A new skin for your classic car.
A perfect fit to the body of the car is a key requirement for Porsche quality, and this new skin has to fit like a tailor-made suit – it's a matter of millimetres.
The experts at Porsche Classic have been able to achieve substantial improvements in the production quality of wings and side panels for Porsche 911 models built between 1965 and 1994. This also means that it is now possible to reissue the thin sheet metal panels for the legendary 911 Carrera RS 2.7. In total, just 1,580 of these vehicles were manufactured in 1972 and 1973.
Porsche Classic redefined every single production step to improve the parts' dimensional accuracy and facilitate the fitment to the vehicle. Original series production tools were optimised, and new testing devices were introduced to ensure dimensional accuracy. Every process step – including the time-consuming manual surface finishing work – is documented to ensure consistent quality. Of course, this is attested by the Porsche Trademark.
Deep-drawing
It takes power and precision to form a spare body part from a piece of sheet metal. Even the tools used by the experts are impressive. They are 2.4-metres long, 1.6-metres wide, 1.7-metres high and weigh 14 tonnes. The sheet metal is clamped with a die and hold-down device and deep-drawn over the punch. Up to 800 tonnes of pressure is applied to achieve the basic shape.
Cutting
A targeted cut is not enough to separate the excess material from the basic form. For the exact trimming alone, the tool has to be repositioned four times and the wing section clamped in again for punching out. Three further work steps are necessary for the subsequent bending and stamping. Ten process steps, including deep-drawing, are required to get a finished wing section that can be processed further.
Welding
This is where the hot phase of wing production begins. Experts use a special device to precisely position the front and main parts of the wing next to each other. During the subsequent oxy-fuel welding step, the temperature reaches 3,200 degrees Celsius – this inseparably binds the pieces with a stable weld seam.
Rough buffing of the welded seam
Any unevenness in the welded seam must be removed. A sander is used to roughly buff the seam to achieve a flat and homogeneous surface.
Weld finish
It takes a steady hand and a keen eye to complete the work on the weld. On the seam, the wing is flattened out with special tools and processed with the body planer to achieve a uniform, if not yet paintable, surface.
Surface finishing
Sanding, sanding and more sanding – the surface finishing requires a lot of patience and four to five sanding processes with increasingly finer sandpaper to achieve a surface that is ready for painting.
Production of add-on parts
While the wing is being shaped, experts are already manufacturing the required add-on parts. Depending on the variant, a single wing can be made up of over 60 separate parts. The most important include the headlight casing, the tank shell, the tank cap and the filler plate.
Assembly
To complete the wing, important add-on parts are now fitted using original equipment and tools. To craft and install them, the experts rely on traditional methods requiring special skills: spot welding, metal active gas welding (MAG) and brazing – depending on the add-on part, the specialists use the appropriate technology. After fitting the tank shell and attaching the Porsche trademark – an unmistakable indicator: "garantiert original" ("guaranteed original") and "Made in Germany" – the exclusive manual work is complete. The complete wing is now ready to be fitted to the vehicle.
Cutting the standard part
In order to achieve the typical RS flare at the rear, a thin sheet of metal has to be cut into the shape of the standard side part – entirely by hand. To do this, the specialists position the side part in the tool, mark the cut surfaces and draw the outlines using a template. The marked area is cut off with a body saw.
Positioning
In preparation for tacking, the thin sheet metal part and the flared wheel arch are precisely positioned in the tool and secured using magnets.
Tacking the side panel and flared wheel arch
The secured parts are tacked using a tungsten inert gas (TIF) welder. The welder starts by setting the tacking points at larger intervals and fills in the gaps until the distance between the tacks is just five to seven millimetres. Both parts are then continuously welded together. The new side panel is then measured with millimetre precision using special tools.
Finish
This is where the highly intricate part of production begins. The thin sheet metal does not forgive any mistakes, so the welding seam has to be processed by hand. Intuition is a must. First, experts carefully flatten out the seam with special tools and work it carefully with a bodyshell planer. Several sanding processes follow in increasingly finer stages in order to achieve a paintable surface.
Stamp
Manufacturing a side panel from thin sheet metal for the 911 Carrera RS 2.7 is expert work that deserves a seal of quality. The Porsche trademark is affixed to the inside of the light mount and is the unmistakable indicator of quality: "garantiert original" ("guaranteed original") and "Made in Germany".
