Sport Seats with Free 912 attached?

[ibmiked]

I just came across this today for anyone who wants to possibly score some sport seats and a close to free 912:

http://cleveland.craigslist.org/cto/886836251.html

No affiliation, I have not seen the car, only the listing on Craigslist.

-Mike

[Zithlord]

Very tempting! I must send him a message....

John

[gruen911]

Nice home made sunroof...

[S Jellybean Car]

[QUOTE=ibmiked;179516]I just came across this today for anyone who wants to possibly score some sport seats and a close to free 912:

Nice score Mike!

Takes alot more time to look when you add 912's to the mix

[Chris Tallon]

I called the guy yesterday. No return call. My guess......they are long gone

[Targa Luminum]

I took a little road trip and saw this 912 in person today. Based on the ad description and photos, I was pretty much counting on buying this car on the spot.

But after about 5 minutes of looking the car over, I declined the opportunity to buy @ $6K asking. I did not make any counter offers at a lower price, either. (hoping this might be diamond in the rough $6K bargain driver 912 to give to my Dad who now in his 70's is still a vintage euro-car-nut-- my plan was to keep this car out at my parents' place in Ohio's Amish country... unbelievable P-car roads out there...... then trade my 911E or T with Pops for weekends here and there occasionally...always thought it'd be fun to get a ton of driving and wrenching experience with multiple longhood models. I find it extremely difficult to stop at owning just one of these cars....or even two!)

Sorry if this review is overkill or overly critical for a no-apologies $6K fixer-upper 912, but for those long distance registry members who may be prospective buyers of this car, here are the details as I recall:

Owner of this '69 912 is a very nice guy, he and his wife have owned this car for last 17 years, although according to him it was driven a total of only ~1000 miles over that 17-year span.

The owner has a peripheral interest in the details of his 912 but he is not well-versed in the details beyond what is indicated in his advertisement. For instance, I am 100% certain that he was not aware until today of the desirability of the oem sport seats. Yes they are authentic but dingy, with regard to the sport seats but I would simply say they look better in the craigslist photos. Driver's side outboard inverted "L" shaped sportseat bracket was rusty. Sorry folks, I did not even take the trouble to determine whether the seat bases were full-tilting variety or not.

BODY
On the positive side, from 50 feet the car looks damn good.
The owner has receipts for almost $4K of rocker panel and some other undercarriage rescue work done several years ago, (reassuring inasmuch as the work was performed by arguably the top Porsche body/resto independent shop in NE Ohio area). Unfortunately the body surfaces still had some irregularities, antenna base caved in and rusty.

Original paint color looked to be Irish Green, evidenced by door jambs which are still show 100%original color. Current exterior black paint was applied early 90's per the owner....whether the black finish may have been applied by a proper professional shop 15 years ago or not I don't know, but to me the black paint in its current state is about what I would envision as an Earl Scheib "$249 manager's special".

I don't know if these 912 models had Horse-hair padding under the front carpets like my 911E, but there is no horse hair padding in this 912. Directly beneath the front floor mats you can see patches of surface rust interspersed with original irish green paint finish. I crawled under the front, front pan seems solid, at least to a few firm knuckle punches , not sure if the body work mentioned above included front pan work or not. Again, I apologize I could have easily provided more details here--but I did not open the front trunk, so I do not know the status of the spare tire or tool kit.

MECHANICAL:
The good: owner spent several $ hundred in late 2007 for some brake work, possibly was a rebuild of one or more caliper-sorry I can't recall exactly.
Brakes worked during my test drive, although I didn't really mash them full pressure at any point.....brakes feel like they're hanging up a bit... may be simply a symptom of extended period of inactivity. e-brake works.

More to the good: again my disclaimer:I am no expert but the 5-speed 901 transmission felt very good, I used Reverse and 1st through 4th gears, synchros seem to mesh just fine; this and the sportseats alone could justify somebody's purchase I suppose.....

Engine runs, a bit choppy from idle all the way through the rpm range... felt like it had about 70% of full power.
I had it running and drove it around the block long enough to reach full operating temperature. My 912 knowledge is sufficiently lacking as to not have any good idea why the engine wasn't running smoothly. Owner suggests that it needs a tune-up. May have been something simple, old gasoline in the system or who knows. When raising the engine lid I was discouraged to see a film of wet oil covering most everything, oil coated most of the visible engine compartment area.

Owner reports that he believes the top end of engine was rebuilt by Stoddard within last several thousand miles. I did not inquire further on this subject.

