MWB 1974 X up on BAT

Interesting the decals were removed.......I usually like them without, but for this color combo, I kind of like them on. Interesting.
 
Hammer fell at $20,500 or $21,525 with the buyer's premium BaT tacks on. Not bad but not as good as $26,750 it brought in August 2019 at the Bonham's sale. The car looked a bit less tidy in this auction in my opinion. The carpet looked more faded and the passenger seat had a long tear that should have been addressed.
 
Happy to say I am the new owner :) I was interested in it when it first came up at Matt's years ago, and then again on Bonhams. Finally pulled the trigger when it was so close to home in Miami (I'm near Sarasota). Gonna need to sell something now to make room! Hopefully it's still in the condition that Matt had brought it up to. Will find out in a few days.
 
Happy to say I am the new owner :) I was interested in it when it first came up at Matt's years ago, and then again on Bonhams. Finally pulled the trigger when it was so close to home in Miami (I'm near Sarasota). Gonna need to sell something now to make room! Hopefully it's still in the condition that Matt had brought it up to. Will find out in a few days.
John. Congrats on your new car! I am sure it will be just fantastic! We are going to need to hear how it goes!
 
Thanks Eric. I'll send an update when she arrives and I get to see what I really bought. BTW, I had no idea how many beige X's are out there until I saw the two recent ones on BAT and just looking on this page (JRT & CnC79X19). It's like when you buy a new car that you thought was unique until you drive it home and see 3 of them along the way!
 
Congratulations John and welcome. My comments above were just nitpicky post-auction dribble. That car is amazing which is why I like to follow it so closely.
 
I posed the same question to the selling agent before bidding. The current owner in Miami is a collector of various cars and had not owned an X before. I guess this X (or X's in general) did not live up to his expectations. The agent also speculated that he has seen this with other low mileage vehicles (he has a lot of experience with older 911's) ... buyer doesn't know whether to park it or drive it. I plan on driving it, but that generally means well under a thousand miles a year.
 
I posed the same question to the selling agent before bidding. The current owner in Miami is a collector of various cars and had not owned an X before. I guess this X (or X's in general) did not live up to his expectations. The agent also speculated that he has seen this with other low mileage vehicles (he has a lot of experience with older 911's) ... buyer doesn't know whether to park it or drive it. I plan on driving it, but that generally means well under a thousand miles a year.

I was going to say "It is just searching for its forever home." :)

We eagerly await your reports on the car John.
 
Félécitation John,
I'm sure you make a great acquisition.
Please let's us up know how is the car when you get it.

Yves
 
Hi again. After just a couple of days with the BeigeX, I can share some initial thoughts. Quick background: This is my 7th X, 6 of which were '74s. My yellow '74 X is nearly all stock and has been my Sunday driver for around 12 years. Until I got the BeigeX, I thought my yellow one was in great condition ;-)

First impression when the BeigeX arrived and before it even rolled off of the trailer: It's a TIME MACHINE. I had high expectations for the general condition of the car based on prior descriptions from Matt and the BAT photos, but I was VERY pleasantly surprised at the condition of the paint. It looks straight off of the showroom floor. I am in awe of how a 46 year old car can retain it's original paint in such good condition. In fact, I have to question whether this really IS the original paint? I still don't know the complete history of the car pre-Matt, but I hope to find out soon. My guess is that the car must have been stored somewhere other than a typical garage - not only because of the condition of the paint but that it has very few indentations or dings. None of the rubber seems to show any age, unlike my yellow X.

Driving impression after just 20 miles or so: The car feels very well 'sorted out'. Matt did a great job with the suspension, tranny, and motor. All feel very solid. I thought my other X ran great, but this one feels much tighter all around (I guess that's the difference between 13k and 86k miles, not to mention the thorough reconditioning it went through). This car sits at least 1-2 inches lower than my yellow X, even though I have it slightly lowered as well. It has a bit more power, but not a huge difference. The Ansa exhaust is the same as I installed on a car back in the 80s, and has a subtle throaty sound. The gears and clutch shift nicely, again a bit easier and smoother than my yellow X which I thought was fine until compared. For some reason the 4th gear feels like it's a higher ratio than stock. I'm able to comfortably run at 55-60 mph without revving too high. It may have been changed out.

The interior is in excellent condition (as you may have seen in the BAT photos). The exception being the seat bottoms which are showing wear with a small tear, a seam coming apart, and some discoloration. I'm exploring options of how to address this including OEM covers from Henk because the seats stand out for an otherwise spotless interior. The instrument cluster struck me as being grey instead of black (did they come that way?). I need to compare with my yellow X side by side ... it may just have been the light. No cutout for the radio in the dash! How often do you see that?

There are plenty more details that I can share, but I don't want you to regret asking to hear about it ;-) At least so far, the car has been a nice surprise. I'll check back in a while, hopefully with nothing changed other than a few more miles on the odometer.

John
 
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