What is the Blue Pearl?

Updated (Sept 2018)

The Blue Pearl – a beautiful 1972 2.4 Porsche 911T.

In stunning metallic blue, this matching numbers, 2.4 litre, Porsche 911T is a UK delivered, right hand drive, OilKlapper car with it’s original interior of black and tan with Recaro Sports beige leatherette and matching beige corduroy inserts and carpets – now with matching Coco Mats too.

She sold at auction on 28.09.2018

As well as that super spec, and as with all UK delivered cars of the time, the Blue Pearl came with electric front windows, an electric sun-roof, a rear windscreen wiper and also has a period Blaupunkt radio and cassette player (not currently in operation use – it’s resting).

This Porsche 911T is, as you may have guessed, named due to its distinctive original colour of Porsche Blue Metallic 324. This was a ‘Porsche Special Order’ colour in 1972  – the actual Porsche paint code is 8410/8484 Metallic Blue

 

What are the Blue Pearl’s Stats?

  • Registered: 1972
  • Engine: 2341cc
  • Chassis no: 9112500855 with matching engine number.
  • VRN: LGW 15K
  • Odometer: 119,000 (correct at time of writing)
  • Transmission: 5 Speed Manual
  • Colour: Metallic Blue (324)
  • Interior: Tan/Black

How Many UK RHD Porsche 911T’s were Produced and Delivered in 1972?

A genuine matching-numbers UK delivered car soon to be partnered with it’s genuine Porsche Certificate of Authenticity (applied for at time of writing) and an extensive restoration file our ’72 911T is hardly the rarest Porsche in the world – but it is the real deal.

Believed to be one of 106 RHD 1972 911T cars imported into the UK out of a total of 1963 T’s produced worldwide it is also believed to be one of only 19 left on the Porsche GB register.

Chassis #0855 was completed at Stuttgart, Zuffenhausen in December 1971 (actual date unknown), it was delivered in to AFN Isleworth on February 21st 1972.

The Blue Pearl’s first and proud owner, (clearly a man of impeccable taste) Mr Adrian Collins Mulvaney of Clarks Green, Studley, registered the car via AFN Isleworth on March 8th 1972.

It was originally presented with Metallic Blue (324) body colour and tan leatherette and corduroy interior, this scheme is still current on the car today.

What Does Oil Klapper (or Oel Klappe) Actually Mean?

The German phrase ‘Oel Klappe’ means Oil Flap. Simple as that.

It has, over the years, become ‘Oilklapper’ or ‘OilFlapper’ to the English speaking classic Porsche community.

An ‘OilKlapper’ 911 is named with reference to the small number of 911’s that were manufacturered in 1972 with an extra flap concealing the oil filler behind the drivers side door (RHD cars).

The History of the 1971/1972 Oel Klappe cars

In 1972, with the E-series cars, Porsche tested a new weight distribution model. As most of the weight of 911’s is notoriously in the engine placement ie. mounted over the rear axle, when driven on the limit and particularly in inexperienced hands, older 911’s were prone to oversteer and spinning out of control.

To try and remedy this handling issue Porsche moved the oil tank, and it’s 8.5 litres of oil, from behind the rear right wheel to in front of it. This changed the weight distribution from outside the wheelbase to inside and therefore improved the handling.

However, moving the oil tank also meant relocating the external oil filler flap to behind the drivers side door [on RHD models]. This additional external filler fap was often confused with the ‘fuel’ filler flap by certain ill-informed petrol attendants, with disastrous consequences!

Therefore, in 1973 Porsche moved the oil tank back to it’s original position outside the wheelbase.

These days, E-Series cars built between August 1971 and July 1972 are especially sort after due to this quirky Oel Klappe design that improved handling and the repositioning of the oil filler flap and the limited run of one year.

Image below shows the iconic 911 profile including the Blue Pearl’s rare Oel Klappe.

What is the Blue Pearl’s History?

As we’ve mentioned earlier, our 1972 2.4 Porsche 911T Oel Klappe car was originally delivered to AFN Porsche of Isleworth in Feb of ’72 being sold to its first owner in March of the same year.

The full list of the blue Pearls owners is below.

  1. 08/03/72 – 19/05/84 – Mr Adrian C Mulvaney of Studley
  2. 19/05/84 – 26/09/84 – Studley Garage & Eng. Works Ltd
  3. 26/09/84 – 14/04/87 – RJW Plastics Ltd, B’ham
  4. 14/04/87 – 01/07/89 – Mr Alan D Mee of Loughborough
  5. 01/07/89 – 26/06/91 – Charles Keisner Ltd, London
  6. 26/06/91 – 02/03/00 – Miss Karin Compton of Chelmsford
  7. 02/03/00 – 01/06/00 – Mr Andrew Cole of Rochford
  8. 01/06/00 – 16/04/01 – Mrs Helen Cole of Rochford
  9. 16/04/01 – 26/03/06 – Mr David Timms of Banbury
  10. 26/03/06 – 30/10/07 – Mr M Pacey of Export 56 Ltd
  11. 30/10/07 – 28/09/18 – Mr Nick Pauley of Milton Keynes
  12. 29/09/18 – Present – Mr ? of ? – Any info here appreciated 🙂

As detailed above the Blue Pearl has had a grand total of 10 previous owners (if you count the change of hands between connected parties, spouses and the short term ownership of independent dealers) before I acquired the car in 2007 from independent Classic Porsche dealers Export 56.

