[geshaghi]

As some of you know, I've been looking for a nice 72 coupe and many members of this board have provided great advice and encouragement, for which I am very grateful. I've concluded that there is no such thing as the perfect car, as there is an aspect of owning, maintaining and modifying these early cars that is intensely personal and what works for me probably doesn't work for someone else. I did see one car that was pretty close to perfect, but the asking price was so over the top that I couldn't really get there (the ones that got away can fill several pages). Alas, I gave up on finding the "perfect" car and focused more on finding something close that I could take to my desired state. Along the way, I've ended up with four cars.....

So, without further ado, I thought I would give you all an update on what I've done (don't tell my wife) and seek out a little bit more advice on what I'm thinking about doing now. I'll preface all of this by acknowledging that I have a little bit too much time on my hands right now, which has no doubt contributed to my "problem."

Car No. 1:
A 72E sunroof coupe that had been advertised on the internet, although not in the usual places, for almost a year. The seller didn't seem too interested in selling it either, since he wouldn't return my phone calls or emails and couldn't seem to find any photos other than those taken by his cell phone. One day the car shows up on craigslist and I contact the seller. This time he is apparently serious about selling, he sends me photos, we talk on the phone and I make arrangements to see the car in person. When I arrive, the car is covered in his driveway and hasn't been started in a several months. We finally get the battery charged and the car started, and it seems to drive ok. I go through the receipts he has, and he has spent close to $25,000 restoring the car, although most of it is in cosmetics. Ironically, the original color of this car is also aubergine (see car no.2 below, which I saw before car no.1), but the seller has had the car repainted black. The car looks beautiful, but the interior has been updated with highback seats, 993 door panels and power windows. Mechanicals seem ok (car is not grossly underpowered, but the motor does seem a bit tired), MFI has been replaced with webbers, otherwise all there. I make an offer, which the seller rejects and gives me his firm price, which I think is several thousand dollars too high. I tell him I will think about it and I head to the airport. As I'm getting on the plane, he calls to tell me he is willing to sell me the car for $500 less than what I offered him. How could I say no? This car needs the MFI, some original seats (or reproduction sport seats) and correct door panels. The motor will need a rebuild soon too, so might as well do this when the MFI is being reinstalled. The black repaint is really very nice, so I couldn't bring myself to repaint it aubergine at this point, but maybe for the next paint job...

Car No. 2:
One of the first cars that I saw in person was a 72T about 30 miles from me that was initially advertised on eBay last year in September or October. It looked like a bit of a project, but I contacted the owner and went to see the car in person. Like most things on eBay, the car looked better in the photos than in person, but it was mostly complete, appeared to be numbers matching (no COA though) and was mostly rust free, with a California blue plate. The bidding went a bit beyond my comfort level and I passed. About a month later, I sent the seller an email to see if the deal closed and to my surprise, it had not. The seller had some trouble securing the title and so the original buyer backed out. I went back to see the car again and this time brought it back to my mechanic and a Porsche restorer in Van Nuys. The restorer looked the car over with me and confirmed that it had very good bones. The car now silver was in need of a repaint, but the original color was aubergine. By coincidence, during this time I saw an aubergine 73 coupe driving around my neighborhood, and fell in love with the color. I made an offer on this 72T project, which was contingent on the owner securing a title, and he turned me down. So I kept looking. Fast forward about six months and the seller finally has the title and calls me to tell me if I'm still interested in the car, he'll sell it to me at the price I offered. I look at the car some more, tell him I don't think it's worth as much as it was six months ago, but I end up buying it. This car runs and drives, but really needs a complete restoration. I love the color though.

Car No. 3:
My brother is selling a car of his (not a Porsche), and a prospective buyer comes to take a look. In the course of discussions, my brother learns that he has an early Porsche and calls me. The urban equivalent of a barn find, we discover a car that has been sitting on the side of a home in Studio City for more than 15 years. The seller however has photos and documents showing the car was rebuilt 20 years (but less than 15,000 miles) ago. This car is a 69T chassis with a 71S motor with PMO carbs. Amazingly no rust. I'm thinking that the car will make a great hot rod of sorts, so we make a deal and come back and trailer the car home that afternoon before he could change his mind.

Car No. 4:
My wife is from North Carolina and we have a vacation home not far from where she grew up. On our most recent trip to NC, I went to see two cars. The first was the sepia 72T that I've discussed here - a very nice car but unrealistically priced. The second car was a 72T listed on CL in Charlotte, with no photos and not much of a description. I emailed the seller and got his phone number. The seller returned my call and I went to see the car. This one turns out to be a documented 3-owner car, with receipts for service all the way back to the 70's. The seller has owned the car since 1985, had a rebuild done about 12 years but less than 10,000 miles ago, The car is complete, documented, numbers matching, minimal rust with sport seats. His asking price was reasonable for a well documented car even without the sport seats, so I can't resist and we make a deal.

My plan:
When I bought car no. 4, I was contemplating driving the car through the summer while I'm on the east coast, then swapping the sport seats for the standard seats in car no.2 and trying to sell car no. 4 and restore car no.2 (mostly because I like the period color of car no. 2 more than the silver of car no. 4). The more I've thought about this though, the more I think car no. 4 is the keeper of the bunch, given it's documented history, so car no. 2 may be up for sale.

Car no. 3 is still a candidate for a hot rod, and since I have time on my hands it will be a fun project and a learning experience for me. I will soon begin the process of taking this one apart.

Still not sure whether to invest the money in car no. 1 to bring it back to original, leave it as it, or sell it to thin the herd. I'm leaning towards investing the money in the mechanicals and the interior, which would give me a much better than driver level 72E sunroof coupe, and if I really need aubergine, I could take plunge and change the color back.

All this could change of course if I found the perfect car tomorrow. I will try and get photos of the cars in the next few days and post them for you guys to see. Any comments, advice or other musings are appreciated.

Thanks