[Dave Colangelo]

Ill throw some thoughts in the mix on this one.

TLDR;

I started tinkering with Porsches in high school (a little over 8 years ago now) and have had 3 in the process and done lots of work on all of them (924S -> 944 -> 911SC Targa). I had absolutely no knowledge of cars when I got the 924S (It didn't run at the time). It took me about 4 months of tinkering and lots of reading here and other 924/944 forums to really get it going. I learned a lot along the way and made my fair share of terrible (and sometimes costly) mistakes. When it comes to classic car projects the question you really need to ask yourself is

What do you want out of the project?

Everyone has a different answer to this and that answer will drive you to pick the right project for you. The most common answer I have heard are,

1. I want a classic driver in original state and Im not to concerned how I get their.
2. I want a classic track car to run around on the weekends and maybe to the coffee shop once in a while
3. I really really like turning wrenches, its kind of meditative for me, if the car never runs thats ok I plan to tackle this over time.

Now before I get to expanding on this let me first say that I am a firm believer that any skill can be learned and these cars can be completely restored by a single person as is evidenced here. I will also say that some of these skills may take a life time to perfect which brings us into the time constraint of many peoples projects. Anyway,

1) This answer tends to be from the individuals who are into the purity of the car and the drive. They will often have one trusted mechanic who fixes the car for them while they simply foot the bill. For them classics are about driving and looking at, either they don't have time or don't have a desire to wrench them and either of those is ok. There are plenty of people in this category who will get beat up cars/chassis/engines and have them professionally restored. You will also find these people at the swap meets buying numbers matching units and OEM 72 oil caps.

2) The track rats will lean more on the side of lightly or sometimes heavily modified cars. They will often do a lot of work them selves and have a performance shop step in for an engine tune (or rebuild) or even a trans gear change. These cars tend to always seem to be getting tinkered with and tuned. Some say this can become a real money pit but that is more based on the fact these cars are being driven hard and fast often so burning through tires and CV joints is no surprise. These cars are more often than not, not matching numbers and may even have a completely incorrect engine for the chassis year. If this is what you seek you may want to start with a nice 80's chassis and then take the mods in stride.

3) This is where I fall, and where I find most of my friends fall. We are the weekend warriors and some of us even daily drive our jalopy (something I wouldn't advise if you actually need to get places often). These cars are always a work in progress and some came to us running and others not. If the car is down for 3 months because its getting new suspension bushings thats ok, there is always something else to drive. We have all the PDF shop manuals and far to many Porsche posters (at the behest of SWMBO some may be taken down but we fight to keep them up in the house). Some people will have their chassis on jack stands for years perfecting their metal shaping, learning to weld on flairs and misusing bondo. Some of these cars are on the road and most are leaking at least 2 fluids of your choice. We do it because we love it and we would have it no other way, baking in the hot sun with non working AC and explaining to people why your trunk space is all taken up is what its all about.

Now you must ask your self where you sit. For some its a question of money (a topic that merits more discussion typically). There are those out there who can afford to have only Ferdinand him self fix their cars and then there are those of us who must do the labor our selves. If you keep an open mind at the project and are willing to learn how to do things you can restore just about anything out there. If you are antsy and want a driver in a short time, buy one, there are plenty of nice examples out there. If you sit in the middle buy a running car and tinker with the small things first, making it run better, putting on that sweet MOMO protipo you have always wanted and adding in a headlight relay.

The most important advice I will offer is to simply not be afraid. All to often I see people get afraid of fixing their own cars. As precious as these cars are to us parts are readily available and the worst you are going to do is break something you can replace. Reach out to local owners of which there are literally thousands on here. Most of us are happy to help look at cars and offer advice and a free ride in our respective machines.

Like anything else do your homework before you buy. Get to know whats out there, figure out what you want and buy a car. On that note on of the biggest make or break things I have seen is people who wont actually just buy a car. There are guys out there who will only settle for a 72 in Irish Green with some rare interior options, they may wait a lifetime before that hyper specific 911 comes up for sale. If you want a 911 pick a range and take the best example you can find in that range. Dont fixate on minutia, things can be changed!

Like anything else experience only comes with time. Sure there are some people who are good with their hands and may find metal work easier than other and there are those of us who are formally trained engineers and will have no problem cracking open an ECU and taking an oscilloscope to it. There are those of us who have a knack for welding and body work while other cylinder honing, there is a lifetime of knowledge out there about these cars.

Just remember any single 911 was designed by a whole team of engineers who had literally every tool at their disposal and most of these cars were at least early in their lives maintained by highly trained individuals. If you can so much as make a single repair consider your self successful, thats how I have always looked at it and its been a good time so far.

Its all fun, right?


If you have any questions feel free to PM me.

Regards
Dave