Trying to get in touch with Denny Kahler

[Steve Smith]

Fascinating story Steve.
So the Z wasn’t damaged in the crash?


Here’s a “story”.

The Z-Car seller was a passenger in the drivers 5.0 Mustang.

Ultimately I guess the conclusion to the debate resides with the person. I for one don't consider someone contacting me about a car I owned previously as an invasion of my privacy. I would understand that persons passion. Would I seek out someone? No. Would I talk to someone about a car I owned and be OK with the contact? Absolutely. They must be a car nut like I am and we would have that in common at the very least.

[Longballa]

Cool story Eric! I'd keep it Tan with that story behind it. I had great success with my 72S talking with previous owners. One of whom is Walter Cunningham the original purchaser. I think if you're a good person and it comes from a good place the owners can feel that passion and typically love to talk cars. If a cars salesman was calling you that would be different.

A few years ago Gary Emory referred a 67S to me that was owned by a good friend of his as a potential purchase. I got in touch with the seller and he sent pictures of "the pickle", it's an irish green very nice (except paint) extremely original car. Going through the pictures, it became evident very quickly that the interior while extremely original in appearance (and wear) was that of a 912. When I went to pick up the car visual inspection clearly showed a tan 912 interior, right down to the perlon carpets. However, to me it looked like a completely factory installation right down to the wear it should have had by then. The owner (3rd owner) that I bought it from had no idea of how the car ended up with a 912 interior, but he had put together a mostly complete black interior for a proper 67S over the 20 years he owned the car, but hadn't gotten around to swapping it in.

Kardex shows black interior.... so how did the tan interior get there.

In the paperwork with the car was the original service manual with the original owners name inscribed, car purchased new at Vasek. A rather unusual name, so I looked it up. I came up with a hit on the name in Arizona.

So... for the first time in my life, my curiosity got the better of me and I tried to contact the original owner. Found the name and number online, and called him up. He has more than pleased to hear from me and we had a nice short conversation about the car. He had purchased the car new as a young rocket scientist and was commuting from the Santa Barbara area to Vandenberg AFB daily. He liked the Irish green but was less enamored with having a black interior car for his daily commute. So... there was a 912 on the showroom floor with a tan interior, and he said to the salesman that he would buy the car if it had a tan interior. So,... always looking to make a sale, they swapped the interior from black to the tan 912 interior. Customer happy, and the dealership made the sale. So... somewhere out there (if it still exists) is a 912 with a black 67S interior....

Unfortunately the original owner had just moved to Arizona when I reached him, and he tossed all of the old records etc that he had on the car, and said "too bad you didn't reach me a few months ago!". I thanked him for his time, and promised to not intrude on him in the future.

So, sometimes it does work out ok, and I was lucky to get some important information on how the car ended up looking like it did.

Now... what do I do? I'm probably going to sell this car in the future (not sure when). Do I swap the interior now? (I'm slowly piecing together an original carpet kit), or do I leave that decision to the potential new owner and throw in the parts accumulated so far....

Cheers,
E

[steve shea]

I had the experience of having the original owner contact me about my Italian 73S. I had been in contact with several Early S members in Italy about my car. I told one of them about the car and that I also had two speedsters as well. He posted on an Italian 356/911 site about my Porsches and the son of the original owner of the S saw the post. An aubergine 73S with cinnamon interior from Varese, Italy now in Wyoming, could it be the same car? Well he contacted me and sure enough it was his family's car. Through that contact I got the early history, the original registration papers and license plates along with some nice stories.

[Frank Beck]

Obviously because this is an enthusiast’s site I expect to have exactly zero people agree with me (nothing abnormal about that) but just don’t be surprised if contacting a previous owner doesn’t elicit the exuberant response that you would like to receive.

