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My uncle knows a widow from their church whose late husband bought a new 928 from a Porsche dealer back in 1982.
It's a Black on Black 1982 928 with standard transmission. It has been garage kept, with no body work ever performed. She says it has 11,000 original miles, and she has maintenance receipts from the dealership, and has just put a new battery in it so she could get it started and drive it around their driveway a bit.
I am a huge Porsche fan, and would like to offer her a reasonable price, but I have absolutely no clue what a fair price would be. I'm going to look at it this Sunday, and will take as many pictures as I can. I'm not looking to steal this from a widow, I'm looking for a fair price. I'll also see if I can take note of what service has been performed. She did say that her husband spent several thousand on service fairly recently.
So what do you all think? Have I provided enough information, or do you need to see pictures and know more about what services may be overdue?
Thanks in advance for any helpful information or advice you may have!
Hi Jeff - welcome to the forum. Yes, pictures would be very helpful. Assuming it is as you described, I would expect a "like new" car, and even though there will be lots of deferred maintenance to catch up on (rubber fuel lines to be replaced, maybe clean out the tank, replace vacuum lines, power steering lines, etc , and a top end refresh), all of that can be done easily, by you using the vast resources of this board, for $5 grand or so. Not a lot of complicated stuff on these earlier cars.
That said, these cars do not like to sit, and at 11K miles, it has sat for long stretches. Hopefully the head gaskets and heads are still good, as sitting coolant turns acidic and can eat the heads. Even with that risk, I would go after it for sure.
Guesstimate - $20K to $25K, subject to interior pics being very good, and otherwise in excellent condition. With catch up maintenance, including possible head gaskets and machining of the head surfaces, plus the other stuff I mentioned, you'll have a car easily worth $35K to $40K after its done, and will continue to appreciate from there so long as you take care of it.
You are going to have to find out more about the condition before a good estimate could really be made. Could be anywhere from $1k to $20k. Her idea of the condition may be very different from the market's idea of the condition. A black on black '82 is not gonna get a lot of love from the market, unless it is a pristine time capsule that looks like it is right off the dealer's floor. Having had a black on black '82 five speed I can say I think it is a great car, but it was not a low volume year, it is not a rare color, and it is not a very high performance year.
Up side: 5 speed stick, VERY low miles, garaged, maint records, history.
Down side: Black, 1982 build.
If it's a time capsule car, with good records you can expect over $25k for a fair price.
Things it will need RIGHT NOW: Fuel lines, power steering lines, some rubber items like seals. Fuel pump(likely), coolant, oil, filters. A word of caution; very low mile cars are valuable because - - they have very low miles! If someone starts driving this, and runs the mileage up quickly over 20k, you will have lost much of the value of the car. This is the kind which should be trailered everywhere, and shown as a time capsule(if it is as such) vehicle.
What is your location? One of us can likely come with you and do an inspection if you are in a major metro area. Good luck, and welcome. You're in the right place.
This is a tough one. I completely agree with Doc on the cons. Black color with it being a US (I'm assuming) 1982, makes it one of the least desirable year/color combos. However if it's a Euro version (do we know?) then it adds value IMO. Being a 5-speed adds value and of course the low miles means the most with regards to values. I just was at a car show where Porsche marque expert Nathan Merz gave a good state of the market talk. I remember him stating that there is a definitive jump in the market for sub 10K mile cars. Between 50K miles and 10K miles the value increase is only marginal. So I think the PO could put another 20K or so on this car an not really worry about any great loss in value.
Now as for value..I'm not as bullish, even with the low miles. If this car is in great cosmetic condition and assuming it needs all the mechanical refresh mentioned above then $20K is my guess for fair market price. Only after making it mechanically sound (which could easily run beyond $10K) then $25K- $30K.
Welcome to the 928 community! You have indeed found a true rarity as far as low miles goes and a 5 speed to boot. Sure it is not a high performance or rare year, but low miles (if properly stored and maintained) brings the big dollars amongst it's 1982 brethren.
Hagerty's valuation tool for this car shows $45,900 for this car if it is in #1 perfect "best of the best" condition.
Besides the list of maintenance items others have provided, I suggest that you carry a high capacity fire extinguisher with you and that it be kept at t are ready when starting or driving this car. If you read other accounts of cars in storage for long periods of time, you will immediately recognize the need for some hose replacement if it is not evident or documented.
