Description:OLDEST REMAINING PORSCHE 911S IN EUROPE - BELIEVED TO BE 3RD OLDEST IN THE WORLD.
Fully restored at huge expense, matching numbers left hand drive car built August 5th 1966. Available now at bargain price compared to other restored early 911S.
It pains me to do this but for once I’m going to let my head overrule my heart.
When I bought this car I intended to keep it for a very long time, well into my old age, and restore it as I went along. But circumstances have changed in the last year and I have my eyes on other toys. So I ended up doing everything I would have done, over time, in just 12 months. Yes it was at a stupidly enormous expense but I’m glad I did it and I don’t like any car to leave my stable without looking as good as it possibly can!
The Car
One of the earliest 911S ever produced. An August 5th 1966 completion date car with original matching engine and transmission. Originally sold on November 13th 1966 through PC Southeast in Jacksonville, USA.
The certificate from Porsche Heritage states the following:
Legal Specification: USA Left Hand Drive
Manufactured: 1966 Stuttgart, Germany
Chassis: 305360S
Engine: 960073
Transmission: 103077 type 901/02
Colour: Sand Beige
Interior: Beige Leatherette
The cars 70’s history is not that well known but it spent most of the 80’s in California ending up in San Francisco in the 90’s and there are some old photo’s showing it on California plates and some large receipts for maintenance work.
In August 1999 the car was imported to the UK and its history from that point is extremely detailed.
Body
The car was purchased in the UK by a Mr D Bonner of St James, London at the end of 1999 and transported to Gantspeed to be restored over the next 18 months. Robert Gant has been restoring Porsche since 1975 and Gantspeed are renowned as one of the top UK restorers of classic Porsches, having a tendency to deal with people who appear to have bottomless pockets!!
The car was stripped and a detailed bodywork and mechanical restoration carried out. Invoices for Gantspeed alone total over £30,000!!
Over the last 6 months we have been restoring under the front bonnet area and the engine bay. I’ll not go into the amount of hours of work that went into this but from the pictures I’m sure you will agree it was a hell of a lot! So perfect you could eat your dinner off it….although I have never tried!
The only area of the bodywork that I would have sorted, had I been keeping the car as originally intended, is that the sill and bumper trim although correct for a 66 car….are not for the 67S where it was ever so slightly wider/taller. I guess it gives the new owner the opportunity to put their mark on the car just a little over time…
Engine
The car retains its original matching engine and had a comprehensive rebuild back in 1985. At this time they upgraded the engine to use 2.2S barrels, rods and cams. The cost of the rebuild back then was $6200 and the breakdown of what was done is still on file.
In the summer I decided to have the engine detailed so had it stripped and put back together by one of the best air cooled engine guys I have come across and who looks after all my RS and air cooled mechanical work – Chris Sargent at GCR Central.
After he put it back together though he was not happy with its compression figures. So he took it all apart again and carried out a top end rebuild including; cleaning and examining all components, blast cylinder heads and face up, fit new valve guides and re-cut seats. He replaced number 6 barrel that was causing the problem and replaced piston rings to all cylinders and rebuilt with new gaskets and seals. The carbs were stripped and the carburetors rebuilt with new gaskets, mixtures screws, idle jets and springs. He also fitted a new fuel pump, camshaft, chains etc etc. The car has already had new SSIs fitted a few years back.
We have fitted new correct red border engine bay stickers as it deserved them but still have the originals in a nice plastic container for the purists among you.
The end result? Well you can see for yourself what the GDP of a small African nation buys you….
Running Gear & Electricals
We have been though all of this and replaced whatever needed doing. The only work recently required was a rebuild of the front calipers. The car runs well and is tight. Brakes, clutch and gearbox are all smooth. The car has been correctly wax oyl’d by Autofarm previously and this was maintained by the previous owner – it’s not seen wet weather in the last 18 months!
The electricals have had a comprehensive restoration also. While refurbishing under the bonnet we had to sort out the wiring harnesses which frankly had seen much better days. A very nice electrical engineer stood where the tank should have been for days on end and redid the electricals and rewired the fuse box from scratch. Well it had to look good in that nice new bonnet area didn’t it…
Interior
Ok this is the one area I decided to leave, as it was just so nice. When the car was restored by Gantspeed the customer decided on a more luxurious interior and so had the doors, dash and carpets all redone by Southbound Interiors (THE Porsche interior guys in the UK) and fitted new more supportive seats. Now not all of this is exactly as it would have been from the factory, but it is so nice and so plush that I could not bring myself to change it. I guess if the new owner wished to put this back to totally original coverings then it could be done quite easily (and I have a pic of the interior prior to restoration on file) but it seems a shame to me.
Obviously the dashboard, dials etc etc are all original and I’ve just had the steering wheel beautifully recovered with the correct cross-ply stitching.
Wheels
Hens teeth is the only way to describe them. An original set of four 4.5” fuchs from mid 1966 with the fuchs ‘fox’ emblem still clearly stamped. Refurbished back to like new and just fitted with Vredestein Sprint Classics that are raved about by the TR guys.
The only wheels I have ever found that are probably more expensive now than my 964RSR wheels!
Additional
The car has its correct X/66 911S USA driver’s manual, full 1966 toolkit, pile of bills/invoices and MOTs from its time here and in the US, it’s trunk carpets & spare wheel.
It is located in Nottingham, England and I’d welcome any independent inspection being carried out. It is already destined to go to a dealer in the Netherlands should I not sell it quickly.
Thanks to Chris Nielsen, Mike Birtwistle and Phil Taysom for all their advice and support during the restoration and Bob Tilton for costing me a fortune and copying his trunk area!!
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