So I've been keeping my eyes out for a taildragger. Unlike the 914, the 911 has had a 60 year production run, so understanding the insanities of the various model years and price points is pretty daunting.

I'm thinking the 1979-1980 911 SC is a sweet spot for my price point, which is around $15k. There was also the special "Weissach" edition around this time (factory option turbo-look) which I could pick up for a few extra bucks if I want the exclusivity.

What do you guys think about this era of 911s and the SC in general? There is one for sale locally I'm going to check out this weekend. I'm not ready to buy yet but want to get some datapoints on condition vs. asking price.

Just sold my 80sc last week, very close to your price point.

90k original miles, zero rust, all engine updates, rebuilt trans and clutch 4k miles ago. Driver paint, with few door dings, and one minor accident repair in back. Interior was really nice, but needed a few dry seals ect replaced.

Really nice cars for drivers, however I was not impressed with MPG, sub 20 for me.

SC's are to me, the highlight of 911's - simple enough to work on, yet a pretty modern car. Yes the late 80's G-50's are probably better, but you pay more and the cars seem a lot heavier.

Weissach's are nice, and have a following, but I have seen them sell for the same as an equivilent regular SC

Rich,
I have owned my '79 SC for over 10 years and know it one end to the other. The short fall in these cars are the lower head bolts that corrode over time and snap....... especially in our area of the northeast. I had 3 snap on me 8 years ago necessitating a complete rebuild at 120k miles. If you are not up to speed on these cars, do your homework. MY '79 & '80 are different in compression ratios. Get yourself a ppi and as complete a history as you can.
If you want to look over my SC, feel free to come down to 914 land.......
Don

Don
I'm going to take you up on your offer and let you take me for a ride in the SC. Your comments about PPI and history apply to any used car of course.

Let me check with "THE BOSS" on when I can get some shore leave.

Send me a pm and we can arrange a time. Tell "THE BOSS", the SC is MY BOSS'S Porsche.........
Don

Bought my wife an 86 911 about 7 years ago and she used it as a year round daily driver. The 3.2 Always started and ran well and really never needed any attention till it started getting pretty tired at 160,000 miles.
Bought the car for short money.. It had a lot of little issues, like door locks not working and alarm not working. Also second gear syncro was fair and the rear engine seal leaked slightly. PO had kids and the interior was a mess.
Car had been driven in winter by previous owner, so I wasn't concerned about ruining a real clean car with New England Winters. For pure ease of operation, the later fuel
injection is great..

In my brief search for these I see a lot of targas. I was really looking for a coupe or, if I found a Weissach, the sunroof. Is the targa a leaky, squeaky mess and I should steer clear of them, or is it generally servicable? Will the targa store in the car or do I leave it in the garage? That would really suck if it started to rain unexpectedly...

This won't be a track car although it may see an occasional DE.

I had an 82 SC coupe, and really liked the car. Not as much as my 914, but we're comparing apples & oranges. I've driven a few targa's, and would never personally own one, but they have a good following. They tend to leak, and are noisy even with the top on. I drove one the shop had for sale about 50 miles for a Porsche meet, and drove top off one way & top on the return trip. This one was noisier with the top on than with it off. I know a few people who have them and they love them.

As has been said, get as much info on the car as you can, and when you do buy one, drive it like you stole it.

Hello,

I bought a 1980 Weissach Edition SC in 2004 from Salt Lake City. I had a very detailed PPI done and bought it from Florida. Car ran great it's only weakness was that the prior owners (5 of them) kept terrible (zero) records. When it came time to sell the lack of good records really cost me dearly.

I sold it for 16K on Pelican and had many bottom feeders trying to get it for less. If you are going for a Weissach, make sure that you have good history as the people paying top dollar want all the info documented.

Also don't let anybody tell you that a Weissach has the Turbo Look body, it does not it has the normal flares that any SC has but it has Whale Tail, Front Spoiler, Two Tone Doric Grey and Rust interior, Recaro Sport Seats, Heavy Duty Bilstein Shocks, Auto Antenna, the Sunroof was an option. Often debated but car came with 15x7 & 15x8 many say it was 6 & 7. I upgraded to 16 x 7 & 16 x 8, they were very expensive and hard to find but when you see the car with 16's it looks much better and drives better. I also put a GHL muffler on that made the car and engine really run great.

Car was a lot of fun, the 915 Transmission was sloppy, I much prefer my 914 2.0 with the 901 tranny. But it was my first Porsche I did a ton of homework, had no broken head studs and no real issues, mileage on it was 111K.

I was a coupe man and I would steer away from the Targa's that just my opinion.

I will add a picture of my car for the concours guys don't rip me on the color of the fuchs as I bought 16x7 & 8's had them redone outlined the Platinum Metallic color and they painted them a lighter gold, after not having them for 3 months I just wanted them back. so I took them with the lighter gold.

I can't wait to put the 2.5 Flat Six in my current 914-6 Flared project it should be an unbeleivable experience. My thought was always that if I could have the 3.0 in a 914-6 that would be great.

Vysoc
Click to view attachment

I wouldn't buy a '79. Old technology. The '80-'83 cars had an oxygen sensor and no add-on smog stuff to go south (and it does). Broken head studs, stuck distributors, dead vacuum capsules, and exploding 2nd gear synchros (until mid-'82, when they fixed that). The bearings spin in the diff housing section of the tranny case on ALL of 'em, but that's fixable.

