Introducing Uschi and her new owner

[Gaw22]

1980 911SC coupe, 145,000 Miles








Ever since I was a little boy, I knew I wanted to own a 911. Growing up in the Netherlands, I spent many a week-end at Zandvoort, watching all kinds of racing, from ff1600 to touring cars, Formula 3 and, once a year, Formula 1. One of the highlights for me was seeing a 911 come screaming down the straight heading into the infamous Tarzan corner, flames spewing out the back as the driver jumped on the binders. One should be careful exposing little boys to things like this, for this is how addictions are formed.

Having been uprooted to Canada and with all the culture shock that went along with it, the next phase of my life was, lets just say, rather turbulent, with many a bad decision made. Luckily, I met my wife, we had a family, and all became well in the world again. I soothed the beast with kart racing and plenty of hard rides on the motorbike, but in the back of my mind, there was always that 911.

Fast forward to present day. My youngest son is 17, and financially we are (just) in a position that owning a 911 might actually be do-able. So I carefully opened up that part of me which had been repressed so long, started casually scanning the local adds, just to see what was out there. There she was. Even though we were (are) really not ready for this at all (no garage, nowhere to work on her or store her), I could not get this car out of my head, so the wife and I hopped in the car and drove 3 hours North, just to have a look. Famous last words.

When I saw her sitting on that driveway, I couldn’t take my eyes of her. All logic and common sense went out the window. There she sat, functional but neglected and bruised, like a former beauty queen on the road to ruin. Before I realized what was happening, I had bought the car and was heading south, my trusty wife carefully riding my tail on account of the barely functioning brake lights.

This is when it dawned on me. Without doing research, without really knowing anything about these cars, I had jumped off a cliff into deep, unknown waters.

On that drive home and the following day, I started noticing all the issues poor Uschi has, and I realized I had better start learning. A friend of mine mentioned a place called Pelican Parts, and for the last 4 months I have been on this forum researching, taking notes, and trying to learn as much as I can about these fabulous cars.

I just want to say Thank You to all of you who share your knowledge and experience on this site. This is truly a marvellous community, and I am very grateful to have found it.

The car is currently in storage at a local shop, where they are going through her extensively so that we can come up with a plan of attack. Sadly, due to the fact I live in a duplex and do not have a garage or shed, I am going to have to bite the bullet and pay them to do some of the major work (ie. Engine drop, suspension work) if I want it up and running reliably for the summer, which is the goal. This poor car needs to be driven back to life, and letting it sit under a tarp for 2 years while I find a place with a garage is really not an option. I just hope my bank account holds out, for an unlimited budget I have not.

Cheers,
Arthur

[Jgordon]

Well, for having jumped off a cliff, she looks to be in beautiful shape. Here's hoping the only things you have to do are flush the fluids, new tires, and literally drive her back to life!

[porwolf]

Congratulations to your gutsy head first dive off the cliff. You bagged one beautifull car. The name "Uschi" reminds me of my sister Ursula. Actually the jump might be a lot shallower than you think. These cars of this vintage are solid cars with the reputation of being bomb proof. From the looks of the pictures it must have been taken care of pretty reasonably. What I would do is first drive it carefully and try to identifcy issues. Shift gears slowly and carefully. Brakes should be your first concern, of course. With the help of this forum the Wayne Dempsy "101 Projects for Your Porsche 911" book the Bentley manual for 1978-1983 911 SC's and a basic set of tools you can go a long way. These cars are built for tinkering. It is not that difficult.

[Geronimo '74]

Welcome Arthur!
Congrats on a beautiful purchase!

[timmy2]

Welcome to the madness!
Beautiful looking car.
Join the local Porsche club, go to meetings and make friends with people that have garages and like the beer you bring....

[JJ 911SC]

Nice looking,

As mentioned, welcome to the madness. When I got mine, she got the garage and the Daily Driver moved outside and got a remoted starter for her trouble. You may ask your wife to park her car outside but you can guess what the answer will be

From the 3 hours hour drive North that you mentioned I guess you got it in Edmonton.

Do you know if the previous owner was a Pelican or local PCA chapter member? It could give you great insight into the car.

[jakekooser]

Nice looking car! Glad to see I'm not the only one who just jumped in on their recent purchase.

[drleah]

Congratulations and welcome to the club of madness! Beautiful car, lots of really great people here!


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[pete3799]

Welcome to Pelican.
Nice looking SC you've got there.
Find a Porsche specific repair facility and have them give it a once over ( post purchase inspection). Have them make a list of the things on the car that need to be addressed then do a search here on Pelican and read. Hundreds if not thousands of Pelicans have been there done that.
As stated get Wayne's book and the Bentley manual.
Best of luck with your new purchase.

[RSBob]

Pete just said what I was going to say about begining your list here, but without a garage, you will be limited to small simple stuff which can be gratifying too. Enjoy the fun and frustration that is a part of ownership. But when it all comes together and the car really hooks up and you are in the zone, your dream will truly be realized - as well as a life long addiction.

[GaryR]

Welcome to Pelican, she looks great from here! You have a brown (leather I believe) dash, is the rest of the interior black?

[Gaw22]

Thanks for the welcome

Some more information:

I have gone through the messy pile of records the car came with, sorted them, put the relevant info into a spreadsheet and was able to build a maintenance log going back to 1998 (104,000 miles). Sadly, no information beyond that. The car was in Seatle then (It has seen the inside of the venerable Dr. John Walker's workshop, who did a PPI and some work for the (then) new owner. Since then, she went through an assortment of shops in Redmond, Everette, Stanwood and Marysville, changing hands once along the way. In 2007, it was purchased and brought up to Calgary, Canada, sold in '09 to the PO Edmonton, and now back in Calgary.

[Gaw22]

Originally Posted by GaryR

Welcome to Pelican, she looks great from here! You have a brown (leather I believe) dash, is the rest of the interior black?

Thanks Gary,

The seats and carpets were redone in 2001 (not sure of the original colours). The dash is brown (not leather) and the headliner is beige

[Kool-aid-82]

Welcome to the club.
Here you will find all the information you ask for and even some you don"t.

Nice looking car!
In the pictures it looks very well cared for.

Good Luck!

[inaminit]

What a wonderful story! Pelican parts, forums, and classified will be your friend. Keep us posted.