|
Tour De Forge
A number of 912 owners joined the 356
California Alta Region for their March 6 breakfast, drive and a tour
of Chuck Forge's shops, garages and laboratories. Chuck is an
electrical engineer, races Porsches and has been the owner of John Von
Nuemann's 356SL since 1957.
Electronics Lab
|
Chuck on the left is an engineer's engineer.
|
|
Chuck's 4 bay garage is above a complete
electronics lab. This bench is just one of several centers.
|
Race Cars
Chuck is also a car racer.
|
John Von Nuemann bought this car from Max Hoffman in
1952. It was one of three that were imported at the end of 1951, all
coupes. Von Nuemann raced his new coupe but the car was not
competitive. He cut the top off the car, turning it into a stripped
down roadster that he called a 'speedster' and then achieved racing
success with the car. Von Nuemann claims to have pressured Max Hoffman
to import a low cost roadster. From that effort came the America
Roadster and the Speedster.
Here we see the 356SL with Chuck's Fuhrmann engined Carrera coupe
reflected in it's paint. Chuck restored the 356SL 'speedster' in 1981
and frequently races it at historic car
races.
|
|
The Carrera label on the '56 silver coupe shows this
car to be a rare example.
|
|
The characteristic fan shroud of a Fuhrmann 4 cam
engine. This engine was the mainstay of Porsche racing for a number of
years. It was very powerful for its displacement and is one of the
most complex 4 cylinder engines ever designed.
|
|
F Production 914-6 SCCA race car.
|
|
Convertibles including a '62 Super 90 Roadster.
|
|
'58 E Production Speedster. This one is a bit
tired compared to the others.
|
The Shop
|
A distributor test machine in the foreground.
|
|
Gas and electric welding, a band saw and materials.
|
|
Projects in every corner.
|
|
Even spilling on to the floor
|
|
Shelves I
|
|
Shelves II
|
|
Shelves III
|
Visitor Cars
In addition to Chuck's cars, there were some interesting cars brought
by visitors. Unfortunately I know very little about them.
|
A pre-A 356. Note the bent windshield.
|
|
A Convertible D
|
|
1970 914-6. Although the sign in the top of the
windshield says "24 HEURES DU MANNS" this car probably did not race at
Sarthe, but did race in Europe and at the 1998 Monterrey Historics.
|
|
Eye candy.
|
Last modified: Sat, 06 Mar 2004
Links
|