As with any car, buy the best and NEWEST one you can afford, one with a documented history.

The Cap'n

Love the SC and mid-80s 911's....there have been a number of mid-80s cars for sale here in the Bay Area for ~$15k recently. Have not seen them or their condition, but I would buy as late as possible for all the reasons previously mentioned. And the cost of transport from CA would probably offset the repairs needed for the eastern malaise caused by your winters....just saying.

td

Love the SC. I wish I had mine back. Something about that 3.0 that just makes that car shine.

I have a 80' Targa.....love it. The top folds and stores in the trunk. They will leak if you have old worn seals etc. With adjustments they can be dry. You do get a fair amount of wind buffetting if you roll up the windows with the top off...I fixed that by putting cabriolet sunvisor on it (they are deeper)..put those up and it streams the air higher and over.

i am thinking of selling my 87....

you are very far away. but if you're serious, PM me

Isn't it curious that Targas are pretty universally rejected. I'm in that group too.
But..... we all own essentially Targas already.
I'll take a coupe anyday. In fact I want a coupe 914.
Rich, get a coupe and heed all the cautions above

Here's the difference:

The 914 was designed from a blank sheet of paper to be a targa...it wasn't offered any other way. The 911 targa was a retrofit / shoehorn into a design that was optimized for a coupe form factor.

I'll probably hold out for a coupe although ultimately that's only 1 of many factors. If I find a low-mileage, documented, well maintained targa for a good price, I'm sure I'll jump on it.

I have a 83SC coupe and love it. I've done some mods to it and she's a hoot to drive. One of the things I notice about the 911 over my 75 914 is the build quality. I have no complaints about the 914 but closing the door on the 914 vs. the 911 is the difference between a screen door and a bank vault........solid.

I had a 75 targa and an 87 cabriolet, and both were nice cars. The 87 felt much heavier, though I did like the motronic injection. The CIS systems did have problems with air boxes blowing up, but there is an easy fix (if it hasn't been already). Either way you'll have fun and have about as much invested as the first year's depreciation on a new one. Enjoy your search!

I have an 80 sc .. modded by PO with 964 "upgrade body" and love it .. handles very well and like others have said eazy to work on but comfortable ...

Plus I got mine about four years ago for less than you can get a nice 914 for ...
traded an 88 vette for the teener that I now have ...

I have driven a few other Porsche's and I highly recommend the SC series to anyone ...
Only other really good option is an early car with a 3liter installed .. also very nice

I have to say...when I close the door to my 73, it sounds like a bank vault. In fact others have used those exact words to describe it. Maybe Hans was having a good day when he welded mine together?

Also, any car that's still on the road after 40 years gets high marks for build quality IMO!

I had a '71 Targa daily driver many years ago after looking at both body styles and have to say I loved having the option of taking off the top when the mood struck. And the mood struck any time it wasn't raining.

On the down side the side seals leaked like nobody's business and the body shell suffered heavily as a result. Lots of rust in all foot-wells front and back. Also repair parts to seal up a leaking 911 targa are much more expensive than our 914. As was mentioned before, the 914 targa top just seems much better engineered than the 911 version. Really no comparison IMHO.

Would I buy another targa 911? Oh yeah...

Nice and curvy.....my 80 911SC Targa

Click to view attachment

Hahahahahahaha
Took you long enough.

Please tell me you are going to Hershey, you can drive mine around

Rich

I've had both,

and 83 coupe and an 81 targa.

If it's going to be your one summer porsche, then being able to take the top off with the targa is hard to beat, and since they are generally cheaper to buy, but are mechanically identical, targa's are a good value.

the coupe on the other hand feels and is much stiffer, and certainly quieter on the highway. If I were to get another one, I'd get a coupe again but more because I would do some light track time, and I'd feel safer in coupe.

I had both of my SC's until they had well over 100k, the coupe had 150, and the targa had 130-neither suffered broken head studs, but I did put the carerra tensioner upgrade on the targa, and the air-box upgrade on both. Even with that many miles, neither was consuming much oil, and maintaining them was very easy

-Adam

Hey Adam
Why'd you get rid of them (if you don't mine me asking)?

The coupe went toward a downpayment on our house......The targa went towards investing in my business a few years ago.

I'll get another one soon, we also have young kids, and so time is a premium but my oldest is into cars, and I'm itching to get another project that he and I can work on together.

If I look back on all Porsche's I've had, my 914 was hands down the most fun, and the car I learned the most from. I had my 911's after the 914, and at the time, I made the switch to taildraggers because i drive alot highway miles, and the 911's are better highway cars!

I actually took the 83 coupe to the 50th anniversary show in Hershey, round trip from boston, around 1,000 miles with no problems

hm...I am thinking of making this trip in a 24 hour window....1000 miles in 24 hrs might be tough in the teener...

Good thing I fixed my radio last week!

Just dont make the mistake I did and try to go through NYC.....

take the western route through CT- Penn!

On the bright side, at the time at least, the gas in rural PA didnt have any of the ethanol/additives and I got really good gas milage on the way home!