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don't want to be a wet blanket but the air-cooled market at this point in time is nuts. Note some earlier comments: absurd. I agree. Perhaps I'm sour grapes, I was looking to get back in an air-cooled car. Sixty-thousand mile, seventy-thousand mile G50 coupes are in the $70K or more range, 2 years ago I sold an '87 Coupe in excellent condition with 110K miles for $50K... And a 964 with 98,000 miles also in excellent condition I've seen on the market a few weeks ago for $85K. I bailed, can't afford it, as much as I love these cars I can't justify the money and I'm not a wrencher, if you are that's a big plus. I don't buy cars as investments and wouldn't expect to make money on a purchase but I wouldn't want to lose a boatload of money. As I see it there is little chance and $80K G50 coupe will bring anything close $80K 5-7 years from now. It's too high a hurdle. If I was feeling lucking and had $50-60K I'd go '83 SC coupe. Hopefully one with the major issues already addressed.
My vote is an older rust free long hood, pre 1973 all have their subtleties, but they are gorgeous, engaging, and fairly simple in terms of understanding them and their systems. With that said, they aren’t cheap, and are all a project.
I didn’t see it mentioned, but early911registry is a great spot to learn about these cars as well!
I didn’t see it mentioned, but early911registry is a great spot to learn about these cars as well!
I ran across that site yesterday, good resource. Those guys seem to track the sale of every early 911. Its interesting when they post previous ads from years ago for cars that are for sale now.
Grgallo's pessimism is somewhat correct, but there are still exceptions. 964 coupes may be going for $60-80K, but you can buy 964 targas and cabriolets all day long for under $40K.
I didn't want a targa (who does?) but one was being sold by a family friend at a good price, so I made an impulse buy. And you know, I've had a blast with it. I mean c'mon, how many of us are buying 30-year-old cars for track purposes where we have to have a hardtop? Yeah, I can feel and hear the chassis flexing around me in my targa in comparison to my coupe. But if someone else is faster through the canyons, it's not because of that slight loss in torsional rigidity or excess weight. In the meantime I've had the pleasure of open top motoring.
don't want to be a wet blanket but the air-cooled market at this point in time is nuts. Note some earlier comments: absurd. I agree. Perhaps I'm sour grapes, I was looking to get back in an air-cooled car. Sixty-thousand mile, seventy-thousand mile G50 coupes are in the $70K or more range, 2 years ago I sold an '87 Coupe in excellent condition with 110K miles for $50K... And a 964 with 98,000 miles also in excellent condition I've seen on the market a few weeks ago for $85K. I bailed, can't afford it, as much as I love these cars I can't justify the money and I'm not a wrencher, if you are that's a big plus. I don't buy cars as investments and wouldn't expect to make money on a purchase but I wouldn't want to lose a boatload of money. As I see it there is little chance and $80K G50 coupe will bring anything close $80K 5-7 years from now. It's too high a hurdle. If I was feeling lucking and had $50-60K I'd go '83 SC coupe. Hopefully one with the major issues already addressed.
Grgallo's pessimism is somewhat correct, but there are still exceptions. 964 coupes may be going for $60-80K, but you can buy 964 targas and cabriolets all day long for under $40K.
I didn't want a targa (who does?) but one was being sold by a family friend at a good price, so I made an impulse buy. And you know, I've had a blast with it. I mean c'mon, how many of us are buying 30-year-old cars for track purposes where we have to have a hardtop? Yeah, I can feel and hear the chassis flexing around me in my targa in comparison to my coupe. But if someone else is faster through the canyons, it's not because of that slight loss in torsional rigidity or excess weight. In the meantime I've had the pleasure of open top motoring.
show me a 964 targa that doesn’t need a total overhaul for under $40k. Doesn’t exist. Cab gets closer to $40k but market is absolutely nuts now as others have pointed out.
Grgallo's pessimism is somewhat correct, but there are still exceptions. 964 coupes may be going for $60-80K, but you can buy 964 targas and cabriolets all day long for under $40K.
I didn't want a targa (who does?) but one was being sold by a family friend at a good price, so I made an impulse buy. And you know, I've had a blast with it. I mean c'mon, how many of us are buying 30-year-old cars for track purposes where we have to have a hardtop? Yeah, I can feel and hear the chassis flexing around me in my targa in comparison to my coupe. But if someone else is faster through the canyons, it's not because of that slight loss in torsional rigidity or excess weight. In the meantime I've had the pleasure of open top motoring.
Way off on the 964 Targa current market. They are in high demand right now and difficult to find. They start around $50k for anything sorted (5spd) and go up from there.
