Pros & Cons of Euro Cars

[LongRanger]

. . . Nice to see this thread is still alive... I'm a couple of weeks away for getting my Euro spec then I'll be able to make some more constructive comparison . . .

So? --- how'd things turn out with your Euro car?

Any üpdates?



...

[Puma]

In reading this thread it occurred to me that my euro car doesn't have 97,933 original miles, she's got 58,759 original miles. And lemme tell ya' there's a lot of rust.

I really dig the original details and adventurous color combinations of the euro cars.

[gled49]

Our Italian delievery 73 doesn't have gas tank fuel evaporative system (charcoal canister), I think like most European cars. Need to leave windows down all the time when parked so gas smell doesn't build up in the car. G.Led

[Adore911]

Our Italian delievery 73 doesn't have gas tank fuel evaporative system (charcoal canister), I think like most European cars. Need to leave windows down all the time when parked so gas smell doesn't build up in the car. G.Led

Proper 73 Italy delivered 911's have the black plastic box under the dash through which pass the fuel tank gasses; in from the fuel tank, out via the transparent tube (clamp on the silver cover over the fuse boxes!) through the front section. Fortunately European cars don't have the useless black canister on the suspension pan. Your car has a problem if you smell gas in the car; has nothing to do with being European.

[RSTarga]

That "useless" black canister system although simple, actually works quite well. I agree that if you have gas smell in your car something is wrong, even without the carbon canister.
Usually the black breather is cracked, or the seal on the tank sending unit is leaking.

[Biancaneve]

Our Italian delievery 73 doesn't have gas tank fuel evaporative system (charcoal canister), I think like most European cars. Need to leave windows down all the time when parked so gas smell doesn't build up in the car. G.Led

No smell in my Italian '73S ... check for cracks and leaks in the circuit as suggested by Adore911

[mobius911]

No smell in my Italian '73S ... check for cracks and leaks in the circuit as suggested by Adore911

+1, you should not be smelling fresh gas. I've been guilty of saying it's normal for the Euro cars with no charcoal canister. But it's always turned out to be leaks in fuel lines. The leak is often just a weep so it is easy to smell but not easy to find. I then say to myself "why is this line leaking, I replaced that during the restoration?" Then I remember, oh yeah, that was 20 years ago.

[Biancaneve]

+1, you should not be smelling fresh gas. I've been guilty of saying it's normal for the Euro cars with no charcoal canister. But it's always turned out to be leaks in fuel lines. The leak is often just a weep so it is easy to smell but not easy to find. I then say to myself "why is this line leaking, I replaced that during the restoration?" Then I remember, oh yeah, that was 20 years ago.

Time flies

[Johan H]

Europe consists of countries with very different climates, from dry and warm regions in Italy, Spain and France to cold, wet and humid regions up north, Sweden, Finland, most of Germany and UK etc.

Many of the cars up here in northern Europe suffered from severe rust issues already after 5 years, the first owner of one of my 912´s told me stories of how her left foot almost slipped through a hole in the floor by the pedal area in 1971 when the car was just 5 years old.. Back then, many of the cars were driven all year around hence suffered from the cold and wet climate.

BUT there are examples of very nice, unrestored rust free cars up here aswell, not too many though

+1

Exactly my thoughts when reading the thread!

[mikeO_912]

As opposed to starting a new thread, I thought I'd ask in this one:

For those who have imported early 911s or 912s into the US, in addition to the obvious (KM to MPH), were there any other changes DOT made you complete on the car? The reason I ask, my '68 912 was German spec and delivered and later imported to the US. It retained its Euro heater boxes, turn signals, tail lights...KM was changed to MPH. One thing that was changed on the car prior to my ownership were the headlights. The car came to me with US spec sealed beams (glass lens from US spec 65-67 cars), not the Euro Bosch headlights.

My car shows absolutely no sign of front end damage, but I suppose it's possible one of the prior owners swapped headlights at some point for some unknown reason. I'm wondering if this was a possible mandatory change from DOT when it was imported. Anyone ever know of this happening to other imported Porsches from this era?

One pro, for me, was no US DOT side lights and no smog equipment :-)

-Mike