Car in the Barn – Jade Green

[bertj]

I know we all enjoy finding a special "car in the barn" story. Well, I found a nice 1972 911T. This is the car I brought to the Greene and Greene house to meet Grady Clay and other Pelicans. I didn’t get a chance to tell Grady the story, so I thought I would share my story here for Grady and everyone else. It has a great unique color – Jade Green. The paint, interior, etc. is all original.

It was serendipity when I saw this car 9 years ago near my parents’ house in Torrance. During one of my visits I took my mom out to lunch at a local restaurant. We were walking by a house about a block and a half from my parent’s house when I noticed the familiar outline of a Porsche 911 under a car cover in the garage. All of us gear heads always look when a garage door is open. You never know what kind of car treasure you might find. There was a little girl playing in the front yard and I asked her to get her father.

The owner comes out and I introduce myself as a Porsche enthusiast. After a short chat, he warms up to me and lifts the car cover to reveal this beautiful 1972 911T. He tells me that he is the original owner. The car looks fantastic. It has a very special color that I had never seen before. It was ordered with Light Green or Jade Green. I checked and this is a factory color (Paint code 227). I look the car over and it’s very original. He tells me that it has the original paint and interior. It has no rust or corrosion and the power train has never been rebuilt. Then my heart jumps when I see the odometer reading of only 49,000 miles! I immediately ask him if he wanted to sell the car to me. He wasn’t interested in selling, but he would keep my name and phone number in his files.

For the next 7 years, he doesn’t call me. But every 6 months my Mom would call and tell me that the car was still in that garage (thanks Mom!). Of course, I never tell any of my Porsche friends about this car or there would be early car guys knocking on everyone’s door in Torrance.

Then 2 years ago, I started calling him about the car. He remembered me and he still owned the car, but he had stopped driving it. He had started a business and got caught up in running it and tending to family matters. It still had only 49,000 miles!

I asked about buying the car and he said okay, but every time I called him he would never call me back. I could sense some reluctance on his part. I think it was the car of his youth and he didn’t want to let go of it even though he didn’t drive it anymore. Finally, one day I called and said that I was visiting my parents this coming weekend and I would knock on his door to see if he was home.

Luckily, he was home and I was ready. He opened the garage, but it wasn’t a pretty site. There was an inch of dust on the car cover and all of the oil had leaked out of the engine on to some kitty litter. The car sat on 4 flat tires, but the car was unmolested and complete. The interior was still perfect with no cracks or rips. He told me how the dealer recommended some special leather care product to maintain the seats and interior vinyl and he was pretty good about regularly cleaning the interior. He also applied too much wax to the paint, because there was wax overlap on the rubber trim. But the thick wax coating probably saved the paint. Of course, sitting in a dry, dark garage in Southern California didn’t hurt either. The paint was obviously dull and flat at the time, but I could see the potential.

Fortunately, the owner had removed the batteries when he started the hibernation. I crawled all through the car and found no rust, corrosion or accident damage! There were small dings in the rear deck lid and front bumper, but they were minor. All the panels, pans and fenders were clean, original and straight. The front trunk looked pristine. I lifted the carpets and found floors as if they had just left the factory. I couldn’t believe how nice and original this car was.

I explained that it would take some work to make this car roadworthy, but I liked working on these cars. I showed him my 1970 Tangerine Orange 911T, which he liked and he saw that his car would go to a good home. I made him a nice offer and he accepted. I immediately called my parents and told them that I was cleaning out their garage. Then I called a buddy of mine and we drove down next weekend. The owner had kindly inflated the tires and I gave him the check. My father got in the driver’s seat to steer the car. The now previous owner, my buddy and I pushed the car out of his garage and then pushed the car a block and a half to my parent’s house. Halfway up the street, one of the other neighbors saw what we were doing and joined in the final push up the driveway. I didn’t need a flat bed truck. These cars really are light.

For the next 2 months I would go down to my parent’s house with my toolbox and some parts to bring the car back to life. I checked other “car in the barn” stories here on Pelican and fixed everything on the check list before I started the car. These cars don’t like to sit and there was a lot of work to be done. On the day before Christmas Eve, I connected the batteries and removed the cap and rotor to spin the engine over and build up oil pressure. Then I re-connected the cap and rotor and the car started on the first crank. Isn’t German engineering great?! Of course the car smoked for a couple of minutes as it cleared out the old junk inside, but it ran very smooth and quiet. I drove the car home that night as a Christmas present to myself. The car had a rough ride on the freeway and I realized all 4 tires were flat spotted from sitting so long. I bought new tires a week later.

