If you’re like me, you probably had one classic sports car up on the wall growing up. Amid a pantheon of then-state-of-the-art, the air-cooled Porsche 911 has a certain mystique, a power to captivate, enthral, yet still be surprisingly pragmatic. On the face of it, this is a weird car. Engine sitting like a BBL, seating for two fully grown adults and two smaller ones in a pinch, no antifreeze whatsoever, a reputation for both delight and danger, and yet it all somehow works. Then, about fifteen years ago, values set off for the moon, high enough to spawn a cottage industry for restomods with supercar price tags. Even pricing for the 911 SC took off.
Thus, what used to be a weird old sports car for mechanically minded iconoclasts and aging yuppies suddenly became a new status symbol, Generation Jones’ E-Type. It’s now a chariot for nepobabies, tech bros, creative directors, corporate titans, and those who got a few lucky breaks and built their wealth over decades. Most of us mere mortals can forget about ever owning a long-hood 911, or the turbocharged 930. However, there’s still one last sliver of hope.
So long as you’re willing to do some hunting and go al fresco, you can still pick up a running, driving air-cooled Porsche 911 that isn’t a complete project for the price of a new Miata. It might have impact bumpers and it might not be perfect, but who cares? It’s still a version of the car you’ve fantasized about driving since you were a kid.
What Are We Looking At?
The one we’re zooming in on today is the three-liter 911 SC, built from 1978 through 1983. Not only was the SC the 911 that secured the future of the 911, the SC model brought in some much appreciated advancements over the mid-year 1974 to 1977 cars. For instance, the flat-six engine displaced three liters through the entire production run, and although an output of 180 horsepower isn’t spectacular, it’s still a useful 15 more horsepower than the later U.S.-spec mid-year cars made. Plus, with the adoption of an aluminum engine case, you no longer had to worry about head studs pulling out if the engine got crazy hot.
Add in the muscular look of wide rear fenders, the relative convenience of Bosch Jetronic fuel injection compared to the MFI systems on early mid-year models, and fairly strong equipment levels, and you end up with a classic air-cooled 911 that’s still great fun to enjoy today. It has enough modern conveniences that it won’t quite feel its age, yet despite the low power figures of the age, acceleration is still admirable. Back in the day, Car And Driver managed to coax a coupe model from zero-to-60 mph in a swift 5.5 seconds while waxing lyrical about the thrust and relative economy the 911 SC had to offer.
It does the quarter-mile in 14.8 seconds at 94 miles per hour, and the factory (which is usually conservative in these things) rates its top speed at 136. While all this sturm and drang is slowly being fed through your mental computer, you must also come to grips with the information that it gets fifÂteen mpg in the EPA city cycle and 27 in the highway test. It is thus terribly fast and surprisingly economical. A remarkable blending of opposing virtues.
Granted, Car And Driver also went on about how the 911 SC was tricky at the limit, and while I’ll admit that the rear-engined layout has a certain learning curve, these cars have consistently provided some of the greatest fun I’ve had on four wheels. Just remember to keep your foot on the skinny pedal if the back end steps out, and you’ll revel in the superlative feel of the unassisted steering, the featherweight nature of the monocoque, and the wail of the flat-six to redline. Sure, the five-speed manual transmission can be a bit balky, but it’s a stout unit that won’t do you wrong, so long as you trust that the gear you want is there. A classic air-cooled 911 is every bit as good as you dream it to be, and purchasing a driver-spec example of one of these 911 SC, likely a convertible or a Targa, won’t run you into six figures at all.
How Much Are We Talking?
When I say you can still buy an air-cooled 911 for the price of a new Miata, I’m stretching things just a little, but still playing within the letter of the law. A loaded 2025 Mazda MX-5 RF Club in Soul Red Crystal stickers for $42,430 including freight, and yes, you can still buy a Porsche 911 SC for less than that, provided you’re willing to put up with the wear and tear of a late-’70s car and potentially drop the roof. Take this white 1978 Porsche 911 SC Targa, for example. Sure, it might have a whopping 252,000 miles on the clock, but it also has been in the same family for 32 years, had an engine rebuild done in 2010, a gearbox rebuild done in 2016, it looks clean, and it hammered on Bring A Trailer for $37,500. Not bad.
