Well, I got a chance to pour over the 67 911 today. I spent about 2 hrs on it. Jacked either side and put on jack stands to have a good look underneath.

The short version: I don't think I'd offer more than $4,000 for it.

The longer version:

Not the original owner. I was not mislead. My fault for not remembering correctly. 2nd owner since 1969. As of now, no original books or manuals. Possibly buried in boxes, but not likely. Odometer reads 22,xxx miles. Owner says turned over 3 times, so 322,000 miles. Good guy in general. I don't have reason not to believe the things he says about the car (well most things).

Engine: Owner said original engine but rebuilt to 2.2 in early 80's. But, engine number did not put it in the 1967 range according to numbers in the Porsche 911 Red Book. Number was in the 1965 engine range. Owner was surprised, and I think genuinely so. Carbs removed, intake ports not covered. Who knows what the port condition is like. Noticed a permatune ignition box. I'm just realizing that I really didn't get a straight answer as to why he parked it, if more than the ignition problems with the bad distributor. SSI (or some other brand if there is another maker) stainless heat exchangers (the high point of the engine). LOL

Transmission: Owner said not original. About all I can say. Should be a 5-speed, but I didn't/couldn't verify.

Body gaps: Big issue at the hood/fender interface on one side in particular. Owner says fenders removed for work (some rust repair and paint). Doors not perfect, but not awful. Rear deck lid not great, but not horrible. Doors closed nicely.

Rust: No perforations noticed through any body panels. I realized on the way home I didn't look at the door bottoms. Some rust bubbles under the paint in a few areas. Headlamp buckets looked good. Longitudinals/rockers looked solid. Jack points were good. Actually used them on either side. Floor pan pretty OK. Undercoating flaking, but seems only surface rust on exposed areas. A couple of small holes found, but it didn't seem to be rust. Almost looked like impact damage since the metal didn't seem rusted out and thinned around the holes. I found rust perforations only in a couple of typical areas, battery box area and the rear seat buckets. All suspension hard points and torsion bar tube looked solid.

Interior: Not original seats, but at least later 911 seats installed. Torn leather on seats. Original color looked like off white. 911 Red Book says the factory offered red, black , brown, or beige. Must be beige, I guess. Much of the rest of the interior is not all that torn up, but very dirty. Don't know if it is salvageable, but probably not. I would not want to keep the carpets. Dash top recovered and not bad. Stainless (or aluminum, whatever it is) silver trim piece across the dash in decent shape.

Wheels: 4 genuine 15x6 Fuchs. Not period correct, but valuable. Owner said from an early 70's 911. Spare still the original 15x4.5 steel wheel.

Electrical: completely unknown. Did not try to power up.

Other bad: Originally a non-sunroof car, but owner had an aftermarket sunroof installed. Had a mild rear ender bending up the rear license plate panel a bit. Repaired but not great condition now.

Other good: Owner said he had two entire front fender panels, front and rear bumpers, and the rear seat buckets from a 66 912 that he owned in the past. I didn't inspect them.

My assessment: With all the lack of originality and non-matching numbers, this car doesn't have much collectible value. I really don't feel compelled to buy it and restore to its original glory. Probably a good candidate for an R-gruppe build or vintage racer, and I'm not so sure that I'm the chosen one to do it. LOL Still at the right price it could make a worthwhile project. Owner said he didn't have a number in mind and hadn't done any research. Suggested I think about it and get back in touch with what I thought was reasonable. I don't think he'd be happy with my offer, if I made one. LOL Something to sleep on for sure.

Brett

 

Not all that long ago (maybe this summer), this was probably an $8,000 to $10,000 car. With the economy tanking, probably not quite as much now.

The big things on this car are:

Relatively rust free tub. Short wheelbase cars with minimal or minor rust are hard to find.

1965 motor. Anything from '65 is worth a boatload right now. '65's that drive, but need major restoration still bring $25k.

If I had this car, I'd get that motor running and then sell that '65 motor out of the car to someone who is restoring a '65. That's worth a ton if the motor is solid and the serial number lines up to model year 1965.

 

Interesting comment on the value of the engine. The one issue I can think of is that it's been rebuilt with larger P&C's but original heads. In our discussion the owner mentioned machine work on the heads to make them work with the larger cylinders. I am not knowledgeable enough to know if that precludes going back to the original 2.0 L 80 mm cylinders with these heads. Or, would I be looking at new heads, too, in order to rebuild to original 1965 specs?

Given the lack of originality, I think my plan would be a mild R-gruppe style build with a 3.2 L engine. But, I think I'm dreaming. I don't really have anywhere to store it until I could work on it. But, I was just looking at prices on enclosed trailers for a possible storage option.

Brett