New owner - 1965 912 in London, United Kingdom

[mohitos]

Hi everyone

Today I put a deposit on a rather lovely 1965 912. It's body number 454 179 It's going to be collected on Friday by trailer as it's so far away.
I should say now, I know NOTHING about early Porsches. I have a lovely 1995 993 and am pretty up to speed there, but could really use a helping hand here.

A bit about the car. It was quite thoroughly restored by Tower Bridge Porsche in London in 2009, including a colour change to Schwartz Black 041, from Aga Blue 6608.
The car was originally a California car. First registered on December 22nd 1965. A nice holiday present for somebody!

As you can see from the photos, some of the work done isn't 912 original - it wears a 911 S front valence. The interior is all new, the seats from Renn Sport and the rest from Lakewell.
Fortunately the beautiful original steering wheel comes with the car and will be going straight back on.

In 2013 the original matching number engine (743904) was removed from the car by Strasse, a UK Porsche specialist. Their report said the following:

"30% leakage from No 3 & 4 cylinders. Remove engine from vehicle - strip down as required. Crankshaft badly worn. Customer supplied own engine".

The engine now in the car seems to run very well. Fortunately, the car comes with the original engine, and the seller has supplied a new crankshaft and set of rods. My plan is to get the original engine back in the car and then try to sell the engine currently in place to part fund the process.

Bodywork is mostly good but there's some early bubbling on the rear quarters, both sides above the bumper line. Also on the front wing top and a small amount on the scuttle. I'd like to deal with that very quickly. All the sills and underside was replaced as part of the 2009 rebuild, although could use some freshening up and the car would definitely benefit from some waxoly protection. I am told the passenger side wing mirror sits too far forward. Tempted to have that repositioned whilst it's having paintwork done anyway.

The seller bought the car at auction in 2014 and just hasn't had time to make use of it. He was a true gent. The auction listing from 2014 is below:

https://www.silverstoneauctions.com/1965-porsche-912

Some things I could really use some help on please!

- Can anybody help me verify the build details of the car? It has five dials and a dogleg five speed gearbox. Is this factory correct?
- Is there anyone in the UK really well known for rebuilding these early engines?
- I have some photos of the parts bought for the engine rebuild. If anyone is kind enough to take a look at the photos, it would be great to know what I have.
- Is it correct that one door card has a slanting part to the door rest, and the other doesn't?
- Is the gearknob correct for a 1965 car?

Thanks in advance. Car forums have really played a large part in my ownership of other cars. I hope to do the same here.

PS: I'm trying out Flickr for picture hosting. Hope it works

[KS]

Welcome - lovely looking car!

[hot66]

Welcome to ddk. I saw someone had snapped up this car quickly on FB
Great looking car, but will look so much better with a stock front bumper .

Some of the 912 / pre 68 911 experts will be along soon to answer your questions,

5 dial was an option as was 5 speed ... You'd need to find out the original spec if possible from Porsche

Door handle ... Driver door doesn't get one as Porsche deemed it to get in the way when driving

Gear knob looks aftermarket

[yoda]

Welcome to DDK - what a great looking car! And we’ll done for posting your pictures first time.

Where in London are you? There are several specialists around the London area who can help with work including the engine rebuild. Max at Revival Cars who specialises in 912s might be a good place to start. I use Steve at Jaz Motorsport (St Albans) and have always found him excellent.

You can order a CoA from Porsche via the Porsche Club that will provide all the build details that they have for you Le Car on file. Free if you are a member and a small charge of not. If you are friendly with your OPC, they might be able to help too.

Quite a bit of the interior has been replaced as you know, including the gear knob.

Good luck with your project!

[mohitos]

Welcome to ddk. I saw someone had snapped up this car quickly on FB

I had to move quickly! Literally downed tools and was on the train from London to Cumbria.

It's a beautiful car, although I'm not yet entirely sure what I've bought. Let's hope she's a good one! I probably wouldn't have changed the front valence but at this point, I quite like it and I expect it would be expensive to reverse.

Good news on the door handle - the lack of symmetry was offending my sensibilities, but at least I know it's meant to be that way now.

[mohitos]

Welcome to DDK - what a great looking car! And we’ll done for posting your pictures first time.

Where in London are you?

Thank you! She's incredibly pretty, although I appreciate not exactly original at this point.

I bought the car with my cousin and we're both in Hampstead.
I'll be rejoining PCGB this morning to get the COA. I'd let my membership lapse but for that alone, it's worth it.

My first call this morning will be to Max!

[Bootsy]

Welcome to DDK - a lovely 912 and you’ve got a 993 too. You’ll fit in well here

[neilbardsley]

Some things I could really use some help on please!

