911Dave

How about a 996 turbo or really nice 944 turbo? Both can be excellent daily drivers and modded pretty easily to add 100+ hp.

If you're dead set on an air cooled 911, you can get a decent one like I mentioned earlier, but you will need some money in reserve to handle deferred maintenance that such a car will surely need. Also the paint or interior will probably show significant wear that may not be seen in pictures.

Imola74

Thanks. This is a great thread and funny enough I had read through it before I posted this...I just completely forgot! Have you found a car yet? Did you test drive any of the types you were looking at?

Would you mind going into some detail on what you spent the $8.9k on? Did you get a PPI on the car you bought, and knew you'd end up spending the money?

AG81

No PP.I. I flew to see the car personally and have enough experience to make an informed decision.
Just a general refresh including....................... Pads, rotors, struts, shocks, tires, a/c over haul including most major components (not sure why I did this should have deleted), fuel lines, cam oil lines, sway bar bracket repairs, battery, alternator (that one was discovered during disassembly due to a hack job by PO or their mechanic) Some of this was unneeded. Just stuff I wanted to get done to make it more of my liking.

That doesn't include wheels I had built, front lower air dam changes, paint refresh, engine cleaning and a major interior change and frunk cleanup.

https://rennlist.com/forums/911-foru...law-build.html

Imola74

This seems entirely reasonable in my eyes. I get that these cars are vintage and will need their fair share of fixing. I operated a vintage airplane for a year non stop recently, so I kinda get it- stuff breaks and needs replacing. Dealing with FAA cert. everything is dizzying not to mention extremely expensive. The P car is cheap in my eyes! Having said that, buying quality from the beginning plays a huge role of course.

Imola74

Very beautiful car BTW! I looked though your build thread a few days ago, gave me some great ideas for the future/inevitable restoration.

ksluna

I have not found a car yet, but I did test drive. I'm set on a 3.2, though. I am coming from an honda s2000 and while a totally different car, I wanted something that can replace that raw driving feel and the 3.2 offers that. I am fine with a 915 or a G50, though I've noticed G50s are usually 55K+ for decent models.

I look every day, and it seems like 993s are actually easier to find now.

It depends on what you want in the car. The 993 felt like a modern car to be honest. The cabin was nice and quiet, and it was smooth. the 3.2 was visceral and was like an s2000 on steroids. I could not daily a s2000 so there is no way I could daily a 3.2 even if it was a G50. Maybe some people can, but the car is stiff and rough which makes it really fun for a weekend car but not so much doing daily duties. Also, keep in mind that while the 3.2 is easier to work on, the 993 does not need valve adjustments and in my opinion has a very large community and lots of parts availability.

I think if I could put it this way:

3.2 Fun factor: 10/10
3.2 Daily Drivability: 3/10 (there could be worse)

993 fun factor: 7.5/10
993 Daily Drivability: 9/10

AG81

^
Thank you.

^
I think you have done your research and I agree with you on this........ It is a great weekend car. I would not want to daily drive mine.

Imola74

This is really great insight, thank you!

Another characteristic of the 993 that makes it appealing, which was mentioned above, is that is has more performance potential with RS-like mods

dinnyin

I understand where you're coming from. I also went from an s2000 (AP1) that I dailied for 10 years into a G50 Targa. Its not technically my daily, but I do drive it a lot (most of the time). I also have an STI wagon for hot or wet weather, hardware store runs, etc. Having an alternative made the G50 over 993 decision easy for me. It's only if I were going from *can drive it most of the time" to "must drive it all the time" that would make me reconsider a 993.

I also went on the more "budget" side of the g50 spectrum and put $~5k (fuel lines, tires, valve adj, clutch pdeal rebuild, etc.) into it immediately. Super happy with it.

ksluna

Yes, to the OP, if you are going to be driving this most of the time, the 993 is your best bet. If you have a dedicated daily and drive the 911 sparingly, I think the G50 or 3.2 would be the better option.

raspritz

Not to start a flame war, but I do have a quibble about the jargon used in this and a number of similar threads. Even after a decade on this site I continue to find the Rennlist "G50" jargon puzzling; I have never seen it used anywhere else. Porsche never built any car model with either the public or internal designation "G50". G50 denotes a class of Porsche transmissions introduced for the MY1987 Carrera 3.2, which transmission was designated G50/00. Over the years the "G50" transmission saw many changes and subtype re-designations, and was put into many different Porsche models, through the 964 era and finally to the 993, which received the G50/21 and G50/G64 transmissions. So, if you denote car models by their transmissions (which seems bizarre), the 993 technically is a "G50".

grgallo

great point(s) I think what's happened is the first intro of the G50, MY1987 Carrera 3.2, made it into the lexicon because it was the initial/new/first change (upgrade) from earlier transmissions. I have seen it used elsewhere not just RL

Bloose993TT

For $45k max you can get yourself a really nice sorted Cab 993 or 87-89 Carrera (Targa also on the G Series). The coupes are usually a 20% premium at least over the cabs. You definitely have to drive them both since they are very different drives. If you need power steering and decent AC you'll probably side with the 993. Don't get hung up on mileage when looking for these cars also. As I always say condition, condition, condition when to comes to buying an air-cooled 911.

911Dave

You're right of course. The main reason we say G50 is to distinguish between the 911s with a 915 and those with the G50. It's just easier than saying 87-89 Carrera. The later cars are easily identified by their internal numbers 964, 993, etc. But everything that came before '89 was a 911 and came with 901, 911 and G50 transmissions. It's become so common to refer to 87-89 as "G50" that at this point pretty much everyone knows what it means and the convention has been adopted.

dinnyin

Huh, didn't know that re: 993 G50. So, we should say G50 3.2 or just 87-89 911?