This is wild: first, it’s not often you see a tidy, air-cooled Porsche 911 show up at the donation center. Second, it’s really odd when you do a quick search and see that this very car sold on Bring A Trailer in 2023 for a healthy $49,000. I’m more than curious how this happens, and I’m sure a tax law attorney could explain to me why this move may have made sense for the last owner. Regardless, it’s still a very desirable car that apparently has a detailed and colorful paper trail (well, it did when it was on BaT) that explained who built and provided a long list of desirable modifications. It’s now listed here on eBay with bids sitting at $30,000 and the reserve unmet.
Despite being listed by my favorite no reserve donation seller on eBay, they’ve decided to list this car with a reserve. The 911 sports some very obvious modifications like an all-steel widebody conversion that the original listing referred to as “Turbo-style.” The work appears to have been well done, and the car was also previously repainted Metallic Brown after leaving the factory wearing Chocolate Brown paint. The wider, staggered Fuchs wheels were installed as well, along with a whale tail-style rear spoiler. The 911 looks identical to its previous auction listing, right down to the vanity California blue plates.
At the time of its BaT listing, the 911 showed 76,000 miles; it now has 77,125, so it was driven. The interior still sports its classy Nardi steering wheel, and we’re presuming it still has the aftermarket short shift kit as well. The seats wear brown leather and pair nicely with the tan interior; no word on whether this was a factory ordered color scheme or the seats were simply retrimmed to provide some contrast and match with the paint. The 911 was also purported to have air conditioning at the time of its sale in 2023. According to the comments section in the BaT auction, the 911 was modified according to the wishes of “…offshore racing legend Barry Garfinkle at Red McLintock’s shop in Berkeley, CA.”
The engine compartment is where the heavy work was supposedly done, with modifications including “….93mm Mahle pistons, Dilavar head studs, SC lower valve covers, a 7,400-rpm rev limiter, a Turbo starter, pressure-fed chain tensioners, stainless-steel heater boxes, and a front oil cooler.” However, the current listing notes “…vehicle emits white smoke from the exhaust, which appears to come and go.” This is not entirely uncommon for older 911 engines, especially ones that sit. The winning bidder for the car in 2023 hasn’t been seen on BaT since, so perhaps there was a death in the family leading to the 911’s unexpected sale. Regardless, it looks like a terrific example of an air-cooled 911 you can drive with abandon.
Nice job on the turbo look but ruined it with the weird paint color. We did a couple of these but most of them went out the door either black or other bright colors.