MY -65 vs -66

[993TT]

Hi all!

There's been a lot of discussion about values regarding 911 MY -65 vs -66.

Which in your opinion would carry more value and be more desirable (both cars being in similar condition, needing restoration):
- March delivery 65/65 without matching engine or gearbox
- August delivery 65/66 with matching engine, gearbox and gauges

Many thanks for opinions and replies!

[John Straub]

My guess would be the August car.

John

[LiveFromNY]

That's a really good question. I think it's close but I'm going to agree with John - a non-matching drivetrain eliminates a large pool of buyers.

[gsjohnson]

For sure the August car.

[kenikh]

August car. What seems to be the dividing line in value on MY66 cars comes down to if Solexes were originally fit or not. FWIW, I've been offered the same money for my 10/65 built car as equivalent MY65 cars have sold for.

[LiveFromNY]

August car. What seems to be the dividing line in value on MY66 cars comes down to if Solexes were originally fit or not.

That's interesting. Do we know what MY66 911 was the last to be delivered with Solex carbs? I'd like to look at that further.

I'm a data guy. Most of what I do on a day-to-day basis involves fairly advanced data analysis. When searching for my '65, I was fortunate to gain access to some fairly comprehensive sales data regarding 65-73 cars. Regarding the early cars, the single clear "dividing line" (in user-friendly terms) on 65/66 value is pre-factory summer break cars vs. post-factory summer break cars. It's pretty striking really.

I'll be adding to the data and running some more analysis over the coming months. I'm hoping to be able to share some of this data in the near future if I can get permission to do so.

[Frank Beck]

Sure John, you have my permission to release the data.


I'll back up a bit:
This debate has come up before. As John mentioned, the consensus was that the biggest dividing line is pre vs post Summer and the second "line" (in terms of $$ variation) was the difference between 300xxx and 30xxxx cars.

[kenikh]

That's interesting. Do we know what MY66 911 was the last to be delivered with Solex carbs? I'd like to look at that further.

This has been a huge topic for debate - the lore of the community suggests it was right around the turn of the calendar year, 1966. We know this isn't true, because there are bonafide cases of cars that received Solexes as late as April from the factory, as well as cars that received Webers earlier than that from the factory. Best determination is that there was no hard cut off date. That said, there was obviously ONE CAR that was the last to receive Solexes. I'm not sure anyone other than the factory knows for sure and they won't be telling. One thing I've learned is that there was very little consistency from the factory when it came to componentry. This is true of early '69S cars still receiving sandcast 901 transmissions, late '70 914-6s leaving the factory with 2.2E heads and pistons - the list goes on.

[Bill Simmeth]

That's interesting. Do we know what MY66 911 was the last to be delivered with Solex carbs? I'd like to look at that further.

This is pretty well hashed over in the "Transition Tread[sic]". As pointed out therein, the "spec book" lists Feb 21, 1966 as the last date for Solexes on engine #903910, but examples after that date have popped up.

[davep]

the "spec book" lists Feb 21, 1966 as the last date for Solexes on engine #903910, but examples after that date have popped up.

As a bit of explanation here, Feb 21, 1966 represents the date for engine #903910. Engines were built ahead of the cars they went into. Completion dates for these cars will be significantly later than Feb 21, 1966. The dates we get to work with most of the time come from the Kardex, and these are invoice dates which significantly lag the completion date. We will certainly see these engines into March 1966.