Something's wrong. No airbag, wrong steering wheel. Maybe euro delivery didn't have airbag in 91? Yawn, another S4 but without the airbag in generally good condition, boring color both inside and out. $10k, maybe $12 tops.

 

Except on my car ...... ive been through all the misery. You should see my list, i wrote it out to someone in a PM and they responded with "i'm not reading all that crap" i surprised myself with how much i have done to this thing.

 

But he should still budget for it... depending on the car, he may not have to spend it!

 

I initially was only looking at S4s which is why I didn't really know much about the GTs and that they were all manual transmission

The reason I think the VIN is bogus is because of the couple sites I've found (porsche928.net, and a couple others) that explain the VIN numbers. The VIN he gave me is WP0 ZZZ 92 Z M S 8 0 0391 and from what I've read, the M means 1991 the S is the production place, 8 is always there on 928s and the 0 before the serial number means EuroGT. Of course those sites could be wrong too and that could be the actual VIN.

The guy did say he could get it titled in Nevada or Maine, and had already paid to have it titled in Florida, but was just waiting to sell it so he could have it registered in the buyers name. It sounds like though (if I'm understanding correctly) that there is much more that would need to be done to make it really legal to drive here in the US. Even if it is just an S4 and those sites referencing the VIN numbers are wrong, it seems to be a very nice low mileage S4. If it's going to cost a ton though even after he has the Florida title for me to make it legal to drive in the US, it doesn't sound like such a good deal anymore though.

 

I didnt realize the Ebay car was the canada import car. I thought it was a plan B car. But no way would i pay $19,000 for that thing. The history is schetchy at best. How does one verify mileage, can you read Japanese documents? I cant, i would think that allot of the low mile Jap cars are possibly roll back cars. How can they all have only 30K miles?

Seriously, you can find a nice, up to date S4 with a US title from an honest seller that loves the car for that kinda money.

 

You can take a japanese car that is older than 15 years and register/title it in Canada without problems. From there, you can take it to Maine and register/title it there. Since the car now has a US title, it can be registered in any state and have its title transferred to that state. Many canadian auto sales shops do stuff like this, but they must know someone in Maine that they can trust. And this is not illegal either.

Dan
'91 928GT S/C

 

i still don't see the upside to spending $19k on an auto S4 with a questionable past and/or future when you can get legit US import models, identical specifications and all, for the same price if not alot less.

 

Really? Maine allows Canadian cars to be brought into the US? I thought the federalization was an EPA requirement and thus covered under Federal guidelines - not state. Sounds fishy.

If true, I would think you would see a whole buck of brokers setup in Maine.

 

This sounds much like the "washing of salvage titles" or the new "antique" title for the $150,000 Boyd Codington 1932 Ford that shows the purchase price as $25,000 for sales tax and registration (exemption from smog laws) . Find a State with lax enforcement and title it there ... hope that YOUR state misses the ZZZ when you try to get it titled /plated in your state. If you get caught with a none federalized car ....you get three choices; 1 pay the 10k or so to federalize it , 2 export it , 3 crush it ....pick one

 

I didn't plan on paying 19k for it, just putting an offer out there of between 16k and 17k. After reading the tips and advice on here though, I think I'll just be patient and wait for one to show up for sale in the US.

It's hard being patient though I started looking for a nice 928 S4 (automatic) back in the fall, through winter, and found some fairly nice ones back then. The problem was, getting it back to where I live would involve driving it over some very icy, snow packed passes. So I decided to wait until the weather warmed up...and it seemed this year winter lasted until the end of April out here.

After that I was looking all over craigslist, ebay and everywhere else I could find any for sale. I even found that one everyone here made fun of listed in San Antonio (The one listed as a 90-95 GTS, with one picture of the car, and other pictures of body kits and crap that had nothing to do with the car) and contacted the guy to find out what it really was. The guy didn't sound very trustworthy at all and didn't know much about it.... Guess I got a little frustrated and impatient, and when this one from Japan through Canada popped up on Ebay, it just seemed so perfect IF everything was legit and I could get it for around 16k

 

Euros got standard airbag at middle of '91 MY after this S4 was done. Before they became standard they were available as option but only very few cars got them as it wasn't cheap.

VIN is right for both ROW '91 MY S4 and GT. Its impossible to say if 928 is GT or S4 just by looking at VIN number. Both models share same sequence. For more VIN info check for example this thread:
https://rennlist.com/forums/928-forum/394457-master-vin-thread.html

 

There's a 40k mile '89 S4 for sale here in MA. I looked at it for KEL-J a few weeks ago. Perfect original paint with equally perfect interior. No LSD, but otherwise a great car for someone. Doesn't need a timing belt, but does need a few small things. Very nice original, low mile car. He's asking $22 but would take $20. Worth it for someone. No affiliation of course.
Rob at atlanticmcc@gmail.com

 

I've heard this done before. Cars brought into Maine that are more than 15 years old do not need a title, so can be registered easily:

http://www.maine.gov/sos/bmv/registration/reginfo.htm

Then when you go to another state, you show only the Maine registration and get a title.

Dan
'91 928GT S/C