zuggerat

Long time lurker... Recently came across a barn find 1975 911S. Completely original, fully documented, absolutely pristine condition car with 26,000 miles. The only upgrade is the chain tensioner which was changed to a later Carrera model. I am very tempted to pull the trigger, but after reading all the issues with the '75s I'm starting to wonder if I should hold off... Any advice?

zuggerat

Ok guys, no one is responding so I'll add that I looked over the car again today. Taking it to a local Porsche shop to have a PPI done this week. Previous owner has replaced the fan with an 11 blade, everything else is original, pending other discoveries during the PPI.

Here's a picture for the hell of it

masterdave

Car looks great from the picture, that amount of miles is quite low for that car from what I have seen. Full documentation is quite an invaluable thing to have. If you see no rust the car may be a good choice. It all depends what you are looking for, no matter which one you go with a Porsche is always a good choice. The chain up grade is not a bad thing the old chain tensioner had issues and the carrera ones have long been considered the solution to thoese issues. As for the issues you have heard about, its really up to you, if the 75 is the car you want, then go for it. If you have driven it and liked it, buy it. Porsches are very personal, I know people that prefer a classic 356 and i know people that prefer a brand new GT3, personally I love my 78SC. If you like the 75, go for it, if it is your first Porsche, no matter what it is, you will love it.

Regards
Dave

zuggerat

Thanks for the reply, and yes it is my first. I drove it yesterday for the first time, first time driving any Porsche earlier than 2009, and I absolutely loved it. Making it very difficult to say no should something come up in the PPI.

redridge

if the ppi looks good.... pull the trigger. That is one great looker!

Barn996

What a beautiful Porsche, what's not to like. As mentioned, results of a thorough PPI should help you make the right decision. GL.

dhagood

that's a very nice looking car. buying something like this is far more emotional than rational, however we try to convince ourselves otherwise.

like any other car/model year, 75 has some things about which you should be aware.

1) magnesium engine case. the mag case is light, but does not like heat. i've seen it stated that a mag engine case closely resembles congealed butter: get it hot and it will deform. so, make sure it doesn't get hot. ever. not even once. if you get much beyond 210F, pull over and shut it down. i don't know if a 75 has a front fender mounted oil cooler, but if it doesn't you might want to think about adding one. stop and go traffic with high ambient temperature will be where you have to be most careful.

2) thermal reactors. this was an air pollution "solution" that porsche came up with that is way up there on the list of "dumb things the factory did and wished they hadn't". i don't know if the 75 MY has them. if they do, and they are still attached to the car, get rid of them immediately. they greatly exacerbate the engine heating problem noted above.

3) rust. i think 76 is the year porsche started galvanizing the full body shell. since galvanized steel was not exclusively used, it means your car has rust problems. the concern is not "is it rusted", because it is. the concern is "how badly is it rusted", or perhaps "when will it require rust repair". a 75 MY car will require rust repair at some point. just because it's not visible doesn't mean it isn't there. the rust issue wouldn't stop me from buying a pre-76 car, but i would start saving for the day i had to do something about it.

4) head studs. they screw into the mag case, and the mag case when hot will deform. one attribute of this is the head studs start pulling out of the case. solution? don't get the engine too hot. ever. not ever once. make sure that the PPI checks the torque of each head stud. if the stud isn't holding torque, you'll need to think long and hard about moving forward. there is a fix for this problem, which is to take that cylinder off and add a time cert (a better ezicoil) to the affected stud. this is expensive, and if you're doing one, you ought to do them all, which will generally solve the problem.

once again, it's a beautiful car. best of luck.

zuggerat

Thanks for the information guys.

race911

All comes down to price. Cosmetically it could pretty much be as new. Mechanically (as outlined in the post above) it could take the price of the car again to sort it out.

A '75 in your area would likely be a 49 state car that it would not have had thermal reactors. Doesn't mean it's immune from stud pulling. Lowest mileage 2.7 I ever did was a 30K'er. A few I personally did went 150K+ before rebuilds. Yes, '74s and '75-6 CA models that had the reactors pulled early.

An absolute expert with mag case 911s is essential for a PPI.

Raceboy

If the engine has 5blade fan, get rid of it asap and replace it with 11blade fan assembly.

1stgear

"Previous owner has replaced the fan with an 11 blade, everything else is original,"

exc911ence

Gorgeous! Hardly appears to be a barn-find (ask me how I know! ) with the paint shining like that.

If you don't mind sharing, what's the asking price?

User 4221

Looks like a good find. Sepia brown can be a polarizing color. If you plan to re-sell it remember that the color will greatly reduce your buyer pool.

Raceboy

Sorry for not reading 1st post carefully.

theiceman

Wow that does look like a nice example .. although i normally shudder at this engine. If the reactors are gone and you have documentation showing the case has bee time-certed that is a very nice car .. unfortunately the only way to know is by documentation, unless you wanna tear the engine down and check