Potential Purchase…?

Looking at a 1983 928s and was wondering if this is even worth a meet up and I’m not wasting my time. The description of the condition below

“1983 Porsche 928S
10K OBO
Runs, drives, stops
New tires, recently polished wheels. Car runs excellent and has no issues with drivetrain. Drive it home! This car could drive anywhere without issue. Porsche 4.7L V8 with a 4spd automatic transmission, amazing highway car. True Mileage Unknown, a common issue with 928s.
Color is ruby red metallic, has a two tone brown/tan interior. Power drivers seat, manual passenger seat. Excellent power, new belt set, pulley set, green wire, rebuilt axles, and much more. Very reliable, easily a daily driver.”

The interior needs a lot of work and this is before I can even bring it to a specialist to get a second opinion. Just want some opinions before I get into the thick of it.

 

I guess it all depends on how far down the 928 rabbit hole you want to go and why do you want to get one.
I love the color combo, I have the same 83 except 5 speed. I love driving these cars but more importantly I love working on them. If you do not plan on doing your own maintenance you will exceed the value quickly, if you do your own maintenance you’ll exceed the value slowly.
I think 10k for an 80s super car is a bargain but in this market it’s a little high, IMHO
The interior is standard condition for many 928s. The dash is cracked and the front seats need to be reconditioned. Mine looks way better but still needs the same items so it will cost me the same. I would take a good look at paint and body for that price.
Find out when the timing belt and other services have been performed.
It’s got the early L Jetronic system which isn’t bad but I think the LH version is much better.
It takes some money to make these cars a good daily driver but when you do everything right they’re reliable.
Two good adages. The cheapest Porsche is the most expensive Porsche and Always buy the best one you can afford.

There is a massive amount of 928 experience on this board from people who forgot more than I will ever know so you came to the right place for info.

 

I estimate 20 K in parts to go through that one,
its in like condition to my 84 Ruby project.

Ruby 1984 Auto project

NOTE I go through all the systems and refresh them,
not just fixing the broken things

 

Very true words.
If the paint is presentable, that will save you a lot of money. The int will cost a lot to get it up to snuff - $2-4K depending how handy you are and how good you want to make it. Owner claims it's a daily driver but chances are it needs the normal maint of timing belt / water pump, fuel and pwr strg lines, and maybe an intake refresh. Parts are $1-2K. If you're handy these are doable DIY jobs but will cost you sev thousands if you hire it done.

Sharks had a long production run - 78-95. There are bundles of yrs that fall into similar categories - the OBs (78-80), GTS (93-95), S4s, etc. The 81-84s tend to fall into the least desired / least valuable group, esp if they're an automatic. That doesn't mean they aren't cool or fun or worthless, it means there's a shark hierarchy and these are towards the bottom. A decent 83 in today's lower mkt is prob around $15K, and by decent I mean the paint & int are presentable, maint is current, and it drives well. This one barely checks 1 of these boxes. Honestly, with the cost of all the work needed just to make it presentable, not concours, it's prob not worth more than $5-6K and that's being generous.

 

It depends on where you live but I think the interior is way more than $2K to $4K. More like $10K -$12K. You can buy a nice 928 with a good interior for $20K. And then what else is wrong with this car?

 

You are talking about US cars here, not RoW models. An important distinction to make. The 80-85 S/S2 RoW cars are the BEST of the old body cars. The best examples bring in big money now.

 

From what I see in the engine bay pics, I'm not sure things are mechanically as solid as the owner states. Wires near the 14 pin look old and crunchy and I'm also concerned about the paint. The distance photos make it look nice and shiny but in the last picture with the hood open the paint on the top side of the fenders looks like it has linear scratches in it and has an odd sheen to it.

Definitely needs new front seats, rears don't look bad unless they're crunchy and are going to crack when someone sits in them. Dash if obviously bad, but a Dash Designs DashTex dash mat will eliminate the eye-sore so you can drive it while you work on it without having to look at that stuff.

It's a regular 928 and not one of the higher performance Euro S cars - they're nice classic cars, but won't be super exciting with the 230 HP or so - depends on how you like to drive and what you're looking for.

I think it's worth a visit and depending on how it run, what the condition of the mechanicals looks like, etc I think $7,500 is a better price knowing it will need what you immediately see that it needs, but also probably a few thousand dollars more once you start driving it if trying to make it mechanically perfect - things like upper and lower front control arms, fuel lines, brakes (check the brake lines - if they're original rubber they for sure will be all swollen inside and braking won't be confidence inspiring), etc.

928s are awesome cars once you've gone through them and made them reliable. - I use an 84 Euro S auto as my Daily Driver.

 

My two cents, getting the fever from cheaper (and expensive cars):

1. You want a beater - go for it but it will be big money to get back into fighting shape
2. You want a nicer car - Get a color combo that you LOVE, with servicable paint and interior. At this point I would rather do a torque tube replacement than "proper" interior recover or repaint
3. You want a nice car - forget about it

Personally, if you like the original body, I would look for a good shape Euro 300 HP car with decent paint and interior (and or sun roof delete, no rub strips, or 5spd). The middle of the road 80-84 US cars are not rare, you can find them everywhere.

Don't get the fever, I know every car seems like a deal but there are way more out there and available than you would think.

 

my two cents -
this is my daily driver lol!
I've got it listed just to kind of see what happens