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Bought my first 911, '72 T, from a private owner and other than the car having some rust issues in the doors which had been masked with bondo and a new paint job, it was pretty dang solid. This was in 1987 and I learned a lot about 911's over the 5 years of owning the car. I had lusted for a Porsche since turning 16 in '76 and it took me 11 years before I was in position to take the plunge.
The experience of owning that T allowed me to get introduced to a private mechanic who only serviced 911's - nothing else, ever. Thru that guy I sold the T and purchased an '84 Carrera from one of his customers and not a single thing broke on that car while I owned it. Flawless.
Eventually sold that and bought a '97 993 C2 brand new from Brumos Porsche in Jax, FL. Got to know Hurley Haywood very well thru that transaction and Hurley is who I reached out to when shopping for my current GTS in 2015. From personal experience, and knowing others who have dealt with Brumos over the years, that dealership has always been solid. I'm sure there are some nightmares with them, but I've never heard of them.
Point here is buying from a private owner is likely your best avenue, unless you get close to a dealer and individual like I did with Brumos.
That's a great story and a great example of how a dealer can benefit for years to come if they focus on the long game vs the short term dollar. I wish I could just call up Hurley- very cool.
That's a great story and a great example of how a dealer can benefit for years to come if they focus on the long game vs the short term dollar. I wish I could just call up Hurley- very cool.
If you send me a great profile pic of your Turbo, I swear I'll print it out and hang it on my Porsche wall of fame down in the man cave. That thing is all kinds of sweet!!!
You bet. Just need to back from the shop. I just left the shop, still waiting on the heads. I'm in the wrong biz- 6 week lead time. I'm getting closer though.
Quite a few years ago I was asked to look at a car down across the street from European Collectables for a buyer from San Francisco. It was a white car with a deck lid that had at one time had a turbo tail bolted to it. The dealer had just plugged the holes with plastic plugs. Buyer said he wanted the lid repaired properly or he wasn't going to buy it. When I got there it was obvious that they had welded sections of steel strapping to the underside of the lid and just slopped some bondo into the holes and painted it. The strips of steel strapping were obvious when you opened the deck lid. Buyer backed out and dealer threw me out of his shop. Years later I saw the car for sale again with the steel strapping still in place.
Bpu699- I think you're on to something. But I think it would be easier to just strap a 5 qt jug to my tail with a drip hose into my fill tube.
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Why not go all the way? Just remove all the oil from the car. That will fix the leak, as well.
Actually fixing stuff apparently means you're not cut out for ownership, LOL
Why not go all the way? Just remove all the oil from the car. That will fix the leak, as well.
Actually fixing stuff apparently means you're not cut out for ownership, LOL
Some of this crowd is pretty thick. It's not fixing the car that would make one not cut out for ownership.......Its owning a car for 10 minutes, having conflicting PPIs and deciding to go whole hog on a rebuild on a car that you don't know anything about. In this case it turns out that patience would have shown it definitely needed work. What I would be concerned about is MORE issues that needed attention. Hopefully the new engine goes in without hiccups causing further damage to the new engine. By all means guys, keep you mechanics in business. Their kids need to go to college too.
Some of this crowd is pretty thick. It's not fixing the car that would make one not cut out for ownership.......Its owning a car for 10 minutes, having conflicting PPIs and deciding to go whole hog on a rebuild on a car that you don't know anything about. In this case it turns out that patience would have shown it definitely needed work. What I would be concerned about is MORE issues that needed attention. Hopefully the new engine goes in without hiccups causing further damage to the new engine. By all means guys, keep you mechanics in business. Their kids need to go to college too.
Definitely " Air Cooled " fever has caused many to move quickly in fear of losing a car, many are being bought sight unseen as the fear of missing out on the car in a time of escalating prices. certainly caution is being thrown to the wind and this stuff can happen in a sellers market.
I think the market will cool off, sanity will return and more due diligence will become the norm.
I'm not sure what this thread has evolved into because I only read the beginning of page 1, but all these air-cooled cars are old and they're projects. Not unless you know the history of the car firsthand, then you're very likely gonna end up with a project in one way or another and it'll get really expensive if you're a wallet mechanic. That's why I always "lol" at all the "needs nothing" "investment quality" listings that are out there. The cars are up in value by 2X - 4X from a few years ago and now, miraculously, they're all perfect cars. The bigger your purchase budget, the bigger potential for failure, since you're out the money on the purchase price and you're still going to have to drop the same money for required repairs, it just so happens you unfortunately did business with a superior used car salesman.
5K a year ? holy crap , the only way you are paying that in maintenance is if you are driving a POS rust bucket or paying the stealership to put your washer fluid in.
I can see that in the first year or two to get the car right but after that no bloody way .
I spend about 500 bucks a year in maintenance . The SC is an absolutely solid car and I got a good car in the fist place.
I change the oil twice a year , flush brake fluid once every two years. Doing my brakes this year and pads and rotors are cheap . Other than that is just keeps going .. Maybe its fair to say it will fall between these two extremes.
Richard: I agree on the engine although one can spend more on rust repair than an engine and why I'd always take a car with a bad engine before I bought a rust project.
The annual budget you threw out would close in on owning an E-Type Jaguar or a cheap Ferrari. (Well, perhaps not the Ferrari.)
I own 3 air cooled 911's and as Porsche stated in the old ad: "Nothing Even Comes Close"
5K a year ? holy crap , the only way you are paying that in maintenance is if you are driving a POS rust bucket or paying the stealership to put your washer fluid in.
I can see that in the first year or two to get the car right but after that no bloody way .
I spend about 500 bucks a year in maintenance .
I recently purchased an '87 911. Included with the sale was a binder of service receipts going back to new. As I arranged and tabulated the data, I recorded the associated costs. Over 30 years--with no engine-out service and no body work--the total was just over $32,000. So, on average, $1,100/year.
They all have rust issues. A $20,000 bill for rust repair is not all that unusual.
Sithot is correct in that a bad engine is going to be far cheaper than rust repair. Also consider that the going price for a real restoration on a long hood will be approaching $200,000.
btw - The correct fuel pump for my '73 is $934.78. That bracket that holds it in place is $144.46. These numbers add up fast.
Dont want to pour salt on open wounds here but The dealer had just taken this car in on trade & you wanted to go see it, he let you get a ppi and drive it..dealer was probably not too familiar with the car..you kind of can't blame the dealer...this is all on you..i mean you even tried to lay some of the blame on the Mechanics which did the ppi..its a 30 yr old car, its a risk..good luck