1965 912 "Field Find"

[68911USA]

So I was visiting a client in a rural area this week, and he mentioned he had "an old Porsche" sitting behind the sheds. I took a look, and it was indeed an old 911 or 912, but it was absolutely covered up with bushes. A tree apparently fell on the car an unknown number of years ago, so it's pretty much a wreck, but I figured I could salvage a few interesting parts from it. I came back with my trailer and took it home. After pulling an amazing amount of dirt, leaves, moss, and cobwebs out of it, I found what was actually a fairly (sort of) complete old 912. I knew it was at least as old as a 1966 due to the 4 hole horn grilles, but after that I did not know specifically what it was. Well, the VIN plate was still under the hood, and it's a European 912, #351500. My books tell me that it's a 1965 car, which I thought was interesting. There is no motor (lots of PIECES of a motor in the car, but no case, cylinders, or pistons), but that seems to be all that's missing. The gauges are dirty but appear to be serviceable, thankfully the windshield was in place- that probably helped. The poor thing is a rusted mess. No floors, but the seats are there. It's got the 5 gauge dash option, the orginal radio is in it, as are all knobs, handles, switches, etc. A large Durant mirror was in the trunk, someone put a flag mirror on it at some point. The rear decklid is the original one, you can see where they bondo'd over the holes where the little diagonal 912 emblem would go, so they could put a big "911T" emblem in the middle. (Maybe someone put a 911 motor in it at some point?) They also went to the trouble of gluing a 911T emblem to the glovebox door. It's got four 4.5x15 steelies on it, with hubcaps, all date coded 10/65- I thought that was fun, too. A previous owner must have been in the Air Force, there's a 1987 sticker from an air base in Nebraska on what remains of the front bumper.

Photos are grisly, be warned. I entered the VIN into the 912 registry, at least it can now be tracked. It's too rusty to salvage- what do I do with this thing? Yard art?

As found:



Loaded to tow home:



Hey, an optional dash?



A seriously big tree fell on this poor thing.



And let's just take it home, why not?

[jknapp3]

I see an "Ambient Temp Gauge" (I have one in mine too) they're worth a lot if it works. Seen them on Thesamba for like $500.00. You think of selling stuff, I am interested in the steelies and caps. (I have a 1966 build 912)

[JT912]

Your two cars are making friends with one another. Gonna be hard to seperate them now. Expect to start having mysterious problems pop up with the yellow car once the other one starts dissappearing piece-by-piece.

[68911USA]

Thanks for the heads up on the ambient air gauge- it seems to actually still work! Once I declutter this thing, I will see what looks salvageable and sellable, and will give first dibs to board members. I would love to replace the clock in my 911 with that temp gauge, but I don't think that was an option in '68. Sure wish it was restorable, I hate to see any car bite the dust like this!

[Jaems]

The big ambient temp gauge was offered for the 912 only for the 65 and 66 model years. In 67 they offered a smaller one the fit below the 5 bigger gauges.

There is a wire tube that goes from the ambient gauge to the sensor. You need to be careful and not break that wire tube or it will then be useless. As of this date it can not be fixed.

[68911USA]

Here's an update. I built a platform out of 4x12 lumber and some jack stands to support the car, and have it moved into position to start cleaning out. The ambient temp gauge does work, I've been watching the needle move around as the garage heats up and cools down- that's pretty neat. The real fun will begin this afternoon, when I clean all the leaves and dirt out of it. Hopefully there are no Black Widow spiders in it...

I have had a few PM's about parts, I'm still not exactly sure what I want to do with this, but hang in there. Right now I think it's just a funny artifact to drag out of a field. Hey, under the leaves might be unknown treasure. Or just more rust. If I was going to sell it as a complete vehicle, it would be pretty hard to transport, I'm sure, unless you just strapped it to a trailer again like I did.

I don't think the seats are original to the car, they look like early 911 seats in the shape of the back and bottom, but have a little button on the side to flip it forward, not a release at the bottom hinge. Maybe someone knows what vintage they are? They are different than the ones in my '68, I know that.

Fun, fun!

[buckeye1049]

Those are the same seats that are in my 69 912...Same hinges and tilt button

[68911USA]

Thanks, Buckeye. The spare is a '69 date coded 5.5Jx15 steelie- maybe a '69 parts car gave up some items to it along the way. I still need to find the number on the transmission so I can see if it's a 4 or a 5 speed, and if it's the original one. Still fun digging around in the car!

[68911USA]

I have decided to first see if I can just sell the entire vehicle instead of parting it out piece by piece- this may work, or it may not!

Could a moderator move this over to 911/912 parts for sale, and I will continue with this that way? I will figure out pricing and post that as well. Thanks!

[68911USA]

1965 Porsche 912 Coupe- Very Early Production

Here's the ad I put up today. I tried to ballpark a value based on a discounted parts list just to move the whole thing along. Anyone can feel free to contact me to chat about it.

(Again, I need to move this string over to cars or parts for sale, if anyone can help me with that. Thanks in advance.)

[RatBox]

68911USA .

I'm curious , what makes you think that this is necessarily a built for Euro. market car ?

I see U.S. front & rear turn signals. I cannot see the Speedo in your photos to see if KM or Mi. If it has the original radio... and if a unit that has FM . Do the numbers go to 104 , or 108 ?

Lastly , do the headlamps have sealed beam bulbs inside or H1 style (large reflectors wirth removable bulbs).

