PORSCHE 911E

Year of manufacture 1972 Recorded mileage 3226km

Asking price £119,995 Vendor Cotswold Collectors Cars, near Bibury, Gloucestershire; tel: 01242 821600; www.cotswoldcars.com

WHEN IT WAS NEW Price £4827 Max power 165bhp Max torque 152lb ft

0-60mph 8.9 secs Top speed 137mph Mpg 17-23

This ’73 model-year 2.4E, with comfort pack and S gauges, was resprayed from a metallic green before it left France in 2002, and in this ownership from ’14 has been painted by Riviera Coachworks, part of a refurbishment that included a £25,000 Autofarm engine rebuild. The finish is even, but with a few polish marks on the bonnet and window trims, plus a tiny chip on the left rain gutter. The brightwork, including the sill trims, looks good bar a few blemishes, but the driving lamp reflectors are starting to corrode. The front wing bolts were off for the repaint; the strut bolts are undisturbed.

It now has Fuchs alloys, though it originally came with cookie-cutters that are still with the car, shod with 2005 (f) and 2010 (r) Michelins, behind which the discs look recent. The spacesaver spare wheel is unused and there’s a jack and tools, plus a cut-off for the twin batteries but no compressor evident, and the gas struts are too weak to hold the lid open.

Inside, the smart vinyl looks original and the carpets are probably repros. The headlining is excellent and the original Blaupunkt radio still works, as does the clock. The windows work, but slowly. The motor is clean and tidy, with its shroud painted body colour. It wears new exhausts and heat exchangers, plus there are fresh Nylocs and oil-return pipes. It also has the later hydraulic cam-chain tensioners fitted, a typical Autofarm touch. The oil is clean, and the filter is marked 14.5.17 and 584km.

The injected flat-six starts after a brief churn and settles to a slowish tickover. It behaves just as a healthy small-bumper 911 should, with a taut, supple ride, no suspension clonks and that wonderfully communicative steering, tracking straight and with smooth brakes that don’t pull. When warm, it shows slightly more than the expected 4bar of oil pressure at 4000rpm – about 4.5 – and feels peppier than a standard 165bhp 2.4E, so it may have been rebuilt with extra enthusiasm or S cams. Excellent.

This sweet 911 comes with a comprehensive history file, American and European manuals and a spare key, plus MOT until June.