I’ve heard that colors like Signal Red, Signal Yellow and others from the late 1960s and early 1970s were both stylistic and functional Porsche colors. The idea was that brighter hues served as a passive safety element that would make our little Porsche sports cars more visible in general, but also in foggy or rainy conditions. Today’s Good Find Friday Porsche 911T wears one of these dazzling colors.

The Porsche 911T was conceived as the entry level Porsche when it made its debut in 1967. In contrast to the 911L and 911S, the 911T lacked the high quality interior velour of its siblings, cheaper carpeting lined in the interior, the transmission provided only 4 speeds and the standard wheels were chromed steel. Of course, buyers could option their cars up to include Fuchs alloys and 5-speed transmissions.

The 911T, like the entry-level 912 before it, was a hot seller. Over 38,000 911Ts left the Zuffenhausen and Karmann factories during its years of production and outsold every other version of the 911 at the time. 

I’m a huge fan of “stripper” cars or cars that are lightly optioned either from the factory or by their owners. Perhaps I simply like spare style, but I also find the driving experience to be a little more pure and raw. Less sound deadening means you hear more noise. An engine with more modest horsepower means you get to drive at 9/10ths without fear from the law. 

Perhaps this is why this 1971 Porsche 911T caught my eye, but the day-glo Conda Green paint probably didn’t hurt either. A Karmann-bodied coupe that is said to be all numbers matching, this car can be found on Ebay with 4 days remaining with no bids.

With the explosion of automotive auction websites, EbayMotors sort of flies under the radar, but occasionally you can find some really interesting cars on the platform for reasonable money. 

Conda Green isn’t the rarest green, but it’s not often you see one. This car almost certainly has been repainted and the quality is decent, but but could use correction. Panel fit is off in some places, and the car appears to be missing its front bumperettes. Usually when you see a car’s antenna up in its beauty photos, it means it can’t go down so plan to replace that.

The wiper arms and blades are mismatched in color and the fog lights are misaligned.

The horn grills on this year 911 should be chrome and the taillight surrounds should also have chrome trim. Fortunately, it’s a relatively easy change and would look better against the green paintwork on a standard 911T, in my opinion.

Moving to the interior, things look a bit worn but it’s generally all there. There’s an unfortunate small crack in the dash pad, along with a weird dent on the bottom of the passenger side of the dash that seems to be creating a misalignment of the glove box door. 

I may be alone, but I’m a fan of this generation of 911 steering wheel. The earlier wheels are attractive, but this one has a modernity to it with its redesigned horn button and large diameter rim that signals we’re still in the manual steering era.

The door panels appear to be in fairly good shape as do the seats with no rips or tears. Some trim would appear to be misaligned or bent in places, such as near the passenger door jamb.

The trunk carpet is dirty and stained as so many 911 trunks are, and while the spare tire is shown, the battery box areas are not. A 1971 911 should have two batteries but neither is pictured. This is a common rust point and should be investigated.

While the 911T debuted with a 2.0L engine with a very modest 110 hp and 116 lb ft of torque, in 1970 Porsche uprated the engine to 2.2L by increasing the bore. The motor also received larger valves and now put out 125 hp and 131 lb ft of torque, breathing through a set of carburetors. Engine numbers are included by the seller for verification purposes.

In terms of gearbox, this 911T has the standard spec 4-speed transmission, which didn’t exactly deliver blistering pace. Expect 0-60 times in the 10 second range, but few cars will make as glorious a noise getting there.

Moving to the underside, the engine looks pretty dry which is a bonus, but the exhaust components appear to have been recently painted as various dents and dings in the muffler and elsewhere suggests they are not new. Oddly, the drivers side heat exchanger appears to be for a car with MFI as it has an extra outlet. Unfortunately, detailed photos of the rest of the floor and underbody are not presented.

This 1971 Porsche 911T looks like a good example that could use a little tender loving care here and there to tidy it up. Personally, I love the steel wheel look and would keep the chrome wheels, fix the foglights, swap the headlights to Euro spec, and drive the pants off it.

Conda Green is an impossible to ignore color, meaning you would attract plenty of attention at a local show or meet. When asked which of his cars is “the one that got away”, Porschephile and writer/comedian Spike Feresten often cites his 1970 Porsche 911S in Conda Green.

Besides its electric color and stripped-down entry-level spec, the other reason I chose this car for Good Find Friday is that it feels fairly priced in today’s market with a Buy It Now of $73,500. If one could negotiate down to the high 60s, this could be a nice buy indeed.

Of course, we recommend an on-site evaluation before committing to any purchase.

Wolf and Mare provides car finding, appraisal and auction services for sellers and buyers of collector European cars. We also provide importation services. Give us a call or drop us a line!