MISC:
Wheels and tires looked good, dashboard was nice--did not have the usual crack to the right of the instrument cluster. This car was non-Sunroof from the factory, sunroof was installed at an accessories shop. Headliner is black , looks original material (headliner condition 5/10) The hinged door-pockets were missing entirely on both sides. I can't recall if the smaller, non-moving door pockets closer to the door hinges were present or not. Rear engine cover grill is black; again I do not know if 912 models may have used different piece than the aluminum/chrome finished grill on my '69 & '71 911 models.

Bottom line, if I had a garage full of longhood projects in progress, I would probably pay $4 or $5K for the car. Or it's probably worth $6K to someone specifically in search of a pair of restorable tan w/tweed sport seats, a decent dashboard and 901 5spd trans and other 912 spares. Personally if I ever pursue another 912 I think that I would rather lay out $12 - $15K for a clean no-needs example.
Hope this haphazard writeup sheds some light for someone.

[ibmiked]

Awesome, thank you. It's rare that we get to see a follow up from a knowledgeable buyer describing a car against it's claimed condition. It does happen here, but this one had my curiosity because of the seats.

I too feel that if the 912 bug ever bites great examples can still be had in the $12k - $15k price range. My guess is that those seats in their current shape could be quickly moved for $3500, but then you still need to squeeze $2500 out of the rest of the car not including time and labor for hauling it home. Not a slam dunk anymore based on your description.

-Mike

[68911+1]

The 912 market in last 10 months has been very interesting in where it has moved and not. From January ’08 through about April ’08 the basically solid neglected project 912 that may or may not have been started or driven in several years that could be purchased for $2.5-$4.5K and with a little effort and money could be turned into a dependable daily driver; more than doubled to be priced at $6-$9K mark. A remarkable and vary fast jump in selling price; the cause of which can be speculated upon ad nauseam.

What then occurred was that the rusty almost beyond repair 912 (ala 356 tubs) rushed in to fill the price void in the $2.5-$4.5K price point. To me the most interesting segment of the 912 marked has been the non movement of the mid value cars; clean driver cars in the $10-$20K price range have not increased in value at all. This has created a compression in the selling price with little or no upward movement in this price/condition range.

However prices in the over $20 to $55K range for the very clean to fully restored or concourse original 912 cars is very elastic and acting much like the long hood 911 marked where condition and originality drive the selling price.

This 912 in question is well worth the price, given the transportation costs, for the value of the sport seats and the remaining car, not with standing the sunroof, in fact it could be a great value.

[Soterik]

The 912 market in last 10 months has been very interesting in where it has moved and not. From January ’08 through about April ’08 the basically solid neglected project 912 that may or may not have been started or driven in several years that could be purchased for $2.5-$4.5K and with a little effort and money could be turned into a dependable daily driver; more than doubled to be priced at $6-$9K mark. A remarkable and vary fast jump in selling price; the cause of which can be speculated upon ad nauseam.

What then occurred was that the rusty almost beyond repair 912 (ala 356 tubs) rushed in to fill the price void in the $2.5-$4.5K price point. To me the most interesting segment of the 912 marked has been the non movement of the mid value cars; clean driver cars in the $10-$20K price range have not increased in value at all. This has created a compression in the selling price with little or no upward movement in this price/condition range.

However prices in the over $20 to $55K range for the very clean to fully restored or concourse original 912 cars is very elastic and acting much like the long hood 911 marked where condition and originality drive the selling price.

This 912 in question is well worth the price, given the transportation costs, for the value of the sport seats and the remaining car, not with standing the sunroof, in fact it could be a great value.

I'm in 110% agreement with you... the 912 market has been very interesting.
I also agree its a great value. If it was closer I would immedietly buy it.

regards,
Eric
4 912's

[Fidalgo911]

A lot of good points. However, I put a mid-value range car up for sale earlier this year and interest was intense. It sold rather quickly; a matter of days. A neighbor of mine sold a really nice '69 912 for a little over $20K just a couple of months ago. That took a couple of weeks.

What scares me the most about 912's is the engine. Actually anything powered by a 616/XX motor might as well be a 4-cam, to me anyways. The finite number of main bearings continually decreases. And if it's anything other than std/std, it may be a difficult rebuild. The same neighbor who had the 912 recently rebuilt a 1953 356 motor and it took many months to find what he could (some of it used). Granted that's a museum piece.

Anyway, I think you're spot on about the lesser cars shuffling up and attepting to be sold as better than they are.