- Can anybody help me verify the build details of the car? It has five dials and a dogleg five speed gearbox. Is this factory correct?

Yes five speed dogleg was any option for 65 but get your CoA to confirm the #

- Is there anyone in the UK really well known for rebuilding these early engines?

Yes lots of good options but patience is often needed to wait for the right builder. Max at Revival is very knowledge about 912s and PRS are master engine builders but there are many other options. I've recently used Angus at Greatworth Classics.

- I have some photos of the parts bought for the engine rebuild. If anyone is kind enough to take a look at the photos, it would be great to know what I have.

The best place to post these is the 912bbs web site. However, you really need to put them in the hands of an expert and often they need to have you engine apart to know if they are suitable with the rest of the engine. For friend advice consider Paul at PRS in essex.

- Is it correct that one door card has a slanting part to the door rest, and the other doesn't?

Both door rest and cards should be the same.

- Is the gearknob correct for a 1965 car?

Sorry I can't see your picture from work but it should be smooth plastic with no markings.

I suggest you pop along to one of the Fairmile Wednesday meetings to chat with the faithful.

Sorry I just looked at your pictures. Firstly this is a 66 Model Year car (but built in 65)

http://www.912registry.org/content.aspx ... _id=185540

The door cards and rests both look wrong and the gear knob isn't correct. However, the car looks clean and you have an alternator instead of a dyno. What distributor do you think you have? From the photos it looks like maybe a VW 009? If so that would be the first thing I would change.

[hot66]

Neil, you only have one door grab handle on the pasenger side & not one on the drivers

door cards look right to me

[neilbardsley]

Neil, you only have one door grab handle on the pasenger side & not one on the drivers

I take it back. I didn't think 65/67 911/912 had door graps.

[C3s]

My 66 car (65 built) also has the same gear knob. Having done some research years ago, the conclusion was that it's a popular period aftermarket replacement. HTH.

[Timo]

That's a lovely looking car you have there, I did see it on FB and thought it looked like a great purchase for someone, thought it wouldn't hang around long.

Another name to consider for your engine rebuild is Andy prill, he's helped me out in the past and I always found him to be extremely helpful and knowledgeable on 912 engines.

If you post some pics of the mystery engine rebuild parts you have I'm sure we can give some input on what you have.

[Bathtub57]

Lovely looking car and looks like you have some good spares to go along with it. The (spare) wooden steering wheel you have is valuable and you'll find the car much easier to drive with a larger diameter wheel, I have the same mota lita on my Beetle - luckily you have the choice! I can highly recommend Max if you are London based.

[mohitos]

Thank you! The ‘original’ wheel is already on the car and much prettier.

The car is through its MOT now.

It’ll most certainly be going to Max. It’s booked in to a classic VW specialist first, Moores Motorcars, for some tlc to the underside. It all seems very solid but needs some protection with Dinitrol products. After that it’ll go to Max.

[mohitos]

Hi all

A bit of an update as work on the car is soon to start.

As mentioned above, thecar went through its MOT with some small advisories. It had been SORN for a while, so a milestone moment and quite a relief. Actually not entirely true - it failed the first time as the fuel cap had no seal. Second time it passed with the following advisories:

- Some play in the steering column
This has been completely resolved by reinstalling the original steering wheel. I guess the boss used for the Mota Lita wheel wasn't a great fit.

- Track rod end ball joint slight play
New track rod ends ordered

- Underside of car has slight corrosion
Major sections of the floor pans were replaced by Tower Bridge Porsche in 2009 and are very clean. The main problem seems to be in the wheel arches where is appears they might have been media blasted a few years ago, and never protected properly. As such, there's quite a bit of surface corrosion.

After much debate over how to deal with this issue, the car is now booked in to have underside treatmentat an approved Dinitrol application centre.

My friend is removing the engine and gearbox this week so that they can also refresh the engine bay whilst they have the car.

An ever increasing parts order is assembling with Roger Bray at the moment - some of which are on back order. As well as regular service parts, all bushes are being replaced underneath, as they have mostly perished. The ride height will be adjusted up a little. A few new parts around the engine should improve the look cosmetically. And new struts for the engine lid and frunk.

I have considered replacing the traditional points and condenser with electronic, but will hold off for now. Interested to hear what route others have taken. It has a JFR 4 VW distributor on the car at the moment. I know this is not 'correct' but have been told it 'works fine'. Again, would be happy to hear people's thoughts on that.

The last piece is the stereo. The previous owner installed a modern, classic looking stereo. I'm in the process of seeing whether the orignal stereo can be converted to Bluetooth and have an upgraded amp inserted. Chrome London seem to be the experts on this stuff.

More to follow, and hopefully some photos as the work gets started.