I NOW OWN A 1967 912 and am the third owner. The original owner was a neighbour of my dad’s growing up and he had it until 1976 when my dad purchased it. At that time, the car needed some tender loving care as it had been driven year-round and the winters were not kind to early Porsches. He paid $1000 for the car and then invested in a restoration. From then on, the car was driven only periodically. I was always drawn to this car and it became a thing that my dad and I would bond over.
Around the year 2000, the 912 was starting to show its age again. My dad and I started a second restoration that we personally completed in 2004 and then I drove it full time that summer. With the restoration, we changed rocker panels, a lot of the chrome, headliner, front bumper, sheet metal behind the front bumper, rebuilt rear light holders, replaced the engine tray, found proper fog light covers and had the colour returned to the exact colour number which is polo red. I’m sure there were other things we did, but I would have to dig up the pictures to jog my memory.
The car was driven a bit from 2004 to 2007, but then life got busy (not a great car for car seats) and it needed some more work. Mainly in the brakes.
This past year, 2018, I stumbled upon Hunter Motorsports in Mississauga, and through Brent who owns it, we were able to identify its needs to get it back road worthy. After rebuilding the carbs, overhauling the brakes and installing a dual master cylinder, the 912 is back up and running the way it should be.
The car’s body shows some age and is probably due for another paint job but the interior is pretty near perfect and the engine has under 36000 miles on it. The car is numbers matching, though. There’s a lot of work required to keep one of the old Porsches going, but it’s worth it.
The 912 has about 90 hp, which is low, but with the torque, handling and engine sound you can’t help but smile when you’re driving it. My kids have caught the Porsche bug too! </>
Story and photos by James Loftus, UCR Member