A Costly 911 Dream

Don’t let a shop bill you for the time it takes them to gain experience on a complex set of pressed-steel stampings

by Jim Schrager

We got plenty of mail on McKeel Hagerty’s 1967 911S restoration story (December, p. 58), including this letter from Pete Zimmermann, longtime SCMer and author of The Used 911 Story. He writes:

I had to scratch my head when I read about the $150,000 restoration of a 1967 911S. I have so many questions I’m not sure where to begin, so here are my off-the-cuff responses to the amounts billed, and why I think you could do the same job for half the amount, based on my experience.

According to the article, $31,000 was spent on one of the simpler engines Porsche ever put in a 911. I can only understand about half the cost; the parts needed don’t have to be custom-fabricated, so prices are still reasonable. A fresh engine can be built, including all needed machine work, for between $12,000–$14,000. A displacement increase to 2.2 liters would be...