Zoidberg, my 1978 911SC
 

I've long admired air-cooled 911s and almost purchased a long hood back in the early naughts but decided that $12K for one was totally out of my budget. Live and learn.

Late in 2021 I had a bit of extra cash and decided I'd had enough of the exhaust fumes, poor build quality and questionable safety of my '69 Corvette 427 coupe and started looking for a potential replacement. I set up email alerts on every car site (including Pelican) and hoped to come across something with a red interior. I was bored of black and wanted something a bit more lively.

There were plenty of grey/burgundy cars but white/red seemed in short supply. Then in February 2022 I saw an ad for a '78 SC that looked promising.

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The ad was very low on details - no price, no description - and had terrible photos but it did feature some of the interior I found very intriguing.

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Grand Prix White with red interior! Although to be honest it kinda looked more orange which I figured was fading or something. Little did I know what was in store for me.

I called the number and talked to Lou, who had the most stereotypical New York accent I'd heard outside of a movie. He thought it was hilarious some dude from Canada was calling about that old bucket - they mostly deal with newer stuff. He told me they'd gotten the car as part of a trade-in and that it ran but "not well". Couldn't really tell me much else. Price? $35K. I could work with that.

After talking it out with the folks here in terms of what I might be in store for, I decided that even if it needed a full engine rebuild I'd still be in decent shape cost wise, given the prices I'd been seeing for SCs and asked for more photos, which he sent me about an hour later. Based on the quality of those shots I assume he was the original photographer.

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Oof. I guess that's a 911? Or maybe he's an aspiring artist. However, a shot of the door made me do a double-take.

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What is up with this interior? It looks nothing like anything I'd seen before. Turns out, it has a very rare late 70's colour called "Lobster Red" which is a bit orange, but also features a mottling pattern similar to a lobster shell. I have no idea what sort of drugs they were taking in Stuttgart but it led them down some legit weird paths. Not exactly the red interior I was looking for, and based on my research it's essentially impossible to find replacement parts, but I was in love. It was just so wacky!

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The options list was pretty nice - I wanted a touring car versus a hot rod and this one had all the creature comforts, if a bit long in the tooth with over 158,000 miles and the engine leaks to show it. I decided to get the PPI done and go from there - I figured a "specialist" would know what to look for.

What a waste of $600.

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I contacted Formula Motorsports who are listed as a Porsche Specialist, who agreed to go look at the car for me. They'd give me a detailed PPI specific to air-cooled Porsches so I could rest easy in the knowledge someone who knew these cars had looked at it.

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If anything, they were almost as bad at photos as the seller. And honestly kind of questionable in terms of their motivations. There was nothing specific, just "seems okay, needs a new engine and trans" but I got the distinct impression that the guy doing the inspection wanted me to pass on the car so he could pick it up and flip it himself. He kept talking about how it's got "good bones" but it "needs everything".

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It was worn but original - still had the air pump, but it was more oil than engine.

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So dirty. But it was all there.

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Turns out the car had a salvage title out of Missouri and had been sitting since 2013 in a yard until it got traded to these folks just outside NYC, and as everyone knows a salvage title can be problematic. My research indicated I should be able to title it fine back here in Ontario but I wasn't sure. That would explain the price.

So, after wasting $600 on what I could have gotten anyone to tell me, I decided to roll the dice and get it. They refused to budge on price no matter how much I argued so I paid sticker and had the poor thing towed down the road to Rennwerke Porsche in Elmsford.

I decided to get all the work done in the US before having it transported to Canada because I figured it would be cheaper and easier to get it done in the US than pay Canadian prices for parts, plus tax, plus plus.

Cheech at Rennwerke came highly recommended and he seemed to think he could get it done before summer (cue narrator: it wasn't)

After a bit of inspection I got the expected news that the engine would have to come out and get a full teardown rebuild. When they were taking it apart, only 4 of the 24 head studs weren't cracked or completely broken. The thing was a mess and the case would need to be split. Cha-ching.

