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Hey all, I recently met a guy that has accrued quite a few cars in his years and has two 944's for sale. I went and saw them today and am very interested in buying one, if not both, of them. My question is what should I offer? I asked him and he said he wasn't sure, (I think he knows what he has but not in the current conditions they're in), and I'm not really sure either. The first car needs a clutch and a thorough going through, while the second car needs some minor engine assembly and a thorough going through, before either are road worthy. I don't know how long they've sat but being outside near fields and all, I'm sure there's some bad rubber to be found. First four pics are the first car, last four are the second car. I've been searching for a 944 project for a while and am hoping these turn into that.
Well, black interior is pre 85.5, the other is later. But I'm sure you know that. Those FUCHS are likely worth as much as both the cars alone in their current state. The tan 85.5+ is going to need a ton of interior work alone. $$$. The black one the seats look pretty good. Between them, you might get a pretty decent car, but suspension wise if the later one is 87+ some parts will not interchange. You could totally swap them, but not mix and match.
Hard to say from just pictures, but PERSONALLY I wouldn't pay more than $1000 for the pair, even considering the FUCHS. Around here at least you can find 944's in that condition for $500 or less on craigslist without much searching. And I'm leaning towards $800 more than I am higher. Those are just really ruff cars. And it's just a crap shoot at this point that both haven't had the time belts break and things are much worse than just a clutch.
No matter what, either is going to be one heck of a big project. If that's what you're looking for, then go for it. I'll just add the standard "You'll likely spend 2-3x as much to get either to a condition you could just straight up buy a running 944 for".
For comparison, I bought my N/A 87 for $1000, and it has a decent interior and was running. Paint was better than either of these but did have a dent in drivers quarter panel. I drove it for a couple of months. (blew a head gasket 2 months in, but that's another story)
Neglected non running na’s are going for about $500 around me unless they have anything desirable on them like sports seats, lsd or Fuchs which may add another $1k to the price.
I've never been a huge fan of earlys, but that's really just because the later interior looks so much better in my opinion, nothing against the car itself. Outside of the drivers seat and both seats being dirty, the interior looks pretty great on the late one and it has very few dash cracks. Unless you're looking for two more projects, I'd just go for the late. You're right, it definitely needs going through, but they're both in pretty good shape and complete considering they've sat outside for at least 5 years, probably more. Honestly, my biggest concern would be mice. Out there in the field, there's no telling what has crawled up in the engine bay. Then again, if you can get both for $1000, pull the trigger, all day long! If he really wants to play some hardball, I'd personally go as high as $1000 for the late and $750 for the early, assuming there aren't any other deeper issues. I'd take a breaker bar and slowly turn them over too. Can't remember the socket size, I want to say 21mm, but something tells me that's wrong. Anyway, both are great potential projects. Save the 944s!
Sport seats and Fuchs (if they are real) are probably worth more than what you will pay for both cars. That said, you are going to be further ahead financially if you buy a better condition car to start with even if you part one of them out and the one you keep is essentially free. There was a reason (if not several) that both of these cars have been parked in a field for a while. Whatever those problems were have just been compounded with age.
That said, personally I would buy the early car in a heartbeat just for the wheels and seats. But I would part the rest of it out I wouldn't fix it.
Agree with what others have posted. Love the late interior, if you are making it a driver, climate control is far superior in late cars. The late car does have a (relatively) unusual option in that the seats are full script cloth. Majority were cloth/leatherette combo. Either way, if you are looking to make one a good driver, I would expect to spend many thousands of dollars to bring either one back. It's not something you justify economically, just a passion issue. The most expensive car usually ends up being the cheapest.
After sleeping on it, if you have the room, and this is something you REALLY want to do, I'd say because of the FUCHS you could go as high as $1500 and not get ripped off. Plus if you have the talent, and feel up to shipping stuff, you could likely make your money back selling what you don't use. However I'm personally partal to not NOT parting these cars out, as I'm a fan of saving as many as we can. But then the rest of us don't have the parts to keep our projects moving forward. So it's a double edged sword. That's why I haven't parted out my 87. What's the story on the 3rd one? If it was me I'd try to get that Porsche reflector light-up plate that goes where the license plate normally does. Especially if it's got VW and a legit part # on it. It was a dealer/aftermarket option, and while I'm always on the fence about them, they go for $$$ these days. $150-200.
Edit: I missed that the black seats are sport seats. As I have sport seats I sometimes miss it, as it's just "normal" to me. Todd is right, those along with the FUCHS alone could make this worth it, if you can get them for the right price. I fear however, as he has 3... He likely has a fair idea of what he has. But nothing ventured nothing gained.
Well, I'm 33 and I've built conference level racecars and built and restored entire civilian and retired military airplanes before, (was my job, I'm definitely not 'wealthy', lol), so I think I'll be ok mechanically. I'm not worried about the cost of 'restoration' to be honest as I don't like to price things that I plan on keeping; it costs what it costs and if it's how I want it then I know I gotta' pay for it. On the same note, I don't like to overpay when I don't have to and I never look away from a good deal, lol. The end game for these would be to get both running and looking pretty and keep them, I'm a car guy, I have the space, (which is also shared with a few other cars, some being a 1982 Datsun 720 with factory five speed and four cylinder diesel, and a 1986 Mercedes 190e), I have the patience, and I have the desire. I know it'll cost me more in the long run but I enjoy doing this and its a feeling of satisfaction I don't get when I buy a running car … also my S/O would say something about 'glutton for punishment'
He does have three others laying around that are strictly parts cars, that 3rd one in the photos, I could take photos of them and post those up to see if anyone needs anything from them. They all have their front core supports cut off and one has pretty rough panels but I didn't look much more at them as I was interested in these two.
Edit: I did talk to him this morning and asked what he was thinking for one or both of them, he didn't give me a price and said if it was too low he'd just as soon let them rot than sell them, which is a mentality that I don't understand but that's neither here nor there. I'm going to call him back around noon and see what he came up with as he wanted to go look them over again since they'd been sitting for a couple years. Worse comes to worse I'll just pick up the black interior one and pull some parts from the others. Appreciate all the input from everyone though!
Update: He came back with saying he paid $900 for the tan interior one and paid $1200 for the black interior one plus $300 for head work on it and that we aren't close on price … I guess it's try to get the best deal on one now as all of that is waaaayyyyy too much
So he paid too much and he now wants you to pay too much so he doesn’t lose any money. Run away!
Precisely, lol. Ugh. I'm still trying to barter to see if there's something to get out of this. I did the max $1500 offer for both and asked what he would sell the tan interior one with the Fuchs wheels on it for by itself as well. Haven't heard anything back yet.
Kind of seems like since all periods of 911's prices have been on the rise, EVERYONE thinks that their car is worth it's weight in gold. I bought that non-running 190e for $250 … that was how much it was worth!
He must be some kind of hoarder, there's no sense in letting cars sit and rot, I don't get that either. Yeah, I've seen a lot of junk 944s with $2500+ price tags on them. My favorite was a "1983 Porsche 944S" for $4000, hasn't run in years, covered in dust, faded paint, and sitting in some storage place. He must've bought them thinking he got some crazy deal and now wants to make money on them. Hopefully you can pry them from him, I'd love to see one or both back on the road.
Well, going on a few hours now and haven't gotten a reply yet ... thinking I probably won't, which is unfortunate, I thought I finally found a 944 for a not ridiculous and unnecessary price. Only other one around me is a running 84, 5 speed, NA for $4500 ...
Anyways, thanks for the help everyone and if I hear anything different I'll let you all know.
01-31-2020, 03:09 AM
Field find pricing question
