If you’re looking for an early Porsche that won’t require taking out a second mortgage on your house, perhaps this 1968 Porsche 912 Targa project in Benicia, California is the find for you. It needs tons of work, but it’s a California car that “sat under a shed in California’s Central Valley for many years.” The car is in its original shade of Bahama Yellow with what looks like factory paint and is stated to be a very early car with a soft rear window, built in September of 1967. The owner says it “needs a complete restoration,” but “car and engine appear to be complete.”
Other vital information: The engine turns, and the oil is “very clean.” A raft of parts, including a lot that is missing in the photos, is included with the car. The car has a “clear California non-operative pink slip. Porsches can rust pretty badly, particularly the early ones, but this one was apparently spared that fate. The rust appears mostly of the surface variety. There’s lots more wrong with it. The targa top is in shreds. The interior is pretty rough, but all the instruments are there, and the vinyl seats could possibly be cleaned up.
The car appears to have sat for a very long time, so just about everything will need doing—brakes, suspension, probably a new gas tank, engine and transmission rebuild, and interior makeover. The good news is that the 912, with a four-cylinder engine, is finally getting some respect from the collector community. Classic.com shows that ’68 912 short-wheelbase cars typically fetch around $54k.
The 912 was offered from 1965 to 1969, powered not by a six but a 1.6-liter air-cooled flat-four, as seen in the last 356s. It produced a modest 102 horsepower but did deliver 30 mpg. More than 32,000 of them were built during this period. Sales initially eclipsed the more expensive 911, partly because the $4,700 price wasn’t exorbitant. The 912 was replaced by the four-cylinder 914, but the U.S. got the 912E (with injection) for one year only in 1976.
The ad says it’s a soft-window car, but isn’t that a glass window complete with a defroster in the photo? Mystery! Targas with the plastic rear windows (which could be opened with a zipper) were first offered in late 1966 as a 1967 model. That was version 1. Version 2, with a fixed glass rear window, debuted in early 1968.
This is hardly a hopeless project, and it could be economically practical if the bidding doesn’t go too high. The Targas, with their roof-off motoring, are prized. And quite fun to drive, too. You can find it here on eBay.
Link to the ad is missing.
What kind of a dork would drive a car that color? Oh, right, me. I have actually had two cars that color (or extremely similar). I like the oranges and yellows but have to admit my friends would give me some grief. Hey, I’m driving a cool car, so who’s the jerk?
It’s a lovely color on 911s (or 912s), particularly against the black Targa top and chrome Targa bar. It looks much better in person than in pictures.
I’m in the same camp. I feel your pain and I still want to paint my Beetle in Porsche Olive.
You were driving a Porsche, so let the grief flow.
I guess the seller doesn’t know what a soft rear window is, this car obviously has a glass rear window with defrost wiring. The soft rear window is soft clear plastic with a black convertible top type material several inches wide around the perimeter.
Had a 68 912 Targa in avocado green, never understood those colors on a Porsche. I wasn’t convinced it had any more power that the 63 VW parked next to it. Second gear was next to impossible to find about 60% of the time. Other than one pretty bad scratch on the right fender that car was nearly in pristine condition. But I hate to say, never enjoyed the car all.
Was a time when someone would show up at a Porsche club event (especially in an upscale town) with less than. 6 cylinders and a Targa top was ignored if not outright sneered at.
Funny how Zeros become heroes!
In the ’70s at both PCA and local events a member with a green ’66 short wheelbase 912 ate every other car out there and usually was the fastest time of the day car. This was autocrossing but I understand he did the same on the local race track. Lot of zeros with that guy. I agree on the shift pattern. Just wasn’t natural.
Because I’ve owned a ’65 912 for 56 years, I’m biased. As to the rear window, some folks replaced the original soft one with the glass version. Depending on rust underneath–and the price–this could be a good buy.
If the shifter mechanism is good, 1st to 2nd is as fast as any other pattern. The reason they used that dogleg pattern is because, once rolling, you hardly use 1st. 2nd and 3rd are inline, great for in-town, and 3-4-5 are easy to useat higher speeds.
I think this really was a soft-window Targa (notice the paint blemishes just below the chrome strip on the rear window). Just like the ’63 Corvette split-window coupe, where a lot of owners didn’t like the window and converted to the later style, many of these soft-window Targas were converted to a glass window. The salient question here is whether the parts are available to convert it back; a question to which I don’t know the answer. If not, the car won’t be of much interest to someone who wants a soft-window Targa.
Still no ad link. From the pics the horizontal defrost lines are from later, for ’68 they’re vertical. A seriously rare piece of glass these days. So if it IS a SWT, changing it back should be easy, but not cheap! Great color, if everything is all there and sells reasonably, definitely worth the effort.
In 1968, I test drove a used 1966 912 coupe this same color at our local Porsche dealer. Great looking car but I couldn’t get over the VW Beetle sounds emanating from its rear. Bought a used Bimini Blue Metallic 1967 Olds Toronado that looked awesome but had its own set of problems.