By Tom Brookhart · December 17, 2025

There’s a sentence that makes people flinch the first time they hear it — and instantly divides the  room: 

“A properly sorted air-cooled 911 is a six-figure car.” 

Some scoff. 
Some nod. 
And both reactions make sense. 

Because that sentence isn’t about market value. It’s about the truth of what it costs to make one of  these cars drive exactly as Porsche engineered it to drive. 

You can buy an air-cooled 911 for far less. 

But to make it right? 

That’s a different journey entirely. 

For clarity, we’re using the 911 SC as the benchmark — not because it’s the most expensive, but  because it’s the most misunderstood, the most common entry point, and the clearest example of how  sorting and market value diverge. 

But everything in this chapter applies from 1965 through 1998: 

Different models. 
Different values. 
Same cost of correctness.

Every air-cooled 911 owner eventually hits the same moment — usually after the first real invoice  lands. Reality sits down in the passenger seat, and suddenly the ownership experience becomes very  honest. 

At that point, every owner transforms into one of three distinct people.

This owner says: 

• “I want the car to feel like Porsche intended.” 

• “If it needs something, I’ll handle it.” 

• “I bought this to drive — not display.”

These owners always win — not financially, but experientially. 

They get the steering that talks. 
They get the unified chassis. 

They get the crisp throttle response and mechanical honesty that made these cars legends. They’re chasing the experience, not the payoff.

This owner believes: 

• “If I make the car perfect, someone will pay me more for it.” 

This owner always loses. 

Because the market does not pay for correctness. 

It pays for: 

• color 

• rarity 

• mileage 

• originality 

• presentation 

• emotion 

Sorting increases joy — not resale value. 
Sorting rewards the driver, not the buyer. 

This is one of the most common buyers in today’s market. 

They say: 

• “These cars are simple.” 

• “I’ll buy an SC for $50K and sort it myself.” 

• “How hard can it be?” 

But beneath that optimism is the harsh reality: 

Most buyers spend all their money acquiring the car — leaving nothing left for the avalanche that  follows.

They underestimate complexity. 

They overestimate their tools, time, and skills. 

The usual outcome: 

• The car ends up in pieces. 

• The project stalls. 

• Specialized tools are needed. 

• CIS tuning becomes a nightmare. 

• Wiring becomes a disaster. 

• Suspension geometry becomes guesswork. 

• And the car — still running — hides every mistake along the way. 

These owners don’t fail because they don’t care. 

They fail because enthusiasm exceeded expertise. 

Many of the half-sorted cars, questionable rebuilds, and mysterious issues we see today started with  this owner — not out of malice, but out of optimism. 

This owner doesn’t lose money because sorting is expensive. 
They lose money because they never actually get the car sorted at all.

A sorted 911 is not a concours car. 

It is not a restoration project. 

A sorted 911 is simply a proper car — one that behaves like Porsche intended. A sorted car: 

• drives exactly as engineered 

• leaks nothing 

• hesitates at nothing 

• has a unified, confidence-inspiring chassis 

• has crisp throttle response and a stable idle 

• has every mechanical and electrical system functioning 

• looks clean and honest — without needing perfection 

Sorting is functional excellence, not cosmetic flawlessness. 

A sorted Porsche can have imperfections — 
but it has no excuses. 

People think sorting means: 

• adjusting valves 

• fixing leaks 

• refreshing the suspension 

• tuning the engine 

These are the first two pages of a 200-page book. 

On a 911, fixing one thing exposes everything. 

• Fix a fuel issue → discover vacuum leaks 

• Fix a hesitation → uncover brittle wiring 

• Adjust ride height → reveal collapsed bushings 

• Fix A/C → expose blower and grounding issues 

• Drop the engine → reveal decades of patched “it’s fine for now” repairs 

A 911 is a system of systems, and they age together. 

Sorting isn’t repairing random issues. 
Sorting is restoring harmony to the entire machine.

Here’s the reality most buyers don’t want to hear: 

You can pay $100,000 for a sorted 911… 

or you can fall into the trap of thinking you're smarter than every 911 owner before you, pay $50– 60,000, and sort it yourself — and very often, the cheaper entry point doesn’t save you a dollar in the  end. 

A lower purchase price doesn’t change what the car needs. 

It only changes who pays for it. 

Same repairs. 
Same labor. 
Same parts. 
Same hours. 

Sorting cost does NOT scale with what you paid for the car. 

It scales with the work required to make it right. 

You don’t sort for resale. 

You sort because reality eventually sends the bill — no matter what your starting number was.

Now we arrive at the truth that explains the entire market: 

A flipper cannot afford to sort a car. 

Not properly. 
Not thoroughly. 
Not to Porsche standards. 
Not even close. 

If they did, they’d lose money immediately. 

Sorting destroys profit margins. 
So flippers rely on language instead of labor. 

The buzzwords: 

Here’s the truth buyers rarely hear: 

A flipper only makes money by not sorting the car. 

They clean it. 
Patch the obvious things. 
Hide the expensive things. 
Fix the cheap stuff. 
Photograph the shiny stuff. 

And then use the word “sorted” like confetti.

This is a 100% real listing for a 1981 RoW 911 SC — great spec on paper: slicktop, Pasha interior,  930/10 engine. 

The ad proudly lists a long inventory of inexpensive, easy-prep items: 

• brakes 

• rotors 

• pads 

• shocks 

• wheel bearings 

• spark plugs 

• timing adjustment 

• WUR and AAR “rebuilt”

• lenses 

• refined Fuchs 

• Bluetooth radio 

• fluids 

• tires 

• CV grease 

This is all real. 

All fine. 

All inexpensive. 

But what he leaves out falls squarely into that gray zone between transparency and  dishonesty — the space where omissions can do far more damage than outright lies. 

Because here’s what’s missing: 

• head stud status 

• valve guide wear 

• piston & cylinder condition 

• chain tensioners 

• leakdown numbers 

• CIS pressure tests 

• clutch condition 

• synchro health 

• fuel line age 

• rust inspection (torsion tube, rockers, pan) 

• any documentation of major mechanical work 

If a seller knows these items matter — and chooses not to mention them — that omission isn’t  accidental. 

On an air-cooled 911, where known failure points have existed for decades, silence is not neutrality. It is the flipper’s most profitable tool. 

Because the moment the buyer discovers: 

• broken head studs 

• worn guides 

• low compression 

• failing tensioners 

• hidden rust 

…that silence becomes a bill the seller chose not to mention. 

Buyers pay for:

• color 

• paint 

• stance 

• wheels 

• mileage 

• presentation 

Owners pay for: 

• wiring 

• bushings 

• thermostats 

• oiling systems 

• suspension 

• engines 

• everything invisible 

A seller can list a car as “sorted,” 
but unless it drives like a new 911 of its era? 

It isn’t sorted. 
It’s staged. 

Sorting is for the driver — 
not the comments section 
and not the marketplace. 

Every owner who truly sorts their car eventually realizes: You’ve invested more than the market will ever repay. 

This is normal. 
This is expected. 
This is the air-cooled world. 

Sorting is expensive. 
Restoration is even more expensive. 

Market prices rarely — if ever — track investment. 

Sorting isn’t about creating equity. 
It’s about creating rightness.

You can pay for parts and labor, but sorting a 911 ultimately depends on one thing: the person doing the work. 

And as you’ll see in Part IV, the people who truly understand these cars are becoming harder to find  — which makes the ones who remain all the more important.

— Tom Brookhart

🏁 The Full Throttle Talk Team

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