I’ve got three girls, but that doesn’t mean all television is My Little Pony. My two youngest are quite technically minded and like to know how stuff works, so Discovery Channel’s How It’s Made is perfect.
Here’s a piece we just watched together – the two youngest are home from school with colds this week. How It’s Made filmed this at Brembo’s manufacturing plant for ceramic brake discs. It’s pretty fascinating stuff: no wonder ceramic brakes are not the cheapest things out there.
Had an email from my buddy Ryan down in Sydney this morning. Ryan is a hard core Porscher: sworn R Grupper, rallies a 911 ST and has been with us to Classic Le Mans, to taste the mania of Porsche that prevails. His email gave me an excuse to mark Australia Day by sharing one of the wild Porsche soft tops he’s owned in his career.
This red devil is a 1966 Porsche 912 with custom bodywork in the style of a 356 Speedster. Ryan takes up the tale:
The bodywork was all steel, with chassis strengthening along the sills between the front and rear sections. The car was ordered in left hand-drive through a German dealer, but originally delivered into the UK. It then made its way to the US.
Originally Slate Grey, the VIN went back to a 1966 3-gauge 912 Coupe: not a Targa. The car drove nicely. It started easily, pulled to redline, shifted well and brakes were no problem, holding it all in a nice in a straight line. It had period “Thunderbird” headers and muffler setup, which sounded great.
The original chrome wheels were replaced along the way with 16″ Fuchs. I think chrome 15″ steel wheels with taller tyres would have looked better, but it wasn’t a deal breaker for me.
The car used a cut-down 911 windscreen in a modified 356 speedster frame. It featured lots of nice design details, such as magnets sewn into the sides of the tonneau cover that worked very well, the recessed 911 grill in the 356-esque engine lid, and the 356 side stripes, mirrors and badges.
Ryan sold the car a while back (just $30K!), but I’d love to know where it went to next. This thing is right up my alley: would be great to catch up with it one day.
I’ve owned two Porsche 911 SCs: Coupe and Cabriolet. I’d love to have kept both. In my opinion, the 911 SC is the perfect air-cooled 911. Not starter 911 and not introduction to Porsche: the perfect air-cooled 911 available for sensible money.
It’s simple, reliable, quick enough for most of us and relatively cheap. At least it used to be. Prices have been moving up since I started my Porsche forum at impactbumpers.com in 2006, to gather mid-year, SC, 930 and 911 3.2 Carrera owners and enthusiasts. I’ve been talking up the bumper cars in mag features for years now, and SC prices are finally beginning to get where they belong, relative to everything else.
Contrary to all those magazine buyers’ guides pushing people towards the 3.2 Carrera, the 3-litre SC is no poor relation. The longer stroke 3.2 engine is a bit lazier than the revvy SC, so while the 3.2 makes more power on paper, driving the two cars back-to-back does not confirm the Carrera as an obvious ‘upgrade’. I’ve had more than a few SC versus 3.2 thrashes on open roads and track days, and the SC is the car I would pick for either, every time.
SC prices have always trailed 3.2s and are likely to do so for the foreseeable future, but we’re seeing more sense on prices for the best SCs. My classic Porsche insurance valuations view the price relationship on average SCs and 3.2s as the market views them, but I’ve long valued really great SCs along the same lines as 3.2s, and recommend owners think very carefully on what they agree their SC values at. Really great RHD examples will not be easy to replace for under £20k in the UK.
Take the 911 SC seen here, which just sold today on eBay. The description read well enough: nice solid car, some work to the b-posts and sills, fresh black metallic paint, engine rebuild with Carrera tensioners: all the right bits there, if you believe the buyers’ guides. The pics show some issues for originality freaks: aftermarket steering wheel, 3.2 Carrera sports seats, aero mirrors, 7″ & 9″ Fuchs with wrong polished finish, aftermarket hi-fi, but all of these can be fixed. 154,000 miles cannot.
