James Bailey

Given what I know about 928s.....I highly doubt that less than 1% of those who buy and sell one make any profit....
I know of multiple divorces and more than one bankruptcy to some extent caused by the love for a 928....
You really will find it expensive, unfruitful, and frustrating..... unless it is a hobby and you enjoy working on and fixing cars with little regard for what it MIGHT be worth someday or that it is running and driving on a regular basis.
There is nothing "moderate/low budget" about a 928 . Your dream can easily become a nightmare.

JEC_31

I sold my 86.0 because the writing on the wall was an endless to-do list, and each item on the list required disposable money and time (abbrev. D$T). Still love 928s, but won't even consider buying one until my levels of D$T reach 928 heights.

And if you're looking for profit... there is an opinion that prices are on the rise, particularly for collector-grade 'early classic' models ('78-79 originals) or collector-grade 'most evolved' examples (GT, GTS). However your are not going to be part of that action rescuing neglected high-milers. The rising tide will not lift those boats because they're already sunk - they are black holes in the driveway who are ever-hungry for D$T.

That said, rescuing neglected high-mile 928s can be a very rewarding investment of available D$T if you place a high value on incredible driving machines, pride of DIY, and an honest enjoyment of problem-solving an interesting electrical and mechanical beast whose complexity level is summed up with the heavy phrase "German Engineering."

- Josh

Mrmerlin

T^hanks for considering this good luck on your new ride

dr bob

^^^ That's a bargain for a car you'll really enjoy driving.

James Bailey

Screaming bargain......literally !! the brakes and suspension.....the very valuable late transaxle... and those Euro S 16 valves run GREAT ! Plus Stan KNOWS 928s

dr bob

Every car has a story. I think the big expensive collectible word is 'provenance'. To be of future value, that provenance would include details of the car's history pretty much from birth. Famous owners, famous events. And a complete service and repair history. The guy who says it reminds him of his now-lost girlfriend (that cheating dog, high maintenance costs, lots of show with little reward, ate only at premium restaraunts, swallowed diamonds like popcorn...) is telling you something. I'll think of it in a minute. Oh, and one seller's definition of 'nearly perfect' can be almost identical to another's definition of 'parts car'. Managing expectations is 90% of any project.

The question is whether you can or want to go drive it today. If the service history isn't up to date with the major stuff done recently, you need to consider how you'll get that done. Browsing through a month of the list postings here, you'll notice casual threads about the details of setting cam timing as part of the every-five-years-or-50k timing belt replacement project. The original gears wear enough to need replacement by 100k. The water pump is usually a WYAIT replacement, and there are some not-inexpensive bearings, rollers, bushings and other tensioner rebuild bits needed. Add in the coolant hoses and other incidentals, and you can easily push $2k in parts alone. Our sponsoring vendors take some of the bite out of parts costs. But that's just one of the services that can show up quickly on your schedule. Oh, sell the same car with that investment, and you might be able to revover half of the parts cost. Might. There's always a chance that your buyer would be blinded to the ownership costs after purchase. A chance.

You will want that AC to work during your Illinois driving season for sure. I spent a very full day doing AC fix and retrofit stuff on mine soon after I bought it. And I already had all the tools and stuff. A couple $hundred in parts and pieces all in, knowing exactly what I was doing.

Part of your due diligence is finding what it will cost to take care of the known ssues on any car, and allowing sufficient budget for extra things you find along the way. How much for bodywork and paint where you are? Planning a used interior swap, or to rebuild what's there? Cracked dashes and pods, worn-and-torn seat bolsters, rear quarters warped and delaminating, these are common to neglected cars. Sometimes you can find a donor car with good pieces. Otherwise you'll be buying them from 928 International, or trying to get them rebuilt/recovered. Your "interior looks like a disaster" would spur a call to 928 International to buy a whole used but good interior. Unless you are good at upholstery that is; then you have a project. Of course, cars that have been neglected don't have just one area of neglect.

No such thing as too many tools, in my opinion. I have a full set of air tools, but truthfully they almost never get used on the 928. I used an air impact on some of the suspension bolts to get things apart, and on some of the motor mount project. I recommend investing in good torque wrenches before air wrenches, FWIW

You'll be quite surprised at the distribution of members. I was in Effingham, for instance, and saw many interesting cars there. Mid-America had a gathering while I was there, and the place was a sea of cars and car people. North towards Chicago and you find menmbers, east towards Indy and here are members, St Louis has some, as well as KC, Memphis, Ky, the Carolinas. Ask around here and find out.

Can't imagine keeping one of these going without al the knowledge and experience shared by owners here. There are few problems that haven't been experienced and solved by listmembers here.

Good gig if you can make it work, and you place no value on your time. Cheap cars hit the market, often the reason is that someone had stars in their eyes but no clue what it would take to reach them.

Buy one after your due diligence is complete. They are wonderful cars. I treat it as a therapy session, making and keeping it in excellent condition. There's no possible chance that I'll recover all the costs though. I'm sure I could get back what I paid for it almost 20 years ago, but that's a fraction of the costs of ownership. Cars, purely as fionancial investments, suck.

jcb928

I know the 85 you are talking about and you would be much better off with this one 5 hours away from you saving shipping if it sells for under $5500,

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Porsche-928-...US_Cars_Trucks

Michael Blue

WOW!!!!!!!!!!
I knew as I read your description that it would be over my budget, but I expected it to be a LOT more than you're asking!
I'm going to have a hard time raising $8K and yours is CLEARLY worth what you're asking (or more), so all I can offer you is best of luck with the sale.


