Sportomatic

[Ted Myrus]

Wanted 911 sportomatic. Know of one?

[Ted Myrus]

Why are these so hard to find, I thought everyone hated these cars?

I see a couple on line, '70 911E Targa ($ 60K) and Peter Gregg's '72 911S That's when Brumos cars were IMSA orange, now that makes me feel old

Someone must have one of these in their garage or barn and can't figure out how to drive it because it doesn't have clutch pedal!

[Steve Grosekemper]

Ted, Ted, Ted...
Why must you always make three left turns when you simply want to go right?
I must assume this is a father/son project for your and Trevor-which sounds awesome.

A little history:
In the late 60's and early 70's this was the only option for a clutch-less Porsche.
These were 4 speed transmissions with a torque converter and a tiny electric clutch. (905 transmission)
This is not an automatic transmission.
In 1972 the transmissions got beefier as the engines made more torque (925 series, but still a 4-speed)
In 1976 the transmissions were updated to a bigger 925 3-speed.

The problem with the sportomatic is the complexity.
If it was just and automatic that would be easy, but it is a complete shifting system.
Lots of extra heat, (leaks) extra oil lines (leaks), pumps, regulators, micro switches, servos and the such.
Nobody under the age of 45 has any experience with these so finding someone to repair them is difficult. Parts are nearly impossible to find. This is the biggest hurdle whenever I have one to repair.
There used to be a US Sportomatic group but they have all died (or their cars have) and their website is no longer.
Here is the only group left that I know of, http://sportomatic.net/ and they are in Germany. My German is not so good.
I still have a few hard core sportomatic customers that I keep alive (all 70-71 911E's) but it is not easy. But I have learned a trick or two over the decades.

Most of these are long hood cars, so if it is nice; it is a rare and valuable car. A nice one is actually fun to drive around. $50K is fair for a pretty good looking leaky driver that needs some work. The 76-77 cars were the last sportomatics and are super rare but not very valuable. If you found one of those you could get a deal, but you will be putting in a lot of work. But I have never seen one other than the one Tim Comeau use to have.

That all being said, if you want a nice fun/fast and cheap street/track car; get an early Boxster tiptronic. Lots of speed parts as the Boxster spec guys have boosted this market and if you have to overhaul the tiptronic it will be way less than a sporto overhaul. Also there is no shifting like a sporto requires so the hands can stay on the wheel. And parts are much easier to get. You could also do a 964 tiptronic or 968, all for less than a decent early sportomatic car. As a matter of fact I think I know where a really nice 968 tiptronic coupe is located that could be had to the right guy.

To answer what happened to them all? They were almost all converted to 5-speed manuals in the 80’s because sporto overhauls were so expensive. No one wanted them so many were parted out when these cars wouldn’t pass smog in the early 90’s. That’s why stock original examples are so valuable. – I would do a Boxster tiptronic.

Talk to Tim Comeau as well, he has a lot of Sporto history but I think he remembers them better than they were…

[Tim Comeau]

Actually, the sportomatic was an option up to 1980 or 81, in the 911SC's.
I sold all my sporto trannies (5) and parts to Autobahn, but I still remember a fair amount about them.
There was a U.S. sporto website at www.sportomatic.org run by a guy named Patrick. Dig around there. Good luck and let me know if I can help.