Still, it seems a solid car, so what price for all this finery? £18,610 in ebay bids: 42 of them, from a £1,000 start to the final bid a few seconds before the finish. The auction pictures weren’t great, but a good car is getting hard to find now. For it to hit this much on eBay with a finish on a weekday afternoon is pretty impressive and shows some real support for the humble SC.
If you’ve got a low number sitting on your Porsche 911 SC agreed insurance valuation, you need to update that opinion. Drop me an email and get it valued properly. Same goes for everything: this number relates to 3.2 Carreras just as it ties into 911 SCs and all of the others.
The amazing Nick Tandy’s off the blocks well in Florida, with a stunning pole on his debut drive for the works Porsche team.
Porsche drivers locked out the first four places in the 36-strong GT class, with the first eleven cars split by less than a second. Konrad/Orbit driver Tandy beat last year’s Daytona winner, Magnus Racing’s Andy Lally, to the front, along with plenty of other big names. It’s the perfect opening to a works drive career.
“Pole position in Daytona shouldn’t be underestimated, even if the race runs over 24 hours,” said Nick. “Starting from the front allows you to avoid getting caught up in any skirmishes and that’s certainly an advantage. Our car ran perfectly and that gives us a good feeling for the race.”
Sharing the cockpit with Lally is Porsche works driver, Richard Lietz. “We won the race last year. Second on the grid is an excellent starting position to repeat this success.” Sean Edwards (MOMO Porsche) nabbed third, ahead of Patrick Long in fourth.
In a sure sign of attack mode, Long’s team mate, Patrick Pilet, said he’d love to score a podium. “Sean did an excellent job. After this great qualifying result we are all looking forward to the race. Our goal is to finish on the podium.” Anyone who’s ever seen Pilet drive knows a win is on the cards.
The scene is set for a terrific battle at this year’s Daytona 24 (and I’ve got the perfect birthday present) with new boy Tandy out front, taking 911 needle to the rest. Needle makes for great racing, so this will be unmissable.
Racing starts on Saturday at 15.30 hrs local time (21.30 hrs CET). Get yourself sorted for coverage! There’s be online streaming on a number of websites, and Radio Le Mans will be running their usual excellent race commentary live online. Can’t wait!
A lot of classic Porsche owners renew their insurance at this time of year, to coincide with MOTing the car and taxing it for the summer season. It’s no surprise that I’m currently getting a lot of emails about insurance valuations and a few more about personal pre-purchase inspections, to get the best idea possible of condition and value.
Some insurers will insist on knowing the valuer has inspected the car before giving an opinion. Check your insurer’s policy here: it’s one reason people sometimes use their servicing garage for valuations. Only problem with that is insurers usually insist the valuer is independent of the car, with no commercial links to its history.
I’m in the UK Midlands but valuations can still involve hundreds of miles, so I treat them almost as full pre-purchase inspections. I always advise that pre-purchase inspections are carried out at a Porsche specialist service centre, where an experienced technician can get a car on a lift in the dry and have a good poke around.
Specialist sellers sometimes get funny about letting another mechanic under their cars, and that’s usually when I get a call to go take a look. I report on general condition, have a drive and decide whether I think the overall purchase makes sense.
One inspection last year on a grey Porsche 964 was a good example of why to inspect before purchase. The seller’s premises did not inspire confidence, the car was in an unloved state and even broke down on the test drive! When I had to get out and push it away from a set of traffic lights, the guy who accompanied me stayed sitting in it.
Inside the car was soaking wet: it really was not nice. At the end of the drive, the seller asked what I thought. I asked about a much nicer car that was parked nearby. They were asking silly money for that, so I got straight on the phone to my Spanish-based client.
I’ve got over twenty five years in the motor trade, have written dozens of buyers’ guides based on my trade buying past and have a lot of experience looking at Porsche. Drop me an email if you need help with values, or a quick inspection to sense check a purchase. Do try to get a specialist Porsche garage to PPI your prospective purchases – most will do this for under £200.
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