Darwantae951

I think it was the fastest production 4 cyl. sold in the U.S. when it was introduced, and the S2 was the largest displacement 4 cyl. I believe as well.

Oh yes, especially the 88 Turbo S and the 89's! That's what motivates me to restore my car instead of converting it to track or doing any substantial modifications that are irreversable.

-Darwin

Tom R.

Teacher teacher pick me, pick me. I know the answer.
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RUSTY!

TheRealLefty

Many 951 folks are sensitive to the ease of returning mild mods to OE status. Some of us are hopeful that original car values will reward us...others are probably a bit more pragmatic sensing that the overall value of car and aftermarket bits is probably higher when sold seperately.

The home front footprint for my Turbo S includes a bitterly-bartered/often-debated corner in my wife's inner sanctum basement storage closet when I stash the factory downpipe/cat, original front control arms, original sway bars and drop links, waste gate and crossover pipe along with various Blaupunkt radio and EQ bits. My CV is disconnected but not deleted. Maybe two days work and the ol' girl would be 100% original but for a few delrin bushings and upgraded caster blocks.

Not so with the family 944 racer, there's no going back at some point

AndyK

Amen! All things considered, if you can drive a fun sporty car around for a few years, and, barring a major failure, get away with avoiding a car payment, and new car depreciation, you are way ahead of the game! Even if you sell it for a few grand less than you have into it, so what? It's a car, not real estate!

fpena944

I dunno...The values for the S2 cabs look pretty high to me. I've been observing lately and they don't seem to sell for that much in the marketplace. But if that really is the case then GREAT!

Tom R.

I believe in buy low sell high. seems the way things have been going lately with me and 944s it is more like buy low, sell low, buy high, sell low, buy high.

jsaindc

I just paid $12,400 for my 90 S2 Cab with 78,000 miles. Overall the car was in excellent shape; however, there were some maintenance items that would make it rated between good and excellent. According to excellence that would be between $11,326 and $15,163...right about what I paid. In my search I found a lot of tired cabs and a lot with over 150,000 miles. These are the cars that are only getting $8K-$9K. There are a few for sale now in the $16K (asking).

Keithr726

Got my magazine yesterday and was suprised. I also really like that 910 article.

joseph mitro

you and a few others on rennlist are the few who could actually afford and WOULD buy a 20 year old car for that much money. the vast majority of the public has moved on, that's why 944s don't have that much appeal or value. generally speaking, there are more cars than willing buyers, ie supply is higher than demand with rare exceptions of course.

a ferrari GTO, on the other hand, typifies the high demand, low supply scenario. hence the high market value.

i agree with M758....the 944 values are flat. if rising, it's primarily due to inflation. we noticed the same thing over on the BMW boards about the E36 M3. we all loved the car, but their values are so low now that almost anybody can have one.

Tom R.

A 944 with a solid straight body that has no paintwork from new is worth between zero dollars and five hundred dollars.

All I can get for my NA is what was put into it over the last nine months.

wait it is worth something. it is worth a tax deduction if gifted to charity.

my turbo is worth half what was put into it in the last ten thousand miles.

tell me again how much these cars are worth. They are worth what was recently put into them to keep them alive.

UDPride

I think you are missing my point. Or I just didnt explain myself well enough. Its not about be willing to pay extra. You are gonna probably pay it no matter what. But in the end its cheaper (unless you rebuild engines for a living and have a father with a service garage) to spend more up front because its pennies on the dollar compared to having to do it yourself and replace parts.

Its just like buying a highly modified 944 or buying a stock 944 and spending all the money on mods yourself. Its a fraction of the cost to pay for it already complete. Thats just the way the market it.

So likewise, you can spend $15,000 on a *****-on-straight 951 thats been rubbed with a diaper all its life, or spend $10,000 on one thats 10% less condition and spend $6,500 making it 10% better which leaves you worse off than if you had just bought the nicer one. And theres many (by many I mean hundreds if not thousands) who buying a Porsche thinking they are undercutting the market and you talk to them 2yrs later and they have more in the car than the guy down the street who paid the cash up front to buy one from a 55yr old grandmother that was driven to church and afternoon tea.

Cheapest is rarely least expensive. That axiom is no truer when talking pcars.

M758

Or you can do what I did 10 years ago. Buy that 90% car at 2/3 the price and just enjoy it for what it is. Not perfect, but pretty darn nice. I had an 84 944 that was rubbed with diaper all its life. It was an amazing car and I won many concours with the car, but in the end I tired of it. It was too nice and pretty to drive, but yet was never going to be worth much. So I just decide to drive it for 18 months daily. It was blast to drive, but did get few rock chips and some dirt in the engine. In the end 7 years and 15k miles later I sold it back to the original owner I bought it from. I sold it undervalue to him, but back when we got it from him he gave us a good price. In the end I felt best about sending it back to its original home. I had never beat it up in anyway so it was still nice, but in the end it was no longer "perfect" and just did not want to keep it that way. Better to give it back to someone who would enjoy it more.

I still keep my 88 Turbo S. While never perfect is blast to drive and one day may get that $6000 "freshening", but not before I have had LOTS and LOTS of fun.

UDPride

No question, you can do that too.

For all of the threads on here about fixing this and reparing that and tackling seat bolsters and dash cracks and all of this, you wonder if a lot of owners changed their mind about what kind of car they planned to own. Seems like a lot buy the 85-90%er at 2/3 the cost, then a year later switch tactics and spend all that money on replacing/fixing stuff they told themselves they would just live with.

TheRealLefty

Now we're back to Econ 101 and the Weath of Nations. A sports car purchase is a big lump sum of cash or credit that sort of weighs as a "macro" decision against our own enjoyment of the purchase...and doesn't really play in to our daily disposible income.

However, once the car is purchased and maybe paid for, the $1,000 needed to fix a dash or repair a seat becomes somewhat distinct from the larger purchase and is measured in our own minds against the other things that the money might buy...like a $1,000 worth of beer or that steam vacuum cleaner the wife has wanted for so long

Wipeout

Amen, Lefty. I hated those classes but it still makes sense!