Opinions on a 1976 3.0

Christien · Christien's Garage

I might be looking at a 1976 3.0 - anyone have any opinions on this particular year/model/engine? This would be for both street and DE use. Not a lot of details on the car yet, but I've emailed requesting some. Apparently the engine has been rebuilt but no mileage given. Priced at $14K CDN which is probably either quite a good deal or indicative of problems.

Thanks for any opinions!

(P.S. I did do a search for this, but came up with very little, mostly because most people post "76" instead of "1976", and you can't search 2-letter words - a bit frustrating.)

Jeff · 10-28-2005, 06:09 AM

Christien, I just got a 76 with a 79 euro 3.0. Not sure if we are comparing apples to apples (Is yours a 76 3.0 Carrera or a transplant from a later year?), but it is a great car with a great motor. Very different than my 87, but that probably has more to do with suspension/ tire set up than anything. FWIW, I paid $8750 US.

Christien · Christien's Garage

Hi Jeff, thanks for that. AFAIK it's a 76 Carrera 3.0. There's nothing in the (very brief) ad about a transplant, just that it's been rebuilt.

Jeff · 10-28-2005, 06:21 AM

Christien, The engine number that will tell you what motor is in the car is on the vertical brace on the right side (looking into the engine bay) of the fan housing. If you get that I can tell you what year, etc. the motor is. If the 3.0 Carrera motor is the same as the SC motor they are very bullit proof as I'm sure you know (hopefully someone more knowledgable about the mid year Carreras will chime in). Either way, if a Pop-off valve and oil fed chain tensioners have not been install you should seriously consider doing it.

Christien · Christien's Garage

Yep, the engine # is the first thing I'll be looking for when I go have a look.

76carrera3.0 · 10-28-2005, 07:38 AM

Chris, get the engine number and the vin#. You should be able to cross it over with a little searching on the PET disc if you have one, with the vin# you can decode it by using the net, type in Porsche vin decode and it should hook you up. If its a true carrera 3.0 euro car they are quite rare to find for sale. Only 479 targas where made in 76, and I'm not sure off the top of my head how many coupes. I bought a 76 Targa in June from a family friend 120k for 10,000 Canadian had to put about 3k into it to get it back to being reliable, but its a ton of fun. the car should have sold for about 18000. Pm me if you need help with the decode.

Christien · Christien's Garage

Thanks - heh, never though to search user names for a 76 3.0 - would've found you pretty quickly!

I'm hoping to look at it Monday, but haven't heard back from the guy yet. It's for sale through a dealership, which means an inflated price (markup), which leads me to believe someone either made a mistake and let it go for a trade-in for well under its value, or there are some serious issues. If/when I check it out, I'll run all the numbers to see if they match, get the carfax, etc.