Thoughts on two longhoods

[jc4me2]

Hello everybody, never posted on here before, but have learned a ton in the short time I've been reading on here. I am currently living in Pensecola, FL, in flight school in the Marine Corps. My wife and I are from Wichita, Kansas and will soon be moving to Texas for more training. That kinda frames my situation and may help you understand why I don't cart my 911's and 2002 with me on every move, they are safely tucked away sleeping in Kansas. The goal of this thread is for me to show you guys what I have, and get your (more experienced) advice on what to do with these cars...

My first 911, a '71E was pulled out of a field in June '11 and purchased from the 2nd owner. He bought it in '75 and brought it to Kansas from Cali, apparently the original owner was a Navy jet pilot, thats all he remembers. Sadly, it had been sitting in this field at least 15 years. At some point, vandals stole the targa top and every emblem off the car. This is what it looked like.

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Cool car, right? This is all original, pretty much nothing has come off this car since the factory(not sure if the comfort 14” wheels are original). Only thing that’s been done, the owner said, was it got a front S suspension in the 80’s cause he didn’t like the hydro E struts, so it has aluminum S brakes and all that. Got the COA, everything matches of course, no mention of the (crusty) sport seats it wears, not sure if they were factory or not either. Also, just today, I realized its very possible it has an aluminum decklid(didn't know they existed before reading the 1059 thread). I never thought anything of it in the past, but it is significantly lighter than the decklid on the other car. Won’t be able to check on it for awhile though…

[jc4me2]

So, it does have some rust... Obviously, you guys can see the tunnel there. Also, where the seats lock fore and aft on both sides of the tunnel is pretty rusty too. Pan isn't bad, maybe two holes. The pedal box area is shot, as is the bottom of the smugglers box(whats left anyway). The only other rust i remember is near the passenger rear torsion tube, its crunchy in there.

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I pulled the rotted XAS's(or whatever they were) off the 14's, but ended up borrowing a friend's set of Fuchs to get the car home. I love the tangerine.

[jc4me2]

It did have the original tool kit in it, but with the top off for that long in Kansas weather, its pretty gross. Not sure if the Hella 119 are factory, the fog dash switch look original, but its not on the COA either. Basically this car was too good to pass up, I found it riding my bike one night on a dirt road out in the country. I saw that shape to the side of the raod and about pooped. I pulled the VIN that night, and got really excited at what I found. Went and knocked on the guys door the next morning, and he sold it to me in 5 minutes. For $500. Cool! Not sure what to do with it, its literally ALL original, never been in an accident, every body panel is original. But its a bit rusty and I don't have $30K or $40k to spend on it right now. Enter my second car!

'73.5T beige gray, one respray, who knows how many owners.

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[jc4me2]

I had seen this car sitting in this guy's driveway for about 5 years now, and couldn't take it any longer. It deserved a garage! This kicker is that he had a fake speedster sitting in his garage spot. Not fair. Anyway, after talking to him a few times over the years, and after selling two BMW 2002's, finally picked that (non sunroof) coupe up. It has a 2.7 that doesn't run(more on that later) and came with two 2.4T motors. Fortunately, one of them matched the COA, as does its 915. Cool.

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[beh911]

Welcome. Lotsa 'intro' threads lately... glad to see it.

They are the best ones.

Your E Targa will take some $elf reflection and time, but lotsa special pieces are there. Parting it out (gulp) is easily 10x what you paid for it. But don't do that

Unique color on the CIS 73 with extra engines to boot!

Great start!

[jc4me2]

Thanks! My goal is to get the coupe running. Once i jumper cabled two battery's to it, it turns over. The owner hasn't driven it in like 6 years, he though there was pulled head stud. My dad has pulled the upper valve covers off, and the upper 12 studs are good, waiting to hear on the lower 12. But when it did turn over, it had no spark. The coil was bad, so in the brief time I had with the car, I stuck a blue coil on it, but it still had no spark. The CD box was whining, so I think its ok. Not sure if its my wiring or what, the wires were a mess. The 2.7 has Webers, btw. So next time I'm home, what should be my order of business? I need two 26 batteries, i know. Can i use the blue coil? And what wires go where to the coil?

Thanks for the help. The oil was clean, I'm thinking that if no studs are pulled, it may run ok, right? Need to rebuild the calipers too, the front ones were frozen. Hard to do with it all so far. My dad is willing to do the brakes and pull valve covers, but its not really his top priority. I'd love to get it running and bring it down to Corpus.

[Fishcop]

Welcome

Lots of excellent and salvageable parts from the targa. Having just gone through a big rust resto of my coupe I can tell you you're in for major surgery on your shell, but everything is possible. Looking at the photos of the targa in the paddock, I don't think you have an alloy rear decklid as there are rust marks where the vandals have pulled the emblems free.

Looking forward to watching the progress.

[jc4me2]

Good point. Now that I think about it, there was a bit of rust around the lights in the decklid. Oh well, would have been cool.

[NorthernThrux]

I'm a relative newbie too. Welcome. Also the owner of a barn (shed) find, complete with 5 mouse nests. Anything is indeed possible, it only costs money and time. Plan things out and start saving. It will cost a lot more than 30-40k to pit that right. Work in spurts when you can, which might be ard to do for you during your training. Join the S registry here. Read a lot. I read an hour a night, here, at Pelican, at DDK and links therein.
What you have are the 5.5x14 comfort option Fuchs which allowed higher sidewall tires. More rare than the standard wheels oddly enough, but not that valuable, as few people actually want them. But if originality is your key, keep them. They suit a targa just fine. Oddly you appear to have sport seats in the tangerine car. Interesting combo that. Comfort rims and sport seats.
Your other car is far easier to deal with. Probably the place to start and enjoy while you formulate your plan for the field find car.

Ravi

[edmayo]

Well you certainly can't get hurt on the Targa And then two 'spare' engines with the 73,,,,,to paraphrase Marine recruiting,,,"looking for a few good cars" I noticed you mentioned needing two 6V batteries to get it started, that would actually be two 12V batteries in parallel. As to no ignition, could be a lot of things, but don't overlook the points. Sometimes they get forgotten since newer cars don't use them.
And thanks for your service,,