Hello everyone
Its been a while. Here is an overview of my air cooled 911 hunt.
I have been a member here for a while as some of you may know & have PM’d a few of you in my search for a good car. Additionally there have been many conversations with Porsche mechanics, members of other forums etc etc.
The decision to look for an air cooled 911 came about by accident really while watching “The Bridge” and thinking that Saga chick is sort of hot - in a cold robotic kind of a way. Then I saw the 911 & realised how wrong I had got it. So I looked around the car sites & thought, these cars are beautiful, cool (to me) classics, and will probably hold station price wise. This is where I started to research the cars a little & came to the conclusion that I could probably get into a G50 3.2 for around $40-45k for a good car. From memory there were plenty around by today’s standard, also several backdates to choose from which I liked but were always too much.
I have looked at several cars over the last couple of years; some in person and others via email & photos. Couple of crackers, & some dogs. There have been cars that were lost in “battle” to others. Lots of stories of things uncovered, with some still out there.
Funny thing is that the first car I was interested in, probably 3 years or so ago was the one I should have and could have bought. This was at the point where there was no real desperation in the market to get A/C 911s & they were just old second hand cars (so to speak). The car in question was a 1989 3.2 Carrera, the owner an absolute gent, we agreed a price subject to PPI, went to PPI & I chipped the price a little more, seller declined & I lost the purchase. Dumb move. Apologies to the seller. Today that car would sell for double what we originally agreed. How things have changed!
Finally a car has been found & purchased, a month later it arrived on Thursday. What did I buy?
I bought Chris Fryer’s (9er) 1977 Carrera 3.0.
What a car, I almost soiled myself when I first saw & heard it (purchased sight unseen).
Chris was very helpful with the process, I had been on at Chris to sell the C3 for nearly a year & it came off in the end, it did get a bit stressful at times due to distance.
I did the usual, and thoroughly cleaned the car, fixed on the rego plates, filled up with fuel & came back home to get more familiar with things, gave myself a couple of high fives & back slaps.
Next day, ready to take this bad boy for a run. Err no, won’t start. Some issue with the immobilizer. Re-read Chris’s instructions time & again. It refuses to turnover. Spoke to Don Munro who had done some work preparing the car for me prior to delivery, still no resolution. Texts to Chris tried all sorts of things, still nothing. Tried another battery … nothing. Visually checked all fuses … non blown. I had however noticed that the interior lights & clock were not working, Don confirmed that these were all good when he finished the car. Finally I re-checked the fuses and found that the light/clock fuse looked like it was in place, but, it was actually out of position & not locked in properly.
Miracle, LED immobilizer light now on, interior lights & clock working (how the hell does that fuse make the immobilizer do that?). Switch off the immobilizer, turn the key, fires angrily into life, brilliant.
Have now been on a couple of blasts. All the work Mark Poole has done with the engine is outstanding (read, 3.2 short stroke, webers, 964 grind cams) it has sooo much torque and pulls very hard, it took me by surprise just how quick it feels, suspension is firm but not harsh. The sound at full chat is fabulous it has Dansk 2i2o sports exhaust & SSI’s. Short shift is excellent but will take me some time to get used to.
Chris has done a lovely job on the interior it even has a new car smell (with a hint of oil), front Recaro Sports Seats fully refurbished and redone in top grade leather with perforated centres, new carpets, recovered original steering wheel, new leather standard type door cards. Nice place to be, can’t believe its 38 years old. Still things to do, its a 38 year old Porsche 911!
Sorry, I seem to have gone on a bit.
Thanks to a lot of you guys who offered help, drives, cars, advice & a bunch of other stuff. It makes a great forum.
Job done.
Moto (Ian)
Its been a while. Here is an overview of my air cooled 911 hunt.
I have been a member here for a while as some of you may know & have PM’d a few of you in my search for a good car. Additionally there have been many conversations with Porsche mechanics, members of other forums etc etc.
The decision to look for an air cooled 911 came about by accident really while watching “The Bridge” and thinking that Saga chick is sort of hot - in a cold robotic kind of a way. Then I saw the 911 & realised how wrong I had got it. So I looked around the car sites & thought, these cars are beautiful, cool (to me) classics, and will probably hold station price wise. This is where I started to research the cars a little & came to the conclusion that I could probably get into a G50 3.2 for around $40-45k for a good car. From memory there were plenty around by today’s standard, also several backdates to choose from which I liked but were always too much.
I have looked at several cars over the last couple of years; some in person and others via email & photos. Couple of crackers, & some dogs. There have been cars that were lost in “battle” to others. Lots of stories of things uncovered, with some still out there.
Funny thing is that the first car I was interested in, probably 3 years or so ago was the one I should have and could have bought. This was at the point where there was no real desperation in the market to get A/C 911s & they were just old second hand cars (so to speak). The car in question was a 1989 3.2 Carrera, the owner an absolute gent, we agreed a price subject to PPI, went to PPI & I chipped the price a little more, seller declined & I lost the purchase. Dumb move. Apologies to the seller. Today that car would sell for double what we originally agreed. How things have changed!
Finally a car has been found & purchased, a month later it arrived on Thursday. What did I buy?
I bought Chris Fryer’s (9er) 1977 Carrera 3.0.
What a car, I almost soiled myself when I first saw & heard it (purchased sight unseen).
Chris was very helpful with the process, I had been on at Chris to sell the C3 for nearly a year & it came off in the end, it did get a bit stressful at times due to distance.
I did the usual, and thoroughly cleaned the car, fixed on the rego plates, filled up with fuel & came back home to get more familiar with things, gave myself a couple of high fives & back slaps.
Next day, ready to take this bad boy for a run. Err no, won’t start. Some issue with the immobilizer. Re-read Chris’s instructions time & again. It refuses to turnover. Spoke to Don Munro who had done some work preparing the car for me prior to delivery, still no resolution. Texts to Chris tried all sorts of things, still nothing. Tried another battery … nothing. Visually checked all fuses … non blown. I had however noticed that the interior lights & clock were not working, Don confirmed that these were all good when he finished the car. Finally I re-checked the fuses and found that the light/clock fuse looked like it was in place, but, it was actually out of position & not locked in properly.
Miracle, LED immobilizer light now on, interior lights & clock working (how the hell does that fuse make the immobilizer do that?). Switch off the immobilizer, turn the key, fires angrily into life, brilliant.
Have now been on a couple of blasts. All the work Mark Poole has done with the engine is outstanding (read, 3.2 short stroke, webers, 964 grind cams) it has sooo much torque and pulls very hard, it took me by surprise just how quick it feels, suspension is firm but not harsh. The sound at full chat is fabulous it has Dansk 2i2o sports exhaust & SSI’s. Short shift is excellent but will take me some time to get used to.
Chris has done a lovely job on the interior it even has a new car smell (with a hint of oil), front Recaro Sports Seats fully refurbished and redone in top grade leather with perforated centres, new carpets, recovered original steering wheel, new leather standard type door cards. Nice place to be, can’t believe its 38 years old. Still things to do, its a 38 year old Porsche 911!
Sorry, I seem to have gone on a bit.
Thanks to a lot of you guys who offered help, drives, cars, advice & a bunch of other stuff. It makes a great forum.
Job done.
Moto (Ian)
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