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1.Pedro of Pedro's Racks hand builds them. He is in San Diego. He told me he is retiring from the business. He does in fact make the rack that is on the Beetle in an earlier post. I like the simple, old school design of it.
2. The rack weighs a quarter of Yakima claws, bars and cage that I had on the car before. Wrestling with that heavy set up,trying to mount/in mount it, was a pain.
3. It sits lower and hugs the roof line. The rack is designed for the earlier 911s but the roof dimensions, and specifically the distance between the rain gutters front and back, seems to have remained more or less the same.
4. The rack has 6 places where it touches the car as opposed to 4 on the previous set up. Only two claws as opposed to 4 on the other.
5. Because it is light, it is simple to get on and off. The claws are secured by a beefy wing nut which I then safety wire down to deter the greasy fingered Chicago thieves.
6. When I powdercoat it, it will blend a little better with the car.
7. At a highway speed of 80/85 mph, it is just as noisy as my previous set up.
8. I like the similarity style-wise to the original rack from the 60's that people mounted on their 356/911s.
If you believe it to be form over function, you must think the Thule/Yakima set up is aesthetically pleasing. I disagree.
Here are a few shots with one hockey bag and sticks. Weight of the gear is roughly 50 pounds. I have had 100 pounds of gear up there and the rack was stable at highway speeds.
It would look better if the side rails were canted in more it would better match the lines of the sides of the car, although it would reduce the carrying capacity a little. But it is a practical solution for applications like the OP's.
12-05-2015, 01:47 PM
New Roof Rack
