This 1973 Porsche 911 Targa captures perfectly what happens with cars in those intervening years they become just used up classics. Of course, there was a time when almost any Targa-topped 911 was considered disposable, especially after it had been through the wringer of cheap owners who did things like paint it red and swap in generic seats in place of the original. Yep, that’s what happened with this example, which left the factory wearing desirable Light Yellow paint over a brown interior, which would have made for a very handsome combo. But nope – the 80s called, and everything had to be painted red. Find the 911 here on eBay in a classified listing with a price of $37,500.

Oh yes – it has the aftermarket rear wing as well. This poor thing really got hit with all the cheap enhancements that happened to tired 911s in the 80s and 90s. The biggest crime to me, however, is the paint job, as yellow air-cooled 911s just don’t come along all that often. Now, I can see how a white or brown car gets resprayed in a cheap and fast red paint job, but even for the 1980s, I’m slightly shocked someone covered up an OEM yellow paint job. They weren’t all that common even when this 911 was new, so someone really had to have a red car if they decided to cover it up. At first, I thought this was a desirable soft-window Targa, but it looks more like the back glass has simply gone missing.

Man, those seats are so familiar to me – I know I’ve seen the car model they came out of, but can’t place it. The seats clearly aren’t original, and they aren’t even a good replacement for the stock buckets. Someone made some odd choices with this 911 over the years, and it’s a shame they didn’t hand the car off sooner before making those decisions. The interior will basically need full restoration, and you have to wonder if it sat outside for any length of time with the back window gone, as that could spell trouble down below. The 911 has been off the road for the better part of 10 years, according to the seller, and it shows.

Close to $40,000 is pretty nuts, especially when you consider how cheaply you could have gotten a beater 911 Targa just a few years ago. That’s all changed, obviously, especially for cars that are largely complete with the engine and transaxle still installed. The seller does not confirm whether this is a numbers matching unit, but generally speaking, if they don’t go out of their way to mention it, it seems likely that it isn’t. Whatever happened to this 911 over the years doesn’t inspire much confidence that it was showered with love and affection, so you’ll have your work cut out of you well beyond just getting it to fire up, swapping out the interior, and bringing the paint back to stock condition.