I was recently able to purchase a nice, clean '68 SWB 912 through a friend of mine. Considering the clean underside of the car, if it had been a '68 911, it probably would have been a $20k car. Because it's a 912, I paid considerably less.

I wasn't really even in the market for a car, but when I saw what a Plain-Jane it was (and it's condition), I was inspired to see what I could do to spice it up 'on the cheap'. My goal was to make the car fun to drive and cool to look at, for a sum that I could easily get out of.

Some horse-trading and a few bucks later I'm happy to say that I think that there's a lot to be said for these cars. Clean ones represent a tremendous value for new enthusiasts who may have a hard time convincing their significant other that they should spend what amounts to 'new Honda' money on a good, clean early 911. I'm not going to reiterate the performance differences, but I will say that aesthetically I think you can still have your cake and eat it too.

I retained all original parts in case a later owner would prefer it as stock, including a replacement license plate panel which the car would have received either way.

Edit: Sorry, see page 2 for the before and after pictures.

Cheers,
-Mike