Porsche 912s are many things. Classically styled. True descendants of the 356. Well-balanced — the proverbial slow cars that are fun to drive fast. What Porsche 912s aren’t anymore is inexpensive. Twenty years ago, it was possible to pick up a nice, driver-quality example for less than $10,000. As of this writing, classic.com estimated an average value of nearly $52,000 for 1965-’68 short-wheelbase 912s coupes and more than $54,000 for the long-wheelbase ’69. Rarer cars with factory sunroofs, or Targas with soft rear windows, command higher sums and values rise sharply for well restored or excellent-condition examples — those can bring $70,000 to $100,000.
We’re not breaking any news here, of course. It’s more a case of feeling wistful over the missed opportunity to snap up one of these before the air-cooled 911 bubble came along and dragged 912 prices along for the ride. If there is a bright side to this, it’s that 912s are no longer seen as expendable — i.e. parts cars or prime candidates for 911 engine swaps. The higher price of admission has spawned enthusiasm for 912s based on their own merits. It’s also likely leading to more 912s being saved and restored rather than sold off in pieces. Buying a project 912 can be a slippery slope, however. Expect to pay 911-like restoration costs without the higher values when the work is finished.
The 912 was Stuttgart’s way of bridging the gap between the outgoing 356 and the all-new 911. In appearance and architecture, the 912 was the 911’s doppelgänger, but in place of the 911’s overhead-cam flat six, there was a 1.6-liter, pushrod, flat four, like the engine used in the 356 SC. The 912 had 90 hp on tap — 5 hp less than the outgoing SC — and the engine had to push around 2,100 pounds in the new car versus the 1,970-pound 356. So acceleration wasn’t exactly neck-snapping, but less power and weight also meant less of the 911’s snap oversteer to worry about if you suddenly lifted off the throttle in a turn.
Photo: David LaChance
And in the turns the 912 really shined. Its four-cylinder engine lent the car a favorable 45/55 front-to-rear weight distribution. The wheelbase was longer than the 356’s and the body structure was more rigid. The 912’s underpinnings were more modern than the 356’s too: MacPherson struts with lower A-arms and torsion bars up front and semi-trailing arms out back with torsion bars. For ’69 the wheelbase grew 2.4 inches by lengthening the rear trailing arms, making the car even more stable.
When new, the base price of a ’69 912 coupe was $5,235 (according to the 912registry.org). That was a lot of dough at the time, especially considering that a ’69 Corvette with a 300-hp 350 V-8 cost $4,781. But it was also uncomfortably close to the the $5,795 base price of the new entry-level 911T and this likely hurt 912 sales. With the 914 looming on the horizon, Porsche decided to discontinue the 912 after ’69. At the outset, the 912 was wildly popular, though. In ’66, for instance, Porsche sold more than 9,000 912s here compared to 3,700 911s.
A 912 would return for ’76 powered by the Volkswagen engine from the outgoing 914. Porsche made a little more than 2,000 of these 912Es for the U.S. market only — all coupes with fuel-injected 2-liter flat fours.
Interest in air-cooled Porsches doesn’t seem to be waning, even as a younger generation enters the hobby. The 912 might have also shed some of the stigma of being the 911’s kid brother, as air-cooled Porsches moved away from being daily drivers and track cars to being collector cars — not that owners of early Porsches shy away from driving their cars as Stuttgart intended. That said, now might be a good time to shop for a nice 912 before prices rise even higher.
Value Trend
NADA Average prices for a 1969 912 coupe. Add 10-20 percent for a Targa.
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