73' Targa debutant

[Bobboloo]

Hi Guys,

Time to debute a recent Egad impulse buy.

Recently (Longbeach swapmeet) I sold my 72' Coupe so I could focus on restoring my 71'S. It wasn't long before I missed having a Porsche to drive and realized I wouldn't have another Porsche to drive for atleast another year.

So one evening I saw a 73' Targa on Egad that was advertised very poorly. Bad photos, little info etc. Two bits of info stuck out though. The car was from New Mexico (dry climate) and the motor in it was an 87' 3.2 Carrera motor. It showed a photo of a motor which had CIS induction. This led bidders to assume it was a 2.7CIS so the seller listed the serial number and it was indeed an 87' 3.2

So I decided to pull the trigger and bid fully expecting to get outbid. low and behold I was the winning bidder at $7300.

The car arrived last week from Kansas (It's home for the last two years)

I must say that the car has exceeded my expectations. It's a blast to drive. The chassis is tight as is the suspension. It has bigger torsion bars. Bilstein shocks. Front and rear factory sway bars. Gate shift. R134a AC. Viper alarm. Even the original toolkit and Orange bar hood badge.

I saw the rear flares in the ad and assumed they were SC flares but Jeremy at TRE informed me yesterday when I took the car by that they were RS flares

There is rust at the base of the headlight buckets and a couple of small superficial spots on the car but the chassis is an awesome terrific survivor. Suspension pan, floors, rockers, etc. are all rock solid. All the chrome trim is excellent. No pitting!!

Original color was Metallic Gold but has had one repaint in Black. Lots of stone chips in the front and little dings on the body so it's a little cosmetically challenged.

Did I forget to mention no collision damage?

So there you have it. I broke all the rules. My own included. Absolute impulse. No PPI. No email questions. No phone call.

I just threw the dice.

Should I be banished from Pelican for such foolhardy behavior?

[Fishcop]

Kissed on the Johnson by the Good Luck Fairy! Lucky you

[azasadny]

Bobby,
Beautiful car! Congratulations! I got my Targa on eBay too!!

[john_colasante]

Originally posted by Bobboloo
Should I be banished from Pelican for such foolhardy behavior?

No. You did the right thing and got a great car - for you and your risk level.

I do not advocate buying a car without carefulll inspection, etc. But I have done it and I know many very experienced car guys who do it all the time and end up with some great cars - including very, very low mileage all original cars that would blow your socks off.

So, for your risk level you did the right thing. Cool.

[silverc4s]

Bobby,
Great catch! Your car is the unmodified 73 version of my 73 3.2 Targa "Weber" (which came from LA, BTW). Mine is all blacked out, was originally yellow (!) has an 87 3.2 engine mated to the original 73T 915 trans. If yours is like that, then it stioll has the 7:31 diff and lots of low end, to be sure. I will try to enclose a pic of your cars fraternal twin, Weber.>>>>



What size tires / wheels do you have on there? Mine are 16 x 6 & 7's with 225/50Rr and 205/50Ft Bridgestone S02s. I want to go a bit wider next time, Traction IS a problem...

[Oldporsche]

When I pulled the trigger on buying my '75, I priced it at the price of the parts. Thus if anything turned out badly, I would only have my labor in it when I parted it out.

I think you did exactly the right thing.

David Duffieidl

[Bobboloo]

When I pulled the trigger on buying my '75, I priced it at the price of the parts. Thus if anything turned out badly, I would only have my labor in it when I parted it out.

That was my thought. I figured that with the 3.2 even if the chassis was junk I could sell off the parts.

What size tires / wheels do you have on there? Mine are 16 x 6 & 7's with 225/50Rr and 205/50Ft Bridgestone S02s. I want to go a bit wider next time,

Right now it has 7x15 fakes front and rear with 195/60 and 225/60 brand x tires but not for long. Nice cars by the way Bill.

I'm trying to decide between 7+8x15 or maybe even 8+9x16 Fuchs. Obviously the 7+8s' would be much cheaper but they would also look more period correct. What do you guys think?

The car still has the original 915.

So what is the engine? A Carrera 3.2 with CIS on it?!?

Yup. Kinda unusual but it makes for an easier swap. Different induction would be nice but for now I think I'll leave it. It's a blast to drive as is and I don't want this car to stall my resto project.

I've decided that any maintenance will be a job for TRE. When I finish my 71'S then I can think about doing stuff to this car like paint and induction.

In looking through the maintenace book I found in the glove box I see that I'm the 4th owner. The car was originally bought by a Dr. George Carroll in Albuquerque who then sold to another guy there who moved to Las Vegas and then back to Albuquerque, who then sold it to the guy in Kansas, 2 years ago, who I bought it from.

The 3.2 motor was installed in 5/92 and then rebuilt in 10/97 and from the records it appears to have only an additional 10k miles since the rebuild. There's also a front fender oil cooler with fan installed so my guess is that this was done when the motor was installed.