This is the article in Excellence Issue 207
"the Gift" Pics below.
Coauthors: Joe Campbell and John Brasfield
Sometimes in life the deck is stacked in your favor. Other times the planets are perfectly aligned. Oftentimes, circumstances that happen in life occur, to quote Bob Dylan, by “a simple twist of fate”.
In the case of Warren Hood of Hattiesburg MS, fate and hard work have intertwined to make the past a new reality. In 1973, while a student at Georgia Tech, Warren had saved up enough money from working in the family sawmill to purchase his dream car, a Sepia Brown 1973 911T Targa. The car served Warren well and soon thereafter, fate intervened and he met his lovely bride Carolyn on a blind date. They married a year later in April of ‘74 and drove off to honeymoon in the 911. It would be their only car for the first years of their marriage.
Carolyn drove an MG in high school and soon became accustomed to driving the 911. However, Carolyn and the 911 had a curious relationship. Warren recalled, “She could drive the car, but would still grind the gears”. Carolyn even once melted the passenger’s door pocket with hot curlers, upsetting Warren tremendously. She also never really fancied the color of the car but never told Warren for fear of hurting his feelings.
By 1979 the days of the 911 were numbered. The Hood family was growing and had relocated to Hattiesburg MS. The 911 had become unreliable, leaving Warren stranded on several occasions. Nobody could repair the car in Hattiesburg and the unreliability, oil leaks and a new baby led to the car being sold in favor of a Buick Skylark. Warren never forgot his brown 911...
Shortly thereafter the brown 911 sitting on the dealer lot in Jackson caught the eye of a young Porsche mechanic, Howard Freeman. Howard had recently dropped his goal of being a physician in favor of German automotive mechanics and bought it as his first 911. Howard had cut his teeth working on 356's and 914's on the side, but still had to scrape, beg and borrow enough money together to buy the car.
Howard rebuilt the motor in the brown 911 and drove it daily. He recalls remembering the melted door pocket and wondering, “What the Hell happened to that door pocket?”. Unfortunately, in 1981 the domestic imperative struck once again. Its practicality once again became an issue and it was sold. The brown 911 drove off to a future unknown. Howard, like Warren, never forgot his brown 911....
Decades came and went.
Warren Hood became one of the most successful businessmen in Mississippi. Dr. Joe Campbell who was a friend of Warren’s had an old 911 and often heard stories about his brown one; how it was once their only car, how Carolyn ground the gears, how it broke down at the most inopportune times and how he would love to still have it.
Everyone assumed the car had disappeared long ago.
Howard became the chief mechanic at the local Jackson dealership and was factory trained on the early cars. Eventually, he opened his own shop and became widely regarded as Mississippi’s Porsche “high priest”. With moods akin to the surly mechanic in Seinfield, his work is in such demand that he picks the projects and clients he wants to work on, not the other way around.
Joe met Howard through the “car guy” circle in 2004 as he searched for a decent mechanic for his 911 after his local one died. In a 2010 conversation with Howard, Joe mentioned his friend Warren Hood and stories of his brown 911. Howard told Joe that he knew that particular 911and that he had bought the car from Warren’s cousins’ consignment lot in Jackson in 1981.
Howard stated that he had no idea of what happened to the car, but he remembered its’ serial number.
Joe looked at Howard and asked, “who in the world knows serial numbers of cars after 30 years?”
Howard simply stated with a savant slur, “me.”
Joe wrote down the serial number and called Carolyn to ask her if she would be interested in trying to locate the car.
Carolyn was flabbergasted.
She had heard Warren tell stories of his “ugly brown” 911 almost weekly since he had sold it. She now wondered if it still existed and what would it take to get it back?
That evening, Joe searched the Internet and surprisingly found the car via a technical blog. Joe contacted the owner about buying it but received a resounding “no!”.
Carolyn was notified that the car had survived but wasn’t for sale. The true value of the car meant nothing to Carolyn, she just wanted it back. No price was too high…Joe was given orders to get it, period!
Joe asked the owner to “Just give me a number.” Not taking Joe seriously, he told him “$20,000 and a boob job for my wife” which translated to $27,000. Twenty-four hours later the car was delivered to Howard’s shop in Mississippi. (It is uncertain if his wife received the promised cosmetic enhancements.)
Howard was intrigued by the prospect of restoring his old brown 911 but their initial reunion was a vast disappointment. The brown narrow body was now a red fiberglass wide body car. The beautiful tan interior was replaced with a black standard SC interior and the sport seats were long gone. The 2.4 CIS engine had been replaced with an early T carbureted motor and the early 915 transmission was replaced with a 901 unit. Even the standard 15x6 polished Fuchs were replaced with 16" black Fuchs. The car was seemingly structurally sound, but a total restoration was in order.
Carolyn wanted to present the car to Warren for their anniversary but Joe convinced her to wait until it could be made to look like it did when she met Warren. Carolyn remarked to Joe “It was a hideous color but I guess you are right, we will give it to him Christmas.”
