In reply to octavious :
That is a sweet car. The Targa has just enough "quirky" to it that I find them endearing.
I also like that fact that you see fewer of them.
In reply to octavious :
That is a sweet car. The Targa has just enough "quirky" to it that I find them endearing.
I also like that fact that you see fewer of them.
In reply to Tom1200 :
Funny enough I don't really ever drive it with the top on. However, I don't like the look of the later cabriolets that came out after mine. The full convertible top looks off to me, and remind me of a convertible air cooled beetle top. I definitely think the targa has grown on me over the years.
In reply to octavious :
Targa > Cabriolet
In reply to Tom1200 :
I've driven a really, really nice 356B convertible, like worth $200k nice. I don't get it. Beyond the nostalgia and the esthetics, it drove like a really old car. Not the experience I want in a car. I've driven many, many Porsches and really I'm only interested in 964's or newer. The rest of them just don't drive well enough for me to want them.
I know nothing of the 911 world, whether it's new or old. I did though buy and start to build a cool 914 a few years back and while looking for pieces and parts, became educated on things "air-cooled Porsche". WOW! Before doing much research, I wanted to grab a set of staggered FUCHS a wheels so I could set-up suspension geometry. Now years ago when Foreign Car Carlisle was the big foreign car meet on the East coast, we spent lots of time selling, buying and walking around the grounds for days. I would see LOTS of old P-car stuff but since the family played with old British crap, it was just something to step over to get to the rusty stuff. Fast forward many, many years and after buying the 914, FUCHS wheels I found out were no longer $2-300 a set! I paid $1400 for period correct 15x7/8's and was just blown away by how proud sellers are of their stuff. During another purchase of a parts bundle, I ended up with an old VW transmission which turned out to be an early 911/912 5-speed 901 transaxle. To me it was nothing special, but after some research it turns out it was quite the valuable piece to the P-car crowd.
Now that's pretty much the extent of my parts education, but then there's the actual cars. We were heading to a Cars and Coffe event one Sunday, so I called a fellow car buddy and asked if he wanted to go. He told me that he just picked up an old 911 and would meet us in the morning. He shows up with a one-owner 1971 911T that was really cool. He told me the back story about how he went to middle school and high school with a kid whose father owned the car. He was a doctor and this was his only car! He drove it 12 months a year, took it fishing, golfing and used it as his DD. Fast forward many, many years and he stayed friends with the guy and always talked about his dads Porsche. When the guys father passed, he inherited the car and had absolutely no interest in keeping it as he just isn't a "car guy". He called John and asked if he would be interested in buying the car and of course he said yes. The met, John took a good look at the old girl and was amazed at the condition despite it being a DD for decades. They came to an agreement on a price and John trailered it home. Great story and I'm glad that a good friend was able to get the car as it meant something to him. Now after hearing the whole story from grade school until today, he never mentioned the price he paid. I pushed him a bit and asked how much more than $30K he paid and he said double. DOUBLE! $60,000 US DOLLARS for a 1971 911T that was repainted from the original Irish green! Holy crap! Now it's cool and all, but it's $30k in my mind as someone not following the current market. Has it literally doubled from the norms of reality? I don't know, but what I do know is I will never own a vintage Porsche based on my bank accounts and the crazy prices nowadays. No thank-you.....
There is a segment of this auto habit that have no concern for the cost of their wants. The same emotion exists in boating and probably other activities. There is also a segment that does it for fun and a challenge but has a budget. Air cooled porsches used to be for the second group. In the 70s I turned down a 356 coupe for under a grand. In the 90s I was buying and restoring 914s and could rebuild an engine for a couple grand, buy ss heat exchangers for 200 and a 901 trans for 100. Now the first group has discovered these cars and we in the second group are not able to enter or reenter the market. A brand new boxster is the same price as a decent 80s 911. Not gonna change, time to move on.
docwyte said:In reply to Tom1200 :
I've driven a really, really nice 356B convertible, like worth $200k nice. I don't get it. Beyond the nostalgia and the esthetics, it drove like a really old car. Not the experience I want in a car. I've driven many, many Porsches and really I'm only interested in 964's or newer. The rest of them just don't drive well enough for me to want them.
And conversely I love them because of the way they drive; they move around on the tires and you have to work to make them do what you want.
New cars are better in every measurable way but it's the intangible things that draw me to a vehicle. Old Porsches just have this wonderful thrum to them.
In reply to porschenut :
And this is kind of where I've landed; I want a 70s or early 80s 911 but not at the prices they are going for.
At this point the only way I'm going to end up with one is, a wealthy relative leaving me money (I am the wealthy relative) winning the Lotto (I don't buy tickets) or some dude on peyote wants to swap me for my Foxbody Mustang.
In reply to Tom1200 :
I think what you need is a 914 with a blown engine and a 911 engine with enough parts for a 914-6 conversion.
If it makes you feel any better, I really want a Leica M6. I have held one and done all of the research. As corny as it sounds, something about it also reminds me of a 911: the feel, the heft, the noises it makes.
Will it make me a better photographer? I dunno but there’s something about the experience that really appeals to me.
The reality? For a body and lens, I’m looking at more than a few grand.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
I was jonesing for a BMX bike but couldn't stomach got paying $3000 to $5000 for what I wanted.
Well, lo and behold a couple of years ago a friend gave me a sweet deal on her 1979 Raceinc vintage BMX bike. Hell, it's even got provenance (if there is such a thing for old BMX bikes) as she is a former AMA womens MX champ.
Perhaps the God's will smile upon me and I'll land a deal.
Tom1200 said:David S. Wallens said:For a relative value buy on an air-cooled 911, how about a 2.7L Targa?
That's kind of where my brain is now. While I think the coupes are better looking I like the Targa cars in that they are a bit odd and I seem to gravitate towards oddball cars or versions of them. (example being Ferrari Mondials are one of my favorite Ferraris but only in hard top, convertible Mondials are for posers). LOL
As for the 2.7; the issues with those are well know and easily fixed / updated.
Just buy the Mondial. Solved.
In reply to crankwalk (Forum Supporter) :
I bought the Foxbody Mustang instead. It was like intending to ask out your dream girl and somehow ending up on a date with the rowdy girl from detention.
You're sitting there thinking this could really work all the while wondering how the hell it happened.
It rained the day before yesterday and washed all the salt off the roads. It was sunny and 56 here today. I took the targa to pick up the kids from school. The kids were all smiles when I picked them up, that's god enough for me.
I never understood Foxbodys until somebody told me they are the Jeeps of the muscle car world, and then I got it. You can make them into whatever you want.
In reply to David S. Wallens :
At one point I carried about 10k in my kit when I was photographing weddings- and it meant basically nothing other than a tool. I'm out of photography now and the only camera that mildly interests me is an m6 with a 50 sum. Now that it's not my work tool I can't justify the cost.
In reply to octavious :
I think the targas are the coolest of the 911's.
octavious saidI never understood Foxbodys until somebody told me they are the Jeeps of the muscle car world, and then I got it. You can make them into whatever you want.
Foxbodys are crude built down to a price cars, and they are stupid fun to drive. It's a fun loving frat boy of a car.
The big deciding factor for me was the parts availability and as you pointed out you can turn them into anything you want.
I still want an early 911; but I'd sure love to have both cars in the garage.
One other factor is all the people that saw the 911 market start to increase and buy up cars to flip. Lots of Porsche specific flippers out there nowadays
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