Thx

[68911USA]

Hello, RatBox-

The speedometer is a 200 km/h unit, and I believe the radio has L, M, K, U, U on the pushbuttons, but I can check that more closely when I get home. The turn signals could have been changed over the years. One front one is yellow, and one is clear. Date codes on all the gauges are '65, so I believe they are original to the car. The combo gauge says "TEMP/TANK", not sure if that is what all of them said, or just the Euro ones. (The tach says UPM as well as RPM, so I know that was used everywhere.)

Not sure how else to check if it was a Euro model, but based on these things that's what I'm figuring. I had a Euro 911T a few years ago, and they had to put US headlamps on it. The headlight assembly on this one looks like any early US spec (non H-1) that I have ever seen. In the photos, the headlight was mounted upside down in the bucket- must have made for an interesting light pattern if that's really how they ran it!

[Rick Becker]

thanks for posting it here and the 912 Registry! wondering if it has the original door serial number plate, and if so what was the original color code? noticed the antenna is on the passenger side, is it electric?

[RatBox]

Thx 68911USA ,

If it's got a km speedo , then it very likely a euro delivery. The only reason I asked is that a VERY few Porsche built bodied 912's seem to have been built as US spec. (I was just trying to figure out if yours possibly was one).

The bulk of the Porsche built 912 coupe bodies (35x xxx , 128 2 xxxx , 129 00 xxxx) seem to have been kept for european delivery. With the bulk of 912 coupes sent to the US, being the Karmann bodied cars (45x xxx , 128 0 xxxx , 129 02 xxxx)

This is something i've been meaning to dig into , just how uncommon it is to have either a 1965-69 , US spec. , Porsche built body 912 .

OR ......a 1965-69 Karmann built body , Euro. Spec. , 912. As far as I can tell , either are VERY, VERY rare.

And even a eurospec. porsche body 912 , is rare in general (these 912 production figures are for only by body type. There is no way to get the figures for Euro vs US spec. But from looking for any U.S spec Porsche bodied 912's . I've only found one so far.) Again just a comparision of Porsche vs. Karman 912 production:

1965-69 912 (Porsche Body) / 6,456
1965-69 912 (Karmann Body) / 22,286


And rarer as the years progressed . Of the 6456 Porsche built body 1965-69 912 coupes :

(I broke them up this way , as that is how I found it on a 912 website (there seems to be some confusion as to when one year stopped & the next began prior to the 1968 Model year . When the numbering system was changed)

1965/66 : 1970
1966 : 2029
1966/67 : 971
1967 : 631
1968 : 427
1969 : 428




I think I see a emergency flasher knob on the left hand side of your dash , next to ignition key (it will have a small light in the center). That's always a good indicator of a Euro delivery SWB 912. Either it was standard for europe , or most european customers ordered it (if anyone can clarify about this - please speak up).

And if anyone has any information regarding Porsche built bodied U.S. spec 912's , or Karmann built bodied EURO spec. 912's

I would love to hear anything regarding any of either.

[Jaems]

I have a Euro delivery Karmann body coupe. It was shipped to Skandinavisk Motor København, DK end of June 1966. It still has all of the Euro specs instruments. lights (parking and headlamps) The headlamps were not H1's by the way. They were the Hella bulb type like the Euro 356 and VW bug that later was upgraded to the H4. They never made a H1 that would fit the housing. It also doesn't have rear seats. But the luggage shelf.

All 65 912's were for Euro delivery. They were still selling the 65 356SC in the US and didn't want to hurt the sells. Any 65 912s found in the US were brought in by private owners. Most had to converted to US spec like the 66 factory delivery to the US dealers. My 66 was brought in to the US by it's original Euro owner. He didn't have to convert to US specs because he was still a Danish citizen and was returning to Denmark. However, he did sell the car before returning home.


If you notice in the pictures the base to the bulb and h4 lamps are much larger than the ones for the Bosch H4 and H1's

[RatBox]

Thx for posting Jaems,

wow that's a beauty ! Isn't that a DE licence plaque , are you in Germany now ?

So you have a 45x xxx body , but with a 83xxxx engine number ?


Have you ever run into any other Karmann body euro. Spec 912' s (delivered with euro engine no., and other lighting & instrument differances) , are they more common than i'm believing ?

If your in the US , have you found what it seems like to me . That Porsche body , U.S. spec. , 912's are very uncommon ?

[68911USA]

Door tag: 351500 (VIN) and 6603 (Paint- Golf Blue):



Here's one of the radio, and of what might be the amplifier attached to it?





And those switches to the left of the ignition- one is the headlight switch, the other seems to be a second headlight switch someone installed to run aftermarket fog lights. Interesting...



I can't tell if the antenna is electric or not yet, but I think it is a replacement anyway. Where is the transmission number? I'd like to at least get an idea of where to start scraping to find the number on it!

[68911USA]

Car will be parted out, PM me if there is anything you are interested in specifically while I get the list together, which will take me a few days due to my travel schedule. She will live on in other projects!

[RatBox]

I see that from a closer photo, this example does not have emergency flashers. Thx for the better photos


The trans number will be stamped right on the forward to aft running center rib. Type number forward , unit number to rear of that.

[gregk1]

i bought a 66 912 close to that. sat in the washington rain for 17 years (no tree damage) with the temp guage it was loaded with options it had a 901 ZF 902/01 trans in it. that i still have on a shelf so if i were you i would check that because that is big dollars