Okay with slightly rattier paint but a more interesting color? Check out this 1979 911 SC Targa, which had been kept by the original owner right up to December, when it sold on Bring A Trailer. We’re talking about a gorgeous blue-on-saddle color scheme, a solid-looking underbody, 182,000 miles on the clock, and a hammer price of $35,911. Not bad if you want a 911 you won’t feel guilty about driving.
Weirdly, these aren’t just deals you’ll find on auction sites. Looking to shoot for the moon? How about a Slantnose conversion, the weapon of choice for 1980s…street pharmacists. Yeah, we’ll go with that. Here’s one up for sale in California on Facebook Marketplace for $42,000. It’s outrageous, and while a modified 911 like this isn’t for everyone, it appeals to some of our inner children a lot. I had a poster of a Guards Red slantnose cabriolet on my wall as a child, so these machines are still up there with the coolest things in the world to me. With 130,000 miles on the clock, this 1978 model feels worth rolling the dice on.
What Could Go Wrong On A Porsche 911 SC?
The big thing to keep in mind with a 911 SC is that it’s still a car launched in the late 1970s and running on 1960s bones, which means it’s certifiably old. Stuff will wear out faster than it will on a modern car, that’s just a fact of life. As for actual problems, these engines had few. You’ll get a few oil leaks, and a handful of early models experienced non-catastrophic failure of the outer valve springs, but the big bringer of expense is just stuff wearing out. By 130,000 miles or so, you may be ready for a top end engine rebuild, and valve seals might start to go a bit earlier than that. In addition, the 915 gearboxes do grow a bit tired from age, and although you’ll never blow one up, they do shift nicer after a proper rebuild. Of course, this is where things get expensive. A gearbox rebuild will run you a few thousand dollars, and a top-end rebuild can run you $15,000.
Beyond that, the big thing to look out for is rust. These cars are more than 40 years old, and although their bodies were galvanized from the factory, rust never sleeps. Check the floorpans and inner fenders if you can because rust likes to hide, and these cars can be rather expensive to get proper rust repair completed on. Oh, and make sure the Bosch Jetronic fuel injection system is happy. It’s quite faultless when a 911 SC is used regularly, but varnished old fuel from sitting doesn’t play nicely with fuel injection components.
Should You Buy A Porsche 911 SC For The Price Of A New Miata?
You know what? This is a definite maybe, seeing as neither of the cars in question are likely to be primary vehicles. They’re weekend cars, rolling champagne, cars we buy to get a buzz when the weather’s nice. Keeping some serious cash in reserve for an eventual top end rebuild might actually work out cheaper than the depreciation on an MX-5 RF, but it also requires you to keep $15,000 or so around just in case of an emergency.
However, if that’s a feasible proposition for you and you’ve always wanted an air-cool Porsche 911, what are you waiting for? Buy one! If you can afford and keep your dream car, and don’t have to rely on it as your sole form of transportation, you deserve to have it in your garage. Life’s too short to not enjoy the ride.
(Photo credits: Bring A Trailer, Facebook Marketplace seller)
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Should You Buy A Porsche 911 SC For The Price Of A New Miata?
How is this even a question? Yes. Duh. Buy the parsh.
Holy Athena, over $42k for a f’n Miata?!
Don’t know why—maybe it’s because I’m not a Porsche person—but I always really liked the slantnose. Not enough to buy one and I prefer a more rad air dam, but I’d definitely pick that over a f’n Miata.
Why is a top end rebuild so expensive? Is that replacing the entire top end with parts that are beyond outrageous in price? Is that some insane Porsche specialist labor cost? I can’t imagine it’s that hard a job for someone with half-decent mechanical skills to DIY.
But, really, WTF, almost forty-three thousand for a Miata, a long-in-tooth toy car of ubiquitous presence, pedestrian engine, and arguably goofy looks with the interior space to make one feel like a skunk with a Pringles can stuck on its head?! I thought $34k was pushing it. OK, that’s “loaded”, but it’s not a big or luxurious car to add that much shit to. Is that mostly down to being an RF? The RF having a power roof was such a dumb idea and antithetical to the lightness and simplicity of the car.
