79 SC Targa restoration

[TheEasyLife]

I sold my 73 911 Coupe after 9 happy years of ownership but 7 years of use due to a growing family these last 2 years. I had a massive feeling of missing something vital to me once it had gone. It literally felt like I'd lost a part of me and was mourning. Not what I expected.

I'd been a secret fan of Targa's after following EastCoastDave's 69 912 Targa at CLM 2008 plus jb's gorgeous white 73T Targa that is just so understated. And Tim, Impmad2000, with his 69 Targa that I've long admired and driven once or twice

So. I needed another 911 and was interested in a Targa but don't/won't realistically have the time to drive it for a few years due to a young family and my Increasing professional commitments. And then a suitable candidate appeared on eBay so I set about purchasing it.

You remember the rules of buying a 911 privately? Find suitable car, Inspect it yourself and/or with knowledgeable friend, if happy leave deposit and get a PPI done asap then negotiate final price based on report contents or run away screaming and continue looking if it doesn't feel right. Got it? Cool.

So I didn't do it that way...

James

[MikeS911]

Hi James.
So don't keep us in the dark, what happened.
By the way, did you sell your car with the Megasquirt still fittef?
MikeS

[911hillclimber]

Impulse purchase, always exciting in many ways. I have the same problem....
hope you will detail it all soon!

[TheEasyLife]

Hi James.
So don't keep us in the dark, what happened.
By the way, did you sell your car with the Megasquirt still fittef?
MikeS

Hi Mike, Its been a while. hope all is well with you. Yes, I did sell it with MegaSquirt and the Triumph ITB's.

Cheers

James

[TheEasyLife]

I've seen a suitable car and am very interested. I live in the East Midlands and have just started a new job with a company based out of Hampshire so am getting to know the various hotels in the Basingstoke area. Some lovely, some not so. Work keep me very busy during office hours and a few outside of those hours too so I'd never be able to see the car in office hours without booking a day off work which wasn't feasible in my first month in a new job.

So I spoke to the vendor. He lives up a mountain in wales and restores 911's for a living. Yes, you know that vendor. He was very positive about the car, it belonged to a customer of his who wanted them to do the full monty on it, then found out the costs of such a conversion and so bought a completed car instead after having had the car blasted elsewhere to remove the paint and taking out the interior before changing his mind. The vendor purchased it from his customer and had now got too much work on to restore it himself hence offering it for sale.

I asked if it was rusty in the usual places and was advised it was very rust free especially the sills. It came with a COA and was numbers matching RHD 911 from the factory and HPI clear.

It was advertised as a project. I asked if it was all there, 'shoud be all there, apart from the front windscreen' came back the response. It was advertised as having 'historic chassis damage' from a historic 'knock' but the vendor would throw in the bits he'd got to repair the damage.

It sounded an ideal long term project. So a deal was done. I purchased it without seeing it and without a ppi. And without another specialist seeing it. I then paid another chap I'd never met nor spoken to before to pick it up in a covered flatbed and deliver it to my garage so we could assess how stupid I really am, err, I mean what kind of condition it actually is in if it got to my garage..

What could possibly go wrong?

James

[Bertroex]

What could possibly go wrong?

James

Ahh, the equivalent of going wild on someone's stag-do, but actually not ending up with an STD.

What you actually end up with, I can't wait to see!!!



Bert

[MikeS911]

Hi James.

WHEN DO WE GET TO SEE THE "PROJECT????"

[TheEasyLife]

Hi Mike. Pics you say? Let's see who spots my biggest problem(s). And yes, I know the engine isn't fitted in those pics.. And no, that isn't one of my biggest problems..

Some of the pics from the advertisement:

[stretch]

Looks like a bent rear chassis leg James...? Hope i'm wrong.

[jtparr]

Sadly +1 on the chassis....

[TheEasyLife]

You guys don't miss a trick. Correct.

[jtparr]

Hi James
Do you have a plan....?...there's a bloke in Sussex who thinks he knows a thing or to about old 911's.....

[TheEasyLife]

The plan is to leave it alone in storage until spring or summer next year as I've got more than enough/too much on my plate this year.

You say you know a chap who knows about these old cars in Sussex? I think I've met him before. Is he called Dave?

[stretch]

Not me James. I am a builder. Always willing to help if i can though.

Dave

[TheEasyLife]

And the original advert with the immortal lines of: 'At some period of it's life it had some accident damage to the drivers side rear inner quarter, this had been repaired many years ago very poorly but is a very simple repair to put right.'



Unless the nearside rear quarter had an inch of filler under the paint to hide the kink in the bodywork and the rear ride height adjusted to hide the fact that it isn't level, you probably couldn't tell unless you looked at the chassis legs... which everyone would notice as soon as you open the engine lid... Duh! Wouldn't/couldn't have been a nice thing to drive though surely? But it was probably just an old Targa at that point that was patched up to be kept on the road. I've seen how cheap they were having watched their prices go from sub £10K when I bought my 73T 9 years ago for a good one to teens in recent years then jump to 20's and above 2 years ago. Coupe's always commanded a higher price so if the owner had an £8K car or less, why would you spend a high percentage or more than it was worth sorting the chassis and bodywork out? And that is before you are hit by the 'and whilst I'm in there' bug...

It is all fixable for a price.

Cheers

James