Forum Opinion Please

[mint2me]

I bought a new Porsche Turbo Carrera in 1979 at the ripe age of 29. I sold it soon after to make some money. It had 220 miles when I turned it over to Porsche Audi Manhattan and made $12,000! (feeding frenzy back then).

Here is where your opinion comes in. The very first day I took delivery, I noticed the oil pressure wasn't where it should be. I was smart enough to take it to the dealer. Two months later, I got my 930 back with a new engine block authorized by Porsche. Some issue with the block and nothing I did. The new, factory block was not stamped but the dealer was authorized to etch the original number onto the new block. Again, the 930 had around 100 miles on it. Porsche extended the warranty to make up for the lost time.

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago. I found my car and want to buy it back. Yippee. I have the original bill of sale and Monroney Label but nothing to document the factory authorized repair. Here is the question....Is it considered a matching number car that holds it value or was it doomed from birth as a non-matching number car?

[kenikh]

Interesting. If Porsche did the work, it is #s matching. Now to prove it.

The other amazingly good news in your favor: although Porsche will not release any original purchase data due to German privacy laws, as the original owner, that doesn't apply to you. You should be able to contact Porsche and request the factory warranty records. Only the original owner can legally do this now in Germany.

[Mr9146]

Originally Posted by kenikh

the other amazingly good news in your favor: Although porsche will not release any original purchase data due to german privacy laws, as the original owner, that doesn't apply to you. You should be able to contact porsche and request the factory warranty records. Only the original owner can legally do this now in germany.

This.

[Discseven]

Originally Posted by mint2me

Fast forward to 2 weeks ago. I found my car and want to buy it back. Yippee.

Great find Mint! Wish you the best sorting out the history!

[lee88]

That's really awesome you will potentially be reunited with your 930 there. Good luck in getting it back.

There's no hard and fast rule of course, but from a collectability standpoint I'd say most would argue that a factory replacement engine case restamped with original number and good documentation is pretty darn close to "original matching numbers". Strictly speaking it isn't the engine case the car was "born" with and some may apply a slight (5-10%) discount to such a car relative to a true original numbers car. But most enthusiasts and collectors would value a car with a factory replacement case more highly than a car that had a year/series correct engine but non-matching number.

Depending how it was restamped, it is usually still possible to determine that even a factory replacement case was not the original engine. Typically both the engine number (often restamped with original) and the engine type number are blank, which would be 930/61 in the case of your '79 930. Also the casting dates on the engine case halves wouldn't necessarily match the original production date, though you wouldn't be able to see these typically without dropping the engine. Lastly I've seen some factory replacement cases that were restamped with original number but with an "R" at the beginning denoting a replacement.

For example my '74 MFI/Euro Carrera has a factory blank replacement engine case which was restamped with the original engine number. It's the correct 7R case for the 911 RS's and MFI Carreras, but the engine type is blank and the casting date is from 1975 though the car was delivered in late 1973. When we rebuilt the engine we were able to validate pretty much all the other internals were almost certainly from the original engine and only the case was replacement... for example my cylinder heads had '73 casting date stamps, MFI pump corresponded to original, etc. So assuming you get your car back, if you ever drop and open up the engine you can do some additional forensics on case stamp dates, cylinder heads, and other parts.

FWIW assuming you get your car back here, I think the provenance / cool factor of a car which is reunited with it's original owner more than outweighs the fact it has a restamped factory replacement engine...

[mint2me]

Thanks for the encouraging and thoughtful response.

[vintagecarlover]

How many miles now? Also how did u find it? With out pics it didn't happen.

[mint2me]

here ya go, non-believers of the forum...it has 59,000 and one repaint in the original color. Windows out and a decent job. The original Fuchs wheels are with it, just not on it.

[porche]

Congratulations on finding your former 1979 930. You reinforce how incredibly popular the early 930's were. Today it is hard to imagine a Dealer buying back a used car for over 25% of the "sticker" price.
Quite a car - Quite a story! Would love to hear more. Best Luck with your research.

[totle]

Congratulations on getting your 930 back.
And very low mileage too

https://www.facebook.com/1979-Porsche-930-Turbo-Registry-328791097179084/