One of our customer’s has charged us with the responsibility of completing some preservation work on his special 904.

Road Scholars hosted a restoration tech seminar for the local PCA Club on December 3, 2011.

The goal of the seminar was to explain the specifics of excuting concours restoration work. We used various  restoration projects in the shop to show each critical stage of the restoration process.

It’s our sincere goal to perform the highest caliber of restoration work on significant automobiles and it was a pleasure to host the PCA club for this tech seminar.

Cam Ingram and the Road Scholars Restoration Team were featured in an article in the December 2011 issue of Excellence magazine.  Read an excerpt below:

“Grooming the next generation of craftsmen and enthusiasts is a concern in many hobbies.  Naturally, many wonder who will emerge as the leaders in the vintage Porsche world for the next 20 or 30 years…

“So, who will carry the torch for the next generation?  Cam Ingram, a slight and soft-spoken 35-year-old from the South, might be a good bet.  Why?  He just won at the Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance, a show that’s traditionally been tough on Porsches.  He did so with a 1949 356 Gmünd coupe, a car he and his team restored for a rather special client: HansP-Peter Porsche, son of Ferry Porsche.”

Click here to download the PDF of the article in its entirety.

“Cam Ingram and Kevin Watts are in love with the same lady. And she’s a beauty.

“They get along, though, because this lady is the Porsche automobile – an iconic brand born during the throes of World War II at a time when its region of birth was under the control of one of history’s most blood-thirsty barbarians – Adolph Hitler…

“Ingram and Watts are well versed in all things Porsche. Watts sold them for a dealership in Raleigh before launching Road Scholars, set up to specialize in acquiring and selling Porsches and other classics. ‘I love perfect cars,’ and he considers Porsches to be just that. Ingram began falling in love with Porsches when he accompanied his father, Bob Ingram, retired executive with GlaxoSmithKline, on a trip to Monterrey, Calif., where the 50th anniversary of the car company was being celebrated in 1998…”

Visit the Triangle Business Journal website to read the article in its entirety, or click here to download the PDF.

We were responsible for eight special Porsche’s for three different customers during Rennsport and the Porsche Race Car Classic.

It was by far the best Rennsport and more like a Porsche Festival.

The weekend ended up as an absolutely amazing reunion of cars, drivers and friends.

The phone has been ringing all day from friends and competitors asking about what going on at the shop with the BIG Porsche month of October around the corner….

Well here are the pictures of some the prep work being completed for Rennsport and The Race Car Classic…. It’s almost reminiscent of that famous picture of the Spyders behind Vasek’s shop.

Not surprisingly, there were many minute differences among all the examples that we inspected. With the exceptions being the last batch of cars that were assembled by Tatra. It was certainly worth all the hard work to drink champagne in the winners circle on the 18th hole at Pebble Beach.

See complete list of winners here: Pebble Beach Concours d’Elegance Winners Announced.

If above video won’t load, click here to see Road Scholars co-owner, Cam Ingram, interviewed by Jay Leno about this Gmund Coupe.

Our sincere gratitude and appreciation goes out to Hans Peter Porsche and Rolf Sprenger for this incredible opportunity.

See the Gmund Coupe featured on Jay Leno’s photo gallery:

• photo 1
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About Hans Peter Porsche’s 1949 356/2 Gmund Coupe #45

This rare 1949 356/2 aluminum bodied Porsche Gmund Coupe was one of the first production cars made in Gmu?nd, Austria. It has the distinction of being the 45th Porsche built with chassis number 356/2-045.

The Gmu?nd cars as they are known, truly represent the success story of Porsche. These arcane, yet skillfully built cars from Gmu?nd, represent Dr. Ferdinand Porsche’s first clear statement of purpose for building personal sports cars.”

There was a total production of 52 units built in Gmund, with an additional 11 bodies created later for competition cars.

Chassis 356/2-045  completed and shipped to Scania Vabis in Sweden on July 18, 1950. Porsche would sell a combined 15 Gmu?nds to the truck manufacture Scania Vabis, which was also VW’s importer in Sweden. Chassis 356/2-045 would be apart of the last series of Gmund’s that were assembled at Tatra (Coachbuilder in Vienna) and finished at Porsche Salzburg.

We spent over 2000 hours researching different archives around the world and inspecting seven different Gmund’s in person. It was a very interesting fact finding mission, with many differences found between each model. Indicitive of the limited resources during  the time of production and post war Germany. It become evident during our inspections that the cotton binding that seperated the body from the chassis did not do much to protect the cars from electrolysis over the years.

Distinctive Features

Erwin Komenda displayed his mastery of automotive design with the shaping of the 356/2 coupe. Like most great car designs, it stayed true to its design and did not grow in proportions when built.

The first Porsche’s were hammered out over wooden bucks by craftsmen (Frederick Weber) in the little saw mill in Gmund.

The coupe’s most distinctive feature is its flowing fender lines and partially enclosed rear wheels. Its classic fastback roof line showed traces of the Type 60K10 that was designed for the 1939 Berlin-Rome Race. It has mechanical brakes and is powered by an 1100 cc, 40 horsepower air-cooled engine, with two Solex carburetors.

Original Components

This 1949 Gmund has the following original components:

• chassis #45
• motor #43
• body #35

During the dismantling phase of the restoration, we found the original red paint underneath the hood hinges and behind the door striker plates. We later confirmed in Porsche records that 356/2-045 was indeed painted red from the factory.