and can't find a picture of a rs60 with a top, but i did find an original picture showing fastening clips on the fire wall between the seats and the motor that match the gromit locations on the back of my top.

Regards Ned

55 continental Cab

Re: You dont see one of these every day

Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2018 10:36 am
by Bil Brown
Adam.....I see you`ve got an RS 60 parts manual listed on the big auction site..........is the top listed in the manual?

Re: You dont see one of these every day

Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2018 10:47 am
by George Kehler
Find of the decade, Ned !! Well done !!

Re: You dont see one of these every day

Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2018 11:15 am
by Alan Hall
Checked my old RS60 parts manual and the top is neither listed nor shown. I don't recall ever seeing a photo of an RS60 with the top in place, but it was supposed to fasten at the windshield with two latches. The attached photo of my old RS60 shows the clips on the windshield where it would have attached. (the larger bracket welded to the windshield frame was used for a rear view mirror attachment on some races....this car was one of the four factory RS60's and was last run in the 1961 1000km of Nurburgring prior to my getting it).

Re: You dont see one of these every day

Posted: Wed Mar 21, 2018 12:37 pm
by Adam Wright
bil brown wrote:Adam.....I see you`ve got an RS 60 parts manual listed on the big auction site..........is the top listed in the manual?
I have three copies of the spare parts manual and no mention of a top. In fact the body and windshield section covers only two pages. I've found the 550 and RS stuff is sparse with info, except for motor/gearbox, lots of pages there.

Re: You dont see one of these every day

Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 9:07 am
by Ned Gorski
Here is the pic of a rsk with what looks to have rear mounting hardware. It would make sense seeing as a rsk cant use a rear bow because of the head hump.

Re: You dont see one of these every day

Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 11:30 am
by Alan Hall
Ned,
Those bolts at the rear hold the rear body section on, although they undoubtedly could also bolt through grommets on the top, but not sure if they would have been used for that purpose. The top bow was mounted with wing bolts at the rear sides of the cockpit into the frame. I dug through all of the photos I have of my old RS60 and found one which shows the wing bolt. So an RS60 top frame would have bolted into the body with the rear wing bolts and would have clipped to the windshield frame, but I don't know if it would have had a rear bow or if the canvas was somehow held down at the rear.
Alan

Re: You dont see one of these every day

Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 12:40 pm
by Alan Hall
Ned, Took a look at your photos again and I think your top is for either for a 550A or for an RSK. Found a photo in Weitmann's "Porsche Story" that shows, I think, an RSK that has the strap loop that would have been used to strap the front of the top in place using straps like on your top. I suspect these were also included on 550A's. Both RSK's and 550A's had removable rear body sections so could have used the rear body section bolts to match the top grommets. Probably only way to tell which would be the spacing between the bows where the top wing bolted to the body. I don't know the distance, but I seem to recall that the RSK was wider than the 550A.
Alan

Re: You dont see one of these every day

Posted: Thu Mar 22, 2018 1:10 pm
by Alan Hall
Excellence Was Expected also shows a photo of an early RSK with a top and a jack stowed in the car.