Oilslick964

In the last yeat I've seen an '86 with 50k bring $13,000 and '88 with 72k bring $13,500 and an '88 with 49k bring $15,000. These were all perfect cars in every way. I just bought a black '87 with 63k in really incredible condition and a flawless pre-buy for $9,000. I firmly beleive you should spend the $$$ up front and let the mechanics fend for themselves! I'd rather spend $400 or $500 on an in-depth pre-buy then $1500 on a clutch. Just my opinion!

kennyandersen

I searched for 4 solid months every day. I don't know where in the hell these guys that keep yammering about finding cheap 951's could possibly find a decent one for less than $10K (cheaper if you want tan or red or blk with a brown or burg interior). I finally got mine(wht/blk w/ 75kmi -- ) through a contact made here at Rennlist. It set me back $12K (they were asking $14.5K)and I still had to do the belts (time not miles). It was, however, very well cared for by 2 PO's and I looked at (what I considered) so many abused cars I finally flew from TX to KY to pick it up and drive it home. The biggest deal was the car was always covered and the paint is in very good condition. Though sometimes you'll hear about the buy of a life time, unless you live in CA or possible NJ don't count on getting a nice car for less than $10K -- excellent will be $12K on up -- that's what they cost.

Mark Parker

Before I bought my 85.5 I looked at an 86 951 just up the road. It had 101K, was missing the chin spoiler 'cause the dudes wife kept running into parking stops, needed a cat because it was cracked, and had a fist sized hickey in the bottom of the left front fender. All in all not a bad looking car. I finally caught the dude at home, and he prefaced everything by saying that he'd tried to sell it before, and now needed money 'cause he was remodeling,,yada, yada. I got the feeling he was gonna be high, and he shot me a price of 9K, but quickly added that he'd entertain offers. He was way over what I could spend for a toy, but I notice that he still has the car some 10 months later.

Dan in Pasadena

Thanks everyone. I have my eye on either a really close-to-perfect 951, or a 60's - '73 911S. Though I might consider an '83-89 SC since I intend to use it as a daily driver (I drive only about 11 miles each way). With the 60's 911 I would keep the NA as daily driver. Thanks again.

Bones944

I will keep my yammering to a minimum in the future <img src="graemlins/icon501.gif" border="0" alt="[icon501]" />

Dan in Pasadena

Bones - Yammer all you want. I really apptreciate everyone's (well, almost everyone's) opinion.

Danno

One of the things we're not distinguishing with internet/classifieds/newspaper searches is the difference between asking vs. selling prices of cars. Americans are so used to 'sticker price' as being set in stone on everything you buy, that we completely lack negotiating practice compared to the rest of the world. I've even regularly haggle over the price of a honeydew melon at a local market ('I want to pay double, what can you do for me?').

Personally, I think the true selling price of a car determines it true value. Sources are scarce and the only one I know of is in Excellence where they report recent sales and comments.

That said, I spent a whole 9-months to find my car 4-5 years ago. I looked at 20-22 cars all the way from San Francisco down to San Diego. Saw a couple of garage-queens as well as worn-out ex-track cars. Prices were across the board and really didn't seem to correlate with condition too much (probably more to do with the current owner's original purchase price). Finally found the car I bought ('86 951, 110k-miles) in my own backyard. Both the original owner and the current owner (2nd) lived in town and the car was a regular at dealer.

It really turned out to be one of the best samples I found and I snapped it up for $7k the same day I test-drove it and had a positive result from the PPI. Even came with the optional forged Fuchs, leather seats and a Saratoga sunroof! I just needed the belts done and that let me knock off $500 from the $7.5k asking price.

Another friend of mine found a decent sample of an '86 951 with 150k-miles in the Monterey area for $5.6k two years ago. It needed some brakes and tires, minor bodywork, but the engine was in good shape. He immediately stripped out the interior and made a track car out of it:

Here we are hanging out at Laguna Seca:

And the gang leading the pack:

So Dan, take you time, and look around for awhile before making a purchase. Look in used-car lots that have no idea what Porsches are, or the little old ladies that find their late husband had left them with a useless water-cooled Porsche and wants to dump it...

btimes4

Danno...I always follow your posts closely due to the great advice and insight you provide. I should have known your car would be a prime example. It is definitely a beautiful machine.

Dan... I would definitely take the advice of the earlier posts and take your time. I think you are already well on your way with already owning a N/
A. I wish I had the insight then into our cars that I enjoy from Rennlist now. I wanted to buy my wife a good sports car a couple of years ago and we looked at several makes of older exotics, but felt that Porsche had a wider variety of cars so we concentrated on the 944 and 911s. We looked at several 944s, but I was not satisfied with the power it offered, but the 911 seemed to be a reach for a decent model in our area for the 15K-20K range we wanted to spend. I then drove a 951 beater, but then was hooked on the power . We found a very low mileage model (36K) being offered for 11K. My wife of course was upset to learn the car was not made as an automatic. We bought the car for 10K, but then spent the next year replacing things that had deteriorated due to sitting for long periods. We had a PPI at the local Porsche dealer, but I must say it was not too informative. Thank goodness we found a P-certified mechanic in the area that does great work reasonably ($60/per hour). Now, thanks to Danno and the rest of the gang on the 951 board I am hooked on the power bug and we are starting to upgrade . I must say my wife was not just real happy with the car at first, but she has now learned to drive the 5-speed and uses it as a daily driver. She absolutely loves her car now and I do not see us ever parting with it. As with a lot of folks we will eventually upgrade, now she wants a 96-97TT, and I will be a much more informed buyer the second time around. Be patient and be broad in your search is the best advice. Even though mine was not real helpful get a PPI from somewhere you trust, but the more you are informed the better.

PS to Danno...I am just starting to get into the DE events and upgrades so I look forward to more help as I begin to do some work on the car myself, much to my wife's dismay.

Danno

"PS to Danno...I am just starting to get into the DE events and upgrades so I look forward to more help as I begin to do some work on the car myself, much to my wife's dismay.

Thanks for the compliments and welcome to the club!!! Be very, very careful about taking that first hit off the go-fast crack-pipe!!! <img src="graemlins/nono.gif" border="0" alt="[nono]" /> You will be forever changed. Your friends won't know who you are any more. Your family won't see you for weeks at a time as you hole up in the garage coming up with schemes to extract the last 0.05% of power out of your car. You'll fall behind on your house payments and it'll get repossesed. Your wife will leave you because you don't/can't take her ouit anymore. Your kids will complain because they never get to watch TV since you've got it tuned to Speedvision all the time. You'll spend your kids college-tuition money to by go-fast parts from the go-fast-crack dealer. ... Be forwarned..... once you step on the path to the dark side, you will be forever lost.... check out: <a href="http://www.nsxfiles.com/sears_point_2000.htm" target="_blank">Doug's Crack-Pipe story</a>