Good advice here! Welcome to the list!

Cory

 

Car A is $15K and car B is $9K...make a difference? :-)

 

car A seems way to expensive for having no records... but that's what you get from a dealer. if they'll negotiate and/or fix the alignment/do a belt job, I'd be on it...

car B, kinda shakey if ya ask me.

 

I'm going to answer a question you didn't ask. Learn to do your own work on the car. It isn't brain surgery and there are PLENTY of people here who have been there and done that, no matter what the hell it is. If you get a really nice one, to me that means the belts are fresh, same w/ water pump, shocks and struts are still good to go, the front and rear seals are all good, oil cooler not leaking, pwr steering not leaking, a rear hatch not creaking, squeaking or leaking, and a dash without cracks, any others I'm missing?

 

^ +1!!!

before getting my 924S, I barely knew how to do an oil change... now, there's nothing I feel I can't tackle (except of course a transmission rebuild)

 

Where are you located? If near NYC you are welcome to try my S2 and Turbo to get a feel for what they should feel like.

I am sure a few other board members would join in and let you check out their cars too. After driving a few cars you will get a better feel of what to expect.

 

Car A does seem expensive. I picked up a near perfect 1988 951S for $13.5. This was from a second owner with maintenance records from before 1992. Car was meteciously maintaned and things were replaced before they broke. I will tell you what I have been told by the wise men. Keep looking and you will find YOUR car. As I stated before I found mine in Ohio. Before I even saw it I interviewed the owner (important to see how he feels about the car), spoke to people who knew of the car and owner and called his mechanic. After an $80 3 hour flight and an hour meeting with the owner I was on an 8 hour trip back to my house with MY car. Be patient and expand your search if you can and you will find yours.

 

Following what Dan said. The value of a 944 is somewhere close to ZERO! Yes zero. What people are paying for is recent work. Not miles, work done, parts, etc. A turbo with no records can easily require 5k in a sneeze.

A turbo's clutch is about 2k from a shop. Belts rollers etc another 800. How are the shocks? add 800,. motor mounts are only about 300 for the parts, gonna want to change the oil pan gasket and rod bearings while in there - add $400, then labor for the motor mounts.

Did we look at the sychros? Ball joints - 150 for a kit that is not considered the best thing for the track. Control arms run 1100 for the parts.

did we look at the condition of the turbo? how bout rotors? they aint cheap on these cars.

without receipts a turbo no matter how nice isnt worth much more than 7k no matter how good it looks.

 

Sound advice all around. Thanks. I wish I had a place to work on the car, but living in NYC can be a tough mistress sometimes. i've got a couple more leads I'm following.

 

Ok, I have a car C now. 86 Turbo with 81K on it, all records, service looks good, well cared for, although shifter felt a little rubbery compared to car A, another high engagement point on the clutch, and the driver's door didn't have the spring action it should. Also seemed to vibrate a little more on idle. Everything else looked a-ok from where I was sitting.

I'm tempted to go with car A -- it also has 17" wheels -- and do the PPI and hope the wheel problem and A/C issue are easily fixable. The wheel thing is a little weird, as you actually have to **** the wheel over to t he left to get it to go straight, it's not subtle at all. Thoughts on what that might be?

 

Do not settle for anything. With a 14 grand budget, you can afford one of the nicer 951'a out there, just don't be hasty. As has been stated, these cars can get real expensive real fast. Spend good money up front, rather than bad money on the backend chasing problems. Wish I had known about Rennlist when I was getting my 88 N/A.

 

Get either one to either a dealer for a PPI or better, to a well respected mech that works on these cars everyday-ish. Most dealers have techs that barely remember them, or have never worked on one.
All 3 cars you are looking at are worth ZERO until you have them soundly checked out.

 

For $15K, you should be getting a PERFECT example. No alignment problems, working ac, recent timing belt change, new clutch, etc. I bought my '88 with 47k miles 8 years ago for $9300.

Good luck with your search, but definitely be patient. (at least give it another week or two )