Maverck - Our ‘81 SC Build

[maverck]

I LOVE reading all the build threads, and the ongoing passion of tinkering over time where these threads continue on for years.

To that end, I figured I should start our story - and I am certain the tinkering will be an infinite game and hopefully I have the discipline to keep the thread alive over the years! I am a bit behind on the story, so I will plan to do a number of "catch up" posts.

We are new to Porsche. My first car was a Mustang and I still have the car I bought as a senior in high school in the late 90s. I have done a ton of work to this car and am the kind of guy that cannot leave any of our cars alone.



My wife coined the phrase that the Mustang is my car - and she wanted our car! We spoke for years of getting a classic Mustang but never pulled the trigger. And that brings us to June of 2022, where our Porsche story begins.

My wife and I were watching the new Top Gun in the theatre (she is a total Top Gun junky) and this scene came up at the end of the movie.



During this scene she leaned over in the theatre and said - “how about we sell the Mustang and get one of those!” As a car guy you can envision my reaction inside. I believe I may have said in my head “ok - hold my beer!”

And the hunt was on!

[maverck]

I have always loved Porsche's, but knew nothing about them. Over time I also have became quite a bit of a German car junky as our current daily drivers are an Audi S5 and a lifted VW Atlas (previously owned a VW Jetta, Audi TT, and BMW 335) - so I guess the Porsche would just fit!

I first I thought - there was no way we can afford one of these classic cars. So I got to researching and am already so thankful for all of the activity on forums such as Pelican Parts. I learned most everything I know about my Mustang on forums and it was great to see such active communities.

I did indeed quickly realize that there was no way we could afford a '71 911S longhood in the movie - but we loved the classic lines of the older body style and I started scouring the net for others for sale, learning about the different generations of air cooled cars, and subscribing to every car sold on BringATrailer to start getting a feel for the market.

Late June this car came for sale on BaT right down the street from my house so I asked the seller if I could come take a peek.



It was in immaculate condition. Not only did I instantly love the small hips in the back, it still had that classic silhouette of the '71. Furthermore, hearing the passion from the owner as he spoke about his years with the car made me even more excited about these vehicles.

I still had not driven one - but at that moment I knew we were targeting an SC.

[maverck]

And - what ultimately became our first Porsche was found. I was hunting for one that was not immaculate as yes, we could not afford it - but also I loved working on cars, and I wanted one that had some of our sweat built into it over time.



An '82 SC, in a similar color as the car in the movie, with clean ownership history, a pretty clean interior with sport seats, less than 100k miles, and completely hammered clear coat!

After some back and forth with the seller we agreed on the price, but then brought the next chapter in our adventure started - getting the car to MN from Honolulu, HI!

[icarp]

sorry we no can see your pics

[maverck]

Originally Posted by icarp

sorry we no can see your pics

Shoot - so sorry!!!

Is this happening for all or can people see some images?!

[tdw28210]

Originally Posted by maverck

Shoot - so sorry!!!

Is this happening for all or can people see some images?!

I see a silver Euro SC.

[Fab64]

I can see them.

[sgroer]

I see them!

[911hutch]

yup see em ...

[maverck]

Originally Posted by 911hutch

yup see em ...

Perfect - thanks all and back to the regularly scheduled program.

I am sure there are many people on this forum that can relate to the stress of buying a car remotely - but holy cow!!

The way it went down. Wire a chunk of dough which brought the car to the port of HI where I could track the car by vin. Here is one of the proof of check in photos.



Wire the rest of the money and wait, and wait, and wait!!!!

It sat in port in HI for about 1.5 months waiting for the next boat to LA. Took about 1.5 weeks to get across the ocean, sat in port in LA for about a week waiting for an enclosed pickup - and then a few more days to get to Minneapolis. All in all 2+ months after I paid for the car until I saw it with my own eyes. I had seen a few pics, a few vids on request, and that’s it.

Then the day came, and it finally felt real that we were first time Porsche owners! And - in my head I was thinking “it’s a real car!!!”









The car was mostly as I expected from the photos and discussions with the seller. Few surprises:
-drivers seat bolster more worn than expected
-sunroof didn’t work - forgot to ask about that!!!
-fog lights didn’t work
-only running on 5 cylinders - which was fixed with new plugs / wires / cap
-It’s not a grey market car despite being marketed as Euro spec. Someone just added the side markers at some point and it is a US spec car
-Tires were totally shot. They were rock hard and cracked - date code from the early 2000s. Here is a shot of what they looked like.



Now for the plans - keep the car mostly stock - and just clean it up REALLY nice like my Mustang is. Make it a super clean, drivers car with very slight tasteful mods. I found this photo online which thus far is the inspiration!

[Hulley]

Congrats! I bought my 79' SC at the end of 21'. One thing I have found is the more I drive it, the more I love it, sounds cliché but I love my SC more now than when I bought it, you just get to know the car and it's nuances and before you know it, it becomes a part of you.

Here's mine.

[maverck]

Originally Posted by Hulley

Congrats! I bought my 79' SC at the end of 21'. One thing I have found is the more I drive it, the more I love it, sounds cliché but I love my SC more now than when I bought it, you just get to know the car and it's nuances and before you know it, it becomes a part of you.

Here's mine.

Beautiful ride! I think you are right. All the little quirks become part of the overall experience and the unique personality of the car. And boy these air cooled’s are an experience to behold!

[maverck]

The story continues.

As you can imagine I was super excited to drive the car for the first time.

