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Unloved 1966 Porsche 912 Project

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For some time I’ve been writing about absurdly priced piles of rust with Porsche nameplates. The Porsche craze has cooled so you are beginning to see cars like this one, listed here on craigslist at a more reasonable (or not so crazy) asking price of $14,000. It’s been sitting for 20 years and has just the one rusty bit in the spare tire well. It’s said to be a matching numbers car. This 912 raises several puzzling questions, like why did they take the back windows out?  Where did the turn signals lenses go? The original green paint was very thoroughly covered, so one might hope the respray was done well.

inside

Inside, it looks almost drivable. A good cleaning and carpet would go a long way toward making a decent interior. Perhaps the sagging dash pad could be glued back into place.

floor

There’s some surface rust on the floor but there’s no parking lot showing. On the other 912, you could see more parking lot than floor.

engine

Things look complete under the lid. One has to wonder just what expensive bit went wrong that made someone quit driving this Porsche. Parts are expensive, so even a clutch might have sidelined this 912. The seller has made no attempt to start it. Hopefully the engine is not frozen.

rust

There is just the one rusty bit in the bottom of the spare tire well. Otherwise, the bottom looks pretty solid.

rear

This old Porsche has accumulated its share of dents and abuse. Sadly, it might well be parted out to save an overvalued 911. I would just clean this up and do the necessary mechanical work and as little cosmetic work as possible and enjoy driving it. It would have the Hollywood look; someone who has enough money to own a cool car and doesn’t have to treat it like a treasure. “This old thing? It’s just my daily driver. My other car is an F40” kind of thing. This Porsche does deserve better treatment, of course, and one could spend a lot of money on just body work and paint. Once again, it’s more a matter of what someone is willing to pay than what this 912 is really worth. At this price, it will likely sell quickly once the owner shows it Sunday afternoon. Would you be tempted to haul this home? What would you do with it?

Comments

  1. Avatar dirtyharry

    Already deleted. Maybe it was made of gold bullion by a drug dealer, trying to launder money in the US. Apparently, any shell of Porsche is worth money today. This “fad” will likely end and everyone will jump to something else.

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    • Avatar Dolphin Member

      I’m tempted to agree, but I think the cooling of Porsche prices is a pause and not a permanent shift to some other brand. Other than Ferrari, there really isn’t another brand with the kind of decades-long racing and engineering history that Porsche has. And Ferrari values are even higher than Porsche values now, so unless you go for some of the small brands there’s nowhere else to go for racing history, engineering excellence, and status other than P-cars. BMW might have been a contender, but it’s not in the same historical class as those two brands even if race prepared BMWs can run with race prepared Porsches nowadays.

      I think Porsche prices were at a market top and are pulling back, like what happened years ago with Austin Healey, which started to climb again in value after the pullback.

      This stuff is interesting for the hobby, but I have no interest in vintage cars from these status brands because status doesn’t necessarily mean that a car will drive well on the road. And to me these old short wheelbase 912s don’t. So good luck to the person who buys this and any other old P car. They look terrific, but your on-the-road experience might vary.

      Like 0
      • Avatar Dave Wright

        There will be no bursting of the “Porsche Bubble” It is being driven by the European market. I get several ad sheets from Western Europe. There is no slowdown. IE…….there is a nice, not perfect, 1971 911T that just came into a large retailer in Holland…….price 235,000 euros. It isn’t even an S. They pay a premium for US, and particularly California cars. There are few cars that offer the driving experiance of a Porsche…….but it takes a compentient driver to really utilize it. These are not cars that an ordinary Chevrolet driver is able to get the most out of. By the time they get the back end hanging out……..they are gone………..and off course……it is the cars fault.

        Like 0
      • Avatar 911E

        Dave Wright the Euro market is slowing down FAST! Speak to any classic Porsche dealer here, cars are not selling and starting to be reduced – there are plenty of T’s around at well under 100k euro

        Like 0
      • Avatar Dolphin Member

        Dave, I’m not sure whether you think that I am calling for a “bursting of the Porsche Bubble”. You can use those words if you want, but I said something different.

