If you’re at all familiar with the current car channels on YouTube, you might have noticed a new trend in the past couple of years. Creators like Samcrac, Hoovies Garage, Tavarish, Rich Rebuilds, and B is for Build have been buying salvage title cars at auctions with the intention of rebuilding them. Sometimes the goal is to bring the cars back to their former self, other times it's to make them look like they're straight out of Mad Max. Recently, I featured Samcrac's totaled Audi R8 project (which he's yet to wrap up). Now, he has a new one for us - a 2001 Porsche 911 Carrera.
Samcrac won himself yet another German sports car on the salvage auction website, Copart. The same as his R8, the 996 suffered frame damage. Because of this, he scored it at an incredibly low price. Buying the car sight unseen, it arrived with a myriad of issues - some of which were to be expected while others were complete surprises.
Upon initial inspection, it appears this 996 went up and over an obstacle. The chassis underneath the front end was severely deformed. In the video, Sam shows the deformation from not only underneath, but inside the "frunk". Luckily, the front crash bar and hood seem completely untouched by the impact.
The next most apparent issue was the radiator spilling its guts all over the ground. Unbeknownst to Sam, the lower front impact ruined both the radiators and fans. With the purchase of new replacements, this was easily and affordably remedied. 
The next items to attack on the list were all aesthetic. The brake calipers and the body were both rough from time as well as the accident. The clear coat on the calipers failed, which made the powder coat finish underneath fade. Sam simply removed these, stripped the powder coat, and sent them out to be refinished. With the 996 exterior being rehabbed, having worn looking brake calipers would easily ruin the overall look of the car.
The 911 sustained damage to both of the bumper covers and the passenger side rocker panel. While the bumper covers are going to be taken care of by simply replacing them, the rocker panel will take body work to fix. Sam found a clean bumper cover finished in red that would have been resprayed to match. Unfortunately, the shipping company severely damaged it in transit. How it will be taken care of is up in the air. What we do know is that bodywork and paint are coming in later videos.
The totaled 996 will be an extremely interesting project to follow going forward. The low purchase cost, reasonable price of parts, and classic Porsche styling lends well to this budget rehab. With just a little money and time, this Porsche can look as good as new. Hopefully, the frame damage ends up being more minimal than it appears and can be easily straightened out.
Check out Samcrac's channel below and don't forget to subscribe to get all new videos pushed right to your inbox.
