Emickelsen

I haven't seen anything recently about '83 928 value's, but in it's current condition I can't believe mine is worth more than $6,000 or $7,000 (that may even be a little optimistic). I am constantly working on my car and putting more and more money into it and I feel I am loosing ground. At the end of the day I still have a car with peeling clear coat, fading fenders, paint dings everywhere, and a torn up interior. That's not to mention all mechanical issues. For example the periodic "clunking" noise from the rear end that seems to be getting worse.

I haven't obtained any official estimates (if for no other reason I'm not sure where or who to trust with a paint job, and don't really want a cheap cloth interior done by .......... well ............the locals). However, I would have to guess an average paint job would be four to five thousand dollars, and an average interior would run at least $3,000. More than the standard 80% of the value of the car. Again, not to mention all the other issues.

I'm trying really hard not to loose faith. I love my car and 928's in general. I really can't afford to buy another newer nicer one, and can't justify dumping the money into the one I have.

Just some rantings I guess, but was interested in everyone elses thoughts.

dcrasta

Ahh, the famous clunk, from the passenger side seems to come from somewhere near the shock towers?

I think I have that and I think I know why.

I think its the rear x-member assembly. Its difficult to get the torque values accurately set since the weight of the transmission loads the bolts, and if its on a lift the weight of the suspension can load the bolts. I think the fix for that (if its the one I have heard) is to slightly jack the rear xmember and transmission (preload) and then torque the x-member bolts. Have you tried that ?

Speedtoys

Its a car you enjoy...or an investment you believe will return you a higher value later. Probly more #1 than #2..


Making your car yours..isnt part of a "will it total it" equation.

That's a risk question used by insurers.

kawi825

i feel your pain Emick, i'm in the same boat. 78 euro, low miles, and i've dumped a few thousand into it this year getting the thing running nice/safe. i just blew a slave cylinder in the clutch system, and I now seem to have oil seeping from both sides of the front of the motor, dripping down the entire front of the damned engine. (looks like the seam between the valve covers and the casing behind the timing belt). i was planning on trying to afford paint in the winter/spring, but between these two new issues, i feel like i'm in the same situation. But, man do i hate the color on there now, and all the chips in the chipguard material at the bottom of the doors, etc. i have been looking at some "newer" colors, and i have also been told by some purists not to do that because of value, etc. i know it's all up to you like people always say, but i'm also curious what people think about this

Kiln_Red

I can't speak to the cost of doing the upholstery. As a painter, I can tell you that you have a fair estimate at what the cost of paint would be. You could probably save a large sum on a paint job by taking it apart and putting it back together yourself. Just a thought.

I don't think any exotic car owner can look at current sale numbers to judge how they maintain their car. Forget about the money. If you have the funds and the passion to maintain the car, forget about resale. You probably won't want to sell the car anyway. If you were looking at the car as a business endeavor, you've probably already lost. Sell. Sell. Sell.

If it's your hobby and passion, keep following your dream for the car. The more you put in, the more it seems to pay off in the end. Not monetarily, but better IMO.

M. Requin

^ +1

Barry Chan

There's no real value to a classic car especially if it means something to you.
There's no real value to continue to put money into a car that doesn't mean anything to you.
The real value is the money you spent with a even return or more and that's not a 928

jeff spahn

These cars aren't about how much they are worth in $$. It's how much they are worth in soul.

depami

Tell me about it, one of mine is red.



Remember, these cars are always 10K away from being 5K cars, and that doesn't include paint or upholstery, that probably makes them 20K from a 5K car.

joejoe

I understand your feelings also Emickelsen I bought another '86.5 July 31st, and have put about 4k into it to this point. It is turning out to be a pretty good car, and many of the parts I had on hand for the other '86.5 (but not enough) If it doesn't sell this week will take it to SF. A friend with an '84 REALLY wants it but is wanting me to lower price (I am only asking what I have in it with no labor cost) Sadly the filler neck has developed a leak (must have been replaced because it is plastic, cheap a$$ed piece and has split at seams) so a few more dollars gonna be spent at SF!

LT Texan

I'd sell it and buy another one with a color I like before I re-spayed another color.

I bought mine in clear-coated black. Looked good for a couple years until the clear coat started sheeting off.

Then I was honest with myself and accepted it was re-sprayed from Talbot Yellow (I think - no paint code).

I had a decent good job done on it going with Dark Blue. But dor jams, wheel wells, etc - you've got to spend big bucks to have someone do a great color change.

Charley B

Here's how to look at it.

