New Member and a Barn Find 911SC

[David Mildwater]

Hi All,

This is a fantastic resource and a big thank-you to everyone that contributes to it.

Well, I did it. A 1980, 911SC 3.0l. My first Porsche. A nice enough car. The story I am told (and I take it with a truckload of salt) is that the 911 was collected new, in Italy by a Saudi studying there in 1980. When the Saudi returned home the car was shipped to Riyadh and placed in storage because the air-conditioning was unable to cope with the Saudi summers (or UAE I am sure). It was 'discovered' by a Belgian guy, now a friend, (the technical manager for thje local Porsche agent, Al Naboodah. Now overseeing their expansion programme. It will be the largest Porsche dealership in the world , in sales and in sq. metres. Well oil is US$100/barrel, so if you have it, you might as well spend it) and brought to Dubai to be used for club racing but the cost of preparing it was too much when the sponsorship deal fell through. It was then left in storage in Dubai for several months until a mutual friend put me in touch with the previous owner.

The car is in reasonable condition except for the following points that I know of.

1.) the original spare wheel is missing; 2.) I do not know if all the tools from the original tool kit are there; 3.) there is no Owner's Manual with the car; (ok, so the previous 3 are not so serious) 4.) someone has drilled a series of 4mm holes in the front, left corner of the boot (trunk?) area, similar to a colander. I assume this was done to let water out so maybe the seal is not working; 5.) the odometer does not work and is stopped at just over 70,000km. Is this the true distance the car has traveled? I don't know. Maybe the odometer has 'frozen' while in storage and is now broken. These are the faults that I know of.

The rest of the car is the usual Porsche 911SC mix from what I have read. The gear stick wanders around like you are stirring a pudding. The steering is heavy. The air-conditioning is not worth the money it cost to install. On the plus side all the gauges work (I like watching the flickering needles); it accelerates well with a great rasp from the exhaust (no way is that serpentine snake of pipes the standard system. I think it has fitted a set of extractors. 6 into 2 into 1); the brakes stop straight and true; it corners on rails; and; it has the timeless shape of the classic 911 without the rear spoiler. It is Porsche "Grand Prix" white with the black trim on handles, etc with a black, material (leather on the seats) interior in reasonable condition.

It is with Ali & Sons (Abu Dhabi local Porsche agent. Different emirate = different agent) at the moment for a service & tune. I would like to think that I will take over the regular maintenance items .............but given how busy I am writing claims for a local contractor, and if Ali does a decent job of it all, and their labour rates are not too heart-stopping, I will probably leave it to them.

I have owned old Jags before, when I was young and possibly innocent, that spent more time undergoing a "rebuild" that I never seemed to be driving them much. Therefore a decision has been made that whilst regular maintenance will be carried out on this one it will not be hauled off the road for a "rebuild", or a "restoration". When things break, or wear out, they will be replaced, and possibly, upgraded. But on the whole it will be driven, enjoyed and parked.

For what it matters, the steering wheel is on the wrong side to bother with taking it back to Oz so the I will sell it when I leave here and buy another one when I get home. Anyway, I have a Ducati 916/996 hybrid to punt around the Autodrome as well. Life is a beach, you have to surf it.

Cheers,

David Mildwater

[David Mildwater]

Ooops, photo follows.

Cheers,

David

[tsiegwart]

Nice looking car!!!!

Welcome aboard. I'm new as well, but I'm finding that learning about these cars from this board and it's members is almost as fun as driving it.

[livi]

Welcome David!

Great story. It looks brand new!

[Svaha]

Love it!

[rouxroux]

Nice looking car! However, I'm confused why the front lower valance/fog light assembly looks as if it was from an '84 or newer Carrera instead of the "stand alone" foglights of an SC.

[rbuswell]

I'm not sure where I saw it recently but there's a thread floating around that describes the process of switching the steering wheel around from left to right. I think is was an Australian who bought a USA car and made the conversion. It didn't sound ridiculously difficult.

When you think about it, the components, gauges (except KPH to MPH), etc. are the same either side. Both sides have the relief for the pedal cluster so all that's needed is a dash assembly and some wiring extensions I assume. The dash should be even easier to locate here and you could probably sell the right hand drive to a British subject for more than you'll pay for the USA dash assembly. That car may be old enough that most emissions issues are exempt and the bumpers, etc. already comply I'm guessing. Worth looking into given how nice an example that is. I vote for you to bring the car back home.

