But? You one of them targa haters? Or you don't want to have to finish a car?

I'm pretty sure I've seen that ad a couple times. Doesn't look like he has worked on it since I last saw it.

$25k is on the high end for a 79 targa and I'm not a fan of the chrome on chrome wheels or aftermarket steering wheels but otherwise the pictures look pretty good. Uncommon but very nice color.

WeGoLook is probably not someone I would trust with a classic car. Since this is on CL, the vultures will be circling and you're going to lose it. The flippers browse these forums and searchtempest the country's craigslists.

If you are really serious you need to lock it up with a non refundable deposit, arrange a PPI or at least a rennfax (rennlist has members that will look at local cars for you) and fly over with the cash if it looks good.

If I were in the market and was within 500 miles like you appear to be, I'd have been in Boise within 48 hours of the ad posting looking at the service receipts and ready to lock up the deal if it looked OK.

BTW, careful with the targa tops.
If condition is bad it is going to cost you $1500 to get redone properly.

ok, let me try again...no GT40. How about:

1973 911S
an early 930
and a mid-80s 3.2 for the daily driver.

Just not sure about the car, something like this would want to spend more time with.

I LOVE targas. I have found they have a bit more headroom which I need and I love the stainless targa band. I want a targa :)

Thanks for the feedback. The vultures have circled and I have a bit of a relationship with the guy and I am hopefully going to be able to lock it up. But you never know.

Thanks for the WeGoLook feedback. they just came to look at my Tesla as I am moving from an early model S to the P85D. Pretty professional.

Thanks

Here is a 78 with 110k miles, asking 25.5k but is in California. A buddy snapped pics today, the owner did not have one.

https://www.dropbox.com/sh/zkmi0gpazsw5sou/AADBnyHXk_jjQKazAuzkBEIma?dl=0

I like the blue color better than black but, things to ponder. Buy them both, see which one is better, detail and tidy up the one that I dont like and offer it back for sale? :) Sounds like a flipper, right?

Got it.

If you want to spend all the money, I know of one coming to market before the end of the summer. Super clean low miles Colorado car. But I suspect it will be close to twice your stated $25k budget.

The problem these days with $25k cars is they aren't really investment grade. They are driver grade. They are perfectly fine for me, but it seems like you are looking for something a bit nicer that you will drive a bit and want to appreciate.

Over time, I expect the condition 3 and 4 drivers to gap farther from the condition 2 nice cars. Nicer is going to appreciate more, and refurbishing a 3 up to 2 quite possibly won't raise its value up to what it cost to get it there. And a 150k mi car will always have more miles than that 75k mi condition 2 car.

I am coming to the conclusion that I want to try a few things, but step 1 would be a driver to get to know the cars more. I have had several porsches since 2000 but all new.

I think I will get a Targa driver now and start looking for an investment grade car. One of my favorite Porsche's is the 74 RS 3.0 carrera, so maybe building a tribute car, as i dont see myself paying 1M for a car anytime soon, but building one that gives that look feel and performance, that might be a really exciting longer term project.

We shall see where this leads, but I think I am going to get the Blue Targa for now if I can and do a freshening and start looking around for early cars to own, and possibly a candidate for the tribute car base.

Thanks for the very quick education to all, I have at least enough to start feeling my way around in the dim light of early knowledge.

Okay, so I purchased this 1979 Blue Targa to get my feet wet. I will pick it up Monday/Tuesday and will get busy going through it, at least at a detail level.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1435355518.jpg

Now focusing on a 74 or earlier!

Pretty car. Best of luck with it.

Good choice. Blue is better than black on a targa IMO. Now go fix the radio.








Just kiddin'
Who needs a radio !

Exactly, you just need a microphone in the back playing through the speakers.

Nice car. I'm actually trying to buy a '74 targa in that color. Well, mine used to be that color. It's been resprayed. :(

Are you going to be neutered or did you get that all worked out? :eek:

Nice car! You mentioned you like the bar in stainless so I wanted to mention that your black bar is stainless underneath the paint just in case you were not aware. Super easy to strip. Heres my before and after 78 targa.



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1435368681.jpg




http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1435368852.jpg

Thanks very much. How much time does that take? That looks great. Hard to do satin finish after stripping I am sure?

Now an education on the early 911's up to 73
 

Thank you for the help on the driver. I am anxious to spend time with the 79 Targa and bring it into great driver shape if it needs anything.

Now my question is about acquiring an early classic, up through 73. I have not put a price on this one and I am not necessarily looking for a completely restored or finished car, I am leaving things open on this one.

I think long term I want a car that I can keep and drive once a week or so to enjoy, but one that is part of a long term collection.

Can someone shed light on years, models, nuances? I like Targas as I have mentioned and am disappointed I did not buy a soft glass targa when I had a chance in 1999 with 35k miles. It was not the color I wanted, ( I was looking for a white targa) and it got snapped up back then for what now seems like a pittance.

