R Gruppe
06-08-2012, 08:23 PM
#16
The meeting of Cris and Freeman led to the formation of RGruppe and it was a California group with Northern and Southern members. Over time people from outside California joined and now there are active chapters in the NE, NW, SE, TX, Europe, MidWest, and members around the Pacific Rim in addition to the original SoCal and NorCal.
06-08-2012, 09:13 PM
#17
No, I am a member and I live in NJ. There are a few of us here in the Northeast. I have the sports purpose manual in PDF. Email me at minoclan@verizon.net and I will send it to you.
To recap the genisis of R Gruppe, I doubt I'd met anyone with more of an interest in the '68 911R than Cris Huergas circa 1980. This was long, long, long, long before anyone cared in the least about the SWB 911s. They were just old cars. (That my first 911, a '68 hacked into a wannabe S is what I scrounged up when I was 18 in 1980 should make that point clear.)
Anyway, Cris had a '72 T having just sold his 914 earlier in 1980. That's when we met (see above). He'd also met someone who'd shortly after become my good friend--Rodney Chew, who was a recent college grad who'd had a 912 for his commuter car. Real Porsche and Datsun 510/Z enthusiast.
Around '89, after I'd moved to Phoenix to finish college/open the first shop and returned to go to law school, I get a call one morning from Cris about a '69 S down the street from him sitting there as what we'd now call a "barn find." He had his '74 Carrera with a 3.0, and couldn't justify the $4K the owner wanted for the car. I passed, but he eventually bought it. Even though it was a '69, he had 911R plans. My cousin (who now does the 910/907 stuff) was still at Cal, and he was doing a '73 1/2 T-into-an-RS (the chassis listed below that's going to take all the mechanicals from Ed's "Ruby") so Cris had him do a quickie on the paint and body. (We were also doing slope and widebody conversions at that time, in addition to my 911 engine/transaxle business as time allowed going to school again.) All the little details started getting added to that car. What I remember most was the absolutely horrid bump steer, as the car was a good 1.5" too low. But all he was going for was "the look."
So the '69 S gets done, and somewhere along the way is where Cris met Freeman. I'd done Rodney's '72 T-into-RS at that point (real RS engine, the front bumper from Peter Gregg's first RS, and lots of other NOS parts), and whatever there was in early 911 enthusiasm was also tied in with Jim at EASY in Emeryville. There were a few other guys up here who I never knew very well, but since my '68 by that point was hacked more into an IROC/930/RSR/934, I never really hung out with what was becoming R Gruppe.
Anyway, Cris had a '72 T having just sold his 914 earlier in 1980. That's when we met (see above). He'd also met someone who'd shortly after become my good friend--Rodney Chew, who was a recent college grad who'd had a 912 for his commuter car. Real Porsche and Datsun 510/Z enthusiast.
Around '89, after I'd moved to Phoenix to finish college/open the first shop and returned to go to law school, I get a call one morning from Cris about a '69 S down the street from him sitting there as what we'd now call a "barn find." He had his '74 Carrera with a 3.0, and couldn't justify the $4K the owner wanted for the car. I passed, but he eventually bought it. Even though it was a '69, he had 911R plans. My cousin (who now does the 910/907 stuff) was still at Cal, and he was doing a '73 1/2 T-into-an-RS (the chassis listed below that's going to take all the mechanicals from Ed's "Ruby") so Cris had him do a quickie on the paint and body. (We were also doing slope and widebody conversions at that time, in addition to my 911 engine/transaxle business as time allowed going to school again.) All the little details started getting added to that car. What I remember most was the absolutely horrid bump steer, as the car was a good 1.5" too low. But all he was going for was "the look."
So the '69 S gets done, and somewhere along the way is where Cris met Freeman. I'd done Rodney's '72 T-into-RS at that point (real RS engine, the front bumper from Peter Gregg's first RS, and lots of other NOS parts), and whatever there was in early 911 enthusiasm was also tied in with Jim at EASY in Emeryville. There were a few other guys up here who I never knew very well, but since my '68 by that point was hacked more into an IROC/930/RSR/934, I never really hung out with what was becoming R Gruppe.
Jonathan, minoclan gave you a contact for the Sports Purpose manual and Ken gave you some of the pre-RGruppe history.
The meeting of Cris and Freeman led to the formation of RGruppe and it was a California group with Northern and Southern members. Over time people from outside California joined and now there are active chapters in the NE, NW, SE, TX, Europe, MidWest, and members around the Pacific Rim in addition to the original SoCal and NorCal.
The meeting of Cris and Freeman led to the formation of RGruppe and it was a California group with Northern and Southern members. Over time people from outside California joined and now there are active chapters in the NE, NW, SE, TX, Europe, MidWest, and members around the Pacific Rim in addition to the original SoCal and NorCal.
06-09-2012, 01:30 AM
#20
Drifting
I built my first 911 hot rod in 1984. 72E with a 2.7 MFI motor and ST rear flares, still around in OH somewhere. Great car not many being done back then, ran the **** out of it doing PCA DE's on most of the midwestern tracks. Had a few since then but that was a special car.
Phil
Phil
06-09-2012, 12:48 PM
#21
Race Car
Minoclan, as always, I love to see that 70. When we received the car in Charleston, (IIRC) it was original paint and I presume it still is. We went to a lot of trouble to match the front spoiler and duck tail in quality and "patina" when added. Your original front valence now lives on another very 'hot' '70 and has a tasteful 'mouth'(think miata) cut into it with a custom fiberglass duct protruding thru the bulkhead and venting an oil cooler mounted where the passenger side battery box used to be.
I love the direction you've taken with that special little car. It was the first R-gruppe(hug) car in SC at the time.
I love the direction you've taken with that special little car. It was the first R-gruppe(hug) car in SC at the time.
06-09-2012, 05:38 PM
#22
Rennlist Member
Whalebird, this car is my favorite. If you notice I have now put on steel Rs flares, and obviously had to repaint. I also had a system designed where I can interchange any of three deck lids in about one minute. I use the High wing for the track, the original deckled and the rs decklid around town, depending on my mood. The car has a complete coil over suspension with all of the right bracing. I just bought very high quality RS repro seats for the car. You would love it even more now. It handles like nothing else. BAck to R Gruppe!
02-03-2020, 12:32 AM
#24
Instructor
Bringing back an old thread, as Cris Huergas (founder of R Gruppe) passed away a few weeks ago. His funeral & memorial service was this past Saturday, and he received quite the “21 gun salute” from his Porsche friends. I posted a video on YouTube, he will certainly be missed as he was a class act:
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TheTorch (02-11-2020)
02-04-2020, 09:04 AM
#25
Rennlist Member
02-06-2020, 11:59 PM
#26
Rennlist Member
02-07-2020, 07:13 PM
#27
Rennlist Member
Bringing back an old thread, as Cris Huergas (founder of R Gruppe) passed away a few weeks ago. His funeral & memorial service was this past Saturday, and he received quite the “21 gun salute” from his Porsche friends. I posted a video on YouTube, he will certainly be missed as he was a class act:
https://youtu.be/ihz0oXRIhd8
https://youtu.be/ihz0oXRIhd8