[911Rob]

Welcome David!!!
You must have been lurking here for some time; because as of this post, you have "2" posts to date and they're both PERFECT! Great Job and Good Luck with your car, you'll love it, but they're addicting, much like this board.
Cheers

[tcar]

Originally Posted by rouxroux

Nice looking car! However, I'm confused why the front lower valance/fog light assembly looks as if it was from an '84 or newer Carrera instead of the "stand alone" foglights of an SC.

My SC has a Carrera valence and fogs. Direct bolt on. Easy.

Valence was beat up and the PO found a good one from a Carrera. Not uncommon.

[EarlyPorsche]

Beautiful! Now please don't modify it too much and just enjoy! I agree that Porsche's need the classic shape not those big gross 80's spoiler tails things.

[LakeCleElum]

Welcome David - I was in Abu Dhabi this time last year.....Wish I had known to stop by and take a look....Great area of the world you live in, warm, but I liked it......

[saintz]

Hi Dave

Nice car

here is the link to the thread re left to right conversion.

I was the guy who did it, it took a year part time at home and cost $7,000 Australian dollars.


Mark.

[saintz]

Here is the link.

Australian project. left to right 3.2

[SXSMAN]

Nice looking car David .

Must say I love barn finds .

Also , there is a wealth of knowledge to be tapped here at Pelican .

By the way ....... I'll be in Dubai Dec. 3-10 and I'll be at the F1 boat race for sure ( my wifes cousin is a sponsor of the world champion F1 boat racer ) and I think we should get together for drinks or a bite .

Let me know if you need any parts brought over for your car , I can say you $$$ on shipping .

SxS

[David Mildwater]

Thanks for the encouragement and the offer of free parts SXSMan (oh, shipping only).

Regarding the front valance panel, if it is from a later model I wonder if the car has had an accident at some time. I will check it out. Thanks for the tip.

I have been lurking for some time, since a friend told me about Pelican when I commenced negotiations some months ago to buy the 911 hence my big thank-you at the start for all the free info. I have already purchased the "bibles" from Pelican but I went with the Haynes manual. I should have bought the Bentley. I guess I still can.

SXSMan, definitely get together for a bite and a drink. I was supposed to be riding a Moto Guzzi around the southern US states in December (The 3xB Tour. As in, "Blues, Bourbon and Belles") with a LA finish but the bike is not ready yet. it might happen, just later) I will PM you regarding a shopping list at Pelican. Damn, I wish you hadn't said that, now I really will go into overdrive on shopping.

Saintz: Thanks for the information on the steering wheel swap. A$7,000? Hmmmm, when I add that to the low purchase cost it still makes it a bargain of a buy (US$9,900) that will hopefully, only get better if the Gulf nations re-value their currencies against a basket of currencies instead of the US$. One third of the goods here are European imports and more oil deals are being done in Euros as well.

Ok, once again thanks for the tips and encouragement. I will post the occasional photo, etc. There is a strong Porsche contingent here with several "British subjects" purchasing Porsches. There is even a column in one of the pommy magazines from someone in Dubai driving and writing of their experiences.

Cheers.

[911 in SC]

Beautiful car, and wonderful color! I'm a bit biased though...

[SXSMAN]

Dude , are you like my long lost brother ?

Sold a G5 1000 Guzzi Police bike last year . Now all I have left is this

The Vespa , not the Lambo . Vespa was a barn find and smoking deal at $20 . ( Really $30 , I felt bad and flipped him an extra $10 ) .

Pic of last years boat

Omni Decor is his company .

Not sure yet if I'm taking my phone , I may rent one . I'll pm later with details .

SxS

[rbuswell]

Originally Posted by saintz

Here is the link.

Australian project. left to right 3.2

That's nothing like I thought the job would be. Beautiful job saintz but I hereby retract my recommendation to convert the car if it is RHD now and coming back to the USA. A similar LHD car in the states would run about $16-18k tops. It's pretty hard to justify the conversion given USA prices. Might work in OZ economically if the car is LHD now and needs to be RHD for Australia.

By the way, should you wish to upgrade the A/C these guys seem to have their act together (may make it sellable in Saudi when you leave):

http://www.griffiths.com/porsche/index.html

And yes the exhaust sounds like the standard O2 catalytic converter system as hard as it is to believe.

[tcar]

Originally Posted by David Mildwater

Thanks for the encouragement and the offer of free parts SXSMan (oh, shipping only).

Regarding the front valance panel, if it is from a later model I wonder if the car has had an accident at some time. I will check it out. Thanks for the tip.

Mine wasn't an accident per se, just smacked a curb while parking a few times. Just bent the valence and broke the fogs.

[Zef]

Superb gem....Welcome aboard and have fun.