I know we all enjoy finding a special "car in the barn", so I thought I would share my story here with fellow early 911 enthusiasts. I told this story numerous times this past Saturday at German Auto Fest in Ventura. Here’s the somewhat abbreviated version.The full story with more details and more photos will appear in an upcoming Esses magazine.
It was serendipity when I saw this car 9 years ago near my parents’ house in Torrance. During one of my visits I took my mom out to lunch at a local restaurant. We were walking by a house about a block and a half from my parent’s house when I noticed the familiar outline of a Porsche 911 under a car cover in the garage. All of us gear heads always look when a garage door is open.You never know what kind of car treasure you might find. There was a little girl playing in the front yard and I asked her to get her father.
The owner comes out and I introduce myself as a Porsche enthusiast. After a short chat, he warms up to me and lifts the car cover to reveal this beautiful 1972 911T. He tells me that he is the original owner. The car looks fantastic. It has a very special color that I had never seen before. It was ordered with Light Green or Jade Green. I checked and this is a factory color (Paint code 227). I look the car over and it’s very original. He tells me that it has the original paint and interior. It has no rust or corrosion and the power train has never been rebuilt. Then my heart jumps when I see the odometer reading of only 49,000 miles! I immediately ask him if he wanted to sell the car to me. He wasn’t interested in selling, but he would keep my name and phone number in his files.
For the next 7 years, he doesn’t call me. But every 6 months my Mom would call and tell me that the car was still in that garage (thanks Mom!). Of course, I never tell any of my Porsche friends about this car or there would be early car guys knocking on everyone’s door in Torrance.
Then 2 years ago, I started calling him about the car. He remembered me and he still owned the car, but he had stopped driving it. He had started a business and got caught up in running it and tending to family matters. It still had only 49,000 miles!
I asked about buying the car and he said okay, but every time I called him he would never call me back. I could sense some reluctance on his part. I think it was the car of his youth and he didn’t want to let go of it even though he didn’t drive it anymore. Finally, one day I called and said that I was visiting my parents this coming weekend and I would knock on his door to see if he was home.
Luckily, he was home and I was ready. He opened the garage, but it wasn’t a pretty site. There was an inch of dust on the car cover and all of the oil had leaked out of the engine on to some kitty litter. The car sat on 4 flat tires, but the car was unmolested and complete. The interior was still perfect with no cracks or rips. He told me how the dealer recommended some special leather care product to maintain the seats and interior vinyl and he was pretty good about regularly cleaning the interior. He also applied too much wax to the paint, because there was wax overlap on the rubber trim. But the thick wax coating probably saved the paint. Of course, sitting in a dry, dark garage in Southern California didn’t hurt either.
Fortunately, the owner had removed the batteries when he started the hibernation. I crawled all through the car and found no rust, corrosion or accident damage! There were small dings in the rear deck lid and front bumper, but they were minor. All the panels, pans and fenders were clean, original and straight. The front trunk looked pristine. I lifted the carpets and found floors as if they had just left the factory. I couldn’t believe how nice and original this car was.
I explained that it would take some work to make this car roadworthy, but I liked working on these cars. I showed him my 1970 Tangerine Orange 911T, which he liked and he saw that his car would go to a good home. I made him a nice offer and he accepted. I immediately called my parents and told them that I was cleaning out their garage. Then I called a buddy of mine and we drove down next weekend. The owner had kindly inflated the tires and I gave him the check. My father got in the driver’s seat to steer the car. The now previous owner, my buddy and I pushed the car out of his garage and then pushed the car a block and a half to my parent’s house. Halfway up the street, one of the other neighbors saw what we were doing and joined in the final push up the driveway. I didn’t need a flat bed truck. These cars really are light.
For the next 2 months I would go down to my parent’s house with my toolbox and some parts to bring the car back to life. These cars don’t like to sit and there was a lot of work to be done. On the day before Christmas Eve, I connected the batteries and removed the cap and rotor to spin the engine over and build up oil pressure. Then I re-connected the cap and rotor and the car started on the first crank. Isn’t German engineering great?! Of course the car smoked for a couple of minutes as it cleared out the old junk inside, but it ran very smooth and quiet. I drove the car home that night as a Christmas present to myself. The car had a rough ride on the freeway and I realized all 4 tires were flat spotted from sitting so long. I bought new tires a week later.
I am amazed how smooth and quiet these cars really are. I guess my 1970 911T with 150,000 miles and a tired original engine is not a good role model.
I have spent the last 2 years chasing down oil leaks, rebuilding the suspension and brakes and other items that decay when a car sits too long. The car was almost complete when the German Auto Fest came up in Sept. I decided this event was my deadline to finish the car and share this car with my long hood friends.
I surprised everyone with this car and it was fun to show everyone a true time warp survivor. I love the color. It actually compliments my Tangerine Orange car in the garage.
I consider myself very lucky to have found this car. I guess patience does pay off when something this nice comes along. Visiting your parents also helps.
I checked my Porsche library and have found only one photo of a Carrera RS with Jade Green. Has anyone else seen this color or do they own an early car with this color?
Enjoy the photos.
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