Man, Thomas, not to bag on you, but you’re wrong on a lot of things here.
First off, the 911s with the lowest cost of entry are the 74-77s, they are called ‘mid years’, and they don’t have MFI, that was earlier, they have CIS, just like tons of other european cars. CIS is reliable, efficient, and once dialed it’s a pretty awesome fuel system. Mid-years have impact bumpers like SCs, but narrow hips (no rear flares unless turbo).
See, these cars are SUBSTANTIALLY cheaper than SCs for a few reasons, but the biggest one is that almost all of them had their engines fail. Hold up. Let me finish.
See, it was emissions era BS, and their idea was ‘thermal reactors’, which was a big cast iron lump of an exhaust manifold, designed to run REALLY HOT, to hopefully burn off pollution somehow? Anyway, it was extremely stupid, because they got so hot that the cylinder studs would pull out of the magnesium engine case, requiring a LOT of labor to disassembly the whole engine, and install case savers (helicoils/threadserts) to hopefully prevent it from happening again.
So what happened, is that the 74-77 cars got a bad reputation, and deservedly so, but… BY NOW…. almost none of these cars are running that idiotic exhaust system, and almost all of them have case savers installed.
So you’re basically getting an SC, but slightly smaller engine (2.7/3.0 instead of 3.2), and a magnesium cased 915 transmission (SCs had 915s but the trans case was aluminum and 15lbs heavier or so). Is the SC faster? Sure but with an old 911 that isn’t really the point. Speaking of which, there is a 0% chance you are getting a 915 rebuilt for a few thousand dollars. Mine had grinds, and every place I called was quoting me around the same price, $6-7k. I spent $7500, but it now shifts beautifully, and most of that $7500 was just parts. The labor isn’t that bad, but there is literally no way to find deals on 915 internals; everything is just expensive.
Anyway, if anyone is interested in getting an old 911, hit me up and I’ll answer anything you want. I pretty much daily mine all spring/summer/fall, it’s a fantastic car, and I love the targa top.
Me all summer:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-p9fYvIbWXs
I have like 40 episodes rebuilding this car; I started when there really wasn’t much 911 tech on youtube at all. Now there are entire channels dedicated to 911 content only, but I don’t have the attention span to focus on only one type of car :B
I bought a low mileage, one owner SC targa this summer – other commenters are right that $5-10k is needed to sort the various old car problems. Installing the 3.2 hydraulic chain tensioners and an airbox relief valve are recommended upgrades. It’s such a fun car especially with the top off!
Locktite the airbox screws and whatnot too, would be horrible if it sucked one of them in.
One other significant advance withe 911SC was widespread galvanizing which greatly slowed down the tinworm as long as any collision damage was properly repaired. I like the idea of an SC because they were the last of the 901 platform cars. The 3.2 engine cars are actually 930s, which is why you could buy the Turbo look cars
Actually started galvanizing before the SC, the 75/76/77 were pretty much all galvanized as well, with some of the chassis getting it back in 1970.
Partially galvanized yes but the SC was fully galvanized
I’m just saying, it’s not fair to say “these are the price of a loaded Miata” because every single one you can buy at that price will require another $5-10k in rebuilds/refurbishment. It’s more comparable to a used 987 at $40-45k.
I’m old enough to remember when $20K seemed like a lot for a new Miata and $10K seemed like a lot for a used over ten year old car. Even for a 911. Sad.
I remember when you could get a new Miata for $14,000.
I think I just have to give up on the idea that I will ever be able to afford one of these. Next best choice is a 928. Maybe they will stay reasonable. Probably not.
Air-cooled 911’s are easier (ie: Less costly) to maintain than a 928.
Yeah, but I can get a driver-quality 928 for $10,000.
It’s 2025. You can get a *project* 928 for $10K. You won’t *really* be daily driving it for a long time and a lot of money. At least not if your definition of daily driving doesn’t include lots of walking.