        911E’s comment above is accurate, Porsche values have fallen—not will fall—have fallen. That’s why the smart money, like Jerry Seinfeld, sold so many of his collector Porsches recently.

        Many of Seinfeld’s cars sold fairly well, but the halo effect of a celebrity owner looks like it had a big effect.

        And you have to look at selling prices, not asking prices. That’s why I quote SCM Guide prices on BF, because they are the median prices actually paid at auction, and are public and verifiable.

        Nothing goes straight up forever, not the stock market, not old Porsches, whether owners want Porsche prices to keep going straight up or not. But just to be clear so you don’t misunderstand what I am saying, I do not think that prices paid for excellent vintage Porsches will “burst” or go into free fall. The best of those cars are too important and are much too highly liked by car fans and collectors for their values to fall very far.

        And as pretty much always happens, once prices fall and some time goes by, prices paid will go up again and probably get higher than before, just like what happened after 1989-1990, 2000-2002, and 2008-2009.

        Sorry if this leads people to thumbs down. You can go wild now. I have no stake in any of this. I just call it like I see it.

        Like 0
      • Avatar Dave Wright

        I spoke to Manfred Frisinger Jr. ( Karlsrule ) 3 weeks ago………..he has to keep his prices up so he has inventory cars are selling so fast. I have dealt with he and his dad for something like 45 years. He has not exported a Porsche (except race cars) in 20 years. flow is all into Germany, they made there money exporting for many years…..the old days. I brought 4 over from him in the late 70’s. My Dutch dealer buddies are having the same experiance.

        Like 0
      • Avatar Dolphin Member

        No surprise the German market is different from other markets. It’s the land where they were made, and since most 911/912-series cars were exported, there are a lot of them that could get bought and brought back to where they were made. And it’s no surprise that the strongest economy in the Eurozone is importing them back to the homeland. If I lived in Germany I might import one also.

        All of that re-importation can be expected to keep prices strong, but it can be expected to be different in other markets, like Japan and Australia, as this car seems to show.

        So just to be clear—-you are talking about Germany only, but most of the rest of us are considering what’s happening in other markets, like No America, where most Porsches were exported to in the first place.

        Not all markets are going to be the same.

        Like 0
  2. Avatar OGwagon

    Gone baby, gone.

    Like 0
  3. Avatar Brad

    Love that “What, this old thing?” look. Hmm… wonder if I can get THSOLTHG on a license plate.

    Like 0
  4. Avatar OA5599

    We’re looking at the leftovers.

    Yep.

    A constant flow of rough/rusty Porsche 911’s and 912’s hitting the market. ( E-types too and look what they bring in rough shape.)

    One reason is the straight/dry ones sold when P-cars started their ascent and owners cashed in. Lots of them. The takeaway: Vintage Porsches are not over-priced when the market will consistently bear them.

    It’s a storied mark with a universal appeal, so look for the prices to always trend upward.

    Like 0
  5. Avatar Bruce Best

    On these early 911’s and 912’s the body construction was highly variable. I worked at a restoration shop and we had to tell more than one owner that his 15 year old Porsche that looked perfect was rusted at all the welds and was only just hanging together. Who every buys it needs to look at that. I have driven both and I like the 912 better as a driver. Not as much power but so much sweeter to drive and looks just as good.

    The other thing is that Porsche electrical switch gear can easily make the english and Lucas electrics look good. This includes relays, switches of all types and some of the regulators and fuse boxes. What is most frustrating is that they could easily improve these and keep the outside looking almost exactly the same and they continue to sell a bad product, made poorly at a very high price to the public.

    Like 0
  6. Avatar Horse Radish

    Maybe Beverly Hills Car Club swiped it as a parts car for their project…

    http://barnfinds.com/cheap-1967-porsche-912-project/#comment-255102

    Like 0

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