The very first drive - fun - but rough. I mentioned the tires and 5 cylinders above, and didn’t realize it at the time, and I just figured it drove like an older car.

Furthermore - remember that I am very early learning about these cars. At a stop light I was playing with all the hvac controls and had a small freak out moment.



At a stop light smoke came billowing from under the dash. I limped the car home and wondered what I had gotten myself into. Keep in mind that the car had been sitting for months and overall driven less than 10k miles since 1993 - come to find out I had opened the vents and some smoke burning off started coming into the car due to how the hvac works.

[maverck]

Now - onto the work for those still reading.

First order of business was a bunch of small things. Hood / trunk struts, a hood crest as it was missing, some door seals which were all cracked up. It sure it nice to be able to source so many parts for these cars easily!

Then the first real sweat equity was put into getting this paint into a bit more presentable shape, amidst the patina. The roof as mentioned was hammered and there was no saving it!



I got to work on the rest of the car with a 3 stage Griots product that I had not used previously but really impressed me. Also brought one of my helpers every time I could convince her!



If you look closely on this image around the emblem you can see how good things shined up. With lots of elbow grease Maverick (as my wife named her) was starting to look quite presentable.

[ToySnakePMC]

Congratulations. Looks like your leap of faith worked out very well for you. I, too, did the purchase sight unseen, and quite happy when I first saw it. I only had to go a matter of days - no months though! I’m sure your mind wondered at times..! Love your photos as well. Priceless pic of your little angel.

[maverck]

Originally Posted by ToySnakePMC

Congratulations. Looks like your leap of faith worked out very well for you. I, too, did the purchase sight unseen, and quite happy when I first saw it. I only had to go a matter of days - no months though! I’m sure your mind wondered at times..! Love your photos as well. Priceless pic of your little angel.

O my mind definitely wondered! There may have been more than one conversation with my wife related to "is this thing really going to show up!" - "Is there a real car on the other side of his?"

Through getting more intimate with the car - I found there are a few spots on the front fenders where the clear coat is broken, but still can be shined up. I did make a run at the roof - the plan here was to simply break down the spots of clear cost that existed in pockets. I worked with some aggressive polishing compound and a polisher. This photo shows the results (the full sunroof panel and front area is not done yet). Not great, but much better than it was.



The near term plan will be to pain the car the factory color - just not sure if we will pull the trigger this year or in the future.

[Mike Andrew]

Your journey has just begun. Over time, as you know from the Mustang, little things catch your attention. Once noted, they must be addressed. Good for the car, bad for the wallet.

Bought my 80SC in 2001 and am still "getting it to where I want it". I know this quest will never end but, either I find a "small" project or somebody posts a project here and I decide that, I too, should undertake the project over the winter during hibernation.

Welcome to the obsession. Looking forward to your project reports.

[maverck]

The first bigger project was the rear reflector which was destroyed from sitting in the HI sun/climate.

This photo shows how bad it was mid replacement - you can also see my little helper back at it with me. All of the red tape on the reflector is holding pieces together that was completely cracked through.



It was fun to finally be turning some wrenches with the car! You never know if the bolt are going to come loose / what surprises will come up, but things went straightforward with the project.



Once completed, it was also fun to put on our vanity plates that showed up - tied back to the original story of how this car became an idea in our minds.

Even though I got the car very late in the season I was still able to put quite a few miles on it before the snow showed up. I had the vehicle looked over at a local air cooled specialist and his advice was "The car kind of stinks - get some new gas in 'er and drive it pretty hard for a while!" As I put on the miles in the MN fall, it was fun to start bumping into some other enthusiasts. Ran into the owner of this 924 at work - he had just purchased his as well and we were sharing tales of our purchase stories.

[Mike Andrew]

Be forewarned, paint not cheap. Especially if done properly with glass out, disassembly, bare metal and any repairs that get discovered. A good winter project in our part of the world so no seat time is lost.
I would drive it a season or two, find non cosmetic issues that need attention and then do paint. If you go this route, find a shop that knows these cars well. Might be a bit more $$ but well worth the extra expense IMHO and experience with my car. And, be patient, apparently a trait that you already possess.

[maverck]

Originally Posted by Mike Andrew

Be forewarned, paint not cheap. Especially if done properly with glass out, disassembly, bare metal and any repairs that get discovered. A good winter project in our part of the world so no seat time is lost.
I would drive it a season or two, find non cosmetic issues that need attention and then do paint. If you go this route, find a shop that knows these cars well. Might be a bit more $$ but well worth the extra expense IMHO and experience with my car. And, be patient, apparently a trait that you already possess.

Yes we definitely want to do it right when we do it. I have gotten a few referrals through our local PCA chapter and all pointed me to the same shop, which evidently has experience working with air cooled Porsches. They have not seen the car yet, but they did give me a range of what they thought it would be. Not cheap - but not scaring us away.

I also toyed with the idea of getting it wrapped for a few years. We both really love Ice Green Metallic but would not want to change the color due to valuation when painting it, so thought a wrap in Ice Green may be fun for a few years while we sort the car.

Originally Posted by Mike Andrew

Your journey has just begun. Over time, as you know from the Mustang, little things catch your attention. Once noted, they must be addressed. Good for the car, bad for the wallet.

You are so right. I also got WAY TOO deep into the motor work on the Mustang over the years. In hindsight I should have just waited and put a built crate motor in it - as the car started getting more and more unreliable the more I pushed/tweaked the motor. I want to go the other route on the Porsche with simply making it a reliable car vs always reaching for more power!