I found the original owner of my 911e....

[aporschaguy]

Well with all of my cars (beloved) flaws not only did I receive 20+ years of service records and the original window sticker I received the Maintenance Record with the name and address of the original owner.

I checked Google for his name about 2 1/2 weeks ago and to my surprise I found an exact match. I thought could it be that all three of the top google listings are correct?? Hmm the pictures look similar but darn there was no contact info, oh wait the third listing is on 'Facebook'. I'm not a member as my wife does that stuff in the family. However I do know her password so I logged in and sent him a message asking if he ever owned a 1971 911e in the greater Chicago area? I didn't really expect a response, I just hoped for one .

To my surprise today I received this email.

Re: 1971 911e
Yes, I bought a new 911E in 1971 in the Chicago Area. It was my first new car. It's still the car I have driven the fastest (145 mph). I would love a picture. I have not found any in my stack of old photos

It was a great car to drive on the open road, but not much fun in daily Chicago commute traffic. The winter ice and salt played havoc with the body work and heat exchangers. My father was a great auto body guy and did a great getting it back in shape after the winters took their toll. I pretty much gave it to him to use to help him buy a new 630CSI BMW. He's the one that got me to buy a Porsche. He fixed up and drove a 356 when I was ten or eleven.

Best Regards,

LH



My response...

Hi LH,

Wow great to meet you. I know what you mean by fast its more of a seat of the pants feeling than the new cars today. It's funny how I feel like I know you because of this car... ;-)

I've owned the car for the past 5 1/2 years its still numbers matching and the paint was changed to Silver somewhere along the way. This is a photo from a few years ago before I started the bare metal restoration last year. Rust had taken hold in a few areas and it had just reached that time. Below is test fitting after fixing the metal and the last is the first stage of paint. I get it back from the painter in a week or so. If you ever find pictures of you and the car please send me a few.

Attachment 87617

Attachment 87618

Attachment 87619

Thanks,
Adam


His response tonight (Actually most of this happened tonight)...

Adam,

My sister found a picture of my old 911. This looks like it was taken after my father did the first restoration.

I'm glad she found this. Seeing my old car reborn in Silver was hard on me.

regards,
L

Attachment 87620


I don't know how to explain how happy this made me today... It just did.

I can't wait to drive out to SoCal (where he is now) in the future and let him drive her again.

[Longballa]

Very cool.