Hard to imagine, but in just a couple more years will come the 40th anniversary of my first 911.

It was a 1969 911T Targa in Tangerine with a black interior. (my girlfriend of the day, Denise - the art student, denounced the color brutally). I did not have the guts to tell her that I just took the first 6-cylinder car the dealer could find and didn't care what color it was. It was probably one of the first Targas to be delivered in Oklahoma City. It had 121.5 cid and 125 H.P. It cost all of $8,400 back then - an expensive car in it's day; I traded in my first car, a 1967 Corvair Monza 4-speed. The Corvair got picked because I did not have enough money for a Porsche the first time around, but wanted a rear-engine simulation of the real thing.

For those who haven't had one that far back, here were some oddities: First gear was to the left and back (with the optional 5-speed). The engine had a pair of 3-throated Italian Weber carbs which were really like three single barrell carbs cast into one piece. Each cylinder therefore had its own carb adjustments. There was no choke - and no electronic ignition either. This made starting (hot or cold) a major adventure. It did have a little hand throttle lever down beside the heater control to speed it up when cold. My car had the optional hydro-pneumatic struts in front, and the optional Fuchs alloys (regular 911s used to come with steel wheels and hubcaps) with Michelin XAS radials.

My best experience of all with this car was driving the Trans-Canadian highway westward through the Rockies, then down the coast highway through California, and back through the Colorado Rockies.

My worst experience - it simply would not run right if used in city traffic. You had to pull the plugs about once a week and clean them; they could just about get fouled out just sitting at a read light. It only really ran right out on the open road.

What finally happened to it was that a piece of carbon got stuck in one of the exhaust valves at about 26,000 miles and burned out a channel in the valve seating area...so it needed a top overhaul. So, faced with the runability issues, it got traded for a 1972 911T coupe...silver with black, to satisfy Denice, but that is another story.

 

Just cant have stories like this with the new ones.

 

You have to have some pics to go along with that story. A memeber here, Controlit (Mark) currently has an early 70's targa in that same color.

 

As far as the pictures, Luis, unfortunately everything I had of this car (and several others as well) was destroyed in a fire in 1992. I have wished a million times that I still even had a picture of the Corvair, as well. You only get your very first car once, and your very first Porsche once.

Let this be a lesson to our younger members who are just starting their car hobby - take pictures often and early, and keep a copy in a safe place. I can guarantee that I have done this with my current small collection.

Anyway, now that I am kind of on a roll with the memory lane, I will try to put together a post on the silver 1972 911T Coupe in a while.

I will just leave this thought on it - while I told Denise that she got to pick the color (it was special order), I had just seen the opening scenes of LeMans with Steve McQueen driving a silver 911S around the track before the race.

James

 

Thanks for sharing your story with us. My first Porsche was an 1987 Carrera and my last Porsche is still the same one!!! How's that for a "my first Porsche" story.

Cheers.
Denny

 

Great story, but pics would make it that much better. I purchased my first Porsche last year and have absolutely loved it.

Later..
Mike