While discovering a barn find is exciting, having that barn find be a car you’ve waited your entire life to own is something out of pure fantasy and folklore. It did happen for one enthusiast in West Virginia, who had a panache for Porsches and received a tip about a long-hood 911 literally slumbering beneath the remains of a collapsed barn. Find the story here on Jalopnik and also here on the Pelican Parts Forum with both sites capturing the images and details from the new owner’s original Facebook post.
After a tip from a contractor about a collapsed barn on the rural West Virginia countryside with an old foreign car beneath the rubble, the owner and his father took a ride out to the site. Finding a trailer and a very collapsed barn in the isolated setting required some courage and smooth talking, but the owner turned out to be friendly and willing to sell what he described as a 1967 911 “S” model.
A deal was struck and extraction commenced, with the owner emptying his bank account to buy the 911. As we can likely all relate to, despite the impact to our finances, the thrill of owning your dream car is hard to replicate in any other form. The 911 turned out to not be a genuine S model, but rather one dressed up cosmetically with all the badges and the rear fenders flared out in true S trim fashion.
The car, obviously, is rusty underneath and the new owner has grappled with selling it when he considered the scale of work required to bring it back to life. However, after getting the engine to fire and coming to grips with the prospects of a long-term restoration, he has since decided to keep his dream car and restore it over several years. Good for him, and Godspeed in bringing this barn find 911 back to life.
Best of luck in putting this back together on the road.
PS: next time run the VIN…just sayin’.
Pretty good story. Not all that perfect a car. It has 1968 door handles. But a running engine with old Webers on it and apparently 4 real Fuchs wheels for $5000 is a good beginning.
I’d tip it on its side, do some proper rust repairs, proper brakes and fuel system and DRIVE that baby.
Go make some memories with your family taking some day trips.
Gotta put on some recent chain tensioner updates, but that is about the main failure point on the early ones. The early (65-68) 2 liters have aluminum cases and are strong as hell.
Great story. Glad to see they are going to keep it.
I know where 2 vintage VW’s have been sitting for at least 35 years. I have not had luck buying them in the past, but they are in a dry location and I keep hoping!!!
I know people on here think I hate Porsche, but I really don’t. What I hate is the infusion of insane money into some of them. I find this wonderful, that a guy can get something at a reasonable price and with the sweat of his brow will make it something he can love, this is what the hobby should be all about. Good for you sir, enjoy your find and own it with pride.
To me, this IS what it’s all about. The ones that I “save” aren’t Porsches or anything exotic like that. GM square body trucks are my love. I appreciate ALL classics though. I’m also glad that the owner is going to keep and work on their dream car. When I finally hit the lottery, I’ll be shopping for a Duesenburg. The only problem with that plan is that I don’t waste money on lottery tickets!
I hope they had a fun day and libations were consumed as the sun set on a great pull out-
N BARN, BRN FND, UNDRBRN, etc. I’d mechanically repair, make it roadworthy, clean out the interior, and DRIVE IT. The possible license plates would explain why it looks a little rough but with a great story though. Good luck!
ThaT is NOT a 1967 9 1 1, unless its been through Changes .
In the mid 1970’s the was a 356 under the remains of a garage 2 blocks from my house. I contacted the property owner, who lived elsewhere, and she said her out of town son was going to restore it. I asked if he was aware of the condition of the garage. She said he was. The garage collapsed trashing the 356.
I did rescue a one owner 1967 Healey from the garage one street over.
Really good story and it may have a happy ending if he gets it running and driving!! There is a lesson here to be learned!!! Don’t huff and puff and blow your barn down!!!