The car has invoices & MOT’s dating back to 2004. Invoices include from marque specialists Francis Tuthill’s workshop in 2006 and Autofarm in 2010. However, since 2006 all restoration and most major work has been carried out by or supervised by Export 56.

The images below are of the car before I bought her

Has the Blue Pearl ever been restored?

Prior to us purchasing the car there was little by way of history, provenance or documentation for the car. However, the car was in it’s original state with little by way of upgrades or general unsavory fettling. Yet, it was still just a ‘T’ and therefore in 2006 not seen as a particularly interesting or valuable classic. Plus it had close to 100,000 miles on the clock.

I officially bought the car from Mr Pacey of Export 56 for the very reasonable fee of £22,250 back in 2007, with a view to spending a similar amount on doing the car up over the coming months and years.

I had a number of realistic options in terms of moving forward once I’d acquired the car.

I could hotrod it, create an RSR spec race car, I could use it as a donor car and upgrade and modernise it Magnus Walker ‘Outlaw’ stylee or I could restore it sympathetically back to it’s original glory – even if it was just a ‘911T’ and not the more favourable ‘911S’ or ‘911E’ even.

I took the latter option. The images below show some of the restoration process at independent classic Porsche specialists Export 56.

Breifly, restoration included a full bare metal respray, various new body panels including two new front wings, new indicator units, deco trims and bumper pads. New carpet set, new front trunk carpet velour and rear seat belts.

The engine bay was cleaned and repainted. The carbs were removed, stripped, refit, rebuilt and balanced. The alternator reconditioned and the air filter removed and replaced. New seals and gaskets were supplied and fit where possible/accessible. New sound deadening pad was also fitted at the time.

Is the Blue Pearl for sale?

The Blue Pearl was not on the open market for 12 years. She sold at auction on 28.09.2018

If you are looking for a good early Porsche 911 this buyers guide is a good place to start written for the Porsche Club of GB by Peter Morgan.

Or here on Octane’s Early 911 buyers guide – you may recognise the car in the pictures!

Her trusty support vehicle, my handsome 1971 Volkswagen Type 2 pick up, acquired from South Africa in 2016, went hand in hand with the Blue Pearl and it was a sad day when they parted ways.

Has the Blue Pearl Ever Been Featured in Magazines?

Well, funny you should ask.

The Blue Pearl has appeared on numerous websites and in magazines, most notably in print on the front cover of Issue 77 of Octane (November 2009) for an article titled “Porsche 911 – can you still find a pre-1973 bargain” – squint at the bottom right hand corner of the cover 🙂

It subsequently became the star of the Octane online Buyers guide for Early Porsche 911’s

The online Classic Car marketplace website ‘TradeClassics.com’ also used an image of the Blue Pearl in an article detailing the history of the 911 titled ‘Porsche 911 – The Devil’s Own Sportscar – Part 1 the Porsche 911T’

Most recently, there is a very good photo journal of the Blue Pearl by Paul Kitchen of the Machine Club – check out Paul’s pictures of the Blue Pearl – These shots show also how and where the Blue Pearl has lived for the last few years.

In terms of photography, the Blue Pearl is an incredibly pretty little car that has been snapped by some very accomplished classic car photographers some of which are displayed below.

Every time I get in the Blue Pearl and head out there is usually a photo or two on Instagram when I get back and I have been known to take a few of my own! Check out out instagram account,

The Early 911 Model history/Timeline

The car industry model year (MY) runs from August 1 to 31 July, so our 1972 2.4 Porsche 911T model could have been produced between 1 August 1971 and 31 July 1972.

1965 MY: 130bhp, 2-litre 911 Coupé (LHD) introduced Sept ’64 with 90bhp 912 in April ’65. UK RHD cars from May 1965.

1967 MY: 160bhp 911S, from Dec ’66, new Targa drophead choice for all models.

1968 MY: Mid-range 130bhp 911L and base 110bhp 911T introduced. 4-speed Sportomatic transmission option.

1969 MY: 140bhp 911E replaces 911L. 911S uprated to 170bhp. Wheelbase all models increased 67mm to 2271mm. 912 production ends.

1970 MY: Engine size increased to 2195cc (2.2). Range becomes 125bhp 911T, 155bhp 911E and 180bhp 911S.

1972 MY: Engine increased to 2341cc (2.4), range becomes 130bhp 911T, 165bhp 911E and 190bhp 911S.

1973 MY: 210bhp 2687cc (‘2.7’) Carrera RS limited edition.

Taken from the ‘Early 911 Buyers Guide’ on the PCGB website.

Where can you see the Blue Pearl in person?

When she’s on the road, out of the comfort of Auto Classica’s Classic Car Storage that is, our sweet little 1972 2.4 Porsche 911T can be seen at various local and national events. We’ve been a regular fixture at Bicester Heritage on their quarterly Sunday Scrambles as well as the annual Flywheel.

We’re regular visitors to Goodwood Revival; a great day out and we’ll be back there mostly every other year. Locally we can be seen driving all over the A and B roads of the home counties and at various local car shows.

The Blue Pearl is quite popular on the socials too with some high profile instagram accounts showing images of the my little 911T.