Chassis 12322 – Wayne Potter's notes with respect to the destroyed America Roadster continues the story based on conversations with Karl Brocken (who had a financial interest in Ed Trego’s Imported Motor Cars).  Very quickly after 12312 was destroyed, Trego's dealership ordered a second America Roadster.  This car was raced by Brocken extensively for approximately a year and it shows up at an Elkhart Lake race in September 1952.  During this period of time, the original 1500 Super P40037 was replaced with the engine from the destroyed car 12312.  Whether the replacement was due to original engine failure or to enhance 12322's resale value is unknown.  According to Wayne Potter's notes, Brocken's roadster was then sold to Walter Kiekhefer in early 1954.  Tergo mechanic, Glenn Carroll vividly remembers delivering the roadster to Kiekhefer.  “I left Hoopeston at 7am and stopped about 9 or 10 the first night in Tucumari, New Mexico.  Hit a buzzard in New Mexico.  The next day I stopped before San Francisco.  I called Trego and told him the oil sump was cracked and the tires were worn out.  He said, ‘Well we’ll make it right.”

When Bill Perrone purchased 12322 from the estate of Ed Launderville, Bill heard of the Kiekhefer name and assumed that the car was driven in the race by Carl Kiekhaefer (sic) the owner of the company famous for Mercury Outboard Motors.  The assumption was natural since Carl Kiekhaefer was a well-known NASCAR racer at the time and had driven in the 1953 Carrera Panamericana.  The name confusion (Wally Kiekhefer vs. Carl Kiekhaefer ) had caused a discontinuity in the ownership trail.

At face value, it seems as if there are two inconsistencies in this scenario.  First, Karl Brocken’s memo in the Potter notes says, “Both of our cars were a light-Gray-Tan color.”  This fits for 12312 which was Elfinbein or Ivory.  But according to the records, 12322 was delivered as Azurblau, a sky blue.  In fact, the Brocken #68 car shown at Elkhart Lake in black and white pictures, is light in color.  Before declaring this a fatal flaw in the story, a review of 50s era magazines and other early photographs show that the America Roadster racecars were repainted on a very frequent basis.  In fact, Lloyd Barton, a Trego mechanic, recalled, “the cars were painted, those were our race colors.”  The other inconsistency is that the Panorama 1981 data shows 12312 and 12322 as being delivered to the first customer(s) in December 1952 but the Elkhart Lake race was September 1952.  But, similar inconsistencies exist for the “sold to” date for all the cars on the list.  It should be pointed out that the same data shows the cars were delivered to Hoffman in June and July 1952.

Assuming this set of initial conditions and confusion is understandable, following the history of 12322 from that point is straightforward.  In the 1954 Pebble Beach Cup, Kiekhefer finished third but the car incurred race damage to the right side when hit by John Von Neumann in his brakeless 500-11.  Ed Launderville purchased the roadster at Pebble Beach, immediately completed repair work on the car body and was probably planning a more comprehensive restoration.  The roadster was partially disassembled and parts stored in boxes but Launderville died before a reassembly and repaint was completed.  Since the mid 1950s, chassis number 12322 remained in storage waiting for its chance to see the open road again.  This happened in 2000 when the current owner, Gerald Barnes, purchased the car and turned it over to Willhoit Auto Restorations for a complete refurbishment.

To support the restoration effort, Willhoit consulted with John Paterek, owner of chassis number 12317 - a very original AR only five chassis numbers earlier.  Thousands of photographs was taken and a detailed comparison library built.  Willhoit was amazed at the number of subtle differences he found between the cars despite the fact that the bodies were delivered to Porsche within a week of each other.  For example, the engine lid on 12322 was considerably smaller than that on the Paterek car and just the opposite should be expected considering the larger lid used on later ARs.  Also the 12322 tonneau cover is a three-piece affair supported in a completely different manner than other roadsters.  Another interesting comparison Willhoit made was to evaluate the America Roadster in the context of other Porsche cars from the same time period.  Here again the differences were remarkable and it appears that completely different crews at Gläser were building aluminum ARs and steel Cabriolets at the same time.  Furthermore, the Gläser craftsmanship does not seem to be of same quality as that on bodies coming out of Reutter.  Brett Johnson's recent experience restoring a 1951 Gläser Cabriolet supports this viewpoint.

Despite the fact that parts where removed from the car forty-six years earlier, almost all of the original pieces were available for the 12322 restoration effort.  In a few cases, successful searches were completed for original replacement parts showing a bit less wear and tear on them.  The internals of the 1500 Super engine were put in top-notch condition but the external cosmetics are just as it came from Porsche.  The body has been repainted in the original Azurblau (Sky Blue) color and the original gray vinyl interior colors reinstalled.  All of this effort was put on display at the Porsche Parade in Boise this summer where it took People's Choice, First in Class and Second in Division.

Other Chassis Numbers:
10455     10465     10469     12312     12317     12322     12323     12324
12336     12337     12345     12353     12361     12362     12363     12364     12371