Interesting find, need quick opinions!

[adamred]

Not sure how much traffic the 912 forum gets and I know a bunch of you have 912s, so looking for some quick information. My brother spotted this 912 at a new P-car dealer in WI took some pics and is going back today for a test drive, all he knows is that it is a '68. I told him to get VIN, engine # etc and do an initial once over can anyone give some advice on what to look for initially? What is acceptable milage on this car, what was the original motor?

Any thoughts on performance? TIA, here's some pics.

Adam

[adamred]

Here are a couple more..

[1fastredsc]

Nice car, i think originally 912's were fitted with flat 4's as opposed to the 6's.

[nostatic]

you can find some info on 912s here:

http://912registry.org/

All 912s had 4-cylinder engines. During the 60's it was pretty much a 356 engine as I recall. '69 was the last year, except for the 912E made for one year in 1976. That one had safety bumpers and a vw-ish (914?) engine.

Just like early 911s, its all about condition and rust, rust, rust. There is no "acceptable mileage"...it could have 200K and look great or had 60K and be thrashed. Depends on the owners. Ideally the car would have fairly complete service records, and you'd want a decent Porsche shop to check it out.

[Dan Morton]

I will quote from the Porsche Buyers Guide.

"The engine is the flat four with about 90-95hp.
They made them from 1965-69 and '76 in the states
Emissions parts for some are impossible to find.
The 1968 is the least desirable and were called "Smog pumpers". Keeping them running may become extremely difficult.
Some mechanics recommend replacing the 912 engine with a 911 engine if major repairs are needed. This would probably be wise in the case of a 1968, but otherwise it is not necessarily the best solution. the 912 crankshaft is the weak link and will cost $2k.
There were 27,738 912 coupes built
For the most part, the rest of the car is about the same as the 911 so look out for the same rust issues."

I personally know nothing about these cars...Good luck!

-Dan

[bob tilton]

ck out this site 912:

hillmanimages.com

go here to post questions that will be answered by a great group:

bay912.org

the pelican 912 forum seems to have been abandoned and they have all migrated to bay912.org.

good luck.

[adamred]

Thanks for the feedback guys, will let you know what him finds....the '68 being the worst year is a bit scarry.....

[joehahn]

what Mr. Tilton neglected to tell you about the wonderful year of 1968 is that some of the parts are unique to that year ONLY. read: PIA to get interior parts, dash, door panels, etc. but that car looks pretty well looked after. ahh what the hell, just have him buy it!

joe 68 L

[adamred]

Initial thoughts by the salesguy on Friday was in the $5-6K range...He's going this morning to take a look. Hey if he had another 5-8K and could do a transplant now that would be interesting....

I thought that this would be a heck of a lot more fun then buying a mid '90s Jeep or Explorer with 150K miles for 5 grand!

[adamred]

Well for anyone interested by bro lost out on the 912 by just a couple of hours. Guy at the lot wouldn't even pop the deck lid for him to sneak a peek, he did do a hands and knees underbody look and it had a bit of rust....oh well. Thanks for the advice.

Adam

[Zeke]

Originally posted by adamred
Well for anyone interested by bro lost out on the 912 by just a couple of hours. Guy at the lot wouldn't even pop the deck lid for him to sneak a peek, he did do a hands and knees underbody look and it had a bit of rust....oh well. Thanks for the advice.

Adam

Time to run, anyway.

[89944TurboS]

Yep, its one you might be happy to have passed on...Good luck/skill!