danagaul

Jeez...........such a long journey to get a smack in the face! Hope it works out ok.

ltoolio

Van - so sorry to see the pics after your journey of fixing her up. I've got an '82 of the same color, and seeing the pics made me nervous to drive tonight.

But, as others have said - no one got hurt, you've got options relative to reimbursement, and you've got another one in your possession, so things could be far, far, far worse.

linderpat

That silver 88 would seal the deal for me. Take the money and move on to a finished product. Unwrap and drive!

Cosmo Kramer

That car appears to have club sport wheels on it, very rare and nice!

Go Go Joe

Those look like regular Design 90's to me. I have a set of chromed Design 90's on my white '88 S4 5 speed. The silver car looks very nice. Not a fan of the burgundy interior but I guess it could grow on me if the car drives out well. I have a question, if burgundy is so unpopular a interior color, why are there so many 928's with that color interior? Was it just a 80's thing? Also sorry to see your car end up like that. I'm glad you're ok. Hopefully everything works out well.

Regards,

Joe

docmirror

Couple things.
1) Silver/gray Porsche bore me to tears. Only slightly more than black, but I know I'm the minority.
2) Title changes are different for every state. Deal with the state on the title. In TX we have 'salvage', and 'rebuilt(salvage)' options. There are ways to wash the current rebuilt title through other states, and then get back to clean, but the history will always be there on a VIN later than 1981. It may be hard to find, but it'll usually be there.
3) As collector cars get older, avoiding the salvage moniker gets harder and harder if the car is insured. Almost all cars that get designated are due to financial reasons, and not safety reasons, which was the original intent of the title change by the state DMV. Frex; I bought an 86 928 that had a salvage title. The damage was well documented, and included body damage to the right rear quarter, damage to the fuel tank neck and filler, right rocker panel and that was it. The insurer decided due to it being old, and a Porsche, and in fair condition that it wouldn't be financially worth fixing. Of course, the car ran and drove fine and safe down the road, but the salvage title was issued.
4) When I sold the car, with the full salvage damage and repair, the title issue didn't really play into the value of the car that much. Now, if it was two cars hit front and back that were later welded back into one car, that would be different.
5) In the case of this car, due to the color options, and overall condition of the rest of the car I would be very inclined to keep it, and go back to basics. The information, materials, and labor are there, and the settlement from insurance should well cover what needs to be done with maybe a little investment by the owner depending on the level of DIY or GB labor route taken.
6) You can buy a white/black/silver/gray S3/S4 all damn day long if you want one. There's a bizillion of them every year for sale.

http://www.ebay.com/itm/like/1521913...466&rmvSB=true

ymmv, pro driver closed course, don't try at home, objects in mirror, and may cause **** leakage.

vanster

I totally agree with you regarding Silver or grey, I think you forgot Guards Red. An interesting thought came to mind as I am still struggling with DMV on the registration. They have fought me from day 1 regarding the title from Canada and now they don't like the format of the bill of sale. It's not a Canadian car it was first purchased from a dealer here in N California and I have the window sticker to prove it. Currently the car is in "suspense" so I don't really have title to it. They keep extending the temp as they can't figure what to do. One would think they should find better things to do with their time.

Assessing the damage last night, it appears that the engine is fine, the intake tubes melted and covered a lot of stuff before it got totally cooked. The jump post cover seemed to have protected the 14 pin. The alt and ac were not touched. I really don't care if I have a salvage title or not as the car is for me not someone else and I'm not trying to flip it. I keep cars for a long time and this was the plan with this one. If I keep it for 10 years I'll be 80. Who cares after that. California might try and get rid of vintage cars by then....

docmirror

Go to any DMV office, smaller the better. Show your registration and your license and tell them the car is in title suspense for more than 30 days(true or not). Tell them to pull up the record, and give you the suspense Reason Code. Go here:

http://www.dmv.ca.gov/portal/dmv/?1d...bk/ch30/ch30_7

Find your code, and ask them for written instructions on compliance with the reason code. Quite often for out of state/country it's a VIN verification at a CHP or qualified DMV office. Note; if there is a valid suspense code, they must provide you with a resolution or a denial of CA title and why denied. It's not optional.