[StephenAcworth]

When I bought 304598 I had no knowledge of the previous owners other than the guy who sold the car to me. A couple of weeks after that he called me up and said he found a box of stuff that should go with the car. Turns out it is all the service records and registration documents since 1970... but nothing for the 4 years before... I could see that the car had around 80,000 miles in 1970 and it was mostly in Portland, Oregon. This was strange as the Kardex said it was delivered in California...
A few weeks later, the PO sent me the drivers handbook from the car- pretty tatty condition, but it had a distinctive name handwritten in the front. Out of interest I googled the name and got an email address.
I sent an email to the guy with the subject 304598 and asked him if it had been his car.
Within about 10 minutes I got a reply telling me that, yes, it was his car and that he bought it as a wedding gift back in 1966.
So I asked him where he bought it and whether he had done those 80,000 miles in it.
Turns out he bought it in Oregon, from Riviera Motors, and that it had been a dealer swap as the guy whose name was on the Kardex didn’t have the funds to pay for the car when delivered.
He was a coast guard pilot in California, but lived in Oregon, so the miles had been put on the car on highways...
Two other things of interest: when he bought the car it had a wooden wheel and leather seats; neither on the Kardex and both long gone by the time I bought the car.
We communicated for a while, as he told me he had photos of the car and some documents at his home; but I guess something happened to him as I never heard from him after that.
Whilst I would have loved to have seen some period photos of the grey ghost, as he called the car, I didn’t want to intrude any more.
But I am very happy now to have a complete documented ownership file since the car was new; just one of those things... and I never bothered any of the other owners even though I had names and addresses...

[stevesob]

My only regret is that I've never owned a car that anybody else has ever been interested in. I guess I'll never be the hot chick that has to suffer constantly getting hit upon...

[Frank Beck]

My only regret is that I've never owned a car that anybody else has ever been interested in. I guess I'll never be the hot chick that has to suffer constantly getting hit upon...

Who knows? Maybe with that 912 you'll be the fat chick that someone feels sorry for?

Disclaimer!! I mean no harm to anyone specifically! If you or anyone you know feels offended or bullied by my post please feel free to contact me directly so that we can discuss.
Thanks.

[jhartmann66]

I can't quite believe I'm about to say this: but I agree with Frank (on this topic, anyway, and to a degree).

For one of my cars, I tracked down the 3rd owner who was happy to supply me with some additional resto photos and also information on PO #2. I also contacted that person who was tickled to hear about the car and hoped to see it again some day. However, I'm also a bit reticent when contacting people who don't know me and asking for a "favor" of any kind. Most of the time I'm sure people are understanding but I don't like to presume that or to impose on people's time. So, here's how I've done it: I wrote a short personal letter and included some cash in the envelope each time and also apologized up front for contacting them out of the blue. I did that for PO #3 and then again for PO#2 (who wanted to return it but I said no and to please put it to good use). It wasn't a large amount of money, but I considered it a courtesy and out of respect for their time. If they didn't want to be bothered that was ok by me too.

[Frank Beck]

I can't quite believe I'm about to say this: but I agree with Frank (on this topic, anyway, and to a degree).

For one of my cars, I tracked down the 3rd owner who was happy to supply me with some additional resto photos and also information on PO #2. I also contacted that person who was tickled to hear about the car and hoped to see it again some day. However, I'm also a bit reticent when contacting people who don't know me and asking for a "favor" of any kind. Most of the time I'm sure people are understanding but I don't like to presume that or to impose on people's time. So, here's how I've done it: I wrote a short personal letter and included some cash in the envelope each time and also apologized up front for contacting them out of the blue. I did that for PO #3 and then again for PO#2 (who wanted to return it but I said no and to please put it to good use). It wasn't a large amount of money, but I considered it a courtesy and out of respect for their time. If they didn't want to be bothered that was ok by me too.

Bravo.


Just in case my name comes up in someone's ownership chain I have no need for paltry sums of cash. Source and send the finest craft IPA from your region and I'll decide after I taste it whether I'll help or not. Thanks.

[LongRanger]

. . . I’m all for helping people (for a profit of course) but the thought of digging up info on hundreds(?) of cars I’ve sold/brokered sounds incredibly boring. I’d rather use my time to build something, race, or drink beer . . .

. . . or he'll help you not . . .

. . . Although...

when guys call me and ask that I help them “fill in” history on a car that I owned or brokered so that they “have a story”, I usually don’t return their calls . . .

. . . or he'll help you? . . .

. . . in case my name comes up in someone's ownership chain I have no need for paltry sums of cash. Source and send the finest craft IPA from your region and I'll decide after I taste it whether I'll help or not . . .

. . . or he'll help you not . . .

. . . guy called me about a year ago and mentioned that he wanted “the whole story” . . . . think I quoted him less than $1k for my time and he was offended . . .

. . . wouldn’t even pay a measly sum to perhaps the only person on the planet who knew most of the sordid details . . .

................................