10k: World’s Most Expensive Beetle: 1969 Porsche 912 Barn Find
If one vintage “barn find” is good – two must be better…right? Fear not – we aren’t planning some kind of all-barn-find day, but it does give us a good chance to compare two similarly priced cars with similar restoration needs but completely different markets. Find this 1969 Porsche 912 project for $9,999 via craigslist, located in Berkeley, CA. Tip from Kaibeezy.
The Porsche 912 has seen considerable price appreciation in the past decade, going from an unloved 911 without the performance, to a much ballyhooed eco-friendly 911 with better handling and good fuel economy. Porsche 912 prices have skyrocketed and what was once a discarded surf-bum weekend home is now a garage kept classic…except that this one needs some elbow grease before it can be driven to the Pebble Beach Concours D’Elegance.
The 912 eschewed the 911’s fabulous flat-6 for a hand-me-down flat-4 from the Porsche 356. The engine sitting on a pallet makes 102 horsepower and 120 ft-lbs of torque from its 1.6 liters.
Odd is the day when a $10k project 912 is a good deal…but the world is an odd place today. Get it now before it disappears. See a better project? email us here: tips@dailyturismo.com
The Clarksonian school of thought would argue that the current generation 911 Turbo S is the most expensive Beetle… in the world.
The Clarksonian school of thought…I think that's the one located next to the Hyperbole Institute, and within the Department of Selective Reasoning.
Eco-friendly? No car without a cat can be described that way. I like 912s but that's a hefty sum to enter into an expensive restoration project for something that will trade well below a 911. Of course, classic 911s are becoming super-expensive baubles…