Oh, and guards red is the only CORRECT color for any car. muuaahahahhahahaaa!

Bill Ball

Van has at least 4 or 5 options. The calculations as to which would work out best are a little complicated. Van got an adjuster who was remarkably well informed about 928s and in a general discussion about possible settlement and buy back, the numbers were pretty high.

1. Take the insurance settlement, let the car go.
2. Take the insurance settlement, buy back the car, sell the car to Mark A. If the buy back is high, this will not work.
3. Take the insurance settlement, buy back the car, restore it. It will have a salvage title. Docmirror mentions salvage title had little effect on value in his case. Hmmm... If so, based on the numbers we batted around, this would be the way to go. Not sure. Of course, if you never intend to sell the car, salvage title is of no import. I've owned salvage title vehicles and had no issues due to that, but the value was greatly reduced.
4. Take the insurance settlement, buy back the car, part it out. Too much hassle for Van.
5. Do not exercise the insurance claim, retaining a clean title. Restore. If the settlement is as high as the discussion suggested, this is not a good option.

It needs left fender, hood, front end paint at least, including the engine compartment, EVERYTHING rubber or plastic under the hood, all engine harnesses and some left side lighting, brake and ABS sensor harnesses, redone intake and cam cover powder coating, MAF, various throttle and cruise cables, cruise vacuum pod, maybe motor mounts, rack boots and left side suspension arm and brake parts to replace burned rubber bits. The cabin is untouched and the interior does not smell of smoke at all.

Best guess is injector 8, which was not delivering fuel the day before despite good electrical signal and "clicking" noise, popped off the rail. When working on it the day before, trying to get the harness plug off for testing, the injector popped out of the rail. I reseated the injector, careful to make sure the clip was well seated, observed no leak and thought it was OK. And I warned Van to make sure it was seated properly after he did subsequent work to get that injector working. In retrospect, I can't recall ever having an injector pop out of the rail while I manipulated the harness plug, even though that can require some substantial wiggling to break the harness plug free from the injector. Still, the retaining clip seemed to reseat with that firm "click" I always listen for, it felt well seated when I tugged on the injector, and I thought nothing of it after that. It looks like a large amount of fuel accumulated in the valley and ran under the car before the fuel ignited. Also, at some point the main power steering hose burned open, providing a large pool of flammable liquid that engulfed the left wheel well. When Van sent me a text with a mid-burn photo, I was struck dumb.

docmirror

I qualified it by stating it was MY case, it was based on well documented damage and repairs, and that it drove straight and true, even with the salvage damage present. Also said it was salvaged for financial and not safety reasons.


hmmmmm.....

NewShark

In case you're thinking about rebuilding ... here are some fenders FS
http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst...706647508.html

vanster

It turns out that the insurance adjuster that looked at the car and the underwriter have a different value system. So far they have offered 11k. The battle begins
I am thinking more and more and my family supports this as well as to keep it and fix it. I know it doesn't like me but maybe this exorcism helped. Success is going from failure to failure with enthusiasm.

bureau13

As an observer with no skin in the game...I like this. Van finally triumphs over the beast. It's the best story :-) It's what I was hoping you'd do, because it's what I hope I'd do, in that situation. I don't know that I would have done it, because, damn, so frustrating...but I hope I would.

Mongo

This board is becoming really depressing. I'm across the bay from you Vanster. Sorry to hear and see this. Everytime I turn the key nowadays I worry about fires. It's starting to just get downright ridiculous to the point where if it happens to me, it's goodbye to the 928 world forever and off to a C207 E550 Coupe as my next GT Car.

I admire your resolve and determination to get back into another 928. Fight the good fight with your insurance, get more, and get the car you know you will sleep better at night owning.

Best of luck to you my friend.

Bill Ball

$11K settlement is pitiful. Less than half of what the adjuster hinted at. So, option 5? Or option 3?

Oh, have a gander at injector 8 and see if it popped out of the rail. I should have done that the other day when inspecting the damage.