I have many regrets in life. One of the biggest is not buying a load of Porsche 911s back about 10 years ago when they were a lot cheaper, even for rusty and unloved ones. 911 prices have shot through the roof, even for the worst examples and so 911 ownership seems to be getting further and further away for me now. However, should you want an iconic 911, then take a look at today’s auction on eBay here which has 4 days to go, with bidding at $12,000 and the reserve not yet met. The lucky buyer can collect the car from Las Vegas, Nevada when the auction comes to a close.

Some of the hardest cars to write about are the ones with a one-sentence description of the car – as is the case with this one. All we know is that it’s a 1977 911E with the standard transmission that has been sitting in their garage since 2006. This requires some sleuthing to look a the pictures and determine what is good and bad about the car. At first glance, the car looks dusty, but not rusty which is a good start. The red paint is damaged and chipped and some of the bumpers need repair. It looks like this has been converted into an RS replica with that front bumper, or they were going for the ever-popular ‘Outlaw’ look, but whatever it is, it needs some work.

Luckily with the Nevada plate, it looks like it is just sun-damaged and should mean there aren’t any terminal rust issues underneath. The seller gives us plenty of pictures of the outside, but none of the engine and only one of the interior. The engine is said to be the 2.2l motor with 105,000 miles on the clock – at this stage, we can’t verify if its numbers matching. However, the seller is confident that with a bit of gas and oil, it will start up again after 16 years of sitting idle.

For the interior, we have a couple of photos, but I think I can smell the musty seats and dash from here. It just looks like it has suffered from age and sun-damaged, with nothing majorly concerning. Except for the non-original door mats which say ‘NOS’ – I hope that no nitrous injection was installed in this car! The truth is that this car will need a proper restoration of the mechanicals at least. Whilst the body can be left as is for a ‘ratty’ look, the mechanicals on a car like this is going to be key to its enjoyment and hopefully many more years of service. So would you just restore the mechanicals and not worry about the body, or would you tackle a full-on restoration?