T Colvin

"3000 miles in a car that I have absolutely no knowledge of "

Driving it home will take care of that.

BC

I say drive it.

Jim bailey - 928 International

Check the cost of renting a small U-haul truck and tow dolly/trailer that is the down side of driving see how much from Florida , Texas , Arizona to your home. So worst case something really bad happens on the road and you have to haul it home. But the closer to home the less the potential U-haul bill. Chances are the car will be fine or minor issues only but life is meant to be an adventure so no matter the outcome it will be memorable just be sure the credit card has enough open balance to cover the U-haul. I know of one 84 Euro-strosek picked up in Anaheim (not from us)to be driven to the midwest it made it to New Mexico before it was abandoned. The new owner lacked the funds to fix it and took the bus home. So be prepared for the worst and you will no doubt be pleasantly surprised ....drive it !!

bcdavis

Exactly what Jim said...

Drive it, and if it dies, tow it to the nearest town, rent a u-haul truck and trailer, and drive it home the rest of the way on a trailer.

Sierra Shark

I vote for the adventure. Drive it! Howeverif you just can't swallow that hard then you might consider what I did. I purchased an antique truck that was located in New York state. I did a little research and found several auto transport companies that will pick up individual cars and transport from one major city to another. They wait to tranport until they have filled the transporter (8 to 10 cars). It was always from one major city to another (New York City to L.A.) or in your case Miami/Fort Lauderdale to Reno/Las Vegas, or whatever, I don't know where you live or where the car is. Anyway, since the cost is split between each owner it only cost me $300 (including insurance). I couldn't buy gas for that, not to mention what my time is worth. I still think the trip would be cool. I've done it several times. Jim's idea is a good one too. Covers the bases. Any chance you could post an on the road diary of your trip as it progresses (via laptop)? That would be fun for us Rennlister's to follow along and some of these folks could direct you to friendly spots along the way. Good Luck!

CWO4Mann

And don't forget Brentwood, TN ... my crib is 1 mile off I-65 ... you can stay over night, we can drink some brewskies and sit in the hot tub, bbq some steaks, drink some brewskies, sit in the hot tub, dring sum beskos, tubsz in the sitsz . and[nknfd

Oh well, you know what I mean .. Mi Casa es Su Casa .... Besides I want your 81 soon as I can rob anouther couple of local crack dealers and get some scratch cash ...

Cheers,

Dave

John Struthers

Roll it brother.
I think the last adventurer rolled his 1982 Weissach back to Texas from the Northeast with close to that mileage.
If that car is even close to as advertised -and a documented TB/H2O pump and retension- all the lights work and it isn't all over the road. It should be a pleasure.
Unfortunately, many of us -guilty as charged- just don't stop, hence, the comments on trip duration.
However you don't need a stuff sack full of munchies, drinks, and a piddle bag to roll with your new sHARk. The practice of stopping for a meal at one of those sit-down, food troughs has been deemed acceptable by a small minority of your fellow 928 owners. Make sure you can see it from where you are eating though for both security and to watch the passerbys ooh and ahh.
Motel parking lots can be a bit scary when you cruise across country - they are such gorgeous things you know.

Big Easy Sharkster

Do the trip... nothing ventured, nothing gained. Hey, if passing thru New Orleans, I'm here with the basic week-end warrior tools.

goliver

DRIVE THAT SUCKER!!!! I bought my car in Boston and jumped in it Friday morning at 7:45AM and hauled *** back to Sacramento with less than 3 hours sleep. Got home at 7:30PM Sunday. What a hoot. My strategy was easy, go like hell and take some tools just in case. I had gotten bids for shipping the car in several spots across the country as well as one way ticket prices and availabilty from strategic cities across the US just in case.

These cars love to run baby. Nothing like ripping through Texas, New Mexico (still can't drive there for fear of an open warrant) and Arizona the way these cars were meant to travel.

I'm sure lots of folks would help out as you pass through if need be. I'd love to help you too but am on the wrong side of the hills to do you any good.

