Older Porsche as Daily Driver

I ran across an article today on informanté today about a lengthy drive in Europe in old cars.  One of them being a 1972 Porsche 911:

THE Old Wheelers Club of Namibia is meeting with 19 Old wheelers from Europe in Outjo this morning  as part of the 7200km special vehicles,  including the 1932 Ford B, 1957 Jaguar, 1959 Mercedes Benz 300 SL, and 1972 Porsche 911, will be driving from Cape Town via Luderitz.  Read More

It got me thinking about something I’ve come across in my search for a used Porsche.  How old of a car can you still consider a reasonable daily driver?  Reasonable daily driver, to me, would mean somewhat comfortable to drive, safe for freeway driving and most importantly reliable.  I’d like to find a car I can enjoy every day, rain or shine, and preferable not spend time along the side of the road.

I know the wisdom has always been “buy the newest and best example you can afford”.  With so many different cars available, each with their own unique characterstics, what are good criteria to weed out the cars that will be an absolute pain in the butt to own versus the Porsches that have a history of being reliable with a good amount of Porsche “spirit” to boot?

I suppose part of the list would need to include features I could/could not live without.  I don’t know that I could live without A/C for instance, even if I bought a convertible.  However, as much as I love different Porsches throughout the model line, there’s a part of me that would really like to start with an older model 911 or 912.  I don’t need one completely original.  In fact it would be kind of fun to have one to tinker with a bit and not worry about keeping everything original.  Kind of an old meets new car.

I’m curious to hear what others have found to be decent daily driver 911s, how old the vehicles are, what problems you’ve seen and what you’d do differently if you were doing it over again.