Show Your Ride

[AJH]

Long way on a club permit Sal. Visit to your mechanic in Byron?

Different system in Victoria. Not restricted to club events and servicing. Wish we had the same.

[stf911]

Haha Merv!

Yes, Andrew, i was worried about that - the first oage FAQ on the Vicroads historic page say i can drive it anywhere except W.A

[Fishcop]

NSW is just switching to the logbook arrangement also, that'll be a plus for my NSW move even though I lose my Typ901 plates

[stf911]

Good move then John!

Last year, i drove my car whever i felt like it and still only used 48 of my 90 days...

[mrar]

Turbo power in go fast red all for the price of some Fuchs.

[SimonR]

Very nice indeed- we'll have to hear more about it please Simon.

Justin

Sorry for the delay, I'd normally take any chance to talk about the car, but it's been a bugger of a week or so. There was a young girl killed by her mum up here in Brisbane. She went to the school that my wife teaches at and my kids go to, Shannon taught the girl's younger sister in one of her classes. We've also decided to put our house on the market and are in the middle of dealing with that. The whole world's been thrown out of whack a little.

So after that downer, onto the good stuff!

--

I bought the car back in August last year, my budget was pretty anaemic -- I had $40K to spend, and wanted to keep $8-10K of that back for work on whatever I bought. (Seems ridiculous now, but at the time, that budget was tight, but not ridiculous.)

Shannon and I had always wanted a pre-74, but were never quite in reach of buying one. The next best option was a 2.7 -- slim hips and simple.

The '76 was up on gumtree, and I'd talked to the owner a few times over three or four months, but everything about both him and the car seemed wrong. He wasn't a Porsche guy and really knew nothing about the car, had no paperwork (even though the car was listed as fully restored), and was just really odd. The fact that he was using photos from when he bought the car made me even more concerned (and I think there were three in total?).

Eventually he dropped the price from $36K to $30K and Shannon, finally sick of hearing me crap on about it, told me to just book a ticket and go look at it, then at least I'd know if it was a dud and could move on.

Owner of the '76 picks me up from the airport and the car is surprisingly tidy (I'd looked at some truly awful cars in my ~$30K price bracket). Car runs well, appears to be straight, I can't find any evidence of accident repair front or back, but I'm a rank amateur so I've got no real idea.

The car is listed as fully restored, which it's not. It has no legitimate history, so it's real condition is completely unknown. Michel Starling helped me with some detective work, and managed to turn up that it's definitely not as restored as the current owner thinks, but the engine had been rebuilt, but not the gearbox. For $30K this is absolutely the best car that I've seen and driven. Bear in mind that the last time I drove a 2.7 was probably 12 years ago, and my recent experience is in a '88 cab; and an '84 backdate. Both 3.2s and in very good condition.

I have a chat to Shannon on the phone, do the deal, pay up and at 6.00pm I'm headed back to Brisbane.

I'm terrified that the 911 is going to implode on the way back. The heater doesn't work, so I'm freezing. I drive through rain (it doesn't leak); a bushfire (it doesn't burst into flames); I keep saying to myself next town I'll stop and sleep, but I'm excited and having a ball. Luckily, I work in a deadline based job so working through the night is a regular occurrence, and one of the things I'm actually good at. So I just keep going. Stops every two hours or so.

Back in Brisbane, 9.30am Sunday morning, 25 hours after I left for Canberra. Exhausted and terrified about what I've just done.

This is what it looked like when I picked it up:



It'd been updated with all the brightwork painted gloss black, dark tinting all round, and a whale tail. It has 45K on clock -- there's no way it's only 45K, and unlikely that it's 245K, so I'm assuming 145K. The interior is original, it's been repainted, but in it's correct colour.

So … then I take it into Porsche Centre Brisbane … and Boom! According to them it needs a full re-seal at $8-$10K -- oil leaking from everywhere. Ugh.

However, I've just driven it back from Canberra to Brisbane, hadn't cleaned the engine down, and to make matters worse it still had the drip tray under the engine, so any oil in that was currently all over everything. I wasn't convinced that it was really that bad.

Time to start learning how to wrench!

Scotty gave me some confidence letting me help him do a engine drop on his car, then I went out and bought myself some tools (didn't even have a jack), some reference and started chasing leaks.

Once the engine was cleaned down properly all the oil was on the driver's side heat exchanger. New oil cooler seals; new oil lines; and new valve cover gaskets … no more leaks.

While I was doing the leak chasing I took the opportunity to re-finish the wheels, and since then I've been gradually working my way through all the little niggly things, and vacuuming out dog hair (PO's white dog had a bed across the back seats … why?).

Moral of the story is thank goodness for terrible ads and odd owners, otherwise I wouldn't have lucked onto such a good car. It's my daily driver and puts a smile on my face every day (other than the ones where you just can't get in synch with the bloody thing -- but that's not often).

[SimonR]

Very nice indeed Simon. I will be interested to hear your impressions about driving it and the 912.

Me too Merv … the 912's still not with us yet, but I'm hoping we're not too far away. Shannon's chomping at the bit to get into it. Given the way prices have gone, I'm much less worried about spending what we'll need to on it's restoration.

[Merv]

Looks terrific Simon and we have all done drives like that with so many unknowns and it can be terrifying. Well done.

The 912 should also be pretty decent it seems. I now know a bit about those motors having played with my 356 donk a fair bit lately. They are quite simple and relatively accessible (after the 911) to work on. Generally smooth and surprisingly torquey, when set up right.

[SimonR]

Lot's more for me to learn, which I'm really looking forward to, and simpler is good. Shannon just loves old cars, and coming from a beetle and a type 3 fastback, the 912 should be relatively familiar for her to drive. Given your experience with the 356 I'm itching to get a feel for the 912. No harm in having a choice of cars now is there?

[Merv]

She should love it Simon. One thing I have found is that the gearbox links are critical to a happy drive. Do check the 'plastic' 'shot glass' under the shifter and the coupler bushing at the rear. Cheap and easy and makes a big difference. The 912/356 wet sump is also a bonus in my opinion. Easy to change and check oil.

Choice is good.

[Josh]

Hi
Thought I should get around to posting a pick of my car - it has only taken a year to get organised, join the forum and post a pic! It is a 1974 build 911 - the closest I could get to a real 901 at present...
This is a pic of my car when I first got it around 1 year ago. I have started making small changes such as the correct steering wheel etc...
I just replaced the shift linkages after reading through some of the posts here, and it now drives like another car.
I plan to remove the rear wing soon hopefully. I also need to get the front seats sorted - any recommendations for this in Adelaide?
I have really enjoyed this forum so far.
Cheers

[Josh]

Great first upside down post of my car!
Thought I might as well ask if anyone knows any history about the car, as unfortunately I know very little.
Cheers

[CamBiscuit]

Welcome aboard Josh

[9er]

Welcome Josh.
Allan Smith motor trimming, kilkenny
Stateside trim, Nuriootpa
Castle, edwardstown

[mrar]

Cool car Josh.