I am amazed how smooth and quiet these cars really are. I guess my 1970 911T with 150,000 miles and a tired original engine is not a good role model. Everything on the 1972 911T engages positively. The doors close just like they should with that noted metallic “ting”. The dash, door pockets, sun visors are perfect and original. The paint came back very nicely and the interior was just cleaned up. Of course it has the full tool kit, jack and orange bar hood emblem.

I have spent the last 2 years chasing down oil leaks, rebuilding the suspension and brakes and other items that decay when a car sits too long. The car was almost complete when the German Auto Fest came up in Sept. I decided this event was my deadline to finish the car and share this car with other Porsche enthusiasts.

I surprised everyone with this car and it was fun to show everyone a true time warp survivor. I love the color. It actually compliments my Tangerine Orange car in the garage.

I consider myself very lucky to have found this car. I guess patience does pay off when something this nice comes along. Visiting your parents also helps.

I checked my Porsche library and have found only one photo of a Carrera RS with Jade Green. Has anyone else seen this color or do they own an early car with this color?

Enjoy the photos.

[nameisbauer]

Amazing color. I Love it. Great story too.

Honk if you see a Signal Yellow 74(look) around LA. I sure will honk when I see the Jade Green 72.

[EarlyPorsche]

I too got a garage find that I have now but its not a great story like yours! I paid a good amount for mine I would say and it did have rust that I had a 356/long hood shop fix but it was worth it as I fell in love with it quick and had to have it.

[RickM]

All I can say is WOW....your car is beautiful. Congrats on an awesome find.

[Daveinclarkston]

WOW!!!! I love the color! Great story as well. They are only original once!

[Zeke]

I saw this car last Saturday. You should have seen Grady Clay going over it. It is a special car. Bert is a lucky man.

[DanielDudley]

What a doll !

[bell]

great story, awesome car

did you show the previous owner yet? he'll probably be mad and happy at the same time

[holtjv]

I'd love to see a photo of the tangerine orange next to the jade green--would make a superb art shot, I think.

Thanks for the excellent story. Envious.

Jack

[Christien]

AWESOME story!!! Thanks for sharing it! And what an apt name for the colour - it really is the colour of jade.

[bertj]

Thanks for everyone's kind words.

I haven't shown the car to the previous owner yet, but I plan to soon. I think he'll get a kick out seeing it again.

[mkaraoglan]

wow. beautiful. great story too!

[BlueSideUp]

Your car looks great! Are your seats dark grey leather with black piping or does the camera just make them look like that?

[bertj]

Originally Posted by holtjv

I'd love to see a photo of the tangerine orange next to the jade green--would make a superb art shot, I think.

Thanks for the excellent story. Envious.

Jack

Hi Jack,

An artist friend of mine thought the same thing. Unfortunately, my garage is small and packed with stuff. I had to get very creative to make room for the green car. I've gotten pretty good at driving each car in with only 8 inches of clearance

It's not an art shot, but the colors are nice.

[porcupine911]

hi bert -

it was nice meeting you on saturday. the jade green really looked great on that tree-lined street on an overcast day.

[Rrrockhound]

To us bicycle-riding guys, that color is known as Celeste Green, popularized in the 70s and 80s by a bike company named Bianchi. What a great color.

[wnsgc]

Bert,

I have to say, you have two of my favorite color 911's, I am green with envy...

Earlier this year, I had a chance to pick up a 69 912 Targa - tangerine, with 69k miles. I really wanted the car, but having purchased my 85 Carrera only three months earlier, I thought better of it, as it would have cost me more than the car...

[Les Paul]

Amazing story. Beautiful Car. I live on a tree lined street that half the people in town walk down. They look in my garage and see the 2 Porsches and do a double take. My 2 sure don't beat your 2 though. Those colors are, well, the coolest colors ever from those days. Congrats.

[RSBob]

I was going to say jade green is the new orange - but since you have a beautiful orange sibling, I'll just have to say they are both gorgeous and your patience really paid off!

[craigster59]

Those are 2 beautiful cars, and you are one lucky (and persistent) man. I remember it fom the 'Autofest", that is a striking color. Great story.