Dean_Fuller

Thank you very much. Thats a good idea. I will get me paper work together and update the Marvin thread with out of pocket costs.

robot808

...catastrophic timing belt failure and a few hundred pounds.

dcrasta

Timing belts dont fail without help. Do your scheduled maintanence on time and everything will be fine.

#32-valve-envy..

dr bob

For most of us, the "best" 928 is the one we own and know well. Obviously, we treasure [read: "value"] what we have at somewhere north of what the current market level is at. If the market valued my car for more than what I think it is worth to me, it would be gone to that market in a heartbeat. There are times when I think a "new" low-miles GTS would be nicer. But the $learning curve for that newer but still used car is still a lot steeper than the near-term open-items punchlist for the car I have.

The OP is in a spot where his car is his daily driver. He keeps it in reliable-driver condition, something that can be a real challenge when it comes to justifying major extras like new paint. Besides the cost of the paint work, he also needs to find another way to get to work, church, the liquor store and the pool hall. I've never had any luck with a prep-a-section-at-a-time program with driving in the middle of the sections. Every undercoat product is intended to grab onto whatever you want to put on next, and in a DD situation the next coating will be dirt, road debris, oil, etc. that ultimately spoils the bond with top coats. So a week or two for a fast-n-cheap paint job, maybe months and $thousands for that closer-to-original look, with a rental ride or the moped for the duration.

depami

So we've gone from paint jobs to arguing about 16 vs 32 valve and timing belts!

The original question was:

Can a paint job total a 928?


Well, maybe.

robot808

Would you prefer if I said water pump failure? Either way, my car will live to drive another day. Please tell me why in the world I would be envious of a 32V car? Nicer cars, sure. But not because they are 32V cars.

James Bailey

to answer the question... If you have comprehensive insurance and own an old 928 and your neighbors kid decides to " wash "Your 928 with a kitchen pot scrubber sponge the nice heavy duty ones....Yes the car would be declared a total by the insurance company and the title branded salvage. You would get actual cash value as determined by the insurance co based on Craigs list and other adds usually discounted to reflect selling prices not asking prices....
Hobbies like Golf or Fishing or boats NEVER make money or return much when you are done yet people seem to expect that old cars SHOULD !!!! maybe Too much Barret-Jackson

bcdavis

Yeah, I had that same debate regarding my 928.

When you compare them to a new car, they take a lot of time
and money to maintain. You don't pay as much up front,
but in the long run, it often comes out a wash. You just
have to decide if you want to have a cool older car,
and spend your money and time maintaining it, or if
you want a new car, and spend your money up front,
on the higher purchase price.

As someone else mentioned, the ideal situation is to
have your 928 as a secondary car. Have some newer
car as your daily driver. I found it very frustrating trying
to maintain a car as old as a 928, keeping it up to
the standards of a new car. Constantly replacing
window switches, trying to get the AC to always blow
cold, fixing all the electrical gremlins, etc.

If I could do it over, I would have gotten a 928 race car.
Even if you keep it street legal, like Kibort's car, you can
forget about concerns such as comfort, and you can
ditch all the gizmos that often break. You don't have to
spend a ton of money on trying to maintain your paint,
your interior, your electronics, etc. Just focus on things
like brakes, suspension, and things that make it drive
and handle better...

James Bailey

And some wonder why the old very brown 1980 is such a turd !! For what I do with it ,track days only, as stated above it makes little difference. Makes it easy to lend it to a friend who needed some track time and lap times for a championship...yea he hit a couple cones and added to the patina of the right front fender...

Charley B

Can you imagine a guy with a 100,000 mile well used Chevy saying; "well, I've got about $20,000 in it, I just wanna get my "investment" back".

Used cars of any make are not an "investment". The money you spend is the "cost" of driving the car.

928er

an airbag deploy can total a 928.... passenger airbag will blow out the windshield, destroy a dash and bend the a pillar.... that will total a 928 without even thinking about the paint, front bumper cover or paint.... the truth hurts....

928porschemangreg

If you had $150,000 you could buy a Maserati , a Rolex and a pair of sunglasses. I would no longer salute your dedication, or envy your capability as a man, who drives proof that he is a man to be envied.

Jerry Feather

There is a concept in economics called "opportunity cost" and that refers to the cost of your next best alternative. What you need to do is add up the cost of what your car needs to become the nice 928 that you would like to continue driving and then predict about how long that will last you adding the cost of keeping it up along the way. I suspect with the numbers you originally suggested and with a modest prediction of about five years, your annual cost will average no more than a couple of thousand bucks.

Now look at your next best opportunity. Say that is going to be something new that needs nothing and will cost about $40,000 in order to give you close to the same driving pleasure. What do you think is going to be the annual cost of that car? It is going to depreciate about $4 to $5,000 out the door. Then it is going to depreciate $3 to $4000 per year at least on time alone and maybe more depending on the mileage. In about 5 or 6 years you are going to trade it in for only about $12 to $15,000.

On the other hand, if Hacker is even close to correct about a 928 as a current investment, your 928 will be worth much more than your total investment in it in the same 5 years. Even if not, it is still likely to be worth at least what it is worth now before you put the money in it.

I think that says that you need to put into you 928 just what you need to to get it the way you want it and quit troubling yourself about the value. Your car is not depreciating any more.