| October 19, 2013 - First Look -
A friend in my MG club told me about a $700 Porsche 924 for sale on the
Eastern Shore of Virginia last Wednesday, the night before I left to head
up to Hershey PA and the world's biggest antique car flea market.
He thought it was a 1978 Turbo with a good body and interior that had
been sitting in storage since 2002. It had been put into storage
because the owner had other cars and needed to make room, not because of
any issues with the car. In 2010, he apparently realized the folly
of storing a car and sold it to a friend who got the car going and drove
it to another friend's garage. Sadly, this owner got sick and died
soon afterwards, so the Porsche sat in a shed until about 7 months ago,
when it was finally pushed outside. The owner's widow said to get
rid of it. That friend mentioned the car to my friend, who told me.
OK. Enough history. Hershey turned out to be a wash -
literally. Nine inches of rain in 36 hours, which meant everyone
was closed up, which meant I spent no money. So I came back from
Hershey with some disposable funds left. The Porsche intrigued me
- I had looked at a 1977 Porsche back when they were new and I was an
enlisted first-termer in the Air Force. The dealership in
Victorville, California had a black on black 924 demonstrator that they
would sell me for $8000 - it was an $11,000 car at the time. I
test drove it and was blown away by its looks and performance.
They offered a good trade in on my 1975 Fiat 128. Between that and
the reenlistment bonus I would get if I re-upped I could afford the car.
BUT - I was under 25 and even in the middle of the Mojave Desert,
insurance on a Porsche was $1600 a year. I could afford the car,
not the insurance! That ended my Porsche fantasy.
Fast WAY forward to today, when I finally
made the 100-mile trek to look at the 'barn find' Porsche. I was not expecting
much, despite descriptions. However, the car turned out to be
amazing! While the description was not completely accurate, pretty
much everything was for the better. It's a 1977 Porsche 924 non-turbo
Martini & Rossi Special Edition (2,000 built) custom-ordered from the factory with
front and rear spoilers. This is the first limited-edition 924 made, and
had special white alloy wheels, a special red and black interior,
leather-wrapped steering wheel, anti-roll bars, tinted glass, and rear
window defroster. This car was custom-ordered with front and rear
spoilers and A/C. The car appears to have no dings or dents, the
paint looks excellent, there was only one fingernail-sized rust bubble
under the paint over the trim strip in one spot, the interior is very
clean and showed no rips or tears. The tires all look good and are
supposed to be about 6 years old with very few miles on them. It has the
owners manual and the original luggage compartment cover. I was able to
turn the engine easily by hand, and it looks complete and unmolested under the
hood. While a 78 turbo would be marginally more valuable, it would also
be far more complex and more expensive to fix. The left side faced the woods and had a coating of algae that
will clean off. There were also wasps in the engine compartment,
spiders in the interior, and the fellow I got it from told me he found a
snakeskin in it back when he moved it out of the shed. (Optional
equipment) We had one mishap - the fellow hooked a tow strap to
the cooling fan bracket thinking it was a frame piece and ended up
breaking either the AC condenser or a connecting hose - no coolant
leaks, so the radiator seems to have survived. The system hissed loudly,
so it was still well charged after at least 11 years! Should be an easy fix.
Anyway, I passed over $700 and will go back to pick the car up sometime
this week or next weekend. Check out the photos below. |
