I have been looking at a Tangerine Orange 1973 911T over the last week and would like some advice on the ins and outs of early 911 buying. I.E. what to look for what to look out for. After looking at the vehicle this evening the facts of the vehicle are as follows.

body work - new steel has been welded into previous areas of rust that had been cut out at the B-pillar around the door latch area and where the pillar meets the rocker panel on both sides of the car. An S type front clip has been added. Rocker panel chrome strips and front / rear bumper chrome /rubber bits have been replaced. All other areas of body appear to be original coachwork.

engine- Original 2.4 has been replaced with a weber carbuerated 2.2 liter with stainless heat exchangers and a Bursch 6 into 1 exaust. The car also has a type 915 transmission which i understand to be correct as of 1972. I am hoping someone could elaborate as to why the 2.4 was swapped for a 2.2! Are there reliablity issues with the 2.4? Would the 2.2 liter have been an easier or more economical option for replacement if the original motor went south? What's the scoop? The current owner is aware that the motor is not correct but is unable to elaborate as to why. I can say the price of the car does reflect the non-original status and sits a little over half of what book retail price is. I drove the car and it feels very strong and handles/brakes/shifts well.

Paint- The car has been repainted base coat/clear coat in the original color and presents very well. I noted that there is some bubbling along entire length of of the lower edge of the driver side door and to a much lesser extent on the passenger side. The inner edges of the doors, the trunk, and the engine bay are still original paint in decent shape for a 1973. The current owner claims that the bubbling on the doors appeared almost immediately after painting 3 years ago.

Interior- original light tan interior in decent condition for it's age. No rips, tears, or major stains. Good headliner,and few cracks on the light tan dash. Almost perfect rear seats. The interior carpeting has been replaced and carpeting in the front trunk area as well.


1. Per description..... what's it worth?
2. Is the 2.4 for 2.2 motor swap an issue, if so why?
3. What are the issues to avoid/ watch for concerning a 1973 911T?

Sorry for the Ramble, but thanks in advance for a much anticipated repsponse.

 

The 2.2 definitely hurts its value, as does the bubbling paint and likely rust.

There are actually two models of 1973T. The second half of the year's production had a kind of CIS injection. The first half had carbs (or was it MFI). In your case, by bad memory doesn't matter, because you've got an engine from a 70-71 model.

The first thing I'd insist on, in your shoes, is not one but two pre-purchase inspections. The first would be for addiitonal rust. 73's were not galvanized, and rust issues can make the cars essentially worthless, given the amount of work it takes to address it. I'd tell you to look under the battery boxes and all around the front and rear suspension pickup points, but you'll miss most of it, I promise. So would I. You've got to get a body guy who knows early 911's to take a look at it.

If it passes there, then have a shop familiar with early cars do a thorough PPI on it, looking at the health of the engine, transaxle, suspension (shocks, bushings, etc) and brakes. Bodywork or engine work could easily set you back 5-10K. Transaxle, suspension and brake work can mean that much all over again.

There are a lot of dogs out there, but the pre-1974 market is also seeing some insane inflation, recently. Ebay sales are skewing the market upward, a lot of times unjustifiably.

Hopefully, someone with more experience than me will hazard a guess at a good offering price. Three years ago, I paid $3,500 for my 72 coupe, but it had no engine or transaxle.

 

Jack's information is pretty good, and he's much better qualified that I to speak on them, but I'll offer a few comments. I don't think anyone would ever term the 2.4, or pretty much any 911, engine as unreliable - the only ones you need to watch out for are the 2.7s (1975-1977). So why was the 2.4 replaced with a 2.2? Good question. Obviously something went wrong with it at some point in its life, and maybe the only thing the owner could find to replace it with was a 2.2. Maybe a tensioner failure, which can be catastrophic. Yes, the 2.2 would have been more economical than, say, upgrading to a 3.0 or 3.2, but not really any easier, I wouldn't think. If my engine needed to be replaced, my first thought would be "well, I've got to spend a couple grand on a new engine, why not spend a few bucks more for a power upgrade?". I'd do something like Jack did with his - put a 3.6 in there, or at least an SC 3.0, but why go with less power?

The 915 transmission would be normal for a 73. Personally, I think this transmission is the weakest part of the car - not weak as in "going to break", but weak as in, "it's a piece of crap" :-) Even after changing the bushings, I still don't like the transmission.

As Jack said, rust can be a major issue with pre-76 911s due to non-galvanised bodies, and it can be damn hard to find. Bubbling could be a cheap paint job or rust. If it appeared right after painting, my guess would be a bad paint job. (The PO of my car did a Maaco paint job - luckily no bubbling, but still not a good job, tons of overspray, etc)

As to value I don't really know either. I'm in Canada, and prices are much different here. Your best bet would be to research typical asking and selling prices (try the classifieds here, on Pelican Parts, various PCA classifieds, Auto Trader, even "recently completed" auctions on Ebay to see what they sold for), get a PPI (or 2), determine the value of repairs needed, and deduct that from whatever you determine to be the average selling price of comparable cars. That would be a good indicator of the cars value, and should only take an hour or 2 to research. That's what I did when I bought mine.

Hope this helps!

Chris

 

Regaring the engine swap, maybe it was done before the 3.0 l or later model where available?

2.2 l with webers should be a fun ride anyway I think.

 

My brother and I have been watching 911T values for the past 1.5 years since he wanted to pick up a T to compliment his 911SC.

Junk with rust and major issues (mechanical and cosmetic) seems to be in the $3000-$5000 range. Cars that are driveable but need work can run $5000 to $10,000. Nice stuff is $10,000 to $15,000 and really nice show cars can go up from there.

We were finding that rust free, original cars were in the mid teen's (and up) for asking prices. My brother wanted to stay around $8000 purchase price. There wasn't much out there that was worth buying at or below this price that didn't need either major rust repair or some sort of major mechanical repair. He ended up just deciding to not buy one of these cars with issues and increase his budget for a better car when the time came.

I'm no expert, but I would have to guess that this car is in the $5,000 to $10k range, depending on it's true condition (extent of rust and mechanicals). Whether or not it will sell in this range is another thing since, as others have mentioned that the early 911 market seems to be inflated.

Jay
90 964

 

It sounds like this may be the course of action i take. It makes sense to wait and find a car in VERY nice condition rather than something i need to work on to get up to my personal standard.

Thank you all for your informative responses.

 

My dream would be to eventually have an early long wheel base 911 with a 3.0 SC or 3.2 Carrera motor armed with PMO carbs to launch it down the road.