Despite the logical sentiment that most all sports cars look good in yellow, I don’t often see early 911s wearing eye-scorching hues like this. Clad in gorgeous Talbot Yellow paint, this 1976 Porsche 911S Targa looks quite tidy despite wearing close to 100,000 miles. The seller notes that the 911 sports other interesting cosmetic treatments, such as the Cinnamon leather interior and blacked-out trim on the roll-bar hoop. Find this sharp Targa here on eBay with a $42,500 Buy-It-Now.
Now, despite the car’s many attributes, that money seems slightly crazy. Why? This isn’t exactly the most desirable era of 911, and no matter well preserved it is, a Targa is perhaps the least sought-after configuration there is. The asking price puts this ahead of even some driver-quality 911SC coupes which would be better driver’s car and maybe even stand a chance of appreciating.
The 911 does reflect a history of enthusiast owners, however. That three-spoke steering wheel is not stock but is also quite desirable today. The original Blaupunkt doesn’t work but at least remains in the dash. Extensive service records will be included with the sale, along with the Porsche Certificate of Authenticity. The Targa likely carries some extra cache, too, due to the special order items and seemingly very personal color combination choice.
The recent engine maintenance list is impressive as well: “The 2.7-liter flat-six and original 5-speed manual gearbox have been resealed within the last six months, and new rings have also been installed along with new valve guides and seals, a warm up regulator, rebuilt fuel distributor, shifter bushings and new axles.” Overall, I still believe the asking price is a touch high, but can certainly understand why the seller is trying to get top dollar.
I love it, but isn’t the 2.7 known for a lot more problems than the later 3.0 and 3.2?
i really like the look of the Targas with the basket handle/roll bar thingy, especially in exposed aluminum or stainless or whatever they were.
simple, pure sports car with a wonderfully communicative front end & not much to go wrong. a driver’d have to try pretty hard to make it get away on dry pavement, snap throttle oversteer and all.
too expensive though. could buy an early lowish mile Boxster or S instead, have a better handling, faster car and still have $30k leftover
$42,500 is hilarious. BTW, no cache here. Maybe a little cachet, but no cache. This will gather dust at this price.
If you have been seeing what air cooled 911’s have been selling for then it would not surprise me that it will sell at this price. In fact, it might even be a little low. I am given to understand the 2.7 had a magnesium allow case that did cause problems but someone more in the know should speak to that in detail.
I have twenty dollars burning in my pocket for this. Think that’s enough of a profit for them.
What happened to Sully? I let him go.
Excellent Commando reference! I thought of that car when I saw this also.
This is at a dealer who advertises in Sports Car Market. Good color and decent condition. The magnesium expands and contracts at different rates than aluminum heads leading to head gasket problems these can be fixed easily with modern gaskets. Not a bad car for $40k
Head gaskets aren’t the problem. It’s the head studs pulling out of the magnesium cases. There are several choices for repairs, all involving a complete tear down and threaded steel inserts in the cases.
Upgrade 3.0
good car too expensive. I could buy a 2014 Thomas or Bluebird school bus fro that price. I love 911’s but they are priced like used under 100,000 dollar used buses. Some are dogs and if your careful you might find a gem.
I just checked out a 2001 X2 motor coach for 40,000 dollars and the week before a 1999 S217 HDH for 15,000. Guess which one is worth the money.
The answer is the S217. The X2 needs 40,000 dollars worth of work on top of the 40,000 price. With the Setra I get 2,000 of free parts.
So go figure…
I kinda like it! However it’s not quite what I am waiting for! Sounds like a high asking price, but if he wants to sell, I am sure dickering would be appropriate!
Fun and useless trivia fact: what other car used “Talbot Yellow” as an exterior color? The Pontiac Fiero.