You can go out and buy a new Chevy or Ford or whatever for $20.000, drive it for five years and it is worth $5,000. People don't think of that as a loss, they think of it as the normal cost of driving a car.

Now, you can go out and buy an old 928 for $5,000 and over the next five years spend $15,000 on repairs and upgrades at which point you have a 928 worth $5,000.

The difference? You got to drive a Porsche for five years instead of a Chevy.

So why do we think of one as the normal cost of car ownership, and the other as a tragic cost and loss of value?

dr bob

Eric--

Welcome to the reason folks buy new cars. It's because it's impossible to justify, on paper, the current costs of keeping an old car new.

The current market reflects the less-than-average condition of the average car you might find on Craigslist or AutoTrader. The market looks at what it might be worth when everything works and it all looks average. That's intact but not show-quality paint, some dings and scratches, a cracked dash, way undermaintaioned driveline and suspension, along with tired but not torn-up interior bits. The you deduct for what doesn't make that standard such as it is.

Your car sold for more new, 30 years ago, than an 'average' car does now. Inflation has decimated the value of the US dollar, so the $3-4k 'market' value of your car, making that $3-4k even more pitiful. So... Want it to look "OK"? Do the stripping and accessory removal yourself, so you know that new paint will be on a relatively solid base. Coordinate with a local painter so you use primers and fillers that his favorite paint products will lay on top of. You can decide whether you want to do door jambs and sills, and how much detail will be handled at any paint edges. Then have your painter do the final sanding and sealing, then shoot the paint and clear for you. You can then do any color sanding and buffing you want to get the gloss the way you want it, put all the removed pieces back, and have a car with a decent finish on it. The bad news? It takes a LOT of time and attention to detail to prep a car for painting. The materials aren't cheap, often several $hundred or more before you get close to top coats. You need a place to work, and plan on being without the car for a few months.

There's a box of sanders in my garage, along with spray guns and other handy stuff if you want to go this route. You'll need a real 5hp air compressor or larger, not a rotary-vane oilless type, a case of sandpaper, plus those primers/fillers/sealers, prep solvents and thinners, masking materials. Then finish stuff for after it's painted. Along the way, you'll decide on things like rubber window seals for all but the windshield, door seals, rocker trim, etc.

Yeah, doing it all yourself is, um, easy! Yeah, that's the ticket, it's all easy!


Blasphemy Alert!!










For many cars, a Maaco Ambassador or President job will do wonders for a few years for not a pile of money. If your car isn't a real candidate for preservation or original class at the concours, it will help keep it at a publicly-acceptable appearance level. It will also highlight the need for some work on the interior, where some good vinyl work and new carpets will oh so dramatically help for less than big dollars.


For the clunk in the rear, start off with easy stuff like bolt torques on suspension pieces. That bottom rod through the shock and control arms needs to be somewhere around 140 lbs/ft (verify the WSM values), and will cause a lot of movement and noise/damage if it isn't that tight. The bottom rod pinches all the floating sleeves in the bushing'd pieces so they won't move relative to one another. If you have wear or galling on that rod, it wasn't tight enough at some point.

NoVector

Like my cross country coach used to say, “you have to run your own race.” Restore it at your own pace and don’t compare it to others.

BTW - restoration amortized over the years is still much cheaper than a new car payment.

dr bob

It's hard to draw that conclusion with average market values that continue to drop. How many years wll it take to justify a serious restoration investment? [Grabs for and squints into a murky 928-market crystal ball...] Unless you see a serious turn in market values sometime in the OP's near-term 928 lifetime, it just doesn't pen out well as an investment. At some point, the market will rise again as all the dogs in the yards are eliminated. So long as people are able to buy those couple-$k dogs, it drags the whole market down for the better cars. Saavy buyers will always appreciate the better cars, but not enough more to reflect the costs of major restoration on the 928. Not yet anyway.


I drive mine and maintain it because I like the exclusivity as well as the driving experience. I can't say that the money spent isn't important, but it's perhaps less important to me than it might be to others. A new almost-anything-common is cheaper by the month or the mile than my 928, looking solely at cash flow numbers. Someone said that people drive new cars because they can't afford to keep their old cars new. It's sadly true. I could easily drive a new Civic or Elantra for less way than it costs me for the 928 just in parts. Roll it over on a new one on lease every couple years, and not even need to pay for tires or brakes. Perhaps more reliable than the 928, OK to park it at the airport for a week, wash it when I get around to it, etc. Oh yeah, that's gonna happen any day now.