Hard to believe this still happens, but yes, vintage Porsche 911s are still left outside under a wet tarp for unknown reasons. This particular car supposedly even had its mechanical bits rebuilt prior to being left outside. It’s hard to tell why these things happen, but the reasons can range from the owner thought it’d only be outside for a few days to someone passed away and the heirs didn’t know what they had. Regardless, this 911 has seemingly been spared prior to its condition degrading too much, and while it has some surface rust, it’s surprisingly solid underneath. Find it here on eBay for $43,900 or best offer.
This appears to be Signal Orange, which is one of the more desirable air-cooled 911 colors. The color alone should make this car worth saving, especially since there’s a chance it’s original. It appears to have that “sheen” to it, with a patina that isn’t excessive but no sign of recent paintwork. The weathered flag of Switzerland by the license plate area perhaps indicates it was purchased overseas before being brought stateside. And as much as we love Fuchs wheels, seeing this vintage sports car sitting on old-school steel wheels is actually quite appealing. The surface rust will have to be dealt with; hopefully, it hasn’t gone through the metal. When new, a 1970 911T produced 125 horsepower and 130 lb.-ft. of torque.
The interior is in very nice shape, especially for a car that was left outside. No sport seats here, but that’s an incredibly lucky find if you stumble upon an air-cooled project with those desirable buckets installed. The dash appears to have cracks, which is an unfortunate casualty of any vehicle stored outside. The seller claims the interior needs to be restored along with sections of the exterior, but we need more detail than that to assess the state of decay. The listing also mentions that the 911 was “…just taken out of storage” which could be a slip of the tongue indicating the top photo of it along the barn was staged.
And given how solid it is underneath, it’s beginning to seem less and less likely that it was left outside for decades. The other intriguing detail is the mention of the car being mechanically restored in the past, as the seller believes the engine “…looks to have been rebuilt at some point.” I’m not sure how one knows that by visual inspection alone, but confirming that it is numbers matching is more of a priority anyhow. A mechanical refurb of some variety will likely still be required, but the good news is that bodywork surrounding the 2.2L flat-six is usable enough to justify proper engine and transmission servicing.
Looks pretty good to me. Being as no rustproof steel was used those days finding one as solid as this one is very rare. The cars are light and fun to drive.
Hilarious. These are not 356s. You can get a decent driver for this kind of money. It’s not gonna be pristine at this price, but it’ll be way better than this mess.
What mess are you referring to?
Geomechs
Some do fit the stereotype but i know many that dont. Also it was a Porsche that put me into the wall in the Kink in PRACTICE on a vintage weekend.
I have many friends in racing that race Porsches.
Most of the porches that have been here in the shop were good or better people.
All mechanics charge:
Too much
For labor not needed or done
For parts not needed or not installed.
You got that right, both with Porsche owners and the mechanics. As a mechanic, I used to get accused of fraud on a daily basis. My cousin owns several Porsches and even races them. He’s gotten a lot of flak and praise from the crowd in general. There’s the story about the first one.
Worked hard for many years; could finally afford a new 930. He made the deal over the phone; transferred the money; caught a ride to the dealership 90 miles away.
Well, to look at him, you would think he would be more at home, driving a diesel crew cab 4×4. T-shirt, faded blue jeans, steel-toed boots, faded, threadbare flannel jacket, worn out wool beanie with welding burns.
They took one look at him and at first suggested he leave. When he told them he was there to pick up his new car they insisted on buying it back. The banter went on for quite a while before they finally gave in and gave him the keys.
I’ve heard that a number times. Skuttlebutt from the Cadillac crowd was actually quite similar. I remember a Cadillac jockey broke down on the freeway. Since our facility was located a couple blocks away he came to us. And he was sure indignant when we parked him in the service bay next to a wheel loader from a local feedlot.
But we got his car fixed…
“This listing was ended by the seller on Sun, Apr 26 at 9:25 AM because the item is no longer available.”
When it comes down to it, a Porsche is no better than the stuff that comes out of the UK, or the USA. Porsche has done a good job in promoting its cars to a certain level of clientelle or better. However the old joke: The difference between a porcupine and a Porsche? A Porsche has got its pr(pointy things)cks on the inside. It’s true. I’ve worked on a few of them, and that stereotype comes through in flying colors. The funny part is, they are little more than a well-engineered Volkswagen.
My former boss’s partner had a 930. He was somewhat abusive in his driving habits and consequently wrecked the transmission–twice. Knowing that he had knowlegable and trustworthy mechanics at our shop, we were the designated facility.
My friend (Tony) was underneath the car, busy uncoupling the drive axles and shift linkages, plus everything that accessed the engine from there. The partner came in and gazed down at him.
“Do you know what you’re doing?” he asked reasonably.
“Yeah,” Tony responded. “I used to have a Volkswagen van.”
“Smart a$$!” the partner muttered as he walked away.
I could tell a couple more stories but I’ll just draw the line here…
This is my car. And car is on facebook marketplace in new smyrna beach, florida. whoever listed it on ebay was not me (the owner).
Who would treat a car like this…like this? Of course, I knew a guy up in Minnesota that used to drive a brand new 911 in the salt and slush of the winter, and never washed it no matter what time of the year it was. It had been a present from his crazy rich parents, and growing up like that he took it for granted. I used to see it with door dings and would have to look away in disgust. Might as well have drove a Bug.