Regards,

goliver

Forgot to mention that I'd take a close look at the timing belt if no documentation exists just for peace of mind before you hit the warp speed trail.

Best of luck. Looks like a killer deal.

Regards,

G Man

All right! all right! I'll drive it home. I think. Here is what is bothering me. The car has a Florida COD. I have contacted the DMV in FL to see if they would issue a temporary moving permit. They said no, not with a COD issued to the car. I went to my local DMV today and they can't issue a moving permit for an out of state car. Curt tells me the current tags are good until the end of Feb. I am not going to make that time line. SO do I go for it and hope I don't get stopped. Mind you I am not going to be getting to crazy. Well,maybe a little! I was considering taking the plates and registration from my 81' and putting those on the 84', but I would probably get in more trouble for that than if I were driving with tags that expired a few days ago.

CW04MANN, I'll take you up on your offer for a place to crash. I'll pm you when I know for sure when I'm going to go. I am planning on taking U.S. 40 west until I get to NV and then I'll get on 95 and blast home the rest of the way to Carson City.

goliver

Jim,

I drove mine from coast to coast w/o issues and I even got stopped by one of Utah's finest for excessive speed.

In any event, I had the same issue as you as far as not getting daily or weekly moving permit from either MA or CA so I made a plate that looked like a used car dealer plate and went for it.

I think if I had a shark, i'd do what was recommended to me by another 928er. He said just use the plate off another car you own and if you get stopped in any state other than your home state tell them that you were told by the local DMV back home that you'd be legal on a new to you purchase as long as you had a legally registered in your name plate on the vehicle. I only had a motorcycle at the time so that option was out for me.

The state police guy in Utah didn't blink an eye when I handed him the ebay ad printed out, title and bill of sale as proof of ownership. I even offered to show him my cancelled plane ticket to Logan. He was happy enough to have me at 90+ that he put on the ticket I guess. He radioed the VIN in to check for wants and warrants as well as my lic. # for the same reason and then gave me a rather heated tirade about the dangers of speed etc. I remainded polite and he let me go. He said it would be in the best interest of Utah that he let me head back where I belonged. I guess a slam about CA.

Anyway, best of luck.

WesM951

Gman, As a fellow 'lister and P-Car owner, if you get lost and end up in NW Ohio somehow, there is a garage full of tools and a place to stay here.

SteveG

"I guess a slam about CA." Let me see if I have this correct: No title, license or registration for the car, running a fabricated motorcycle plate and talking politely to the officer. I guess so. I think it is more about you than CA.

No offense meant as I once drove an expired licensed & non registered one ton flat bed '72 Chevy to the local dump at 4 in the morning. The hour was due to wanting to be first in line ahead of the 18-wheelers and yes, the no registration. Figuring the guard was asleep, 50 yards away from the guard shack I took a rest stop. And even if he was awake, figured why would he care if not on their property that I took a whizz. Seeing my lights go on and off, the guard called the cops. " I only use the truck once every 2 years officer and I'm going to sell it after this trip." [truth] Talk about taking pity. I must have looked like a yokel and the story fit b/c by definition of the story I was a yokel and the story fit. He took pity, drove me to the local coffee shop, told me how much it should have cost me and let me deal with "Louie" the mob owner of the dump.

In situations like this I just really try not to call attention to myself. You can't not drive a recently acquired shark 90 mph in Utah, but the longer you do it, the more attention you call to yourself, see rule 1, in previous sentence.

Additional learning experience: Don't assume an old and otherwise bored security guard doesn't want to take an active role.

goliver

I hear you Steve. I didn't use the motorcycle plate cause I thought that was too obvious. His main concern was my lack of thoughtfulness to other motorists. I found that hard to beleive as there was nobody around in either direction for as long as you could see. If you ever drive west towards CA from Utah, be very careful after you make the long stretch that takes you around the south side of the lake. I don't know where he was hiding. I am pretty attentive to hideouts etc. and he nailed me dead to rights.

What did the mob guy do to you?