Some of you may have read in a few of my previous posts about a '86 n/a 944 that is owned by a coworker of my father, lives about 2 minutes from us. Hes willing to sell the car, but is really asking too much for it considering it needs alot of work on it done. Figuring the price of a very good condition 944 is about $7,500 in the NYC (specifcally Long Island) area. My father is trying to get the car for about $5,000, the seller wants about $8,000. Now here is the good and the bad about the car...

The Good-
Original owner
Low mileage (75k miles)
Perfect exterior and interior
Peace of mind knowing the car wasnt abused, in an accident...etc

The Bad-
Has original belts, pumps and rollers
Has original clutch
Needs new tires soon
A/C does not work (not sure if it just needs a recharge or what)

Another 'bad' point is a sound coming from the rear end. I only test drove the car once about a month and a half ago, my father and i didnt even notice it when driving around the block. The owner pointed it out and showed my father. The sound is like a slapping or rattling. We know its not anything moving considering it the sound does not increase with speed. Which i would guess rules out the wheel bearings, cv joints...etc. Any other ideas on what it could be?

Hopefully the owner comes around. He really likes the car and took care of it (oil changes right on time..etc). The main problem is that he really dosent know much about the cars (stuff like the belts..etc).

 

86, na 75k, 8$,000 um...no I'm sorry. even at 5, you have to do belts, and you will have to do the clutch, ac is really expensive to fix so unless you want to just go without that is more$$$, I think 5 is a bit steep. If it were 5, with a new clutch, decent tires, and a recent timing belt it would be about right IMO.

 

I would not go more than 5K for the car.

 

Wait a little and get a turbo...

 

% sounds reasonable, maybe a little more if the body and interior are as clean as the mileage/1 owner suggests. This is also assuming a clean PPI, Have you had a PPI done yet? It sounds like you haven't because that would probably identify the sound from the rear, might identify the AC problem and could help substantiate your case to the seller about the belts and tires. Clutch is another story, we know there are issues with the rubber centers but there are a couple people on this list with a ton of miles on their original clutches. The seller will look at it as "if it ain't broke, I'm not taking anything off to fix it. unless the PI says it's about to go, don't expect much. I bought my '86 5.5 years ago with 88k on it and went another 12k (3 years and a few autocrosses) before having it replaced at the first sign of trouble (Center was fine but I was running out of friction material). I probably could have gone another 5k miles without issue. Don't assume you need a clutch just because it's original and don't expect the seller to believe it either!
I don't think 85944na has ever shoped for a 944 in the NY area. No matter how long you wait, I doubt it will grow a turbo! How long before your budget triples?

 

Budget is not an issue really right now as long as i stay within reason (which rules out a turbo). Also considering i am going under my own insurance plan when i turn 19, a turbo is a little more a month (which i dont know if i can swing the extra money). My father is laying out the money to purchase the car for me, then from there i will pay him back the cash he spent and he will sign the title over to my name. Essentially hes giving me a loan on it.

I will run the idea of a PPI on the car to my father, i didnt think of doing it for this car for some reason. Can anyone explain what exactly a PPI is?Im not sure how they work, do they give a estimated value of the car at the end? Or just a list of the goods and bads? It may seem stupid, but i wouldnt want a PPI to have the value turn up as more than what i think its worth (in this case being $5k).

I did a search and came up with a few shops on the island for a PPI. Ill run them by my father..i wont be able to take care of any of this for the next few weeks.

 

sounds like the one i looked at in september with 48k. the seller wanted 7k. i offered mid fours. with 500 in minor body work, a clutch and rollers I would have been at 7 and on his new cheap tires. instead i bought the mullet which was seven years younger, had 16k less miles, an extra (spare) forward speed, and two sets of rims, one set with new BFG TAs.

i saw the car advertised again in december for 6k. i just left him a message last week. if he still has it i will look at it again, and maybe go up to 5, throw belts in and see what happens.


sonny at SM Motorsports charges 65 for a PPI. also, he has an 88 with 95k that he did a lot of motor work on and got the title instead of payment. silver, straight body, cracking clearcoat, no major dash cracks, small tear in drivers side bolster. straight car, just tired looking, and i dont have the patience to have a car repainted.

 

I would definitely get a PPI (Pre-Purchase Inspection) on the car before you buy it. For around $100-$150 a mechanic will completely check out the engine, suspension, breaks, fluids, belts etc and point out everything that is wrong and around how much it will cost to fix. The mechanic should also take the car out for a test drive to see if there is anything needing attention as far as driving characteristics. By being able to present the seller with a detailed list of whats wrong and how much it is going to cost to fix you can usually get the car much cheaper. You will be kicking yourself down the road if you don't. I can tell you from expierence, the best money I put into my car was in the PPI.
-Andrew

 

No, never shopped in NY before, but 8 is really steep I think. It seems the way the market is going nice na's are worth 5 if you're lucky, I wouldn't buy a car needing timing belts, etc. for top dollar. If you do the belts yourself (belts, roller, waterpump) get some cheap tires(350+) you ought to be close to 6k, and a 6k na better be really nice. Maybe na's are just cheaper out here, but this car seeems high to me.

