Techno Duck

I may have possibly found a 944 within reach, the seller is located in northern NJ, he told me the car is currently in central NJ by the shore...i forget the name of the area but it started with a B (real specific right)? Their are a few problems however, the car is listed as a '88 S2, while the S2 was not released until '89 according to what ive read. Only the S trim model was available (would still be worth a look even if it was an S). I ran the VIN# on the car through Carfax, the VIN that he provided comes up as an '83 944. Possibly a wrong VIN he gave me, i really dont know. The seller said that his father is in the hospital and cannot show me the car until probably around thursday as he needs to drive down and get the car from the shore. He said i could meet him halfway somewhere on the Garden state or NJ-Turnpike (though i would much rather meet at his residence).

I am going to try and setup a time and place to meet him and see the car, but was wondering if anyone in the area would be able to take a peek at the car for me, mainly to verify what model and year the car actually is, snap a few digital pics...and too see if its really as in good shape as he says. Hoping to save a two-three hour ride just to find the car is a '77 924 or something. Like i said i really dont have much more information as of yet, i just want to see if anyone would be available to help me out.

If you could, please shoot me a PM. Thanks!

Edit - The car is garaged in Belmar, my g/f said thats the only shore area that starts with a B. She may be able to actually check it out for me.

Edit 2 - Complete story one post below.

Bhj0887

Sounds like a little bit of a scam, defenitly do a PPI on it. And by the way it sounds get the vin scanned by the staties, you don't want a stolen car.

Techno Duck

I wont list the specific add, but ill PM you the link directly if you wish (its not fair to openly bash him without him being able to defend himself right?). He was very misleading in his description of what is actually a '83 944 that was upgraded to S2 specs ('S2 Specs' according to him). Normally i wouldnt be offended, but he tried misleading me multiple times until i figured out the car was not a 1988 as advertised, as soon as i told him the VIN came back as an '83, he came clean. The add said '88 944S2, ~55k miles, new shocks, tires, original owner...etc $5900. I knew Tom R. just bought a car from Jersey, and that he got a killer deal. I thought for sure it was the same car. Tom informed me it wasnt so i called the guy up. Nice guy, gave me no BS such as "i have people coming to look at it...blah blah". He said flat out i was the first person to call about it. He told me the car was in Belmar (central Jersey shore). He told a few things about the car, and had me believing it was an '88 S2. I did a little further research and realized the S2 wasnt available until 1989. I figured the car was probably an S or an regualr n/a. I had a friend call him to confirm the car was indeed a 1988 and an S2, and he again said it was.

I called him back for the VIN and ran the number on Carfax to try and see if it was an S2, S or n/a. To my suprise the car came up as a 1983. I knew the VIN couldnt be wrong as the car matched the guys location and the mileage on the report was close enough to what he had said to me earlier. I called him back telling him the VIN came up as an '83 not an '88, he said to me "I never told you it was an '88 (he did to me and my friend a few times...the advertisement even said it)". He explained the car belonged to his father (Which he told me before) and he was in the hopsital and wanted to sell it. The father had the car modified to 'S2 Specs' as he put it. He said it cost him something around $13k at a foriegn car shop in Belmar, i think he said Belmar Star for some reason. Anyways he went on to explain his father bought the car in '83, took it out only in nice weather...and had the car modified to basically be an S2 including bodywork (he mentioned turbo frontend).

I dont see a reason for him to lie about the car...you would think a job as big as bringing a regular 944 to S2 specs would be of worthy notion when selling, maybe even a selling point. But it took alot of questions to get that information out of him. He probably figured it was someone who knew nothing about the car (i assume) and tried to sell it off as an S2.

I would tread lightly with this particular car, who knows what else he didnt tell me. A big thanks to Tom R. for helping me. The search for a 944 continues...

dmurray14

What color is the car? I think my friend may have test drove it!

Techno Duck

The guy said pewter, likley a silver or near a gray tone.

UDPride

The less a guy knows about his car, the more he scares me.

I must scare everybody.

AznDrgn

I wonder how "up to S2 spec" this car was brought up to? The dash setup on a later car alone is almost impossible to do on an early car without extensive work and then of course you have to do the fenders, front turbo bumper, valence panel, 4 piston brakes, and the big thing the 3.0L conversion. If you go see definately snap some pics and get some more info, you've got me really interested in seeing it now.

dmurray14

Maybe not...I think he drove a red one. Thanks for the heads up!

v944god

Forget about the car its an N/A

Z-man

The plot thickens.... I think I've seen this car! BACK IN 1999!!!

I kept a log of all cars that I looked at during my search for my 944S2. Here's my entry from June 22, 1999:
I didn't grab the VIN back then, since once I found out what it was, I wasn't interested in it.
I suspect that this is the same car! Documentation is worth it's weight in gold!

And yes, I agree: stay away from this car, especially if the owner tries to pawn it off as a real 944S2.
-Z-man.

Techno Duck

Z-Man, defenetley the same guy. The only good that has come from researching this car is that i now would ideally like to find an S or an S2 model 944 . Maybe a 951 too....

Bhj0887

Look on ebay, there's plenty of 951's and 944 N/A's for under 7 grand.

MAS

Hmmm... he's lied more than once about the year, and then denied it? And... he doesn't seem to know much about 944's but knows about the turbo front end? The fact that he wants to meet you somewhere other than his home is a warning sign. I doubt if his cover story is true... I should guess that, at best, he is a "curber" (an unlicensed car "dealer").

-MAS

Tom R.

speaking of curbers,
when i pm'd duck i told him to meet at the guys house to try and get in idea about him.

i looked at a 85 in islip ny, said late 85, wrong dash, etc. jill was with me and asked to use the guys bathroom. it turned out it was his mothers house, and she said the bathrooms in penn station were cleaner then the house.

when we got in the car to leave my buddy don, jill and i compared notes. turns out the guy told each of us different stories! WTF!

Porsche-O-Phile

Yep. If he'll mislead you rather than being straight up about any mods / conversions he did, who knows what else has been lied about?