1968 Porsche 912 SWT

I only have a small amount of history on this car, but it appears that for at least the last ten years it has been the owner's intent to restore it. It began life as a Soft Window Targa and at some point in its history is was converted to a hard window (common back in the 60's and 70's). I have most of the parts required to convert it back to the much better (in my opinion) soft window format.

I like the scale of 1 to 6 used by Keith Martin of Sports Car Market Magazine and I'm familiar with the criteria used to classify a car at the appropriate level. I have owned many Porsches and currently hold a Level 1- '67 SWB that won First in Class at a major Concours event last year. I rate this car as a Level 3-. It's basically solid and it's complete and the mechanicals are in good condition. It's fine to drive and I drove it 200 miles home from where I bought it with no problems. However, it does have a number of cosmetic issues that need to be addressed. Fortunately, given the desirability of a Soft Window Targa, it's worth restoring.

I have invoices for the following recent work:

• new Bilsteins
• pedal cluster rebuild
• engine tune
• rebuild of shift linkage

Electrical components work properly except for the horn and the clock.

Tires have minimal wear, but are probably pretty old as the car has been driven very little in the past several years.

The engine number is 1282812. I don't know if that is the original engine as I don't have a Certificate of Authenticity.

The targa top is solid and in good condition.

The floor pan is rusted and needs to be replaced. The paint looks OK from 20' (better than from 10') and needs to be redone (it looks better in the pictures than it does in person, by the way). The interior could use some updating. But the body appears sound and there are no signs of major collision damage and repair, and other than the floor pan rust appears to be minor.

I bought this car mainly because it had uber-rare 1968 sport seats that I wanted for another Soft Window Targa (a 1968 911L) that I am restoring. I have removed the seats and replaced them with a nice set of stock seats. There is one small tear in the drivers seat bolster that should be an easy repair, otherwise they appear to be original and are not in need of restoration.

My reserve is low and this is an excellent opportunity to purchase a car that you can drive as it is for a while, restore it later, and have a car with value - and great fun to drive.

I've had a number of inquiries regarding the rust - understandably. As I described, the floor pan has rust issues. However, I have examined the car on a lift and I can't find any other areas of significant rust. The suspension points are solid, the jack points are solid, door bottoms are solid, door jambs are solid, fender wells are solid - even the battery box is solid.

To double and triple check the extent of rust in the car, I had a local Porsche expert come over today and inspect the car on the lift. He has five cars older than this one and over 45 years experience with Porsches. He verified what I have already stated here - the floor pan should probably be replaced (although it's not rusty at the pedal cluster), but the car appears to be pretty much rust free otherwise. Plus I replaced a transmission linkage bushing and adjusted the carbs (there was a loose Solex / Weber adaptor plate between the carb and the manifold) and the car runs great. Took it our for a spin on a beautiful day here in Central Oregon - I'm going to miss it.