Roadside Find: 1966 Porsche 911

rusty-1966-porsche-911

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Craigslist and eBay are great, but sometimes the best deals are found offline! Cars that are parked along the road with a “for sale” sign in the window are more likely to be bargain priced than those listed online. Now, I’m not saying whether this rusty 1966 Porsche 911 is a good buy or not, but Richard W thought we might like it. He spotted it at the Lime Rock Historics on August 30th. The cardboard sign says it is a barn find and since the last 3 digits of the VIN are 007, the seller clever refers to it as a James Bond car. Or is that James Bond-o? Richard was not able to find the owner to get more information, but was generous enough to share it with all of us. So please return the favor and keep those roadside finds coming! Thanks Richard!

cardboard-sign

Here’s a closeup of the sign. Looks like a big project to me, but I’m sure there is someone out there who’d like to drag it home.

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Comments

  1. Marc

    Any info for the seller? I’m definitely interested in purchasing and taking on the restoration!

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    • GG

      Phone number is right there in picture.

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      • marc

        D’oh, for some reason the closeup pic didn’t show up for me on the first look. will see what they want for this money pit. ;)

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  2. Barry Thomas

    Perfect, another money pit just opened. Seriously though, I have no experience with any sort of restoration, so I don’t know where the lines for hobby and investment cross. This 911 looks quite rough, so I would imagime someone is buying a project that they could never get their money back out of. Right or wrong, folks?
    Barry Thomas’ “Wheel to Wheel” blog

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    • Brian

      Barry, my thoughts exactly, but add – how many tens of thousands are the Porsche fanatic will to pay for this thing? I wish I had one-tenth of the money people overspend on stuff like this; I’d laugh all the way to the bank! As far as investments go, I’m not wealthy enough to be buying big ticket goods that require maintenance and upkeep just to hold onto for potential gains. I’d need to be able to get liquid with a call or click of a mouse should something go wrong in our precarious economy. If I need to get liquid, odds are others do too! Not much of a sellers market. I like the old Porsches well enough, but I don’t get the frenzy and the overvalues on them right now. There alot of old car that I’d like to own just as much or more for alot less money and in much better shape. Besides, if I went to the trouble to restore something, I’d get emotionally attached to it and wouldn’t be able to just let it go so easily.

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  3. stanleystalvey

    James Bond-O .? Haaaaaaaaaaaaahaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaahahahahahahaha…. That’s funny..!

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  4. Rich Behrends

    Very early SWB and they are becoming very valuable, but the cost of a complete rustoration on this one would be costly. If the outside has this much rust most of the bottom will be gone.
    Correct rustoration would need to be done on a chassis jig. Bring loads of cash and watch it disappear quickly. To me it’s only a parts car. I wouldn’t pay 500 bucks for it ,but would take it for free shipping included.

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  5. MDchanic

    I bought a 911 exactly like this (down to the color) years ago for $200.

    Pulled the few very parts that were at all useful, and cut the rest up with a torch and put it out for the garbagemen, who took a chunk every week when they came by.

    Anyone who would pay anything substantial for this is insane.

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  6. rapple

    “Cars that are parked along the road with a “for sale” sign in the window are more likely to be bargain priced than those listed online.”
    True enough, but………………. parked among the many amazing collectibles that were in the Lime Rock infield lot this weekend, my guess is the seller was trolling for some Wall Street whiz with lots of disposable (and I do mean disposable!) income.

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    • Jesse Mortensen JesseAuthor

      You’re probably right Rapple. Not all roadside finds are bargains, but every once in while they show up!

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  7. Dave Wright

    Not enough information to really sustain a conversation……..but these cars have become insanely expensive. If the mechanicals are complete, all the sheetmetal is available for restoration. Haggarty says average price 114,000. An old friend of mine in Germany made a lot of money exporting Porshes to the US, I talked to him a few months ago and for the last years he is bringing them back to Germany. He has a used bare stripped tub with rust……price 27,000. There is a good chance this is a price bubble…….but 100K will buy a lot of parts and labor for a car as simple as these. I thought prices were insane in the mid 80’s when I sold my orignal 55 Speedster for 28K……..they have gone up over 10 fold since then.

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  8. DolphinMember

    Let’s see…needs fenders, bumpers, and front valence. It’s in CT….been in a barn for decades….better budget for floors, trunk work, torsion bar mount work, brakes, lines, master cylinder. Lights too. Wait…one headlight seems OK! And that long hood can probably be saved by a good body man. Maybe needs an engine, or if it has one, just about certain to need a rebuild. Maybe transmission too. Interior?…..has perforation….been in a barn….likely served as a rodent hotel…. Better budget for a new interior and probably a wiring loom too. Plus replacement of every rubber part on the car.

