PlantMan

O.K. the water feels fine and I am about to go swimming in the 911 pool!!!

I have been looking lately for the right car (stupid to say, who wants the wrong car) between 78-89.

The real question for everyone is is how important is original ownership of a car when considering a vehicle (i.e. 1 owner, 2 owner, 3 owner) or do you worry about it at all? Of course the quality of the vehicle is important as well, that goes without saying.

I get the feeling, when looking at a car with a history of many owners, that there is something missing like skeletons in the closet (or glove box).

Maybe I am putting to much thought into this subject and should let the PPI speak for itself.

Maybe this is more of a general discussion item, let me know.

Thanks for your input!

mck911

I would say the PPI, from a shop very familiar with these cars, is the most important piece of information you can have along with service history. Number of owners would fall waaaayyyy down the list for me.

w00tPORSCHE

I agree with mck911: PPI and service history is the most important. If the owner (does not matter first or fifth owner) has a service manual filled with dealer stamps for each oil change and maintains a big folder for reciepts then that tells you a lot about how meticulous they were in caring for the car. How else do you think one would see cars with rebuilt gearboxes, engines at 80K miles on one hand and original engine/gearbox even with 130K miles on it on the other. You sometimes see ads stating rebuilt engine at 70K miles which is "typical for these cars". I don't think so. If the past owners were PCA members or longtime RL or pelican members then that is a big plus in my opinion. Have someone who knows how the car should drive and shift do the inspection. There are also wrong ways to do a leakdown/compression which can cause false negative readings so be careful here too. Read Pete Z's book and spend a lot of time here reading prior posts. Members here are very knowledgable and helpful. They can spot a bad lemon and on the other hand can identify a true gem in a jiffy. They knew what was the right car for me to get into way sooner than I ever did.

ivangene

well you have narrowed it right down there (78-89?)

I would suggest really pinning down what you are looking for as each year has its own set of things to evaluate (engine, transmission, ect)
Task some drives in several cars, and do some reading.....

as for the original Q: service records are a big deal... My 86' has records back to day (1) That tells me a lot about the car more than how many people owned it....

dshepp806

I sure hope that "dealer stamps" don't ever become an issue with my car on resale.....I do my own oil changes (religiously at 3K) and annotate in my (extensive, thorough) spreadsheet. Should some say this is an issue (of sorts), then I will gladly bid them farewell.

Best,

Doyle

theiceman

yeah I don't sweat number of owners either .. given how long these cars have been around they arebound to have multiple owners.. i laugh when i keep seeing "1 owner car" ads.
I would rather have 3 owners that take are of the car than one owner who is a hack .. besides, cars show many owners these days just by the transaction of them moving around through holding and leasing companies for example ,, not a big deal .

ivangene

there is a ruled piece of paper in my binder with hand written in date and miles for oil changes, goes back to the original owner and I am making sure to keep it up... for me its a great way not to clutter the "service work" with the regular things and saves some amount of paper as i dont need to see reciept for oil over and over.... i guess its a trust or "honor system" but if you looked at the paper you can tell it is legit

My 996 had major service records but some gaps and holes and no real maintenance records, a lot of potential buyers were very put off by that and woould just walk away..... well that and the miles and accident history

w00tPORSCHE

Doyle, why would that be an issue. I meant the stamps on the book when the car was new and still maintained by the dealer. I do not think anybody would and should have any objections to a car of this age (and with that simplistic of a design that is DIY friendly) being serviced by the owner himself. I would love to assume guardianship of your '89 coupe in a heartbeat. So I hope I clarified my position here. To the OP this thread may help you

https://rennlist.com/forums/911-foru...ar-for-me.html

This was back when I was in search of a Carrera 3.2...not too long ago.

ivangene

yup, and after me telling him not to buy one... he did anyway and turned out to be a great move for him..... shows ya what I know

w00tPORSCHE

Ed, you told me not to buy it. You also did one more thing that day...let me drive your beautiful car and trust me that truly was the moment I decided to have a 3.2 carrera in my garage. Now if you were within 10 minutes drive from my home, I may have decided otherwise.

ivangene

AND - had I not picked such a road

ofishbein

I also seem to see a lot of cars advertised as "celebrity owned". Unless it was owned by Jay Leno or someone else well-known as a gearhead, I would run from those too.

theiceman

didn't that guy from 90210 own a Porsche ?? .. till he crashed it !!! fancied himself as a racecar drive

race911

Yeah, back in the day when 70K meant 5-6 years from new it kinda was. A puked chain tensioner meant a full top end from anyone reputable. I've done engines with as little as 15K from new. 30-50K was the wheelhouse for it happening. (We're not talking 2.7L engines here, but if a tensioner didn't get you the pulling studs would on most of those.) Obviously, not so applicable to the 3.2L cars, unless you had an oil consumption issue in that mileage range.

Ed Hughes

Quality of owner(s), not quantity.

On celebrity, my buddy bought a 928 previously owned by Charlie Sheen. He vacuumed it and cleaned it out extensively when he got it home.