Since it was apart anyway, I decided to upgrade it slightly by having the 9.3:1 Euro-spec pistons installed to up the compression from 8.5:1 that the US-spec cars got due to emission restrictions. I should have maybe done cams too but honestly, getting Cheech to stop talking long enough to explain what I wanted was pretty difficult. Also getting him to return phone calls was nearly impossible.

I flew down to visit it once in April. This was the first time I'd seen the car as I'd bought it remotely from over 750km away.

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Many, many months passed as I waited for news of my car. I was still worried I wouldn't be able to register it up here, and the lack of photos or information from Rennwerke left me shrugging. I knew they'd get it done but it was delay after delay, mostly getting parts and machine work done.

Then finally, progress!

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Oh hello sexy! How are you? You're looking much better.

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Unfortunately I have no photos of the rebuild or anything other than these since Cheech is an amazing mechanic but terrible social media influencer. But finally after 7 months my car was ready.

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Looking so much cleaner!

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Lofty!

All told, the bill was a lot cheaper than I expected, and included a lot more than the engine rebuild - all new brakes, bunch of safety stuff, transmission refresh.

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Now it was the wait for transportation. Another month passed.

Another month to wait for transport to the great white north. In all this time I hadn't discussed the car with anyone because I wasn't sure I'd get to keep it, and it was eating me up inside how long this was all taking.

But the day finally came!

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I was so excited and the car was everything I'd hoped for! A bit dirty and worn but that gave me something to work towards. But then, my hopes for a fun weekend of driving were dashed. After driving it to get some wiper blades for the safety inspection, it died. No start. So on to the flatbed and off to a local Porsche shop.

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A week later they tell me the CDI is bad and it'll be $1,800 for a Permatune replacement, $122 for a coil wire and $136 for a coil. Turns out Rennwerke only did the bare minimum of road testing and just re-installed all the original parts back when they rebuilt it. So there's still plenty to do I'm sure. Instead of waiting two or more weeks to get a rebuilt CDI box, a $10 coil wire and $30 coil, I decided to just take it in shorts for the repairs and get it on the road. I've been waiting for nearly 9 months for this damn car, I want to drive it!

Then when I went to get a safety, they tell me I can't have one because the windshield washers don't work. I can't put on plates without a safety, it's Friday at 2pm, I'm basically boned again. But I said screw it, threw in a universal pump and plumbed it directly to a washer bottle. This was good enough to pass safety!

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Finally, off to the MTO office to register. I'm there at 8am on a Saturday, paperwork in hand, ready to go. Not so fast buster!

"Oh was this car in a crash?"
"No, that's just a report saying it was salvage but is drivable."
"You're missing form A-1?"
"I had the car trucked over the border, I only have a B-3."
"I will need to call the office but they don't open for another 30 minutes, please wait."

I was in the office about 45 minutes while they figured out all the intricacies of registering a vintage car purchased in the US.

"This VIN is invalid."
"Old cars had shorter VINs."
"The computer won't take the number."
[phones head office, gets manual exemption]

But finally - finally! - after all this time... it was registered in my name, totally clear, no salvage title anymore. Home at last!

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As for why I call it Zoidberg, it's from the show Futurama where the doctor is a Lobster who wears a white coat and causes a lot of problems. Seems like a natural fit.

Looking forward to finally getting to enjoy the damn car for a bit! But I do have a laundry list of things to address, mostly the very rough cold start. Once it's warm it's totally fine, but it bucks and stumbles like crazy in the morning. The rest is little things, like a broken tach, dead lift struts and other small wear items - like the window washers. Ugh.

First step, clean that damn interior! It was filthy. Out came the sport seats and carpet.

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Not too many surprises. Finding a leather dye to match this colour, I dunno. Obviously it'll be a custom colour but where do I get it? One of the drawbacks of a non-standard colour.