That said, I would like to address the Black/Black valuation comments. Within the last month a 1995 Black/Black 1995 GTS with 3,400 miles just sold for $140,000 at auction.
Black/Black was popular because it looked great on these cars. It was indeed such a popular color because of that fact. I would not let anyone dissuade your valuation one bit because of the color. Super low miles and a great color only enhance the value in my opinion. I question recent market sentiment for oddball colors, those trends change and great popular colors do not hurt b=valuation over the long term.
Enjoy the chase, the capture and once in your hands, the car!
First off, the 80 - 84 US is the least valuable model. Period. If it was bought new from a dealer, it's almost certainly a US car.
Black is one of the least valuable colors.
11k miles over 35 years is not much driving. Less than 300 per year average.
Was maintenance performed by year? Or by miles. If the latter, then the oil, coolant & brake fluid were likely not changed often enough. Especially the coolant. It needs to be changed every few years, no matter the miles driven.
Go through the records and see what's up.
There was a fellow on here, "OldFrat" (or something like that) was his user name. He got an 81 with 12k miles for less than $20k at an auction a couple years ago. He then spent a ton of money with SeanR at 928 Docs doing all the necessary "Catch up" work that it needed (see above posts for what that entails). He has since driven it a lot. I believe he's up over 20k miles by now. He knows that the value has been diminished by those miles, but he's not looking to sell it. His heirs will take the loss (he has stated that quite clearly).
"Garage kept" is usually good. But beware of mold in the interior. "Unauthorized critter residents" can also be an issue. Again, this car did a lot of sitting.
My guess, based on the stereotypical "old guy who owned it since new and recently died" cars that I am aware of, would be in the $20k range. Depends on what the maintenance records show, and what it looks like.
In the words of Ronald Reagan, "trust but verify" that mileage if you can. Odometer gear for those years are very susceptible to breaking, sometimes by simply pressing the odometer reset button. If you see wear on the pedals, wear on the seats, etc., your spider senses should go off. An 11K interior should look new, albeit the leather may be hard.
Wisconsin Joe has a good memory! My 1981 showed up totally unannounced at the Dallas Mecum auction 4 years ago with 12,150 miles on it and no reserve price. I got it for $20,000.
I'm lucky to live very close to Sean Ratts, an excellent 928 mechanic , and Roger Tyson, a great supplier of 928 parts. Both also great guys. I've spent quite a it of money with both of them, with most of that involving replacing rubber parts that had deteriorated, much of that while parked in a CA garage. And, your car will have been a pioneer in the days of computers --using computers to command mechanical processes instead of digital ones. That leads to some "interesting issues" which is why you want to know a 928 expert mechanic like Sean.
I absolutely love this car. It has now been driven to all three coasts. It does great as an interstate cruiser and on the two lane twisties. It does not do as great as the later cars with higher horsepower and improved suspension, but it does great in the absolute and better than this 72-year-old owner wants to attempt. Personally, I love the clean look of the "old bodies", but all 928s are really great looking cars. Yeah, I have probably weakened its resale by driving it this much, but I really don't care. I get great joy in driving it and my sons and future heirs encourage me to do that.
An unexpected benefit has been meeting other 928 owners. There are several in this area and they have regular gatherings. I don't know if 928s attract really nice people or if being the owner of a car 911 owners kind of treat as the red haired stepchild makes 928 owners kind of empathetic to other 928 owners, but the cameraderie is palpable and appreciated. It is also kind of fun to have the many conversations you do at gas stations and parking lots. A few people recognize the make and model and want to talk about it. Many more don't recognize it, are curious, and are amazed to discover it is 37 years old. The design was far ahead of its time.
I needed an automatic. Stick shifts generally command higher prices. My guess is that $25,000- 30,000 is a fair price if the car is in great shape-- maybe more, but my guess is you will have no conscience issues if you pay in that range. They are appreciating in value. If you can find somebody here to help you check it out, that would be great.
So, should I drive my 356 replica to go see the car? Or not? On one hand, it will demonstrate that I am serious about my love for Porsche vehicles. On the other, it may be over the top.
Depends on how far you have to go. In my experience the 356 (and replicas) are not quite the highway warriors that 928s are. Your car is lovely, but not sure 500 miles on the interstate in that would leave you in very good shape. It was 1000 mile road trips in my 914 that first drew me to the 928.
09-27-2018, 03:15 PM
I have a lead on a nice 1982 928
