1977 Porsche 911

Targa S Targa

2.7 K-Jetronic

Manual

9117211122

Clear

Gasoline

For sale is this 1977 Porsche 911S Targa with 58,478 miles. I am the second owner of this original California car. I believe that the car had about 45k on the clock at that time. The car came with complete documentation and receipts, but the treasure hunt continues to find that folder. I believe it was purged by my wife. No promises, other than the receipts and documentation was just a stack of $500 ‘tune-ups’ from the original dealer. I drove the car a little in the summer over the fifteen years or so. History: During that time, the car was serviced by myself and consisted of oil changes, plugs, points and a couple valve adjustments. Sometime in the late 90’s it was evident that the cylinder bases were leaking a little and the split case was dripping. I took the car over to a ‘German car’ specialist in my small town who performed the following requisite work: Cylinder base rings, new headbolt$ split case sealing and reassembly. Once the engine is out, there’s a bunch of other stuff that’s less expensive at that moment. The car was also upgraded with new Carrera cam chain tensioners (VERY important upgrade to prevent catastrophic interference failures) and new clutch & pressure plate. The clutch and tensioner replacement was just a matter of convenience at the time. The total repair was about $5000. While the engine was disassembled, I polished all the aluminum covers. It looks pretty sharp back in the engine bay, but I should have done the fan also. By the way, the heat exchangers are in great condition. This car has never seen salt. I drove the car only a very few times after the repair and then, more or less, abandoned it the in the center slot of my garage for the next 15 years. I got an idea to sell the car a year ago and had some work to get it running. I drained out all the gasoline. I replaced the fuel pump, fuel filter, and the wee bit of dissolved fuel line, tested the injectors, cleaned the fuel distributor, put in a new battery but it ran very poorly. My poor diagnosis led me to replace the warm up regulator (Unwired Tools UTCIS-V USB programmable warm up regulator) with the solid state upgrade, but no joy. At the end of the day, the simple fix (performed by the German car guy) was to replace the leaking, dry rotted air box (some people call it the ‘top hat’ but I call it a Kaiser blade). Summary: Of course it has matching numbers. Nobody snuck in and swapped engines in the middle of the night some time in the last twenty-nine years. The car is ‘all original’ except for the following: warm up regulator, new nitrogen lift cylinders for engine cover and bonnet, headliner for Targa top, carpeting inside bonnet, sound proofing in the engine compartment, and rebuilt sun visors (seriously). Faults: (1) The only exterior issues are some driver side door dings. They are the sort of things that those dent guys can handle easily. The car has never been repainted in any fashion. It remains the original factory lacquer. (2)The side window seals look a little ratty. (3) The bonnet carpeting is not the same quality material used in the original issue, although it is quite presentable. (4) The Yokohama tires are old, and don’t really have either the grip or the stiffness of the original Pirelli’s although they are at full newish tread depth. (5) The shift linkage seems loosey goosey. The original design was always a sloppy and agricultural by nature but it seems more than what I remember. (6) The wiring to the original Blaupunckt Europa radio is futzed up. Most certainly some sloppy work on my part that I don’t feel like diagnosing and repairing. The microphone for the radio used for dictation (?) is missing. (As if you could possibly hear anything over that noise of the air cooled flat six.) (7) The air conditioning compressor is in a bag in the attic. I removed it to so some work the engine decades ago. If you are familiar with the only slightly engineered AC systems on these old 911’s, you understand why. Anyway, it the middle of June and 59 degrees outside where I live. (8) Smog pump (California spec, not on 49-state cars) is in the same bag in the attic. (9) The metallic riser hoses and goofy pipes for the heating system are new, but are in the back seat. The old ones were ratty looking. Maybe I will put them on… maybe not. Highpoints: The toughest and really the most expensive stuff on old cars are body and interior defects. Upholstery, carpeting, rust is death by a thousand small cuts. The Germans discovered in 1977 (this car) that a nice zinc bath would prevent the car from rusting. Who’d a thunk? There is no rust on this car because it has never spent a day or night without a roof over its head. I never used it to plow snow. The upholstery on this vehicle is still supple and newish. The car smells nice… like old car leather. The carpets are in astonishingly great condition. The dashboard is not warped by exposure to the sun. Yes, I have the original tool pouch and all the tools. There’s a manual for it too. I will give you all my Porsche books. Why I am selling: I have had the air cooled 911 experience over several cars in my lifetime. I am not into the whole ‘chainsaw on a skateboard’ thing at this point in my life. This car never left me by the side of the road, but it’s over. I have been driving Boxsters for more than a decade now. If you ‘just have to have a Porsche’, this is not the car for you. Buy a Boxster, it’s hard to go wrong. I will miss the car, but I have had another jealous mistress for same period of ownership and sailing has won. However, if you are a ‘degenerate Porsche crack head junky’, in love with all things analog, this is a pretty good example of an original condition example NOT in need of restoration. No Turbo look, no whale tale, no skirts, racing stripes or other BS. A solid 100 hours of elbow grease could put this in what one may describe as Concours condition. It should also visit a “German car guy’ for a once over. I just don’t have the time or desire to shake out the last five grand of retail selling price on this car. This is a 9/10 car. You might be just the fellow to take it to 9.8/10. Questions: I welcome your questions regarding the specific condition of this car. If you are a dreamy sort of fellow wanting to discuss the relative merits of the 2.7 litre over later 3.0 litre versions or 5-blade fan versus 11-blade fan, I will be bored by that conversation. It’s not that I’m too self-important, I’m just not that interested in classic cars other than the specific sale of this superb example of a 1977 Porsche 911S Targa.