RENN GTS

Am I making a huge mistake? I want to start my first business and am justifying the decision by shooting to replace it with a nicer one in the future....but I also just fully restored mine.

Being an adult sucks

FormulaRX

Year? History? Condition? C2/C4? Post a few pics. It's your decision. You have to do what you feel is best. Sometimes we're faced with difficult decisions but you gotta let go of one thing to gain another. Who knows...when your business becomes successful later, you can maybe buy two or more 964s!

creaturecat

go for it. you have a good business plan, yes?

Matt Andrews

Its been 90 minutes. Do you think his pm box is filled to the max yet? haha

People will say this is ridiculous, but its just a car. I love mine, but I have loved many cars. Investing in your future seems to make a good deal of sense. Or you could leverage other assets and always know you can sell your 964 if you get into a pinch...

kwikit356

There is no easy answer to your question. The inflated values of the air-cooled 911 market have not dropped precipitously, but at least there seems to be a current calm, at least after the Scottsdale auctions.

Having said that, here is a look at my history: sold '61 356B Roadster for $29.5k in 1999; sold '70 911T coupe same year for $15k; sold '73 911T targa for $17k in 2001. The 356 went to Belgium. I had completely restored it. A nearly perfect car. The owner before me had restored the '70T coupe. It had 49k miles when I sold it. The '73T targa was totally original, with about 56k miles. I sold these three cars to stay afloat financially after a heart attack prevented me from working very much for a year. I did keep a '64 356C coupe because I had not started any restoration on that one.

Today, there are more options for you to consider. In addition to selling your 964 you can probably take a very long term note on it (as long as 12 years, if I recall correctly). Taking a long-term loan would likely generate nearly as much cash as a sale, while you would be retaining a likely appreciating investment. This raises more questions for you to attempt to answer: Does your car need an additional cash infusion to bring it to the level where you would like to see it? How do you feel about the air-cooled Porsche market going forward? Is this 964 the one you would like to keep forever, or is it a nice driver that's a good car (which you have restored), but not the one you would never sell? Also, depending on your current age, if you have a 911 to keep forever, the investment value is meaningless for you except as an asset to convey to your heirs (who can sell it for cash to do whatever they want).

Of course, if your business really takes off, there will always be 964 coupes available, even if they are selling for multiples of current values. Perhaps the bottom line has to be the level of love you have for this particular car. For me, that level of love was focused on the '73 targa, the other two not so much. One last thought: if you keep the car and take a loan on it you will have more time to evaluate the need to sell it as your business evolves. If the note on the car becomes more of a burden than you are comfortable with going forward, sell it then. My gut feeling is that the air-cooled 911 market has cooled off for many reasons, including, but not limited to, investors/buyers sense of the US/world economic indicators, too many 911s flooding the market (not all of which are as intrinsically as good as current prices are dictating), and a finite number of real enthusiasts who are the long-term arbiters of regular 911 values. I have always thought that there are investors, enthusiasts, and investor/enthusiasts. The straight investors seem to always want the special low volume cars. When those become uncomfortably priced, the investors move down a notch (an example could be the '73 RS vs. the '73 911S). Most 964s are not straight investor type cars, but they are very good 911s and there were not that many produced.

The above is just my opinion. I once went without any 911 for twenty-five years. That was not my plan, but stuff kept happening to prolong the agony. You most definitely do not want that to happen. Being an adult can suck; being without a 911 to drive will create a hunger you do not want to experience. People who say it's just a car do not have 911s in their blood. Maybe they're fortunate. I'd rather live with this disease, disorder, obsession, whatever. At least I know myself. When I wake up in the morning I need two fixes: strong coffee and a flat six to drive. Beyond that, I really don't care a whole lot.

One last thought. There are many Rennlisters who probably want your car. Best of luck in making the best decision you can, for yourself!

NoSub Dan

I hear you...my dad had a stroke a year ago and lives with my wife and I now. I'm thinking of selling mine to get a bigger house. That will be a sad AND a happy day. I've had 6 P-cars so far and I'm sure it won't be my last.

RENN GTS

Thanks for the feedback guys.

Im taking the big boy leap of faith (at 26) and going to make the right decision, and sell the bastard.

Feel free to PM me if you already haven't.

JG 996T

It's a bastard!?! Worthless - just kidding! Good luck

EdwardB

Unless it's a piece of crap, has significant damage history or has numerourous non-reversible gaudy mods, I'd hang onto it.

10 years from now when everyone is driving around in self-steering, self-parking, self-braking, self-accelerating, self-wipe my a$$, zero emission electric cars (don't we have those now - I wrote a similar post 10 years ago!) and you're hauling your kids to soccer in the Dodge Caravan, one of your kids is going to see an old 964 blast by and say Wow look at that! What kind of car is that dad? You're going to tell him you use to have one.

At first your kids will say wow you're so cool, then they'll ask you where it is and you'll say you sold it years ago. Not so cool.

My 2 cents

Ed
1987 Carrera (future car for 6 yo #1)
2012 C4GTS (future car for 6 yo #2)

rsabeebe

i literally 'saw' this as a porsche ad in my head.

add a little more detail, elaborate on the scenes, and email off to porsche with an invoice for your services. you should receive a check in return or you'll see a similar commercial in, oh, about 10 years...

RallyeChris

I sold my E30 M3 when I was 26-27. About 9 years ago. I just had my first child. I wasn't driving the car much. Well, I sure wish I still had her. I was scared then. Young, new child, unknown future and all that...

I didn't need to sell, but thought it was the right thing to do at the time. I had that car for 3 years. I put 30,000 miles on her. Sold for $1.00 more than I had paid. I managed just fine despite selling the car, but the car was gone. Sure wish I had held onto her. Got am email from the chap that bought her with a current pic about a week ago. Reinforced my regret for selling.

rsabeebe

i sold my e30 M3 to help buy a house. 61k miles, lachssilber/gray and rare glass sunroof, perfect condition and all stock.

I sold my RS America to help buy the next house. 31k miles, 3 option car, black/black and perfect.

I sold my e36 M3 LTW to help buy the same house as the RSA. 27k miles, extended wing and front splitter in place, beautiful.

I sold my '67 GTO convertible in college because of lack of storage.

The first three all went to people I knew without any ads. I don't regret any of those sales... at all, really!

RallyeChris

Ugh. How long ago did you sell?

BHMav8r

Tell us about your business start up . . .

DTMLGND

Tough decision I'm sure. No guarantees the business will flourish enough to buy nicer one in the future, but then again you never know until you try.
I'm sure your decision is based on seeking a better future for you and your family and if there's not much else to cash out, I can't blame you for selling. my 2 cents FWIW.

Good Luck in your decision.

My, my, my...

I'll bet there's dozens on this group that can attest to what you just stated.

Sold my '72 T bc I needed bigger car to take 3 growing kids to school
Got the E30 M3 for more room the very next day, held for a few years and sold it to pay some debt
Got back into a 964(just before the boom) bc I couldn't get back into an early 911.

Don't remember why I sold my '64 VW 21W Microbus Deluxe or '73 Tii in the mid-90's