Adam, from
Sodo-Moto was the person that found the car, and won the bid at auction. I purchased the car from him after he got it stateside.
I finally had the chance to see the car in person yesterday. Love at first sight, I was pleasantly surprised by what I found. It's so hard to judge from photos. As expected, the car needs a lot of work, and deserves a full restoration, but I think it is a really good candidate. No obvious signs of past trauma, rust doesn't seem to be an issue (need to explore a lot more) and the car seems to be mostly original. Major exceptions being the paint, and some things that might have been done to import it into Japan (side mirrors, side markers, etc) and of course the whale tail. Brakes weren't locked up as originally thought and worked. The interior looks much worse in photos than it does in person, and the door cards are in good shape. Lots of originality throughout the car that I think can be restored. The engine even fired up on the first turn of the key, although we didn't leave it running for long. Zero paperwork or accessories with the car although I'm reaching out to some experts in Japan in hopes of chasing down some local records there. It will be fun to piece together as many of the period correct accessories for the car over time.
After exploring the car and taking some photos, we pushed it up on the flatbed and trucked it over to a local independent Porsche mechanic. He is giving it a complete inspection and then I'll have a much better idea of what I'm working with. The car, likely without the drivetrain, will head over to
Haury's so they can give me a complete assessment of the body and paint work. The wheels are in motion.
A quick video of delivery day:
This was the first time putting my eyes on the car:
Checking out what we've gotten ourselves into!
Interior needs lots of work, but isn't as bad as I expected it to be. Lots to work with.
Not quite ready for a cars and coffee:
Loading up:
Does this count as the car's first roller
Thanks again to all of you for your words of encouragement. I'll update this post throughout the process.
Jeff