But everything cleaned up nicely and it smells so much better inside. I've ordered a bunch of stuff so I'll just enjoy the car like this while I wait.

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I'm loving the story so far!

Nice car! I love the white 911’s.
Also good for you for not getting discouraged. Hope you have fun going forward.

So, confession time, I'd never even sat in a 911 before I bought this car, let alone driven one. This is literally my first time going on an extended drive tonight. Some impressions:

It kind of drives like a truck, with the air-cooled sound of the engine, the manual steering and the vague stirring of gears with the 915 transmission. Not unpleasant - in fact, kind of fun. Just very different from what I'm used to.

You really need to wind it up to get the most out of it. Kind of a dog below 3,000 in anything but first gear. I'm used to high torque American V8s that can rip your head off at idle.

One thing that was a bit shocking for a 44-year-old car that has some serious milage on it was how little wind noise there was at speed on the highway. And it felt very tight and precise even on the highway. The cornering is excellent, much better than anything I'm used to in the vintage realm. I bet it'll be even nicer once I take care of the worn items.

The sport seats really hold you in place but it's a good thing I'm not any bigger! Have to figure out the maneuver to get out of the damn car without pushing with my arms. Tight fit and I'm small!

I'm honestly a bit surprised at how much stuff does actually work in it, given it was basically all used up and then sat for a decade in a salvage yard. Clock works, odometer works (although the speedo won't read above 55?), gas gauge works. Oil level and tach don't, although the tach seems to randomly decide to work occasionally. Intermittent wipers work! Fogs don't. Mirrors work! I have no idea what that stalk on the right side of the column does.

It has a serious problem starting from cold, and when I was out it had a few hard times starting from warm! But once running it's fine. I guess that's job #1.

All in all a mostly positive experience for my first time.

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I'm guessing the second stalk on the right is the cruise control (up = set/accel, down = reset, in = cancel).

The vague stirring of gears in the 915 gets significantly better with the Wevo (or similar) shifter, but never gets as nice as a G50. "Is it in gear, or is it just in the correct SPOT for the gear" is a game I play every time I drive the 911.

I guess it's cruise control! Doesn't seem to do anything.

Red tombstone sport seats; love’em! Just did 4 hours in mine today. Great seats!

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Great story thus far!

We are in a similar boat - bought an ‘81 and had never sat in one of these fine machines let alone driven one.

I am coming from a built 5.0 Mustang for the past 20+ years that wanted to rip your head off at takeoff as you say. Such a different driving experience, but man the SC is fun!

Keep your updates coming!

Great read for my Sunday coffee! Thanks for that and I will be excited to see where you go with it.

My 91 Turbo had Lobster Red interior.Very nice a bit more subdued than the Can Can in my 81.
Hard to get a match, finally got close from Veteran leather in L.A.
Those sport seats are the best.
Have fun

World Upholstery sells leather and vinyl dyes- not sure if they have Lobster, but worth a call to them.

I’d start with cleaning what or have as best as you can. In addition to the dyes at World Upholstery…

https://leatherworldtech.com/porsche-leather-dye-color-chart/

https://www.leathermagic.com/porsche-interior-colors/

I did a big clean but 44 years of people's asses and hands have really left a mark on these. Leaning the seats back I can see how vibrant it should be. I can probably grab a small sample from underneath the seat to get an exact match.

The tach seems to start working when I drive on the highway for a bit. But once I get back to regular streets it dies again. Probably cold solder joints or capacitors?

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I've ordered what seems like an insane amount of parts to try and make this thing reliable - new fuel filter and pump, plus the accumulator since I'm having starting issues.

Congrats, very nice & thankfully you put the Fuchs shoes on! If you're itching for a nice drive & Porsche gathering, Whaletail Canada is having a get together/BBQ this Sat. Oct. 1st in Kitchener.

Cool, is it at the store address? I might be there!