FS: '72 911 Targa

Selling my 2-owner ’72 911 Targa. I have known the car since about 1976, and purchased it from the original owner in 2008 after it had been stored in the back of his garage for 17 years. The body and interior are as it came out of storage, but it has had a complete mechanical refurbishment ($50k in invoices), and has covered about 13,000 trouble free miles since the resurrection. The car is located in Vancouver Canada. Asking $US 90,000 OBO. Following is a short history of the car.

’72 Porsche Targa SN 9112110456
A Short History

This car was purchase new from Volkswagen Pacific by a Vancouver car enthusiast who had migrated through a long series of Italian and British sports cars. This was his first Porsche and he fell in love with both the car and the marque. In fact he went on to own about a dozen Porsches, often two at a time. His enthusiasm was such that by the mid-70’s he gathered together a number of other local Porsche owners, and then petitioned PCA to allow him to start the first chapter outside of the USA.

He was an avid autocrosser and Driver Training participant. To that end, he was continually looking for ways to “go faster”. The car was a 911 T, with the Comfort Group option (911S instruments, 911S rubber moldings, stainless steel side trim and velour carpets). A number of performance modifications were made over the years, including: front and rear sway bars; Bilstein sport shocks; lowering and corner balancing the car; Hurst Airheart front brakes (4 piston, aluminum calipers as used in Trans Am racing during the 1970’s); a duck tail rear spoiler with a balancing front 911S spoiler (steel, not a fiberglass reproduction); 7” Fuchs alloy wheels and a limited slip differential.

More power was also required. The motor was rebuilt to 911E specification, but still not enough power, so through contacts in Germany, he arranged for a 2.4 ltr 911S motor to be built by Kremer, the noted Porsche racer and tuner. Documentation from Kremer stated that the motor produced 210 HP, vs 190 HP for a standard 911S. The motor has a number of interesting features, including: a sport exhaust; a European spec MFI pump, and metal (as opposed to plastic) throttle bodies.

In addition to performance modifications, a number of other style and comfort modifications were made. These include replacing the chrome trimmed turn signal housing and horn grills with the black trimmed units from 1973, the stock steering wheel was replace with a Porsche Design unit (made by Momo), and the stock seats were replaced with Recaro “Ideal C” seats. These are the most comfortable (and expensive) seats that Recaro made at this time, and were used by high-end “tuners” including Porsche Exclusive when they built the “935 Street” for Mansour Ojjeh (the owner of TAG, and patron of the Porsche – TAG F1 motor).

Many of the original parts are still available with the car, including: the Porsche seats (vinyl with corduroy inserts), steering wheel, differential, engine cover, turn signals and horn grill.

The car is now a very subtle “outlaw”, developed before Porsche outlaws became a thing.

One question that comes up in the valuation of older 911’s is the impact that the modifications have on the value of the car. I contacted Bruce Anderson, who was one of the Porsche “gurus” and who wrote the Porsche valuation reviews for Excellence magazine. Bruce had seen the car on several occasions when he had been in Vancouver, and I contacted him regarding this question. In 2009, Bruce said that a similar car in excellent condition would be worth $US 27,400, but this car would be worth $US 48,000, or about $US 20,000 more.

The car has always been garaged, and was never used as a daily driver. As such it is in amazingly good original condition. The car was repainted in the late 70’s, all the rubber trim is original, as is the vinyl targa top (the headliner has been replaced as the original cloth was bonded to rubber which disintegrates with age). All the interior and the front trunk carpeting are factory original, and details such as the original electro-mechanical clock, the glove box light and the under hood light all work. The car has the original owners manual, and the tool kit and the owners log book from the mid-1970’s.

The car was parked in the back of the owner’s garage in 1992, and stayed there under cover until I purchased the car in 2008. The car looked as good when it came out from under the cover in 2008 as it did in 1992. However the mechanicals did not take kindly to sitting for 17 years. The upshot was that the car received a total mechanical rebuild. Major items include:

Motor:
- Split the case and all new bearings, including updating the case to include oil “squirters” and a rear bearing for the intermediate shaft.
- “time serting” the case studs
- new Mahle pisons & cylinders
- new valves, valve seats, rockers and rocker shafts
- new cam chains and guides
- Carrera chain tensioners
- rebuild MFI pump
- ignition wires
- starter
Brake system
- new master cylinder
- new ATE rear calipers
- new brake lines
- rebuild Hurst Airheart front calipers
- new rotors
- new wheel bearings
Fuel system
- boil out tank and recoat
- replace all flexible fuel lines
- clean fuel pump
Transmission
- clutch
- new seals
- new syncro rings
Oil tank
- clean and reseal

The mechanical restoration work was done by Jakob’s in North Vancouver. Rogee has an extensive background in air cooled Porsche maintenance and restorations, including the restoration of two 2.7 ltr Porsche Carrera RS. Detailed invoices for the restoration work are available, and exceed $50k. This is one of the nicest examples of a mid-70’s “breathed on” 911.

The car has been totally reliable since I have owned it. I am a snowbird, and on those years when the car was left in Vancouver, it starts immediately after sitting for 4 – 5 months (well tuned MFI works very well!). It is also great for extended road trips, having covered the 1,400 miles between Vancouver and Southern California 3 times, including the last trip with my wife a few weeks ago.
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