After 40-years of drooling I finally gommed on to a (1897) 911 Carrera targa. I love my bikes but, if you gotta have a cage, this IS the one. The 3.2l normally aspirated Carrera has been my daily driver for the past year. Barely good for 165mph andby todays standards nearly sluggish with 0-60 in six, this almost-antique still runs respectably through the corners and, at cruise, posts 27mpg.

"Oak Tree" turn at Virginia International Raceway; Porsche Parade Lap before the American LeMans Series race.

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I've never enjoyed a car more than this one. If you have the itch my advice is, "Don't wait 'til you're 60 to scratch it." :-)

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Awesome ride Dan :-)
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Color me green with envy.
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Wow, sweet ride. All I can find around here is the 944 or 911s with no motors.
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Awesome ride you have there Dan.

PS: That car is in great shape for being a 115-year old car. :-)
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Great looking car.....
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Looks like u had a ball on the track.
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Congrats, Dan! :-)

Adam, be serious, it was obviously a typo. That is a 1942 Porsche. :-)
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Wow, nice ride you have there!! As crazy as it sounds my dream vehicle is an old 60's pickup truck........one of these days.
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Yo! Mod! Help me out with an edit, wouldja?

:-)
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OK - I had to drive to Georgia to get mine but, still, lots are listed here: http://www.pelicanparts.com/index.htm
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Nice ride, those were some of the nicest looking short hoods ever.
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Congrats. Looks like a sweet ride. After many years of thinking I'd never get mine I finally was able to get a 2007 corvette. Just a great feeling to get behind the wheel of a great car. Find some open road and let it loose. Enjoy
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Great looking pictures of your Carrera. I love the script along the rocker panel.
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Meh. I prefer my baby. 328 hp, Monaco red seats, and Japanese reliability. When that thing goes tits up (and it will, it's German) bust open the wallet.

Of course, my opinion is MY opinion, and worth just about :-).

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New (much lighter) wheels.

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Lets leave the tits behind and go right to nuts and bolts. Supercar engines don't come cheap - nifty alloys, insane tolerances, Fuchs wheels and titanium lugnuts all come at a price. And, like anything else over a 40-year run, there are 911's and then there are 911's; some models had problems built in, most not. Within the daily-driving community mechanically informed owners see engines go 300K or more between top end jobs. Double galvanized air-cooled Carreras with Getrag tranny (1984-1989 air/oil cooled 3.2l) are justifiably legendary for solid coachwork, tough engines, bulletproof clutches and magnificent transmissions.

The typical ways to break these older motors are: let them sit undriven in the mistaken belief they're sacred; failure to drive a warmed engine regularly to redline; repeated failure to achieve required operating temperatures before exceeding 3500rpm; and failure to use oil with high levels of zinc and phosphorus additives. The last three items, often ignored by uninformed owners, are killers on valves and valve guides. 14-quarts of 20W-50 in these so-called "air" cooled engines demands at least 15 minutes of low rev driving to protect the tolerances that squeeze big horsepower out of small, lightweight displacement - this is a long wait for a nincompoop. While the reliability of the mills is solid with owners who read the book, a lot of morons will drive the engines to a costly and premature failure. I don't see Porsche failures because they're German but, rather, because owners fail to know their vehicle.

When rebuild time comes around there is good new$ and bad new$ for old Porsche owners.

The bad news - sexy alloy parts are not especially cheap. And if you are going to hire Werner over at Das Porsche Haus (or worse yet a dealer) to do the 15,000 mile tuneup it turns into a $1000 WTF deal. :-)

The good news - those sexy alloy parts don't often fail. Older air-cooled cars were made simply for regular spirited driving on no-limit highways, unimproved roads and track. They allow for a car owner/hobbiest to drop and engine and rebuild without need of a lift. The old fuel-injected air-cooled flat sixes are easy to repair with little more than standard tools, a couple of jackstands and a floor jack.

If a prospective buyer reads the owners manual and enjoys automotive hobbycraft I'd say the scare value of engine work (or recurrent engine failure) is as legend as it is wrong. A once per 15,000 major tune is a six-hour job that costs a couple of hundred bucks if you do it yourself.

The older Porsche is reliable and, wisely owned, not especially expensive. And unlike the new rice burners that easily outrun the older 911's, their value continues to increase.
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Not to flog and dead horse but I just stumbled on this - excellent validation of the above post.

http://www.autoweek.com/article/2012...NEWS/121009989
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There are issues with 996's and early 997's with RMS and half shafts, but that's all I ever really read about as major issues on 911's.

What you said is pretty much true with all cars known to be a problem. Non-regularly driven cars and ones not driven to red line are not usually good long term runners. Sports cars are meant to be driven.

It was never Ferrari or Porsche idea to make garage queens.
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Beautiful car! Congratulations! :-)

I had an '86 Targa for many years...daily driver and Driver's Ed car. You can have a blast racing the car on the track over the weekend and then drive to work on Monday. Easily one of the best cars I've ever owned. A true classic.

Loved the rumble of that air cooled exhaust note...amazing handling...and immediate heat (no need to wait for antifreeze to warm up). Enjoy your classic, my friend!
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Moo, your Porsche is beautiful. Ive always wanted an older 911, and I know a few people who are early 911 enthusiasts. There is nothing like driving an older air-cooled Porsche.
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