 

I think the reasoning of the owner asking for so much is because he really dosent know what the car is worth. He was asking such a high price because of the low mileage my father thinks. It may be tough to bring him down as far as $5k. Hopefully a PPI improves the chances of this. I have found that many of the n/a cars in this area seem to all be going for slightly more than other areas of the country.

I will be doing all the labor with the front end service my self, i have done it once on the 924S, should be much easier my 2nd time around. Figuring the price of all the rollers, belts and waterpump came out to about $600 last time buying the stuff from the dealer. I learned its much cheaper to buy the stuff online this time around. The price of all the clutch parts would be around $500, though im not sure if im up to this intensive a job...so figure $1500 with labor. Adding the price of a decent set of tires installed and balanced probably brings me to about $350-400. The total of all that brings the price of the car to just under $7500, which i think is right on par with what a perfect condition (recent belts, clutch..etc) is worth.

If i am confident with doing the clutch job, say $6500. Not bad i guess.

 

I am not an expert and am new to Rennlist but I had a thought, If I am wrong please forgive my ignorance the advise to follow is based specifically on my own experience.

I just bought a 1990 944 S2 this past winter. I had a PPI but because it was so cold when we checked the AC we just assumed it was working. Well it wasn't and I just spent $380 on a hose and another $180 on the older type freon. My car takes 3 lbs max and because it was empty and the new stuff runs $80/lb I was in for about $600 to fix the AC. There was a point when we had some concern about the Compressor, you don't even want to know how expensive that is. So the AC not working is a big deal. I would definitely have a local Certified Porsche Mechanic do a PPI and I wouldn't drive it on belts and rollers that were 75,000 miles old. TOW IT TO THE GARAGE! A coworker lost his timing belt recently and it ended up costing him over $3500 almost the value of his car. His belts had been changed 20,000 miles earlier but the previous owner cheaped out and didn't change the rollers. Big mistake that cost my friend a bunch.

You can afford to be a really picky buyer. I would guess that for $7500 and with some patience you could find a really nice 1987 944S with about 100,000 miles on it. If you could get your dad up to $10000 you could get a really nice 944 S2 but hell wait a year save some money take 12K out and find a sweet Turbo. I know telling an 18 year old to be patient is futile but seriously you will be glad you waited. This car may look sweet on the outside but 75,000 miles with just regular oil changes could hide some real problems. Be careful you don't want to end up being into your Dad for more than the car is worth before you even start.

Good luck and let us know what happens.

 

Getting the car towed is not a problem, my fathers got a flatbed truck we use at the shop to move non-running cars around. Infact i originally planned on just getting the car the two miles home, then towing it to my fathers shop. The PPI will defenetley be done to try and use as a bargin point. My original plans were to actually infact get a 944 turbo, but the significantly higher price for one in good shape (figure more than $10,000) will be tough to save up for, not to mention the extra money to insure it under my name. Also to be 100% honest i wouldnt trust myself with the car. You know, teenager who thinks hes a racecar driver and invincible on the streets. I think the only difference between me and that teenager is that i know not to get a car i dont think i can handle and im not invincible. I dont want to be the kid who spins a perfectly good 951 into a tree in the rain. Im perfectly happy with the peformance of my 924S (which is an automatic to boot), but sometimes wish i had that extra acceleration and control with the manual gearbox. I have found that the n/a in manual is enough too suit my needs. A tame car is better to learn on i think. Also i wont be tempted to drag race all my friends at stop lights, ill just be flying past them in the twisties.

Sure it would be nice to have the power of the 951 paired with the awsome handling capablities...but id rather become a good experienced driver both on the street and the track before i get such a powerful car. I would say the n/a is the ticket for what i want. The deal ive made with myself is to keep myself out of trouble (no revoked licenses for excessive speeding...etc) until i can comfortably afford the price of a 951, insurance and the 'when the **** hits the fan budget'. If i can do that, id say i have earned buying myself such an awsome car and atleast have some experience to back it up. After the 951 of course comes the '86-88 911 Turbo...or maybe ill skip the 951 .

 

I would say 7500 is a bit on the steep side for a 944 N/A. The only reason I would say go for it is if you have some emotional attachment to it. 75k miles is low but not low enough to pay that premium for. Here is a 951 in my area:
http://www.autotrader.com/fyc/vdp.js...or=&cardist=22
I am sure if you add an east coast premium on to that it might be closer to 9.5k but still make an informed decision about what you buy. Also it might help to print out a KBB and edmunds.com report to show the guy how out of wack his asking price is. I paid 2300 for my car and Imagine what I could do to it with the extra 5200........I could only dream. If you really like the car and feel no hesitation about it then do it, but try to get the guy to come down to about 4k on it.

-Andrew