FS: '68 Sportomatic SWB

A friend of mine posed this question to me earlier.....

'My question is, could you ever be whole at that starting price?'

My response was:

A sportomatic SWB 911 is a rare car……how many are left? Judging by the rust that you can see in the photos I'm sure it's also deep down as well. I don’t see how you could make much of a profit given the asking price unless you were able to do a lot of the work yourself. A nut/bolt restoration by a reputable shop would take a year or two and would most likely exceed $100K plus the asking price of the car……is this worth $125K finished?

If the restoration is done correctly it's probably worth it to a collector who knows how rare this car is.

What do you guys think????

The asking price is $16K

http://www.thesamba.com/vw/classifie...php?id=1373511

The resemblance to the original paint 68 L I found here in Phoenix is astounding. Also o.g. paint, hidious sand beige on black. Mine just had a 5 speed and it came sans the corrosion part ! I think it will go quick at 16k. Attachment 228062

I think it is a little over priced. I bought a Euro 911L with sunroof, 5.5 Fuchs and a rare color of Ossi blue. It is also a Sportomatic . Now the 911L has the 911S brakes and 911S interior trim and mine has a Driver side sport seat from the factory order. Original Calif Black plates. It also does not have the burden of smog pump and last minute looking side lights and vacuum advance dizzy. I paid 15K a year ago. I do have some rust work but not as bad as this car. So I think this car should be somewhat less than 16K. By how much? The market will decide. Chris

"Rare" in this case does not necessarily equate to valuable. Although 100k is an accurate number to restore, there are still too many cars available out there to bring this one back. And if someone did, there's still the dilemma of the Sporto.
Having said that, where do you find a SWB anything in the 15k neighborhood these days? The extent of the rust is the issue here for sure.

That 911L has been on SAMBA and the bird for long time with no takers at 15K firm.

The rare part here is that that goofy sporto is still in the car :) I would bet a cold one that the owner stopped driving it because something in the tranny went 'ka-clunk'.

Put a 5 speed in it, whoever decides to take the plunge. It won't be a cheap plunge, so might as well cough up 3k for a 901 trans and some peripheries.

Frank is right tho, 15k does not buy a lot of SWB anymore - well not with 6 cylinders anyway.

It would have some appeal if so much of that original paint wasn't ventilated. $10k would be a more realistic selling price in my mind.

This is where we are at these days with the SWB cars. You can no longer find a nice survivor 911 with original paint and fair mileage on the clock and little rust. LWB cars are a plenty still.For some reason the SWB cars are much more rusty and have many engine changes. One thing I have noticed is the bottoms of the 911's have less rust protection. It has fallen off. The asphalt form of rust protection is not as good as the LWB cars. So now when you find a 5 to 10K car, it looks like it has been sitting on the bottom of the ocean for 30 years. Most of these nice cars have been picked up that have been sitting around and we have car hunters looking daily for these cars in addition to us that are in the market. Someone who finds a nice survivor 911, not even a 911S, wants 60 to 90K depending on the market. So us that wants to spend 10 to 15K has to put up with a Sporto or a converted car to a impact bumper style, or car with flairs or other major body changes like a clipped front end etc. Chris

Hi to everyone.
I recently bought this car and car will go to Poland.
I was looking for original car "restoration project"
Sporto was not my goal but is aditional value for me.
I'm more knowlegable about 356 cars and have 356 B T5
I was trying to decode VIN number 11830385 and diferent sources decode it as S engine or normal.
What is the true? Can help anyone?

My source say: this is a normal 911 Coupe Body from 1968.
What engine-number?

Greets

R. Niklaus, Switzerland

Quote:

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Originally Posted by Squerback

Hi to everyone.
I recently bought this car and car will go to Poland.

Sporto was not my goal but is aditional value for me.

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Please enlighten us. Why, may I ask does the Sporto provide additional value for you? Is the car for your wife?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by T308

It would have some appeal if so much of that original paint wasn't ventilated. $10k would be a more realistic selling price in my mind.

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"Ventilated Paint". You need to copyright that one. LMAO.

