mos60n

Hi everyone,

I'm a new member/first time poster to rennlist and new to porsche in general. I've been a lurker and have bounced between this forum and the 997 gt3 forum for some time now.

I am interested in purchasing a 911 3.2 1984-1989 and was wondering what resources (other than the rennlist forums) were available that I could use to help educate myself further on the 911s of this vintage. I'd also like to take this opportunity to ask some specific questions regarding the 3.2s:

1. What is considered high mileage? 100k+?
2. If there has been engine work i.e. rebuilt, is this considered bad and how much impact does that have on price/value of car?
3. Rust? What to look for?
4. Where can I get a better idea of current market value? (aside from ebay prices/rennlist classifieds) Seems like current prices are anywhere between $20-50k+ depending of quality of example.
5. If I am considering buying a car out of state, what is the best way to have a PPI done? Would I simply arrange for the seller to bring the car into a shop of my choosing?
6. I've noticed a number of examples that have the whale tail, but don't have the m491 option listed. Was the tail a factory option or can I assume that it was installed aftermarket?
7. Lastly, for those who live in Northern CA, anyone have experience with Deutsche Motorsport in Concord or Kahler's in Dublin? I found these on a rennlist forum search.

Any help or advice would be greatly appreciated and I apologize for such a long post. Thank you for any and all feedback.

upier

Hello and welcome. Good questions. A couple of quick thoughts. I don't think Millar over 100k is bad. The 3.2l motor can do over 200k. It all depends on how the car had been cared for. A rebuild is not bad. It depends on why, what was done and who did the work. On the tail, there are two types of tail in those years. There is the carrera trail and the turbo whale tail. Both are large and could be factory or after market. The M491 option is fort the turbo wide body look/kit. Includes the big turbo brakes and the whale tail. I'm sure you will get more information soon.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Rennlist Forums

Salty Springs

mos
My car has over 200k and runs and looks much younger/the top end was done at 100k.So high miles didn't scare me away.As for rust take a good look at the battery area/make sure you get the car on a lift.Many of these cars rusted around the front suspension mount from battery acid.
Good Luck
Dave

SoCalRayRay

Welcome...on the out of state cars make sure it isn't a gray market/euro import. From what I have been told, unless it has been registered in CA at some point it will be next to impossible to get it registered now. I almost bought a gray market 930 and really glad that I didn't.

oprevot

Hello and welcome.
100+ K miles is nothing for a 25/30 year old 3.2 car. My 3.2 has 150K miles and the engine is in tip top condition. My mechanic told me that I could probably get to 250K miles if I keep up with the maintenance the way I do it.
What's important is to get a car with a comprehensive service history. I am not saying you should look for a car that has all the books and records since new, that would unrealistic. If you can get service records for the past 10 years, that would be great.

oprevot

I forgot. Prices on those cars is all over the place. Typically, coupes are more expensive than targas and convertibles. A 87' to 89' car with the G50 tranny costs more than one with the 915 transmission. The thing to remember is that there is no bad year. Those 911's are famous for being bulletproof. I am not saying they don't break down, but it is fairly rare. There isn't a lot of electronics, so maintenance is relatively easy.

Good luck!

mos60n

Thanks everyone for the great advice. Please keep them coming. I forgot to mention this will not be a garage queen and will be driven daily. As these cars are about 30 years old; are there issues with availability of parts? I presume Porsche no longer carries OEM parts for these cars.

upier

Parts availability it's great for these cars. There only a few parts that can be hard to find. Great to hear it will be driven.

Sent from my SGH-T999 using Rennlist Forums

awhenry

Parts for 911 is one of the easy things about ownership. I compare it to owning a miata since there are so many sources. The Pelican is great for specialty parts ie performance, interior and trim but there are many other sources for maintenance and other hard parts: Rock Auto, Parts Geek, Amazon. You just have to compare prices and shipping costs. The worst thing I find about 911 ownership other than the inevitable "*****" jokes is that the Porsche engineers seemed to try to make things overly complicated in assembly or packaging. Essentially, they rarely reengineered anything; the new stuff was just added on over the years. It really makes working on your car much more of a chore.

carrera

It has been said many times, but buy the best one you can afford.
Rarely will a fixer upper end up at a reasonable cost.
Mileage has little to do with condition at this point.
I have seen the inside of a 300,000 mile 3.2, it was
in excellent condition. Could have gone another 200k!
Of course they are not all like this.
Good luck to what might become a lifelong obsession.
I have driven and owned many Porsche's, there is nothing
like a 3.2 ! Although an SC comes close.
The tail was a factory option.
High mileage is 200k +
Rust...be afraid of rust, it can be repaired but often
is worse than it looks. Bottom of windshield,door jambs.
Buy one of the buying a 911 books.
Spend hours on here reading old posts and on Pelican.

mos60n

What is everyone's impression of the safety profile of driving a 3.2? I'm not an expert driver by any means and the majority of cars I've driven have been modern cars. I know the the turbos of the same vintage were notorious for safety issues, not necessarily all related to the car itself, but rather it required a more experienced driver. Just curious if the same applied to the 3.2s. As I mentioned previously, I would using the car more as a daily driver; rain or shine. Thanks.

theiceman

i usually drive mine in the dry , I imgaine you have to very very carefull in the rain .. of course the right tires are paramount.

KurtF

If you are planning to use it as a daily driver I would recd the 87-89 car with the G-50. I own an 84 and an 88. While I appreciate the character of the older unit, the newer transmission transforms the car to one which is much easier to drive. Especially for parking, traffic and tight spaces. The older gearbox requires a slower more deliberate approach to shifting.
Regardless the 3.2 is a great car, offering what I believe may be the best driver of all the air cooled cars. I agree with most of the comments here in that condition not milage is the best indicator of a good car. Best of Luck, enjoy the hunt!!

mos60n

Again, thanks for the responses. Just wondering what people thought of this listing on ebay:

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Porsche-911-...US_Cars_Trucks

The asking price seems a bit high to me. I've seen a couple of cars go for about $45k, but those examples looked pretty cherry. I've also noticed that the nicer cars seem to go pretty quick, in a matter of a couple of days or so...are people buying these cars sight unseen without a PPI? How do they lock in the sale so quickly? Again, I appreciate the continued advice from the experience of this forum.

TDS911

Way too expensive for that mileage. I paid about that for mine with 56k miles.

Current market suggests low $30s at best when over 80k miles on a cherry car. Inventory is kind of crowded at that mileage range.

I have seen very nice 70k mile cars go for this price in the last couple months, but they are not common.