upstate bob

Be patient and keep your eyes open. I would still like to add a nice Corrado to my stable.

danglerb

Prep.
Know what you want, or at least what you don't want.
Know who will do the inspection and any work you don't do yourself.
Be ready to buy, mentally and financially.

Good deals require some combination of lots of work looking and networking with people, or being lucky. Being lucky is hard to beat, but there are people with a constant ear to the ground that repeatedly buy nice cars at great prices. The sort of effort required isn't really practical if you are looking for just one car.

Money talks. Absolute easiest way to get a solid car is to announce on all the forums like this one what you want and what you are willing to pay. If the amount is sufficiently attractive owners of good cars will find you.

You can get a good car at a good price, but good cars are maybe one in twenty on the market, same for good deals, so if you want both that makes it one in four hundred, lots of patience required.

Rrose910

Definately take your time before you find your gem. Sometimes you get lucky as I did. Found a '80 928s Euro 5 speed on ebay locally here in Michigan. Owner didn't know much except a little bit of history. He found the car in need of too much restoration for his liking. The body was decent, interior needed full restore, he didn't know much about the engine or transmission.
For $1100 I took a chance and am glad I did. Found a binder in the trunk under a bunch of spare parts full of all the maintance records from when he had it imported. He sent it to a repair facility and failed to pay the bill. The shop sold it to the guy I bought it from only a couple months earlier.
I landed an awesome euro with new tune up, clutch, tires, timing belt and a slew of other items. Been fixing the normal items (grounds, lights, electric motors...) Re-upholstered the rear seats myself and continue to re-leather all the interior. Not perfect or professional by no means but safe a ton of money doing it myself and learning a ton doing it.
In short keep up your search. This is my first 928. Wanted one since I was 15. Now at 42 i have my dream car and really enjoy bring her back to life. Took her for a quick spin and wish I didn't have to come home. Car was a dream to drive and can't wait to finish her.

AnatolyL

$1100.00 - I guess that blows up the Hagerty value chart...

Fogey1

I'm not inclined to be "fair" with those who hold themselves out to be experts, charge accordingly and subsequently demonstrate themselves to be ignorant of the basics. One has a right to expect value for money.

Life has plenty of opportunities to pay for a f#&king and, for the $$$, unless otherwise explicitly agreed, one should expect to be the f#&ker rather than the f#&kee.

pcar928fan

I have an '89 auto for sale... White/black... $8k. Would make a decent daily driver. Over $20k spent maintaining it over the last 5 years by the previous owner.

coreseller

Coincidental Post OhioMark, I've been lurking here in the 928 forums trying to educate / prepare myself for a possible 87 or newer S4 purchase. Also in Ohio (Cincy) and am another Mark lol.

OhioMark

Mark,

Good luck in your search!

Ducman82

drop us a line, we also have out monthly meeting tonight in Columbus.

http://www.928buckeyelandsharks.com

or on FB

https://www.facebook.com/groups/504331506258230/

coreseller

Same to you, will send you a PM to possibly compare notes. Going to diligently measure the single bay section of the garage to determine if a 4 post lift will fit so I could stack the new potential occupant under the 993 (it never leaks ) since I can't quite part with it. If the lift won't fit, neither will a 928 unfortunately, simply no more room at the inn.

I had to chuckle at your initial remark of some sellers' "flakiness", I've run into that more often than not also. The market for these (928's) seems to be completely different than the 993 / 911 market from what I remember while searching years back, if nothing else it does certainly make it easy to shake out a potentially bad choice.

It is definitely true, the hunt can be more fun, Good Luck.................

SteveG

Don't kid yourself, there are flaky buyers too. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing, in either case. Hopefully, being here is an education, I know I'm still learning. That is why it is frustrating when the seller is stingy with information: is it unknown, is he just lazy, or is he trying to cover??? Lots of 4-pic ads on ebay or 20 pics and none of the engine????

coreseller

I hear you. The wide range of asking prices for 928's is likely more of a factor vs. 993's. I've seen ads starting at 1500, alot of late 70's / early 80's cars in the 3500 to 5k range, late 80's early 90's S4's in 10 to 20k range then the GTS's. When I contacted sellers via email or phone I had requested the typical info (service history, # owners, condition of blah blah blah), of the 5 I've talked to 1 came through with pics or answers as promised.

When I looked for 993's it wasn't unusual to get Excel Spread sheets sent back with service histories, scanned copies of COA's along with PDF files of receipts, etc. not kidding. Thus far, there's no comparison between the two selling markets. Not looking to insult, just commenting on my experience.

OhioMark

Mark,

As I mentioned in my initial post, I had one Craigslist seller tell me that he was too busy to provide more than the one lousy photo he provided for his Craigslist ad. If you're too busy to make an effort, then why bother posting at all? The amount of knuckle draggers that I've come across is amazing, and makes you wonder how they function on a day to day basis.

Ciao'

Mark

SteveG

Mark: It's just part of the territory. Sad, yes. But if that guy has only one pic, you probably don't want that car and he is probably going to be disappointed. OTH, maybe someone does (project) , but the seller shouldn't be surprised at low-ball offers.

OhioMark

Steve,

Correct on that one!


Mark