68 S Targa - Researching Fair Price

[Fishcop]

I recently acquired a 68 S Targa roller 11850343 with no running gear. It was part of a lot and I don't think I have the time or resources to complete a proper restoration so I'm trying to get an idea of what it may be worth. It is located in Australia, but for the purpose of the exercise let's not worry about that or exchange rates.

So I know very little about the history of the car, as an S I know it's not a US delivery. It was poorly converted from LHD to RHD at some time in the past and who knows what or where the original engine is. It was also forward dated to a G series car The rear quarter wheel arches appear to be real RS units welded on at some stage (but are likely spoken for and will be removed). However the 68 only front fenders remain but have had the light boxes cut off. The shell is relatively rust free, but does have rust in the pan and around the torsion bar area. It has a fairly complete S interior in basketweave and correct comfort seats also in basketweave. I can't tell if it was once a SWT (but then I don't really know what to look for). There are doors and glass but no hood or rear decklid. The 5.5x15 fuchs are also long gone.

Having recently restored my 69 coupe, I can honestly say the car is well within scope of a restoration and definitely not a basket case. However it will clearly never be original. But a very nice car could still be made from it especially if one had a crappier T or L sitting about.

So with that loose sort of description, I throw it to the peanut gallery to offer up some opinions on whether the car has any real value and if so, what is a fair price to ask or work from?

Thanks a lot for any assistance.

[Fishcop]

No one has an opinion?

[moito]

hmmm so the fact that it has been convertet to rhd also means that there is no vin anymore? not in the trunk nor on the dash structure ---right.

so i think hwoever buys this uses the documents for a resurrection.

if there is still a vin I would not sell it below 10k .....euros.

[72targa]

Any VIN pics?

[Fishcop]

Vin and plates are intact. But you're right - need more pics... I'll crank the camera up and do a bit of a photo essay.

[Fishcop]

In the mid 80's there was a market for collector cars over here in Australia. Being a bit of a nanny country our legislators decided we needed looking after and couldn't be trusted to drive LHD cars. So they mandated that all cars should be RHD or they could not be registered and driven on public roads.

This created a backyard industry of converting cars from left hand drive to right hand drive. Now the 911 is a relatively easy car to convert as there is no engine in the front and they already have a centre rack and pinion - it's just the steering shaft and pedals that need to be moved. Porsche facilitated the process by making RHD 911s and these specific conversion parts could be ordered. Over time though these parts ran out and people started getting "creative".

This 68 S Targa is one of those unfortunate cars. To convert the car from left to right they simply cut and shut the dash panel, moved the steering shaft from left to right, moved the pedals over to the right. A RHD dash pad and upholstery hides the majority of sin. To really rub salt, they also converted the car to a G series car by cutting off the front light boxes - but they did leave the SWB flares alone on the front. The rear, not so much... They replaced the original narrow hips with what we think are in fact correct RS flares which would have been freely available back then. Then they just added the later hood shut to the earlier one - they did not replace it with the correct G series shut panel.

To facilite the LWB look, the banana arms were cut and lengthened and the swing arms had some kind of extension surgery... Overall a cheap and nasty way to do things. On the plus side it does mean that the LHD stuff mostly remains, and in particular the VIN has not been removed or tampered with (I've taken a photo of the underside of the VIN area - definitely not cut out). The ID Plate was moved from the front to the shock tower, but is matching.

Restoration of this car is entirely within the realms of possibility, particularly if you had a donor car. A part from the normal rust repairs required in the pan and longitudinals and torsion bar area, a new LHD dash should be grafted back in. I think the rest of the stuff would just bolt back into the left. What does make the process easier is that who ever did it was too lazy to do it right and just pop-riveted metal plates over holes and cuts...

So as stated at the beginning, I had to buy this car as part of a lot. I'm building a 68 SWB race car for the historic classes over here and wanted the 68 L Coupe that was part of the deal. I already have a lovely early 911 road car and just don't see how I can find the time or money for this project. It's sale would be great to defray the costs of building my race car. But I just don't know what to ask for it - not greedy, and I understand the market will decide. I just need to know where to begin.

[Fishcop]

And some more photos...

[Fishcop]

And some photos...

[Fishcop]

Yet more photos...

[Fishcop]

I'll bump this up for the weekend and no more. Just keen on opinions to help me determine a value!