Thanks for the generous offer, Ken.

 

I second that!!!

 

Too bad, Steve, I'm sorry. An idiot slid off the ice on a corner near our place and wrote off my wife's truck. It was quite old so it was written off for $1700. She loved that truck. Had to borrow a bunch of money to replace it all due to idiocy. Makes me mad.
Mike

 

Ken Smith - You're a good man!

Steve - Actually, I think the worst part is all that dried wax caked around your mirror gasket!

Really, the damage does not look extensive to me. The roof would seem to be in place. The rocker, although damaged, does not look involved here. The internal quarter panel/b-pillar will probably come back just fine with a pull. The trickiest part from the looks of it will be the wheel housing. It looks like that will be pretty hard to salvage, which is always preferable, but replacing them with a used unit that is intact can be tricky to align.

Really, the only thing that would worry me here is the suspension, but in most cases it would be just parts. I'd really want to drag that quarter out and drive it before I made a decision. Look for shifted bolts, cracked paint or flaking rust on the trailing and control arms, and sight carefully down the side to see if the wheels are in plane.

Assuming the suspension is OK, the most critical first step would be a good pull to try and re-align everything as much as possible. The best pull would be one done with multiple weld tabs to try and re-orient the sheetmetal without ripping it to shreds anymore than necessary.

Keep the questions coming!

 

Put it on an allignment jig to see if things are straight?

 

That would be a sound idea if it were really bad... except - it costs money, is unecessary in my opinion based on what I see, and the same thing can be accomplished with a tape measure. That is all any shop is going to do anyway. I seriously doubt there are any shops out there that have dedicated fixtures for these cars anymore except specialty shops.

If you want to get an idea of whether the suspension is damaged, take a tape and measure the tram (between the wheel centers) on both sides. If it is longer on the right, you got tweaked. Otherwise, there is no unibody damage here that will effect driveability. It is a fairly superficial hit.

Assuming the suspension is not damaged, I figure 3-4 days ought to do it for repairs.

 

In my opinion two things you can do: 1)Fix it - buying fiberglass stuff from gt-racing (no affiliation) - they sell doors and rear quoter pannels - think of it as a chance to upgrade and make it faster. You do look at some money to spend there, but I thought they had reasonable prices for major parts (www.gt-racing.com).
2) Buy another one by taking a loan out and pay it off gradually with parts from this one. Think about it: - clutch is around 500, dashboard (if good) ~100, alternator, starter, oil pump, rear hatch, mirros, - another $1000 here is about half on another 944 n/a. Engine, transmission - anohter $1000. Definetly buy it back from the Insurance comany, though. Correct me if I am wrong, but parting out your car could probably yield $4-5K in parts sales alone. Plus all the expertise you have gained taking parts off...

Personally I would (will) go with the fiberglass upgrades... Since you know everthing about your particular copy of the car - it is worth fixing it and making it faster (lighter) at the same time... Either way, you looking to spent some $$$.

Thanks.

 

Is that a Honda? Not quite the same build quality as a 944. Most people don't realize how strong the 944 unibody is. You would be surprised.

I'm sure that new body parts for a 930 ain't cheap. Fortunately, used 944 body parts are abundant and relatively inexpensive.

Following that logic, there would be no classic cars, since every old car owner, including us 944 owners, should rely on the insurance company's opinion of whether an old car is repairable.

If this 83 944 was your daily driver, you might consider attempting to fix it, as Hajny suggests, before parting it out.

 

Don't confuse strength and stiffness with quality. I can almost guarantee you that a modern Honduh has a built quality an order of magnitude better. Before folks go and get all defensive, remember 1) the 944 is over 20 years old, 2) Porsches, even the 944, have never been built in huge numbers by industry standards.

What makes the 944 special is not the build quality. It's OK. It's other things that make it special.

When does it make sense to spend more to repair a car than it is worth? The 944 is not a collectable car at this time (to speak of) and really, no daily driver is a collectable.

There are too many other cars to start with potentially to possibly even consider making it a race car. For God's sake, I got mine for $500!

Now, I looked again at the damage photos and the B-pillar door jamb is toast, but John is right, the rockers appear to be straight. The hatch deck is marginal (look at the space) but could probably be straightened OK. The insurance co will likely total it. Should he repair it? Maybe. With such long ownership, I might consider it since it otherwise seems to be in very good shape.

 

mbonner, thanks for the kind words. And thanks for the ideas about buying another and parting the wreck, Sasha. George, yes its still a maybe with me.

Luis, this is my daily driver. If I can ever get an adjuster over here to start the process I can start looking at options. I know what you mean about the strength, though. 944s are tight. And with the galvanization, there's not a spec of rust anywhere on the car.

John, I looked at the car pretty close last night. The door lock will not operate, so I can not open the door, but you are right the b pillar is bent badly. Also the rr wheel is ruined, so I could not really even drive it without finding another cookie cutter and tire. I looked under the car without jacking it and there is no obvious damage. One question that occurs to me is how successfully could the repaired parts be repainted to match the rest of the body? Its sienna red metal flake over a white base coat and clear coated over that. Part of the paint may be faded. Any idea how much a decent paint job would cost?

 

cookie cutters are cheap. you could probably get a clean one for less than $50. it would be tough to blend 20 year old faded paint, but i could be done.

i say buy it back and part it out. take the good stuff and go into something better. read the post with the sports car market letter/article I wrote. if you need my spreadsheet or other stuff to battle the ins co when the time comes, contact me.

the main thing that sets the 944 apart from the competition is the galvanization of the metal. otherwise its just another old car with tolerances that would be unacceptable today. just look at the gaps between the body panels.

 

I respectfully disagree. I can personally attest to the build quality and strength of the 944 to be superior to that of a comparable Honda. See these photos? That was me. My passenger and I came out of it unscathed. Identical accident appeared on the news only to a Honda Accord later that same year and both occupants were rushed off in critical condition. The "greenhouse" gave in completely.



George, having a mere clutch job professionally done on these cars already exceeds what some of them are worth, does that mean we shouldn't keep them?

Not collectible to whom? If I put my 951 cab on eBay at this time I'm quite certain it would garner interest as a collectible. Time will tell how long until the others appreciate as well, and FWIW only 5,500 U.S. spec 944 cars were imported to North America in 1983.

The fact that you bought a $500 944 to play with does not make all 944s cheaper to buy than what Steve has in this car. Of course, you would only know that if your 944 was a daily driver.

 

Sasha
2) Buy another one by taking a loan out and pay it off gradually with parts from this one. Think about it: - clutch is around 500, dashboard (if good) ~100

Dashboard if good would be worth a hell of lot more than 100 if put on ebay.

 

83na944 also being one of the very few 83 Sienna Red owners out there I am telling you I just had parts of my car painted, and the match is not hard at all. It is a light metal flake and dark so it was very easy to get a good match. Also if you really love the car keep it and fix it there are not to many of us Sienna boys left and its such a unique color never looks the same in any light.

 

RobbyK, unfortunately the dash would be worth about $100 on eBay - it does have cracks.

Tom R., I sent you a PM.

Luis, impressive pictures. I see why you feel like the car saved your life.