Joe Williams

Weymouth, UK @joewilliams85

Dry at last. After a couple of weeks back in the garage there is not a drop of oil on my garage floor. After new pushrod tubes, rear main seal, front pulley seal, oil sender, sump and gearbox… finally we got there! All part of the ongoing upkeep on older cars, there is a real sense of satisfaction chasing them round back to their former glory. As for the disappearing brakes, a new master cylinder has sorted that nicely.

The only thing left to do was give her a run, and a Sunday morning breakfast drive with a 911 SC and a 3.2 Carrera sounded like a plan. A few Dorset country B-roads did just the trick. Chasing down a couple of heavy-footed, handy drivers with double the horses and more than 20 years of technology on their side made for a great drive! The 912 never ceases to surprise; she really does hold her own. With weight on her side and a good nudge of the throttle, you really can play with the big boys.

Arriving before the doors opened and with some time to kill, we had a swap between cars for some back-to-back comparison. The SC and Carrera are both well-sorted, fully restored cars, probably the closest examples to how they rolled out the showroom. We had 30 years of Porsche development in front of us: 1960s, 1970s and 1980s.

The 912 felt prehistoric compared to the other two. Interestingly the SC is certainly twitchier and more nimble compared to the Carrera, which felt modern and effortless. The Carrera had surprising mid-range pull with a smoother ride over the SC, which would probably tip it as being the easier potential daily hack. All in all very different drives, all very rewarding and all with that underlying Porsche charm.