HereIam

Hey guys. I'm on my way to getting air-cooled 911, and am busily putting together a chunk of cash to throw down. Along the way I came across a potential opportunity.

My sister's friend offered to sell me his 97 Boxster for $5000, and I'm trying to decide if this is a good car to enjoy for a bit, fix a handful of cosmetic issues, and resell for a bit more. I'm waiting on pictures, and will post them when they come. I haven't seen the car yet myself yet, but he describes it as Kelley Blue Book would describe as "good condition" (as opposed to excellent or very good).

Here's what I can tell you. Tell me if you think it'd a good idea, for $5000.
I'd be doing minor cosmetic repair and detailing it over the winter, then listing it in the Spring/summer.

1. Limited records. He's an honest guy, I know the car is in good shape now, and I have a verbal description of all repairs...but I won't have a stack of paper to pass to the next guy.

2. rear tail light and bumper was pushed in, but he fixed it himself by popping the bumper back out. He says it's "barely noticeable" and "the tail light might be slightly more pushed in on that side."

3. Top was replaced, but says window is getting a bit icky

4. Mesh that goes in the roll bars is missing

5. Plastic wind shield (behind the seats) has some scratches

6. plastic undercarriage are missing

7. front ground effect piece has some scraping

8. has not had the engine rebuilt...potential bearing catastrophe rebuild.

9. says car loses some water, can get a little hot on hot days, and he keeps close tabs on levels.

10. He replaced the *** part of the seats, but not the backs. The backs are good, but the driver's seat is losing a bit of stitching in the center of the back.

herve_g

Wait for pics, ask for a PPI, then decide.
I'd usually recommend against trusting the seller. It's good that he disclosed there was an accident, but I find that most sellers see things better than they really are.

At the very least you should have to consider that you'll have to fix:
- back end that sounds like it still needs repairs
- water pump would me my first culprit for the leak
- IMS ?

The rest is not a must but would be nice to fix. The deflector / mesh can be found quite easily.
Good luck

Macster

You are looking at spending a bit of money to bring the car into a better condition. I doubt you'll get your money back when you go to sell the car.

Assigning the car a good condition classification with the issues you mention is being quite optimistic but sellers are like that.

The car can have the best records in the world and still be crap. The car needs to be given a thorough used car check out and road test and then a PPI.

Rear bumper cover and paint can run close to $1000. Rear tail light housing could run nearly $500. Could be damage under the bumper cover, too. That comment "the tail light might be slightly pushed in on that side" is the key.

New plastic rear window can run $600/$700 to replace, provided the rest of the top is in good shape.

A new factory top can be ordered and installed if someone knows his top repair or has access to a good DIY. There's one or two of these around but I can't put my hands on the links.

The interior pieces, mesh, what have you no real big deal.

Plastic underbody pieces need to be replaced. These play a critical role in air flow control and protecting the softer parts (A/C lines, etc.) from damage from road debris.

You could be looking at some expense to buy these parts.

You probably will have a better chance of selling the car if you fit an IMSB upgrade. Price this.

Losing water is bad. This means pressure not being maintained and the engine could have suffered from localized overheating. This can lead to a cracked head.

This alone would cause me to walk away.

The seats can be addressed by a good upholstery shop, which would also sew in a new rear window.

You have to look at what you will pay for the car, then what it will cost you to address the issues above, and what the car then would sell for.

Roughly you are looking at several thousand dollars to address all the issues, and frankly I think this "estimate" is low. It could very well climb to $3K or higher depending upon what else turns up or what services are due.

My opinion is unless you get the car for nearly free, this car will be a money loser for you and it could be a total loss if the engine's water/coolant leak proves to be something more than a leaking radiator or water pump. Even if it is just one of these, these are not cheap to fix.

diveroger

I must agree with Macster on his input. It sounds to me that you could put another $5K in the car and really not come out ahead. If you had you mind set on a 911, you might want to keep looking for what you really want.

HereIam

Thanks guys. Not the answer I wanted to hear, but important to hear. I'm also considering keeping the car and modifying it into a modest track car. I've been discussing this point here:

https://rennlist.com/forums/boxster-...the-cheap.html

The thing is...I want a collector car, a queen to keep my cherry 61 Beetle company. But I also want a road warrior, and want to really learn how to drive. I've been around these cars my whole life and had a couple myself, but I've never really gotten to experience what these cars can do.

mikefocke

Sounds to me waiting and finding a good car with more miles and more cost would be a better idea.

As mark says, the "loses water" would have to be resolved before I'd touch the car as anything but a $3k roller (a roller is a car that needs to be rolled onto a transporter because it has a major engine issue).

Macster

Drop "modest" from your vocabulary when taking about track cars.

Track cars have to meet safety requirements.

They need to be in tip top shape mechanically. No leaks. No missing underbody panels, etc.

They need constant attention to keep them in tip top shape.

IOWs, even if you buy the car for the track you will still leave to address some of the issues the car has and then you will have to bring the car up to whatever standards/rules/regulations the track requires and whatever class you run in requires.

You can do this piecemeal which means almost certainly every track event will be cut short as a wheel bearing gets noisy, pads wear out or the brakes get spongy because the fluid's due to be changed, or the tires crap out, or the engine over heats, or the engine misfires because the plugs are past due and so on.

Or you can be be proactive and throw nearly a ton of money at the car and go to the track with the car in as good as shape as you can have it so you can spend all day on the track enjoying the car.

'course afterwards you get to spend a goodly amount of time going over the car. I forget the ratio of track time to wrenching time but I would hazard a guess it is 1: 5 at least. For every hour on the track you spend 5 hours wrenching on the car between track days.

BTW, the car will be no collector car if you modify it for the track. It won't be a collector car even if you do not modify it for the track unless someone finds it in a barn long after you have shuffled off this mortal coil.