rllevin

I've reached an agreement on a US 1983 911 SC Targa. I'm buying from the original owner and the sales aggreement, window sticker and most of the documentation are available, especially the more recent stuff. The car has 46.000 miles, is in very nice shape, glossy gold over brown, but has no updates (original tensioners, clutch, studs and no pop-off). We've settled on $14.000. Assuming a good PPI is this reasonable, a steal or should I run? It obviously seems a good deal to me but 911 values seem to be all over the lot right now and SC's seem to have started seriously lagging Carreras. My original intent was to try to find a carrera at this price, not pristine but good condition and under 90K miles which should be doable with patience, but the milage and condition seem exceptional on this car. I'd appreciate some input--or perhaps just some handholding.
thanks
Russell

Paul K

I think for 46k miles, IF a ppi shows no problems, is a good deal. But I'm sure others with a lot more knowledge than I will chime in. Can you post some pictures? Have you posted on the pelican board?

Hope it works out!

Paul.

Gary R.

Seems like a lot to me considering you will need to install the new tensioners and it's a targa. Low mileage is a double edged sword on such an old car, may be it was run every week or so or maybe it was stored for a long time and MANY seals/bushings are shot. A PPI including a head stud check is mandatory. I suppose if nothing is leaking and the PPI is 100% it may be a good car, but unless you have at least $5K banked for the soon to be required "updates" I would pass and get a car that has been sorted with a few more miles..

rllevin

Forgot to mention that it's been garaged it's whole life.

Rotten Robby

Tensioners are the least of your potential problems. Head studs are waiting to bite your tail. Not that they wouldn't be on another 911 but 50 or 60K seemed to be the service life of the original ones.

fixnprsh

like stated above, low mileage isn't always good, and needing upgrades, eh, the headstuds won't always need to be replaced, but upgrades tensioners and other bits will need to be done.

An original one owner car is hard to find, let alone with low mileage, great shape and all the documentation. Is just up to you if you wanna pay to own a car like that. Documentaion and original owner aside, it won't drive as nice as a well sorted SC from a person in the know.

Look on Pelican, there are several nice SC's that have proper upgrades and see what they are going for and see if you want to spend some more cash on that original car, or buy one that might not be, but is a nice well sorted car, afterall its your garage and bank account not anyone elses

Here are a couple

#1
#2

Paul K

Or this one...

http://www.lumpocole.com/doug/1978911sc/For%20Sale.html

Jay H

Russell,

The key to your question on whether or not $14k is worth it for this car is what is your intention for this 911? Do you want to concours/show it, track it, drive it daily or just have fun weekend toy?

Being a concours guy, I'd snap it up in about 2 seconds at $14k if it had it's original paint and interior in good condition and I wanted to concours (show) the car. Original window sticker and other original paperwork is very rare. These cars are only original once and I'd pay the price for this car. Who cares about the clutch and other mechanical stuff. That all can be fixed and you're never gonna have the clutch judged for originality.

However, if you want it as a daily driver, it may not be the best choice if the car has been sitting a lot and has not been maintained correctly. Cars that sit still need their brake fluid flushed, rubber parts replaced just due to age, etc. etc. Once you start driving a car that has been sitting, a lot of skeletons can come out of the closet (i.e. you may need lots of repair funds). These things need regular exercise to keep everything in working order. If records can prove that it's been run once a month or so to heat things up, it may be just fine.

If you want a car to track, why not find a more 'used' 911 that has more updates? Why ruin a nice original car on the track?

I don't think $14k is all that much for a nice SC that has extremely low mileage for its age IF everything else is nice. Again, these cars are only original once and it might be worth $14k to you for that original 26 year old paint and interior materials. I bet one of the high end dealers in the country would snap this thing up for close to $14k and then mark it up to $19,900 and sell for $18k... There are specific people out there that value this ultra low mileage type of car.

Good Luck,

Jay
90 964, 84 3.2

Daniel Dudley

If the car doesn't leave puddles, if the syncros are good and you feel comfortable with the shifting, and the car doesn't smoke at startup or under hard acceleration or decceleration, then by all means get a PPI.

If it pans out, it could be a great car. Most of the stuff that gets done on these cars comes in at 60K or more. The question is, are you going to feel cheated if you don't hold out for a later car ?

Group911@aol.com

The SC is the workhorse of the 911 line. I've seen several with over 400k miles and I wouldn't hesitate on this one with 46k. There are plenty of 911's running around without all the updates but the tensioners make the most sense in dollars. If you get it inspected and the headstuds and clutch are good now, it makes no sense to change them before they go bad. That would be like pulling all your teeth now just because they may go bad someday! Paying $14k for a car that has a lot of years and miles left in it makes plenty of sense.

Luus

OMG! Do you know how hard it is to find one of these cars for sale by an original owner and with all that documetation? I would snap this car up in a second. The updates are no biggie and you can have them done easily enough.
If an SC is what you want then this car sounds great

IslandmanPA

Sounds like a deal to me! Grab it!

Edward

Yes, low miles are a valid concern, so pay close attention to your PPI guy (and make sure he's a verrry qualified 911 guy).

That said, if it's in the cosmetic condition that you desire and color/body is what you want, then that is a very fair price, even with the necessary updates needed. Do NOT believe the hype that there are great SCs out there for $12K or so ...I'm looked, and looked, and looked ...*everythng* I saw in that price range either was grossly oversold on the phone in conversation (damn waste of time these sellers), had other looming problems, or were just abused/neglected hunks of steel. The reality is that if the car checks out with PPI and passes your discerning eye, it IS a bargain IF it is the car you want.

Oh, and BTW, carrera tensioners are no big deal ...not too pricey and even less so if you DIY; if you have no broken studs now, then you're totally fine until one lets go so you can budget for that later; and forget the pop off ...it's a band aid for an ill-tuned CIS.

Edward

Jay H

My brother's SC went 110,000 miles before he had the old style tensioners replaced. When they came out, they still were functioning fine.

I believe there were two versions of the 'old style' tensioners and the lastest version was pretty robust for what they were. Of course the Carrera tensioners are preferred, but on this car in question in this thread, I wouldn't worry about it much...

andrew911

Seems to me this is mis-guided input. The 3.0 didn't have head stud problems in 50-60K miles....many of the 3.0s have well over 200K miles with no issues.