Yikes, what a mess...
The VIN confirms that it's a US Carrera Targa. Even the mid year US Carreras are coming up in value. Heck, a '76 912E is worth $15k in mint shape. Who'd have thought that a few years ago?
The only things on this car that are salvageable are the VIN, a few windows and portions of the tub. Everything else is either missing, needs to be tossed out or needs full restoration/replacement.
If you wanted a perfect car to show, you'd spend $40k on the cosmetic and mechanical restoration, then have to shell out another $8,000 to $15,000 for a correct motor and transmission. As you say, the car will never be a numbers matching car, which may hurt its value way on down the road in time.
Will the short hoods be collectible? Yes. All of these cars will be collectible. We (as a Porsche community) used to toss out rusted out long hoods as just junky old cars not worth restoring. Now shells from early cars bring $10k. Really nice stuff is over $100,000, which was unheard of only a half decade ago. However, how long do you want to wait for your $55,000 restoration to be worth $55,000 in resale value? Your restoration costs will grow much more quickly even in a conservative bank account.
Unless you can pay only a $1000 or so for this hulk of a car and have the means to do a full restoration, then wait out the market, it's just not worth restoring in this condition, even with US Carrera's bringing pretty good money right now.
It could take $20,000 to even get the car road worthly if you skip the cosmetics and just buy the stuff you need to operate the car safely. But, for $20k, I'd just buy a darn nice 911SC or 3.2 Carrera or a driver quality long hood.
Good Luck!
Jay
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