There was a guy selling a red targa on the Facebook 964 group just last week for $37K (asking). It had something like 67K miles. I bought my car for less than that a little over a year ago. My car had almost 100K miles on it, but the motor was rebuilt at 88K miles by a really well-regarded SoCal shop and was bone dry underneath. My car could use a new clutch (slips a bit under WOT), but still with the price I paid, I'll still come out at less than that price above.
I've kinda watched the 964 targa/cab market since my purchase, and I still see a lot of cars with asking prices less than $40K. Yeah, there was that other car that sold for something like $80K last month (you can see that thread over on the 964 forum), but I think that was a creampuff exception, and not market norm.
I've been a coupe guy. My other/first 911 is a coupe. I wanted a coupe this time around, too. But I purchased a targa for less than half of the going rate for coupes, and I don't think I'm having any less fun from behind the wheel. My point was that if you're jonesing for an air-colled 911, but can't/don't want to stomach that high 5-figure purchase price, there are alternatives that will get you pretty close, but at a lot less cash.
There was a guy selling a red targa on the Facebook 964 group just last week for $37K (asking). It had something like 67K miles. I bought my car for less than that a little over a year ago. My car had almost 100K miles on it, but the motor was rebuilt at 88K miles by a really well-regarded SoCal shop and was bone dry underneath. My car could use a new clutch (slips a bit under WOT), but still with the price I paid, I'll still come out at less than that price above.
I've kinda watched the 964 targa/cab market since my purchase, and I still see a lot of cars with asking prices less than $40K. Yeah, there was that other car that sold for something like $80K last month (you can see that thread over on the 964 forum), but I think that was a creampuff exception, and not market norm.
I've been a coupe guy. My other/first 911 is a coupe. I wanted a coupe this time around, too. But I purchased a targa for less than half of the going rate for coupes, and I don't think I'm having any less fun from behind the wheel. My point was that if you're jonesing for an air-colled 911, but can't/don't want to stomach that high 5-figure purchase price, there are alternatives that will get you pretty close, but at a lot less cash.
Sounds like you scored on your vehicle. If you can find a 964 targa (5spd) under $40k it's either a complete turd or the seller doesn't know the market. Post some links on any decent 964 targas under $40k. Their are a bunch of RLs looking for them right now. Currently the targa vs coupe G50/964s pricing isn't too far apart (sorted examples).
You know, that's a great idea, Bloose. I don't know what the OP's budget is, but let me just toss $40K into the ring. Here are cars that are either under that amount or a little bit over (so maybe persuasive negotiating skills could whittle that down a little closer to $40K). I don't know of any great deals on 964s right now (there's a sketchy looking cab on LA Craigslist right now--I recognize that the pics were taken at Woodley Park in Van Nuys), but just looking at CL and Pelican, in my 5-minute internet search here's what I found for air-cooled 911s:
If I hear of 964 targas/cabs for under $40K, I'll post them up. Note I'm not vouching for any of the sellers (or cars); if someone here knows the seller or car's a turd, please post up on that.
I saw the ad for that sand beige one. It looks pretty nice. I have read that you have to be careful with some of those classic "dealers", like Beverly Hills Car Club. Although a good PPI should help in keeping them honest.
Steveo, I was in your shoes 6 months ago. I had been looking at used 911 ads for 15 years and every year the asking prices were climbing higher and higher for an honest Porsche. Faced with the likelihood that if I don't pull the trigger soon, I may very well be priced out of the market, I got serious about my search. I found my 1979 SC Coupe on the PCA market place in Ohio and negotiated a $30k purchase price from the elderly gent who owned the car for 20 years and just didn't drive it often enough anymore but still made sure to change the oil every year regardless of only putting a couple of hundred miles a year on it. Mostly original and in pretty good cosmetic shape. The transmission had been rebuilt less than 10,000 miles previously but 15 years prior to me ownership. My wife and I flew from Florida to Ohio and drove it home. The car had 120k on the clock and in the 6 months since I purchased it I have added another 7k.
I had no previous mechanical experience but I wanted desperately to learn how to wrench on it and maintain it myself. There are so many on line sources for help and many have been mentioned above in this thread. I have already rebuilt my pedal cluster, replaced and adjusted the clutch cable and performed some regular maintenance on her and what started out as my hobby has become a little bit of an obsession and I couldn't be happier. I choose an SC because I wanted to at least feel like I was driving a performance vehicle and while there are plenty of faster cars on the road, no one is enjoying their car as much as me (except maybe other classic P-Car owners!) It was hands down one of the best decisions I have ever made and if you do your due diligence hand have it checked out, you won't regret it. Good Luck!
01-25-2021 | 07:47 PM