Within days, Howard had fully disassembled it and he and his team began the process of stripping many layers of paint, body filler and fiberglass. It took six months to fully repair and rebuild the tub and chassis and prepare it for paint.
With painting starting in October, it became clear that Carolyn’s expectation of a Christmas delivery was not to be.
“I want to give it to him anyway!” she explained, “I can’t keep it a secret anymore!” Joe explained that it was impossible as parts of the car were spread all over the country, being built or rebuilt. Disappointed but understanding the magnitude of the project, Carolyn stated “Well, it looks like running shoes for Warren’s Christmas!”
Carolyn made it clear though that it had to be ready for their April wedding anniversary.
The deadline was now set in stone.
By the time the car was delivered back to Howard it was mid February, barely six weeks before the anniversary. Not even Howard knew if he could build a 911 that fast.
Restoring his old car would be the most challenging task of his career.
During the time the car was out of sight, Howard was involved in the stages of parts acquisition. The Targa top was sent off for recovering, a new interior in the original tan color with remanufactured sport seats was being built, and the gauges were being refurbished. At one point, Warren had commented to Joe that Mustangs regularly outran the original 2.4L car. They decided that the best power plant for the car would be a 2.7L based on a ‘76 7R replacement case that Howard had “in stock.”
After working nonstop for weeks, Howard called in his protégé John Brasfield, a Tuscaloosa attorney with an affinity for Porsches and yoga, to help him meet the deadline. The scene now resembled a redneck Porsche version of “Orange County Choppers,” with Howard cast as “know it all” Senior and John playing temperamental Junior.
However, even with the extra help, nothing went smoothly.
It became obvious that much of the bright work thought to have suitable patina was not going to look proper with the new paint so new parts were ordered. Rubber trim wouldn’t fit properly and every new piece of rubber and chrome had to be custom fitted. Surround trim for the rear glass had to be ordered from Germany. It arrived at the dealer but one of the pieces was missing and had to be ordered again from Germany.
At two weekends before the deadline loomed the dreaded day of the rear Targa glass installation which would make or break the project. John had read many horror stories about Targa glass placement and Howard in all his years had only done it once. With the wiring done and rubber lubricated, John assumed the role as the rope puller and Howard and Joe on the outside doing the pushing.
One slip or miscalculation would crack the glass and there was no time to procure another one, so the whole project hinged on this one task. With sweat rolling off everyone’s heads, the glass went in on the first try.
It became evident that having the car drivable for the party was going to be impossible, so Joe had the dubious task of making the call to Carolyn to explain that the car would be there, but not running. Carolyn had planned a large gathering at the Hood’s plantation outside of Hattiesburg and had already sent out over a hundred invitations bearing the image of a brown 911.
She took the news with a moment of silence then finally said, “I know ya’ll have done your best, we will still have a great time!”
Carolyn though had her own worries.
Over the year she had sent hundreds of text messages to Joe and had to sneak off to have secret conversations. Keeping a project of this magnitude a secret from a very intelligent spouse was difficult enough, but funding it secretly had proven to be very tricky indeed.
There were multiple close calls of tipping Warren off to the surprise, but the closest was when the Porsche Certificate of Authenticity, which was in Warren’s name but with Joe’s address, was accidently delivered to the Hood house. Joe realizing what might have happened alerted Carolyn, who immediately pilfered through Warren’s briefcase and was caught by him in the process. (No one messes with Warren’s briefcase, not even Carolyn!) Fortunately the housekeeper intercepted the document, which was used to match paint and interior colors.
One of the hardest equations was figuring out how to get Warren to the party. Carolyn concocted a bizarre plan that tricked Warren into coming there for a business drink with a client on the evening of his anniversary. An unhappy Warren hastily arrived in his Maserati and was immediately surprised by the gathering of his friends.
Then Carolyn appeared and read a poem.
I have been amazed_
Restoring a car for some men is like a woman giving birth to a child.
There is a passion for precision and perfection that is enough to drive you wild.
I wanted this car to be a gift to you last year,
But Joe, Eric and Howard said that would never do.
The car had to be in perfect condition so this project was done in “Hood Time.”
But now it’s finally through.
From Warren’s youth, this car had been an obsession.
He worked and saved until it was in his possession.
And when he met me, in my mind his car wasn’t so slick.
Why there was no place to put your electric rollers,
And it was hard to kiss over the gear stick!
And if there is one thing I have learned
After all these married years,
If you are going to drive Warren’s car
DO NOT GRIND THE GEARS!”
The brown Targa was uncovered much to Warren’s complete surprise.
On that evening, the couple was photographed in their honeymoon ride exactly 37 years later.
Howard returned the car to Meridian to install the fuel system and the air conditioning. Six months later the car was still not complete and Carolyn worried that Howard had fallen in love with his old flame.
However, right before Thanksgiving Howard finally delivered the final product.
He also delivered the final bill…. which would have more than paid for a new 911 Turbo.
According to Warren though, it was worth every penny; and every turn of his ignition key of the prodigal 911 is just a simple twist of fate.
