A numbers-matching 912 coupe that spent roughly thirty years parked in the eastern Washington desert
before coming home for a mechanical and metal revival — including a reunion with the same shop that
serviced it half a century earlier.
Sent this page to Jay Leno. No reply yet — but a few months before we reached out, on the
Audrain Museum Network's Jay Leno Drives the New Emory 911, he named his dream car unprompted.
"You know, I was thinking about what a dream car would be... and I was thinking about like a '66 912...
with one of John Willhoit's [engines]." — Jay Leno, ~14:05.
Watch on YouTube →
Model
912 Coupe
Year
1966
Engine
Rebuilt ~30 yrs ago · Matching
Transmission
5-speed, factory overdrive option · Matching
Wheels
Fuchs · correct, not factory-original ('69-dated)
Steering wheel
Wood & aluminum (original, rare)
Exterior
Sand Beige (Sandbeige) · Code 6607
Storage
~30 yrs, eastern WA desert
Provenance — thirty years in the desert, then full circle
The engine was rebuilt roughly thirty years ago and given about 10,000 break-in miles by its
then-owner, who afterward parked the car and garaged it for the better part of thirty years in the
eastern Washington desert. Rusty bought it out of that long-term storage and has since added fewer
than 1,000 miles himself — this is a preserved car, kept garaged, not a daily driver.
When it came out of storage, it went to Akers Porsche in Seattle for mechanical work. The shop
owner, Denny Akers — since semi-retired — recognized the car: his own paperwork on file confirmed
his shop had worked on it fifty years earlier. The 912 had gone full circle, back to its original
"doctor."
In memory of Denny Akers: Denny has since passed away. He was an important figure in the
Pacific Northwest Porsche community, and Rusty considers himself fortunate to have had him as this
car's mechanic — twice, fifty years apart.
On the record: numbers-matching example — engine and transmission both confirmed matching —
original wood-and-aluminum steering wheel (rare), factory-ordered 5-speed overdrive option, and a
paper trail of service receipts spanning decades of Washington State ownership — this car has been
in-state its whole life.
Provenance — the receipts
The paper trail is the backbone of this car's story: service records from Akers Porsche in
Seattle, University Porsche/Audi and Wenatchee Volkswagen-Audi, and a car-audio receipt from its
earlier ownership in Edmonds, WA — decades of documentation, all Washington State, that let a shop
owner recognize his own fifty-year-old paperwork.
Akers Porsche repair orders — Denny Akers's shop.University Porsche/Audi and Wenatchee Volkswagen-Audi — more stops on the car's Washington State service history.Not a registration document — a 1979 car-audio receipt (California Sound Inc., a San Diego retailer), shipped to the car's then-owner in Edmonds, WA. Included because it's part of the same paper trail; owner name redacted.
What's been done — roughly the past eight years
All of the following happened under Rusty's ownership, roughly the past eight years: the Akers
Porsche mechanical work above, a full sill and front-passenger-fender metal repair with repaint —
documented start to finish, April 28 through May 30, 2020 — and a fuel pump rebuild among other
smaller items.
What the sill survey found, and what cutting it open revealed. The starting point for the 2020 metal work.New metal in, then finished and ready for primer.Masked for paint, and the finished result — May 30, 2020.
The car today
Back together, running, and out at shows — a driver in the true sense, even with the mileage kept
low. The original wood-and-aluminum wheel is still on the car.
Open detail — wheels: currently wearing a set of Fuchs alloys, correct to the car — just not
the factory-original set, since they're date-stamped '69, three years after this car was built. A
set of steel wheels date-stamped '66, newly refinished, is ready to go on as the date-correct
alternate.
Finished and back in the garage.The original wood-rim wheel, and the seat upholstery detail.Engine bay and underside — the mechanical side of the story.
Editorial note: this page follows the same rule as everything else on 356workshop — facts are confirmed against the physical car, receipts, and owner's account before they're published.
