1972 911E Targa Sportomatic

The Porsche Sportomatic transmission, launched in 1967, was an innovative automatic gearbox designed to combine the convenience of an automatic with the control of a manual transmission. It featured a four-speed manual gearshift but eliminated the need for a clutch pedal, thanks to a vacuum-operated clutch that engaged and disengaged automatically when the driver touched the gear lever.

This 1972 911E Targa is equipped with a Sportomatic transmission and since it is a ‘72, also sports an Oelklappe, or exterior oil filler door located on the passenger-side rear fender. It has been refinished in its original shade of Silver Metallic over a Black leatherette interior with cloth inserts and the gallery consists of hundreds of photos, including those of the refurbishment and records of the work complete on this very nice example.

The overall 911E Targa market has been pretty steady over the last twelve months with some signs of an upward swing thanks to a number of units hammering over the $100,000 mark against an average of around $90k recently. All of those cars, however, were traditional manual transmission examples, which makes putting a price on a Sportomatic a bit difficult. Add to that the fact that our Spotlight car is located in Belgium, and one has to wonder what the right number is. It did fail to sell at a final bid of $80,000, not the lowest, not the highest. But it is a very well-done refurbishment that I believe location got the better of. Probably about right where it should be bid-wise, considering.

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