From the Classifieds: 1976 Porsche 912 E

There have been a lot of Porsche 911s over the years, perhaps too many to count, but there aren’t too many left-hand drive examples in Australia – let alone one that’s only covered 130,000km in nearly 50 years.

Well that’s exactly what’s on offer on carsales at the moment: this left-hook 1976 Porsche 912 E manual that pairs ‘Arrow Blue’ paintwork with a cream leather interior.

Stashed in the back of the body is an air-cooled 2.0-litre flat four-cylinder petrol outputting a mighty 64kW/133Nm, sent to the rear axle via a five-speed manual transmission.

Armed with a full service history and immaculate paint, the classic 911 has had four owners to date and was originally imported from Texas, which means it hasn’t been subjected to the salty roads of Europe, Canada or the northern US and is therefore completely rust-free.

Backing up the service history is every piece of documentation ever issued from its delivery in 1976 through to its local import approval and LHD registration.

One of the previous owners was a former editor of Men’s Health, who managed to squeeze the vehicle into a feature in the magazine outlining their ownership experience – a copy of said issue is included in the price.

But what exactly is a 912 E? Put simply, it was North America’s entry-level 911 variant back in the ’70s and served as an upmarket precursor to the vastly cheaper Porsche 924 while a more affordable base model was being readied for production.

The engine was smaller, lighter and a noticeably less powerful than the six-cylinder 911s but this in turn endowed it with superior fuel economy and daintier, more forgiving handling than the full-fat sports car, early examples of which became famous for their less than progressive tail-happiness.

Indeed, the 912 E only enjoyed 12 months on the market before the 924 was released and subsequently forced the stop-gap model out of the line-up, which actually makes the 912 E a very rare car and especially so in Australia.

It’s a long way off the ultimate 911 – quite the opposite, in fact – but the 912 E has an interesting history, unique specification and a very short production run, which combine to make it a very collectible 911.

And on that basis, the seller is asking a cool $100,000 for their pristine one-of-a-kind coupe.

Click here to view the full listing while it lasts!

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