When you see a high asking price on an air-cooled Porsche these days, you’d be forgiven for wondering if there’s a speculator at the other end of the listing. However, every now and again we see truly special cars come up for grabs that are seemingly deserving of its six-figure ask, especially when the condition and options list is seemingly in perfect harmony in terms of desirability. This long-hood 1965 Porsche 911 is a highly original car that left the factory with a host of desirable options including an electric sunroof and is listed here on eBay for $149,900 or best offer.
Thi 911 will also be sought-after for its attractive color scheme of black-on-black; it seems like many air-cooled 911s have a tan or biscuit-colored interior, so finding one in this elusive combo will also push the desirability factor higher. The bodywork appears to be in excellent condition and the original Fuchs wheels are perhaps the only wheel type we should see on a car like this. The seller lists the mileage as being just over 18,000 but I doubt that is the real number. What would be helpful to know is how extensively – if at all – this 911 has been restored, as the listing doesn’t detail how original it actually is.
What we do know, however, is that the original owner wanted several key options included in his car before it was delivered. In addition to the sought-after electric sunroof, the 911 was also spec’d with a Webasto heater; Blaupunkt radio; side mirrors; and an antenna. The radio and antenna are still present, as is (obviously) the sunroof; I would assume the heater remains in place as well. The 911 also comes with its desirable factory wood-rimmed steering wheel and woodgrain surfaces on the dash, both of which appear to be in very good condition, along with the bucket seats.
The engine bay is nicely presented with the original factory decals still present along the edge of the compartment. These are often lost when a 911 is resprayed, so these are either original decals in an unpainted engine compartment or a previous owner painstakingly re-applied them when a respray occurred. Regardless, the most important feature is that this is a numbers-matching car that comes with its Porsche certificate of authenticity, which likely validates much of what has been said about it. Great colors and desirable options: two key ingredients for an air-cooled 911 with a six-figure asking price.
Don’t see the early 911s like this one very often. In those years the cars got driven, not put into a garage to sit for decades. Nice!
Yes, very nice indeed!!
👍
Weren’t these early 911’s badged as 901’s?
There’s a dealer here in Roanoke with one that
has that badge.
Yes. The ’65s were 901. I read the details of that 40 years ago but I don’t remember them. I’ve got Karl Ludvigsen’s “Excellence Was Expected”, all 2 inches thick of it, that has the number change information in it. If I find it I’ll pass it on.
The story is out there. I’ve read that “901” was Porsche’s internal designation for their new design and that they went with that as the marketing name. But Peugeot had a lock on car names using the convention “X-01” (i.e. 3 digits ending 01) and threatened to sue Porsche so they backed down and changed the name of their new creation to “911”. Presumably, there are early cars out there with 901 badging (and I’ll bet that’s worth a whole lot of extra money to the Porsche fanatics).
My impression is that Porsche changed all of their 901’s into 911’s. Stories about existing 901’s have are in the “Holy Grail” category. Anyone who can prove they have genuine 901-badged Porsche has a lot of money waiting for them.
Memory bank says you got the 901 story, and I bet you are right on the net worth of those early cars Euromoto.
To continue… At the ’64 European Auto Show Peugeot informed Porsche that they couldn’t use the 901 for car sales in France because they had been awarded any numbers with a 0 in the middle of 3 numbers total. Since France was one of Porsche’s biggest customers they wisely changed to the 911 which was inline with their 904, 906, 908, and 910 race car designations. BTW, the number 906 is painful for me because I refused to pay another $1,000 for a factory 906 race car on sale in Sweden for $9,000 after offering $8,000. Dumb! The 901 number came about as it was the number designation of the next major design program for the company.
I had a 69 911T. It cost $6000 and still have the original sticker tag. Also for a 73, $10,000.
It’s a 66 not a 65
The front splitter is from a 72 S. Maybe a repop in fiberglass? Don’t get me wrong, a nice looking car, but I want more info. Webasto still intact, tool kit, drivers handbook, date matched wheels, paint readings. Passenger seat appears to have needs.
They make 356 replica bodies, but do they make 911 ones?
…and mechanical fuel pump, also looks like Solexes are still there too. But Fuchs weren’t yet available in late ’65. Would have come with steelies and hubcaps.
In 1965, I tried to buy a new 356SC. AutoEurope said no longer available. Only new production 912. Price $4200. Those were the days.
Front valance is from a later car, as is the rocker-panel trim. Wheels are later, too; alloys didn’t appear until 1967 (4-1/2″ wide).Underside looks amazingly clean, and of course the car has been repainted. Still rare and worth a lot, especially with the sunroof.
Yup. My ’70 had that rocker trim and the Fuchs , An earlier ’67 Targa I had also had that valence. Might have been added.
I’m not feeling well. )
I I had to sell my 1970 911T with electric sunroof, dealer installed coolaire a/c, tinted windows, black interior and light ivory exterior for a third of this in 2016.
I love these early P cars…..simple with a clean design, the antithesis of modern P cars.
I’d have another one in nothing flat if I could.
Thus belongs in a museum! So we all can gawk at it.