Having BTDT, the most expensive car in the world is NOT a cheap Mercedes, it’s a cheap Porsche. My cheap Mercedes was quite easy to deal with, my cheap Porsche, not at all, and mine was one that was half old VW Rabbit bits re-arranged (’87 924S).
944 is an underrated option. It’s not terrible fast but beautifully balanced, moves curves. Feels old school but has some modern amenities
Clean examples of those have been climbing in price too. Fml.
Run, run away. I found a decent 928 near me for $3500 with a 5spd. Even took it for a test drive, was a cool car, dark silver, maroon interior. Was interested in buying it, and then I started pricing out what it needed.
Look, a 911 is an expensive car to get parts for, but 928s are on a WHOLE DIFFERENT LEVEL man. To quote tropic thunder, it is full-retard. After pricing everything out and figuring out how much it would cost to make it decent, and then looking at what it would be worth, I bailed. These cars can RAPIDLY make you get underwater on money spent vs car value. Avoid.
Why the hate on the targa top? Top down driving in a Porsche stick? What’s not to love?
Damn… Those G Body Targas look horrible with the top on.
Disagree.
https://i.imgur.com/zgEI6Pp.jpeg
You could make this your sole source of transportation, *with the right attitude and lifestyle*. My wife bought her 3.2 Carrera years ago when no-one wanted these things and drove it daily for years (with a 40 mile daily commute) until kids came on the scene. It’s transported skis, bikes, Christmas trees, couches, us as newlyweds away from our wedding, etc. No idea how many miles on it, the odometer gave out years ago. Pretty ratty cosmetically but an absolute blast to drive, 100% engaging and makes you feel fast even when you’re not going fast. It’s only not our primary these days because of the need to transport kids. Partly because it feels increasing dangerous have kids in the back of the 911 after lots of near rear-endings or side-swipes by SUV pilots who were watching their phones or just couldn’t see it under them, but also because it embarrasses the progeny (“can you drop me down the block…I don’t want my friends to see me getting out of the Porsche”…”Yes, kid, but I want their moms and dads to see MEEEEE”). If you can do your own work it’s surprising easy and inexpensive to live with, they are fairly sturdy cars, probably an exception to the “old German sports cars are ruinous” wisdom. Great forum knowledge (Shout out to Pelican!), good aftermarket parts support, in part because fairly little changed year to year or even generation to generation. As long as we can keep it out of the shop and not use Porsche parts, it’s affordable…….
Uh, couches?
*looks at 401k* *contemplates the world as we know it might be over any day* *tries to figure out a way to make “wants a Porche” into a hardship worthy of a withdrawal*
Just borrow against your 401k. Car value goes up so you double win.
Too true about the rust issue – inspect thoroughly. A friend picked one of these up about 15 years ago, when they were shockingly cheap, and it looked great until we started inspecting it (post-purchase). The rust worm was prevalent all around the floor pan, though luckily the inner fenders weren’t bad as someone had done some rust prevention in them previously. It was supposedly a southern car, but still, rust just bides its time (plus Porsche wasn’t great about rust-proofing back then either).
I bought my SC Targa ten years ago and got a smoking deal even then – I’m glad for it, because I couldn’t afford one now. Parts can be expensive but they’re not hard cars to work on, and being able to DIY your own maintenance will save you a lot of ownership cost over taking it to shops. If you’re going to stretch yourself to get one at the lower end of the price scale, prioritize solid mechanicals (and records) over everything else. It’s as true as ever that you’re buying the previous owner(s). My car had been the PO’s hobby car for 15 years and he had rebuilt the entire thing.
If all you want is a rear engined air cooled flat 6 ticket into the nearest ditch a Corvair is a lot cheaper.
One is an investment you can drive. The other is a ticket to scorn, pity, and penury.
— A Happy Corvair Owner
And both are a ticket into the nearest ditch ;p
A 911 SC is about the only car of this series that’s a reasonable alternative for the modern car – as these are only going up in value.
Even as short as 10 years ago, that Targa would have been a $25-30K car.