Ian Harris
Shoreham, UK
It’s been a busy month for me, mainly due to the fact I’ve just bought a 1984 911
3.2 Cabriolet that was an unfinished project. I set myself the unrealistic target of finishing the car in four weeks, which entailed full respray, mechanical overhaul, interior refurb and a full refit, wheels powder coated, and new brakes all round – and the car hadn’t run for ten years!
The story goes that a gentleman bought the car in 2010 for £9,950. It was in perfect running order with just some minor bubbles starting to appear in the bodywork. The owner enjoyed the car for the summer and then entrusted his friend who owned a paint shop for a quick tart up. This turned into a full strip down, glass removed, roof removed, interior, fuel tank and more all removed! The owner was then presented with a huge bill to fully repaint the car to a high standard and refit it all up, and things turned sour, as you can imagine. The car sat in the back of a paint shop for almost ten years until the owner of the shop was being evicted and the car needed to be collected within 48 hours. I ended up buying a stripped-out car that was half started with a lot of boxes of old parts – we even had old Mercedes parts in with it all, complete nightmare!
When the car was delivered to us we laid all the parts out on the floor to inspect what we had actually bought and it was all there, every nut and bolt needed. Plus after a close inspection on the car it was rust free, accident free and had most of the preparation work completed, result!
We quickly started the prep work on the car, checking all the panels, and within a week we had the car and panels in primer. The week after, we were set for the paint work in original Porsche Grand Prix white. While the paint work was being completed we were organising the parts, ordering new brakes and calipers, seals and any other obvious parts that were missing.
We then started the refit of new discs, full engine service, leads, gearbox oil, brake fluid, brake lines, the list goes on. I’d bought the car as a non runner with 101K genuine miles on the clock, a new battery was fitted and all checks made and then the moment of truth, would it start? Well it didn’t, but after a few more hours of fettling she was alive, a great result. A quick compression test and we had a very strong engine.
Next came the task of refitting the car, and this is always made harder when you didn’t take it apart in the first place. After two solid days, the wings, bumpers, glass, trim and lights were all fitted back up and she was starting to look like a car. It still needs some snags and another week spent on it to get everything working as it should do, and we finally booked in for an MOT!
The Cabriolets are nowhere near as desirable as the Coupes, but I really like this one. Maybe it’s due to me spending so much time working on it you become personally attached, but I think she’s a real beauty. The big question is, do I sell it or keep it?