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The mileage, title and lack of documentation isn't what scares me off. Its the fact that the narrative being told by the current owner doesn't seem to add up.
For example - I bought a 928 a while back. Its in extremely rough condition but the previous owner told a story that all checked out.
An owner who's story doesn't make sense is either intentionally trying to mislead you or simply doesn't notice that their 10,000 mile car actually has 20 to 30 times the mileage on it. Have they even remotely kept up on the maintenance? Who knows. A beautiful paint and interior doesn't make up for a car that is mechanically suspect.
Mechanicals aren't so bad compared to a repaint. Take the car at face value; presents well, decent interior, good paint, good glass, starts, runs drives, if so you can assess 90% of the car. Offer accordingly, high miles, no maintenance records: $3,500, figuring you're doing a ton of preventative maintenance off the bat
BTW, I prefer the 924s over the 944.
well said !
I wanted to say the same, why pu$$y out because the story does not check out and stuff...if you do that you clearly don't know your Porsches.
For a kid these kinds of buys can be a trap if the car turns out to be bad...but for anyone over 30, you have no excuse if you cant assess the state of a damn car and you're into classic Porsches.
Originally Posted by jvandyke
Mechanicals aren't so bad compared to a repaint. Take the car at face value; presents well, decent interior, good paint, good glass, starts, runs drives, if so you can assess 90% of the car. Offer accordingly, high miles, no maintenance records: $3,500, figuring you're doing a ton of preventative maintenance off the bat
BTW, I prefer the 924s over the 944.
My son and I got burned a little buying an $800 924s that "ran when parked". I shudder to think if he was on his own with that one, it has been quite a journey. He daily drives it NOW but don't ask me how much of Dad's money and (our) time it took to get there. Of course in this case, that time is time that could not have been better spent so no regrets.
well said !
I wanted to say the same, why pu$$y out because the story does not check out and stuff...if you do that you clearly don't know your Porsches.
For a kid these kinds of buys can be a trap if the car turns out to be bad...but for anyone over 30, you have no excuse if you cant assess the state of a damn car and you're into classic Porsches.
Okay. Fine. You make an excellent point! Logic and playing it safe goes out the window! I made an offer and it was accepted. I'll be getting the car on the weekend.
Okay. Fine. You make an excellent point! Logic and playing it safe goes out the window! I made an offer and it was accepted. I'll be getting the car on the weekend.
Turns out you were interested in that car after all
I hope you gave it a good inspection and I hope its a good car.
Welcome to the 924 ownership, I hope you enjoy it.
Join 924board.org and porsche924.co.uk for a more 924 friendly experience
Many months later and going back and forth with the seller we finally settled on $4500. We'd agreed to $4000 but then he was getting flighty and after having made 4 trips to try and seal the deal but there always being one reason or another why he didn't want to sell that day, I gave him the extra $500 to just have it done.
Pictures will follow once I've had a chance to clean the car a bit but so far there are a few minor issues which I need to start addressing:
1) Timing belt and new clutch were put in 7 years ago (~1000km ago). I can hear some sort of pulley squeaking occasionally so I think the belts, pulleys and waterpump are all going to need doing.
2) Windshield washer pump doesn't seem to work, and the tank is leaking.
3) Passenger side mirror is broken and needs replacing
4) Driver side power window doesn't work
5) Oil change of course... And a sample sent off to Blackstone for analysis. Any particular oil that is recommended?
6) The engine sounds healthy, the car starts up and has a perfectly steady idle just shy of 1000rpm but I've noticed that if its left to idle for a while, you can clearly tell that its running rich. Without some wind the air will smell of gas very quickly - is this normal for these cars?
7) The dash is cracking
Asides from that the exterior is in much better condition than I was expecting, no rust anywhere and asides from the cracking dash the interior could be brand new.
Edit: Pictures will follow once I've had a chance to clean the car which will be once the weather improves.
Many months later and going back and forth with the seller we finally settled on $4500. We'd agreed to $4000 but then he was getting flighty and after having made 4 trips to try and seal the deal but there always being one reason or another why he didn't want to sell that day, I gave him the extra $500 to just have it done.
Pictures will follow once I've had a chance to clean the car a bit but so far there are a few minor issues which I need to start addressing:
1) Timing belt and new clutch were put in 7 years ago (~1000km ago). I can hear some sort of pulley squeaking occasionally so I think the belts, pulleys and waterpump are all going to need doing.
2) Windshield washer pump doesn't seem to work, and the tank is leaking.
3) Passenger side mirror is broken and needs replacing
4) Driver side power window doesn't work
5) Oil change of course... And a sample sent off to Blackstone for analysis. Any particular oil that is recommended?
6) The engine sounds healthy, the car starts up and has a perfectly steady idle just shy of 1000rpm but I've noticed that if its left to idle for a while, you can clearly tell that its running rich. Without some wind the air will smell of gas very quickly - is this normal for these cars?
7) The dash is cracking
...
1) good idea!
2) mine had lost the original pump and I had to replace the defective Canadian Tire pump that was in it.
4) check the switches in the door... mine had the common corroded contacts, a bit of sandpaper and no problems since.
5) I won't get into the debate on what brand or synthetic vs dino oil... but you want something like 10-50W or 40W for single-grade oil for normal summer driving. I can give you the details from my owners manual if you want.
7) welcome to the club! I finally bought a "carpet" cover since I don't see redoing the dash in the near future. Big improvement IMHO.
1) good idea!
2) mine had lost the original pump and I had to replace the defective Canadian Tire pump that was in it.
4) check the switches in the door... mine had the common corroded contacts, a bit of sandpaper and no problems since.
5) I won't get into the debate on what brand or synthetic vs dino oil... but you want something like 10-50W or 40W for single-grade oil for normal summer driving. I can give you the details from my owners manual if you want.
7) welcome to the club! I finally bought a "carpet" cover since I don't see redoing the dash in the near future. Big improvement IMHO.
For 2 and 4, I'm hoping its nothing major. I'll poke and prod it with a multimeter until something happens.
5 - That matches what I've seen in the Porsche documents too. I think original spec was 10W-50 standard oil but Porsche's 'approved oil list' later revised that to 5W-40 for summer and 0W-40 for winter (both synthetic)
7 - I read some posts about people using fiberglass bondo to repair it. I'm kind of torn because while it is cracked, its not that bad and the rest of the interior looks great. I don't want to be in a situation where I have a amateurish looking dash that ends up drawing more attention to itself than a cracked dash did.
Originally Posted by elgy
And by the way... where are you located?
I'm all over Alberta. Depends on the month pretty much.
8) The steering is quite heavy. I believe the 924S should have power steering so this might require some investigating
9) Someone in this car's past was a lunatic and seems to have screwed aftermarket pedals ontop the original pedals of the car. I have a small foot and I can't hit the accelerator pedal without also touching the brake pedal.
It's beautiful! And I think you should win an award for having so few (one?) dash cracks.
The steering -- even though powered -- is not like today's cars where all you need is one finger. You'll be used to it in no time. Having said that, it never hurts to change the brake fluid if it's dirty and age is uncertain.
[An aside: what's with the insertion of an eBay link, Rennlist?!]
10-29-2017, 08:06 PM