    All sceptical comments aside, I’m sure this will sell if it hasn’t already at Lime Rock. For me the upside about this and similar cars is that some very skilled guys will be able to turn this into a great driver or even a show winner. I’d just hate to be the one signing the checks. I sure wish I had their skills, tho.

    Jesse’s ‘James Bond-o’ line >>Priceless!

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  9. Dave Wright

    I agree with your assessment……..it will need everything, but these were simple cars that everything is available for. I did a 1968 911L when I lived in Germany in the late 70’s. We had to change front fenders, bumpers, rockers, 1/2 the floor pan and more that I can not remember. Everything was available from the dealer. I thought we were into it pretty deep until I traded it for my 1966 Maserati Mistral before it was painted. Everything is relative.

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  10. jim s

    i wonder what the seller paid to try to sell it inside Lime Rock? i have been to cars shows where there is a for sale sign on a car with phone #, but no one with the car or answering the phone. nice find

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  11. Achman

    I saw this car at Lime Rock.

    It’s a VIN# on a trailer

    No floors

    Needs everything but steering wheel

    All metal is gone

    $100-150 restoration

    If you can get it for under $15 still a decent buy believe it or not

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  12. DT

    is it the 7th 911 made?

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    • Rich Behrends

      The 7th 911 made would have been in 1964 and the chassis number would be 300 007
      1966 chassis numbers are 303 391 to 305 100
      That would put this 911 about mid production.
      In mid-1966 Porsche did replace the troublesome Solex carbs with new Webers and replaced the U-joints in the half-shafts with constant-velocity joints in the rear.

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  13. MGBUK

    @DT unfortunately not, 911 numbers start in 1964/65 at 300,001. 1966 numbers start at 303,391, meaning it was the 616th produced in 1966 and the 4006th produced since 911’s were in production.

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    • DT

      thanks to both of you!

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  14. SidMember

    As with about every other collectible car you can buy, one already restored or one in good condition is generally cheaper than you can buy and restore a car like this one. When the price is omitted from a listing I think it means either the owner has no idea what it is worth but most likely he is afraid to state his asking price. 1974 was the first year that Porsches galvanized the body panels. Before that they were very susceptible to rust as this one shows. A few years ago a 356 would been passed buy if it looked like this but not anymore. Probably the same thing will happen with 911s but I think it is a little premature at this time unless this body is something special. I haven’t looked to see if there is any significance with the VIN number, maybe it is #7 off the line. That might make it more valuable but not to me. Porsches have gone out of sight lately. This not only applies to the old ones but the newer ones also (except the 996 model). I do not think it is a bubble. I think what buyers are taking note of Porsches extremely high build quality, top notch engineering and attention to detail. Sure they have their share of flubs but overall they are incredible cars. I am not trying to brag here but I would like to make a few comparisons. I like Corvettes and Porsches. I have owned three Corvettes and four Porsches. They each have their own strengths but the Corvettes have a lot more weaknesses than the Porsches. I just finished restoring a 87,000 mile 1965 Corvette from the ground up. Every time I took something apart (primarily on the body parts) I was amazed by the shortcuts, poor quality and cheap engineering solutions to keep the cost down. I just bought a 1990 Porsche 911 track car. It has been run very hard and has 187,000 miles on it. I have been disassembling the interior to lighten it up a bit and removing the front and rear bumper covers just to see what surprises I might find. This is where Porsche engineering and quality really shows up. If the Corvette had been treated like the Porsche it would have been a cracked up pile of parts. The Porsche has not a loose bolt or a rattle.
    In my opinion this is why Porsches are going up in value and will stay there. Plus they, like the Corvettes, are really fun to drive.

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  15. Rich Behrends

    Porsche started galvanizing the floorpan panels only for the 1974 model year, then starting with the 1976 models the whole chassis was dipped and galvanized.
    The only part that was not treated was the coupe roof. The treatment was actually a Zinc coating applied in a 500C immersion bath. Porsche began offering the 6 year warranty against rust at this point.

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  16. ConservativesDefeated

    Two Words: Boat Anchor.

    @Dave Wright; I’ll sell you my mostly( color change lol) original numbers matching 1970 911T Sunroof/dealer a/c for Haggerty’s $114,000.00. I’ll even deliver it to you anywhere in the continental United States.

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    • Dave Wright

      T’s are not nearly as desire able, iron cranks, low horsepower, post smog, the romance is in the S cars or earlier pre T cars. I have a 1970 911 T Targa, also not one of the high dollar cars……..yet. My 911L was a good car, same as an S except for US smog. In 1968 the only 911’s officially imported were 911L. Now, a 1967 911S…………..that was a car.

      Like 0

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