Thanks for all the advice, Bob. I know it's not your intention, but you have me seriously (re)considering this purchase. Thank you for that.
I still hope I can find a good candidate in my range, but it just may not be the right time for me.

Holy cow that's clean! Other than the '86.5 I mentioned earlier, this is the cleanest one I've seen so far. On my end, I'm still researching and raising the money, which will be several weeks yet. Unfortunately that doesn't work for an eBay auction, but I'm definitely watching to see what it brings. Someone's going to get a gorgeous car.

Thanks again, guys! All the comments...You're simply amazing.

danglerb

If raising $8k is a burden, you need to give this some more thought. $8k can buy a nice daily driver, but it isn't very likely as a first purchase of a 928, maybe one chance in four you won't need to put $3k or more into whatever you buy during the first year.

Mrmerlin's car looks like a smart buy for a new owner to me, but the catch is most potential new buyers won't see the value, only those of use with a few years of ownership. Think of it as a typical $5k car with the first $5k of maintenance already done.

James Bailey

Plus another $5,000 of upgrades over the "typical".

Wisconsin Joe

A couple thoughts for you (some have been touched on, but bear repeating):

Keep looking. The more cars you look at, the better you will understand the market.

Keep reading and learning. The better you understand these cars and how they 'tick', the better off you will be.

Be patient. There are some very nice cars out there, there are a lot of POSs. Many are "optimistically" priced. Not many are worth the price.
I have seen a fair number of cars on here go for very reasonable prices. Andre's 84, the 83 from ND, a couple early cars that went on E-bay (off the top of my head). All were good cars, all within your budget.

Don't believe a damned thing a seller says. Period. The classic "it just needs a fuel pump to run" is as old as (insert bad metaphor here). Selling it because it 'because it reminds him of her' sounds just as lame.
There's a real reason why it isn't being driven now, as dr bob observed. Find out what it is, why it hasn't been fixed and how much it will cost.

Be patient. Don't jump at the first car that looks good. I did that, and while I'm very happy with it, it could have turned out a lot worse.

No matter what, get a PPI from someone who knows and understands these cars. That pretty much rules out any Porsche dealer. Finding someone who can give you solid and usable information about the car is vital.

Buying, fixing and reselling these cars will most likely be a losing proposition. The sellers won't go low enough, the parts are not cheap and the buyers won't go high enough. The saying "It's only $10k away from being a $5k car" is very, very true. The dollar value of these cars is nowhere near their original selling price. The parts prices however, are. It was a "supercar" that sold for the price of a nice house when it was new. Prices are supposed to be going up, but I have my doubts. The only ones that are commanding top dollar are all original, low mile, exceptional examples.

Peoria area may be the serious sticks, but there are a couple decent groups (and a few outstanding individuals) within a few hours.
If you wait until summer, there's a fun get together in Dubuque. There were a dozen or so 928s, plus a few 911s of differing sorts. Even without a 928, I'm sure you'd be very welcome to attend and ask all sorts of questions. If I'm there this year (hoping to be) I'd be very happy to take you for a spin.
There has been one in St Charles (west suburbs of Chicago) the last couple of years. I haven't been able to get to that one, but it gets good comments on here.

Be patient. The right car for you is out there. Make sure you get that one, not the wrong one.

Jetdriver69

Saying that a semi basket case 928 is only $10,000 away from being a $5000 car can very easily go to it is $20,000 away from being a $10,000 car and then you would lucky to get $8000 for it.

Of course you can easily drop 20K on a decent, non AC equipped 67-69 Mustang Coupe and they made a million of those cars.

Eventually, almost every system on a well worn 928 will need attention and those costs can be brutal, not to mention if it needs a re spray.

From someone who has been there, buy a car that has been sorted and more importantly, the expensive work paid for by someone else.

But before you commit one nickel, pay for a reputable and if need be, premium priced PPI to list every single flaw and a estimate of the repair.

If the owner balks at a PPI, run away very quickly!

Once you know the true condition of the car, you can make an informed decision on the purchase and hopefully, no horrible surprises will turn up later on.

Good luck, be patient and be cautious.

docmirror

I think you need to prioritize a bit more. If you are not setting aside $2000 annually to support one of these cars it's going to go the way of most of them that wind up in breakers yards. Little things will start to go, then bigger things, and pretty soon you are looking at a repair bill of $2800 just to keep it running right.

I bought an 88 a few months back and all it's done is eat money, and I'm not done with it yet. TB/WP when done right is almost $1000 in materials. Top end refresh will be around $800 or more. AC work, vac repairs, interior refurb it just all takes money, even if you do most of the work yourself.

If you are looking at lower price cars, you need to have a higher reserve for repairs. You can buy a fully sorted car for $20k, but if you get one for $6k, it's going to need $5-8k within 3 years. We've all been there. Keep saving.

OTR18WHEELER

FWIW for a '85, bought mine for 5K, before I knew of Rennlist. The 928 itself was the selling point.
The car needed things at first sight, It started, and ran good to me.
Three years later, I have spent over 6K on parts and maintenance, most of my own labor.
That being said, I have about 11K invested in a reliable 928 that needs many more $$.
As for the car it is, I would not be afraid to take it on a thousand mile trip, its a driver, not a show car.

Michael Blue

Yeah, I'll keep looking, I'm always researching the crap out of anything I'm interested in before putting my toe in the water. If a good driver looks like it shows up in the $5K range, I'll see if someone here can provide a quality PPI on it, maybe I'll get lucky. Otherwise, I'm already considering just walking away from these until (if) there's more budget.

Thanks again!