Have you ever sat inside your Carrera 3.0 and wondered to yourself what it must have been like when it was new? What it smelt like when it had just left the showroom or what it sounded - and felt - like when its engine was barely run in? Well, there's one car in the UK where you can get as close to experiencing those unknown sensations as you're ever likely to - a 12,000 mile Carrera 3 that looks, feels and smells like it was made only yesterday.

Larry's Northern Ireland-based Guards Red Coupe (Carrera 3.0 Registry number 3) was delivered to its first owner in 1976, and like some gleaming Teutonic time machine, this hardly-used 911 whisks you straight back to the 1970s when you sit in it. Indeed, turn on the radio and you'd almost expect to hear Elton John and Kiki Dee celebrating their fifth week at number 1....

So how did Larry come across such a unique Carrera 3 and what's the story behind it?

Larry, like most car lovers, had always hankered after a 911. For a couple of years he surfed the net, visiting the usual sites and price watching, but when a car did come along it was completely different to what he'd been looking for - and it also came from a totally unexpected source.

One day, sitting idly chatting with his accountant over a business lunch, the conversation turned to cars and his financial guru proceeded to announce that he had a Porsche 911 in his garage. He wasn't actually sure what it was - perhaps a '76 or '78 - but anyway he was rarely using it and it had under 10k miles on the clock!

The C3 had belonged to a client of his, a local rally driver (and all round motor sport nut) who participated in many local events, even hosting auto-testing meets on his own property. One day in 1995, he rang to say he was selling some cars and - if the bean-counter had any sense - he should come around and buy one. Accountants are sensible folks, so he duly paid a visit, arriving to find a barn full of Porsches, Ferraris and Lamborghinis amongst other assorted exotica.

But what to buy? The logical choice had to be one of the 911s (for all of the reasons why a classic 911 is a better everyday buy than any other 'exotic' sports car) and the car he chose was a 1976 Carrera 3.0 in Guards Red. With only 6337 miles on the clock from new, and having lived its life cosseted in a carpeted barn with expensive roommates, the car was an absolute gem.

Fast forward 12 years to 2007, and Larry's accountant (being a dedicated BMW driver like most in his profession) still owned but rarely used the Carrera, driving it only on sunny high days & holiday weekends. Indeed, the car was living its life in a garage, attached to a trickle charger and being unleashed only for annual MOTs and lube services (MOT certificates reveal that the 1970s super car had travelled only 500 miles between 2000 and 2007).

Anyway, a second (chance) meeting with his accountant on the stairs and Larry discovered that the C3 was being put up for sale on Piston Heads. Stunned, but never one to miss an opportunity, he asked the price, agreed the deal and shook hands on it there and then!

Amazingly, Larry had never seen the car and he admits that he wasn't even sure of what it was - as he'd never heard of a Carrera 3.0, he'd assumed it was an early SC, but he reasoned that whatever it was the low mileage (9766 miles by 2007) would surely make it a worthy buy.

Larry collected the car on 12th August 2007 and when he finally got to see it he couldn't believe his eyes. One of Porsche's finest creations stood gleaming in front of him, with perfect Fuchs wheels (shod with two original Dunlop tyres on the front) and a virtually unmarked Tartan interior. The car was an early C3, first registered new in Northern Ireland on 01/06/1976 and fitted with a 1976 model year UK Sport package - whale & chin spoilers, 15" Fuchs, and a sunroof. Everything, down to the last detail, looked exactly as it should, and Larry was, to say the least, delighted with his purchase.

The first job up was to give the Carrera a major service but even before that the five-bladed 3.0 engine still purred like new. The 915 five speed gearbox was still nice and tight but, like all of its kind, remained a little awkward to use quickly. Larry soon got the hang of it though and was rewarded for his perseverance by discovering the Carrera 3.0's trademark power surge at 4000rpm - a third gear performance that once experienced is never forgotten.

Since he bought it Larry's Guards Red beauty hasn't missed a beat. Recently, he drove the C3 to the Silverstone Classic (where we were lucky enough to have a good look at it) and back, a round trip of 1200 miles during which man and Carrera truly bonded - the 911 was, he enthuses, a delight to drive round Scotland's twisty roads.

Back home across the Irish Sea, Larry's accountant let out a loud groan when those 1200 miles were mentioned but Larry bought the car to use and enjoy and it was fantastic to see it in the flesh at Silverstone. Many of us of a certain age have long since forgotten the smells and textures of a motoring decade long gone, but the 1970s came flooding back as we sat in the pristine cockpit of this time warp Carrera and admired everything about it - the wonderful paintwork, the brand new seats (with their Tartan cloth) and the unmarked interior.

Adjectives can't describe this superb motor car or explain the feelings it generates when you sit in it. It was in the 1970s that the Rolling Stones famously sang that 'time waits for no-one' but here is a Carrera 3.0 where time has, literally, stood still. Parked amongst other classic marques at Silverstone, the car looked almost new, indistinguishable from the later 911s parked nearby - a true classic but one that looked and felt like it was made only a few months ago...