I am looking through the Hagerty data to get a sense of values, but I would love to be pointed to any resources or books on reading up on the early years that you guys could recommend.

My recent searching shows cars in this era sure go fast (sale time)

Thanks - Craig

hey, congrats on the car - looks good. its soooo nice to read a wtb/value thread that isn't just a drawn out diatribe ala PML, but ends in an actual purchase. keep us posted.
one thing to keep in mind for the stainless bar, if you are going for the earlier middie-look, you may find yourself going down the road to un-blacken/chrome a bunch of the trim pieces.

In my case I already had bright trim around the windows so it made sense to strip the bar as I loved the old school look anyway.

Its a pretty straight forward gig. lots of threads on this but in a nutshell:

Remove the weather stripping door to door around the targa bar.
Pull the rubber bead off the back of the bar where it meets the glass.
Remove all the sheet metal screws.

Remove the two nuts off the bolts on each side under the targa badges.
(Reach up under the rear wheel wells directly under the Targa badges and you can touch the bolts.)

Once all fasteners are removed you'll have to pry the bar cover loose due to the sealant mess and maybe give the bolts on the sides a little pop and itll come loose and off the car.

Remove the targa badges from the bar.

Drink a beer and clean up all the old black sealant mess on the frame.

Brush out the bar with aircraft stripper , wait 5-10 minutes and scrape with plastic putty knife. Paint comes off so easy its laughable.

Clean up with rags and hose off with water.

Sand to your desired finish (I dry sanded with 800/1000 and hit it with 0000 steel wool)
Polish to your desired finish while drinking another beer.

For me that was it for Saturday Probably 4-6 hours including picking up supplies.

Sunday, reverse process put it back together and re seal with black 3M weather stripping adhesive.

The end result is well worth the process.



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1435451106.jpg

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1435451193.jpg



http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1435451279.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1435451415.jpg

Thanks for the all the help and this response.

Interestingly enough, the more I look at the car, the more I think trying to make it look earlier may not be the the thing for me. I think my problem is I need an early car with the stainless targa bar and the chrome accents around the turn signal indicators and the thin bumpers.

Maybe I will just work to make this one as clean and stock as possible, which it already is I believe. More on that soon.

That said, I would love to to get that airbox out of the way, but easy to put back to stock, I hate not being able to see the intake plenums, etc. Another reason I am drawn to the earlier cars or some of the hot rodded ones.

Well - another night of looking 1963..1973 porsche 911 :)

Hmmm, this looks awesome. Is there a specific brand of beer that makes them come out this nice? I think it is interesting how Singer nickel plates his and makes them two vents/louvers just to mix it up. Great pics. thx.

Brammo,

You need to buy Paternie's Redbook or Anderson's High Performance Handbook or both. As you expand you search to other years and generations they will prove invaluable.

They cover variations and changes year to year. Engine size. Gearbox. Wheel size. Color options and everything in between. And weird oddball stuff like the 1 year only 1974 targa hardtop. Or the more famous 1972 rear fender oil tank door.

Especially as you dip backwards into the long nose '73 and older cars there are just do many 1 or 2 year only features (including engines or type of injection) that we couldn't begin to lay them out for you here. And carry the Redbook with you on buys. It tells you engine serial number range and type and a ton if things to know whether the car is molested or modified. Often a seller won't have a COA to prove original things and you will have to decide on the fly if the car is complete and original enough to buy or something is so far wrong from original that you want to keep shopping.

Matt - Thanks - Amazon is already picking them off the shelves!. That is what I am needing.

Go with a '72 if you can find one. It has a lot of "one off's only" for this year model.http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1435464207.jpg
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1435464266.jpg

Thanks for the idea - gorgeous car.

No, I don't think so, pent up interest really, I tend to do things in bursts. My strategy changes too quickly, but the good news is I am always overly excited about something. Imagine the alternative..

I imagine that once I find this next early car, I will be spending more than I should and slow down a bit!

I have found that at least in my search I can start to find the scams, as I see a price that seems reasonable (too good to be true), then the person has quite a story about the car. I have found 3 over the last 5 days. You know markets are hot when the scammers focus on specific cars. I wish their was a way to sting them.

Onward and looking for that next 1963-1973. I am very intrigued by the hard top targa, the one or two pictures I have seen are very interesting.

What are you budgeting for the long hood ? A realistic budget can buy two later cars ! That makes it hard to justify in my mind.... Are they twice the driving fun ? Probably not, they are just different and lack the improvements and power of the later cars.. Sure they can be used investment vehicles but we buy them to drive, right ?

I think that is why I want more than one. I love a z8, it is great to drive and amazing to look at, but if I could afford a 507, I would have it and drive it once in a while. There is definitely art and "machine lust" to anything you love so much, regardless if there is something "better".

My 2 cents.