Project 1968 Porsche 912 - Updates, detailed with PICS!

I've been kicking around the idea lately of buying a really different and highly impractical car to go along with my Insight (which is a great daily driver and out of town car).

After narrowing it down a lot, my three choices were:
1st gen Miata - Cheap as dirt ($2k buys you a nice one), reliable, cheap to maintain, good for track use. Tons of aftermarket parts available. Decent return on investment (I'd likely recoup my spending, minus modifications). Convertible (!!!). Not rare by any means, but still, a great car for the money.

Honda Insight - It's a crazy idea, but I have been tinkering around with the idea of buying a second Insight and turning it into a track car. Stripping out a couple hundred pounds which would bring it down to 16xx lbs, maybe swapping in a B16, etc., Civic suspension. I think it would also be a really badass track car. The problem is that they're too expensive and doing all this would destroy the resale value. Really bad return on investment... I'd probably lose a lot if I bought one for this purpose. It would be pretty unique though.

Classic Porsche - Since I work at a Porsche shop it'd make the most sense. The problem is they're usually really expensive and it's hard to find one that's in-between "a rusty piece of shit" and "a really nice one that's $20,000". If I could find a deal, this would be the best return on investment. At worst it'd be about the same as the Miata. More to maintain, more to insure perhaps.

I actually already bought the car. Can you guess which route I took (without cheating, since I told some of you already ) I'll post pictures later and show what I picked up.

BTW, I am selling my Talon to fund this project.

The Talon's only worth ~$3000 probably these days. 12 second baby Evo, but the market's awful for those things. *sigh*

porsche

A junked Insight would be sweet. I saw one on the east coast for $1500. It wasn't driveable though. The cheapest I've seen a junked one on this side of the US was $3000. Bummer because it'd be a sweet racing shell.

I'll be home in a bit. I'll post a few pics then. Most of the good ones are on the camera here at work but those will have to wait.

Anyone ever see Spy Game?

i have an idea what kind of car it is but im not totally sure

He drives a 912. Kinda like this one but green:

So yes, I bought a Porsche, 1968 912. The 912 is the same car as a 911, except it has a 4-cylinder boxer motor instead of a 6-cylinder.

Why a 912? Because 911s are 2x-3x the price, because it's smog exempt (pre-74) ... a requirement for ANY car I buy in California now and because it's way cooler than a 914, 944 or 928. No offense 914 fans... my roommate has one and it's sweet.

912s are lighter than 911s and more balanced (much closer to 50/50 weight ratio) due to the lighter motor. This one's a pretty unique color: sand beige. It looks very cool in person, a faded desert camouflage or something.

I looked for 6 months at least for a good 912 on Craigslist nearly every day. I paid $4400 for it on Sunday after borrowing most of it from my friend. I have to sell the Talon to pay back some of it, but I think it's a pretty safe trade at this point. Typically these cars go from $2000 to $15000 or higher, depending on condition. Usually a rusted out shell without a motor/trans or interior goes for $1500-2000. Add some really bad paint and it goes for $3000, add a motor/trans and interior and they often go for $8000+, even with aftermarket paint in nearly any reasonable condition. I think I found a great deal.

Since it was in Santa Cruz, I first wanted to drive it back. This proved to be a crazy idea. We tested the brake pedal and it was not budging... plus as you can read in the ad, it doesn't run. I made the trip 3 times (44 miles through the mountains each direction) then finally paid a guy to tow it back to our shop, where we immediately started digging into it.

While waiting 30 minutes for a tow truck, I snapped a couple photos with my iphone and posted them on Facebook.

The Good:
-Very clean (recently rebuilt) stock motor. We took it back the shop, bypassed the fuel tank (used fresh gas) and put in a new battery. The motor fired up within seconds and runs strong. Doesn't run? Ha!
-Original paint in fair condition. Just needs a polishing, but I kinda dig the weathered/flat tan. Only minor dents.
-It seems it's completely stock interior and exterior (with the optional 911 wheels from the factory),
-Good glass, but bad seals
-All windows work fine, the back ones pop out and the front ones rotate. The door locks are good.
-IT'S SEXY

The Bad:
-Random ugly touch-up paint in places, but no biggie. I can re-touch it up if I polish/put effort into the exterior
-Needs tires even though they're "new"
-Throttle was stuck open, I think we fixed this though
-Front brakes are sticking
-Random bent exterior pieces/cheapish to fix
-Needs many exterior seals (which are cheap) including windshield
-Questionable electrics... it's all super simple but I noticed the headlights weren't too good (I'll replace them with Euros anyway), turn signals didn't work, horn didn't work, tach didn't work, brake lights, etc. It's a 42 year old car that's been sitting a while though. We'll see with a decent battery.
-Much of the interior is very gross because (ugh) the neglected/leaking seals filled much of the interior with some rain over the past couple years. I drained 2.5 gallons of rusty water from a single hole I poked in the bottom of the car.

The rust is minor in most places, but there was one spot I may have to patch weld up a bit.

I have many more pics on the camera at work, which I'll post tomorrow.

I have black plates for it, too. So it'll be all authentic and shite. I'm still debating what to do with it... probably will keep the paint as-is for now and fix the mechanical stuff. I could swap the motor out for something monstrous but it'll be fun as it sits to put around.

I'm sure that's what a lot of people would do but I just can't repaint it a different color. It's classic!

It's actually a really cool color in person. I swear!

Not really.I mean, it'd be cool to have a mint one, but I'll probably do a partial restoration until the car is reliable and clean on the inside. I really just want to drive it and if I get too caught up in the details I know I never will.

Yeah man I got lucky! I'm glad it's not missing some serious parts. It should be a pretty cheap/casual project that will let me slowly improve its condition over time while enjoying it.

Got any interior shots?