Tom

Additional value to a Sportomatic : when you convert it to a 5 speed, from the factory, all sporto's come with ventilated brakes and the oil tank is larger than normal because engine oil is needed for the torque converter on the sporto. So that's two added benefits . converting is a easy bolt on bolt off operation. Chris

Quote:

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Originally Posted by raspy2point2

converting is a easy bolt on bolt off operation. Chris

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You may actually have to spend some extra time and install a clutch pedal, cable, makes driving much easier. And cap off those oil hoses while under there. Then you need a dual oil sender and a 68-only press/temp combo gauge to make it 'right'.

I think all Sporto's come with S gauges as well. chris

I guess I'm in the minority, I would love to have a Sportomatic, I think they are kind of cool.

I have heard that lots of Europeans are sending cars that could not be economically restored here or in Western Europe to Poland for extensive rust repair.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by super9064

I guess I'm in the minority, I would love to have a Sportomatic, I think they are kind of cool.

I have heard that lots of Europeans are sending cars that could not be economically restored here or in Western Europe to Poland for extensive rust repair.

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You are absolutely right, sporto are kind of cool for me too.
And they are less produced. About Poland: labour rates are much less than western europe but is difficult to find knowlagable service to restore car properly. Restoration of car like this will spend about 50k usd nut and bolt restoration which is half price comparing to services like wilhoit or caporsche.
Regards for all
Peter

Quote:

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Originally Posted by super9064

I guess I'm in the minority, I would love to have a Sportomatic, I think they are kind of cool.

I have heard that lots of Europeans are sending cars that could not be economically restored here or in Western Europe to Poland for extensive rust repair.

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And for good reasons. When Russia folded up the tents they left a lot of talent out in the cold. My BMW friends in Europe are using this talent to make a lot of parts. In fact some of the best chrome work is coming out of Poland since the EPA has no jurisdiction there. ;)
Here's a good article that is old but you'll get the drift…

http://cobracountry.com/kirkham/kirkhamfeature2.html

Hello Again in this topic
1968 sporto is in restoration proces.
This car wasnt so bad.
even floors stay orginal with only one point repaired.
car should be finished end of this year.
any coments about my work are welcome.
Actually car is in paint shop.
and all mechanical work is done
all interior were profesionally removed and repaired (additional coco padding were installed under orginal seat covers)
You can watch progress of all workd here:
https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/sred...3fg&feat=email

Great progress. Good to see you posting again.

Very nice progress, thanks for sharing your photos. I look forward to seeing the car completed.

Final Assembly

Attachment 271931Attachment 271932Attachment 271933Attachment 271934Attachment 271935
For more pictures visit:
https://plus.google.com/photos/11505...63111573825041
any coments are welcome ;-)

What a fantastic bit of work! I have a sand beige SWB car that needs restoration and this thread is very inspirational. Thanks for sharing.

Thanks for making updates. Very nice!! Your picture gallery is very extensive. Is this for a customer, or will the car be sold? Where will it end up? Thanks

I do this restoration for my customer.
He think to sell the car and buy 356 cab car for restoration.
But we will see what life bring. Car should be finished on February 2014.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by jimhuiz

What a fantastic bit of work! I have a sand beige SWB car that needs restoration and this thread is very inspirational. Thanks for sharing.

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Jim show me your project :-) My priv pbem@wp.pl

Very nice work.

Nice work Squerback! Thank you for saving an unloved Sporto ;)

wow... looks like you did some fantastic work that should serve as an inspiration for us! Thanks for sharing the photos and the updates...

Attachment 275645Attachment 275646Attachment 275647Attachment 275648
Project is nearly completed. It is only tune up left.

Beautiful images.

What is the part between the distributor and coil that looks as if it has got a pulley on the end of it?

Quote:

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Originally Posted by gduplock

Beautiful images.

What is the part between the distributor and coil that looks as if it has got a pulley on the end of it?

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You're new in town...

That's where the rope goes to pull start the Sportomatic.

Yeah, but I have SWB 911L Sporto. It hasn't got one and still goes!

Suxolot that still goes?

Well just consider yourself lucky.

Yeah Frank that's an American thing , something to do with saving the planet, we did,nt bother with that in Europe

Air pump idler?

'68's ran hotter than the hinges of hell.

That is the smog pump on '68 US cars. The belt is driven off a pelley on the left cam.

Find a US '68 912 without cracked heads and you've hit the jackpot.

Thanks guys. Now i know what we were missing in UK!

We did have smog in 60's and 70's though!

:)