A Bidding War Is Okay When Its Your Father’s Porsche
You don’t have to be a Porschephile to appreciate this particular 911, but the specs certainly appeal to the purist. Witness the fact that this 1978 Porsche 911 SC 3.0 coupe has a sunroof free, slick metal roof. The fog lights, air conditioning, and passenger side mirror were deleted from the factory, but sport seats with plaid inserts were added afterwards. The performance goodies that helped the 3.0-liter boxer’s potential include Bilstein shocks and a limited-slip differential, all wrapped in the stealthiest of colors: Mocha Black.
Porsches in brighter but period correct colors generally get a lot of media attention, be it from journalists or from social media users who admire the brand. Even the Hagerty Price Guide has a 25% premium for 1978 Porsche colors like Apple Green, Continental Orange, and Arrow Blue. But brown is certainly a valid color choice from our memories of the sepia-toned 1970s, and it works well with this car’s mission to provide performance over panache. Stealth wealth rules over flashy stunts and flossings, as it were.
This Porsche sold on Bring A Trailer this week for a whopping $110,250, including buyer’s fee. While it’s clearly in fantastic condition, items like its high mileage (117,000 mi) and non-standard wheels (delicious 16-inch Fuchs style alloys) suggest this wouldn’t bring in concours-condition ($120,000) valuations. But a #2 condition 911 SC from 1978 should fetch closer to $89,000, so clearly someone wanted this particular vehicle for a specific reason. Was it the understated brown paint?
No, and it wasn’t the plaid inserts on the stunning sport bucket seats, either. The winning bidder, SHEISHMAN, realized this 911 SC was the same one his father once owned. SHEISHMAN modestly chimed in BaT’s comments section and said, “This was my dad’s car, $20k in 1978.”
The back and forth in the comments was impressive, as the seller managed to get in touch with the original owner (presumably the father of the winning bidder). He confirmed the seats are not factory fitted, but likely added when the Porsche received an extensive restoration.
There’s more lore with this particular Porsche, as it might have been special ordered without valuable items like air conditioning in order to be a “promotional car at Bonneville for the world speed trials.” If so, the rumor that is has a modified engine that is “balanced, ported and polished,” but the seller wisely states there is no documentation (or a dyno sheet) to prove such provenance.
The original owner sent the seller two pictures of the car, one is presented above. Note the period correct door mouldings, which were removed well before this auction. Those appear to be the same 16″ Fuchs-style wheels, so the mouldings were not removed immediately after purchase in 1978. European style orange turn signal indicators were fitted, and the U.S.-spec smog equipment was removed. The factory options and modifications after the sale make this one of the more interesting and universally appealing 911 SCs we’ve seen cross the marketplace in a while.
The mere fact that 45 bids were placed in the last hour of the auction suggested that many folks wanted a slice of this mocha-colored treat. But the son of the original owner was having none of that. We are truly happy for him and his “new” Porsche 911, as he’s living that final verse in the soulful theme song from the sepia-toned TV show The Jeffersons. We hope he’s thrilled to finally get a piece of the pie.
