So here comes a little tale of mine that highlights how even some of us 'experienced' guys make mistakes
As some of you know, I bought a couple of 68 cars last year, a US spec L coupe and a ROW S Targa - I really wanted the coupe... it's in great condition and perfect for our local historic racing class. The targa was part of the package, appalling condition but needed to come with the coupe. The plus was that the targa was a real S and had a real S engine, though not actually matching. The owner I bought them off is no fool and knows Porsches well - he was positive the numbers did not match.
Being restoration fatigued after 4 years on my 69, I came to the conclusion that I didn't want to do another restoration and decided to sell the targa. Had I had extra garage space I might have sat on it for a while, but my wife would not allow. The S engine being full of juicy S bits including weber IDA carbs, and not matching to the chassis was to stay with me as a racing engine for the coupe (though the coupe has a matching engine). I sold the targa body easy enough for a fair price, all good.
I later decided that I shouldn't race the S engine as it may be more useful to someone restoring an S. The proceeds of a sale would fund the rebuild of the L spec engine in the coupe. I advertised and was entertaining an offer on the engine from overseas when I decided to get Porsche Australia to run the numbers for me just in case. Something was nagging at me in the back of my head...
You guessed it, belated due diligence identified that the engine and factory 904 LSD transmission which I also kept from the S targa match the chassis. Indeed the targa is one of only 442 S targas built in 68 as the US could not import them that year due to emissions - they were a ROW spec only. Arguably some of the rarest early cars... To top it off, it is a factory hard window (only 10 or 11 produced) in tangerine and probably only 1 or 2 of that spec were made.
Knowing I'd made a rookie error selling the chassis I contacted the new owner to let him know I had the engine and gearbox... He was not expecting it, but a price was agreed and the engine and box have now been reunited and the car will get restored.
So this is how cars and engines come to be separated. I'm guilty of the heinous crime of separation... But I did fix it!
This is my "barn-find" story. Can't see it happening again
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