1965 Porsche 911 Coupe 2.0L

1965 Porsche 911 Description

1965 Porsche 911 Information

The car is a ’65 911 Porsche Coupe – VIN no 301814, no. 1814 off the 911 assembly line–with a manual 5-speed transmission. I bought the car in 1984 in Nevada and drove it regularly for several years. From 1984 to 1985 it went up and down the Alaska Highway (I lived in anchorage at the time) and to the east coast and back, before settling into Park City. The engine is out of a 1967 911S (no. * 960348 *), and I rebuilt it in 1986, 5 years before the car went into the first of three or four body shops for a new paint job in 1991. That first guy sand-blasted off all the old paint, then sat on the project for several years, then moved to Arizona, and passed it along to a colleague. The colleague finished the body work, then got himself thrown out of his shop space, leaving the car behind. The landlord refused to release the car to me and held it for past-due rent. I contacted the local police, and they got the car “set free” for me, and it went to another shop where it sat again. I finally got it to a fourth shop that finished the work in two weeks in 2008.

When I finally got the car back with a new paint job in Irish Green, the original color, it went into my garage. It took me six or seven years to get it running again (mostly fuel & oil changes and thoroughly disassembling and cleaning out the carburetors), put all the body pieces (fenders, doors, etc.) back together, replace the old headliner, put in new carpeting, and put new (out of a mid-80s 911) front seats in it. At this point the car was far from concours, but pretty darn nice. It was running, but not really running well.

Meanwhile the value of early 911s – particularly 1965s -- had skyrocketed. I collect older sports cars – besides the 911 we have a 1955 Ford Thunderbird (very nice), a 1979 Intermeccanica Speedster (a factory replica of a 1958 Porsche Speedster on a shortened 1967 Karman Ghia pan), a 1967 Intermeccanica Italia Coupe (a very nice “survivor” needing some refurbishment), and a 1984 VW Vanagon Westfalia Wolfsburg Edition camper (that I put a 2.5 liter Subaru engine in last summer). I love the 911, but I really can’t afford to own, insure and drive a car of its value. Meanwhile, my business is in a bit of a slump, my son is at an expensive college back east, and my daughter a year away from starting college. I need to sell the 911 and will try to sell it this spring or summer. If it doesn't sell, I may put it in an auction later this summer (likely RM, Bonhams or Russo & Steele in Monterey in August?).

Last past summer I concluded that the value of the car was such that it really needed to be professionally cleaned up. I took the car to Lundquist Restorations in Sandy, Utah, initially to have the paint cut and buffed and the carburetors rebuilt, along with a few minor things. What was supposed to be an $8,000 job turned into about a +$20,000 project as some rust (missed in the earlier body work) was discovered in both the body and the pan. Work done included the cut and buff on the paint; refitting pretty much all of the body panels; installing a new deck panel and repairing and repainting two rust areas below the rear windshield,straightening, refitting and repainting left front fender; removing the fuel tank, and cleaning it out and resealing it; rebuilding the carburetors; replacing the battery box support and refitting the A-arms. Plus they installed an essentially new interior including a new rear shelf panel.

The car is not 100% original. First off, the engine obviously isn’t the original one. But it is still a 2.0 liter engine and the relatively fresh 160 h.p. 1967 911S engine with the Weber carbs is a vastly superior engine to the original 1965 135 h.p. engine with the Solex carbs. Lundquist tested compression, and it ran 120 to 130 p.s.i. compression all around. In 1975 the car had an electric “American Sunroof” installed; it looks like the original Porsche sunroof and works perfectly so the car is now a sunroof coupe. I have the serial number and decal from the installation, and the company was still in business last time I looked. The engine lid is from a '67 or newer 911. The new front seats from an ’87(?) 911 are leather and electric adjusting and much more comfortable than the originals. But I have retained the old seats, of course, and while they need to be reupholstered, they will come with the car if the buyer wants them. The wheels currently on the car are 15-inch polished aluminum wheels from a mid-1960 Porsche 356 “Outlaw”; they are 5 inches wide (vs. 4.5 inches on the 911’s original wheels) to better accommodate a modern wider tire. And they are much lighter. Of course I have the original chrome wheels and hub caps, and they are available to the buyer with the car if wanted. There are ¼-inch spacers inside the front wheels and the lugs there have been replaced with slightly longer ones. The rear lugs still need to be replaced (but I should get to that shortly). I also have the original radio and the original (broken) steering wheel, along with other miscellaneous original parts. And I have most of the receipts for work on the car over the past 30-plus years, including the engine rebuild and all the Lundquist work. The original Webasto gas heater is still in the car; it worked back in the 1980s, but we haven’t tried to get it working (and I don’t intend to – it was scary and loud in the 1980s!). And only a fool would drive the car in cold weather now (I used to take it skiing daily!).

Prior to leaving the second body shop (where it was held hostage), most of the chrome from the car “disappeared.” So I’ve spent several years picking up trim, mostly on eBay. Much of it is new; some of it is pretty good older stuff. But it all is pretty nice for a 50 year-old car.

I have a Porsche Certificate of Authenticity for the car (pic attached). It is titled as a 1966, but per serial number and the COA, it is a 1965 and came off the assembly line on July 20, 1965.

Today the car runs well, but I think the carburetors should still be worked on by somebody who really knows Webers. Several of the gauges aren’t working properly. If I don’t sell the car first, I will put some time into it this spring and drive it a fair bit to get everything smoothed out. I'm an excellent mechanic and have done the vast majority of the work on the car over the past 30 years. Right now the car is in storage in my garage in Park City, UT, and could be examined and driven at any time by a serious prospective buyer (only driven in good weather!).

Feel free to contact me (Dave @ 435-649-8326) with any questions.