Joseph350

Here's more, looked up a free vin report for this car and here are the mileage records. Looks like it came from New Jersey.

jderimig

If it is really a 10K miles car, my opinion is you may be able to get ~$7K for it fully restored in the right market.

indes

LM3A is guard's red, so it matches the color.

288 - HEAD LIGHT WASHERS
409 - LEATHER SPORT SEATS
418 - SIDE MOLDINGS
425 - REAR WINDOW WIPER
455 - WHEEL LOCKS
567 - TINTED WINDSHIELD - UPPER DARKER
657 - POWER STEERING

The auction photos show there's missing cap on the idle control screw on the throttle body - Indicative of a chipped DME
A screw missing from the airbox mount (it's removal is not required for filter changes)

Not sure if the earlier models had a plastic cover on the rear portion and the rear of my engine bay is pained the same as the body (late model vs early model differences?)

Joseph350

Cool! I feel like I could negotiate a little more though, planning on making a thorough documentation of the repair process and show that it was done right by professionals.

Thanks for the decode, I'll try and look at the throttle body tomorrow to see what you're talking about. A chipped DME would be nice!
Here are some more pics from the auction yard.

Spring44

Just a few observations. First it does indeed look good inside and on the undamaged panels.

Secondly, I think that it probably has 110,000 miles. The odometer on an '83 only has five number wheels and so it starts over at 99,999 miles. Ten thousand miles on a 35 year old car means that it was driven less than 300 miles per year, and that, while not impossible, is highly improbable.

Also, it is unlikely that it has a performance chip in it, because the '83 ECU's didn't have replaceable chips. That ability only came along in the later models.

All of those wrinkled body/frame panels in front worry me. You'd have to get a pro to put it on a frame jig and get it properly straightened

I'd still like to see you repair it right and drive it, because that is your best chance of getting the most fun and value out of it. JMTCW.

indes

I mention that because you can mod the DME to put the chip in, and one of the chip's instructions tells the user to change the idle using that valve under the un-removable yellow plastic cover.
If the car is indeed only at 10k -- there's probably very little reason to be doing any idle adjustment unless you modified something else....

jderimig

Certainly, value is determined by the buyer not us opinionators on the forum
I would highly recommend buying the CARFAX for this vehicle so you know everything about it that a potential buyer may know. And I would do that before you start sinking serious money into the project.

Incidentally, factory power steering in a '83 is a rare combination.

Joseph350

Got a Carfax report. Looks like I might be the third owner, and the mileage checks out. It had 4,100 miles in 1992. Looks like the next step is to get a quote from a body shop.


(not all of the report)

1933beer

Get the quote let them know you have original parts and they can fit them. If after that work is done then worry about having some one match the paint. If it sat in the sun for a while it will be harder to match. If you like it drive it. I would make a book of all the work you do to bring it back along with the carfax information. I would do at least the belts but would consider rollers and water pump if it has sat so long. Spin and listen if any noise replace.

Joseph350

I'm planning on doing the belts for sure. Water pump and rollers should be fine but I will make sure to check. Thanks for the advice.

Joseph350

Ok here we go reviving my dead thread. First I would like to say that I have not given up, despite taking so long to fix this dang car. Since I last posted I have gotten a quote from an awesome restoration/crash repair shop in town who said that the engine would likely have to be pulled to fix it. They also quoted plus or minus around $1700. That was months ago. So I set to work slowly pulling the engine and marking all the hardware that came off of it. My dad and I finally pulled it out and put the crossmember back on a few days ago. We took it to the shop and it's waiting its turn on the frame machine.

I'm not gonna lie, the damage is bad. The driver frame rail took the brunt of the impact and the guy we talked to expressed the possibility of some damage past the firewall. The owner of the body shop is very understanding of my situation and we asked if they could just tug on it a bit and see what they could get to pull out, the idea being they would have a better idea of how much money it would take to fix by then.

This leads me to 2 conclusions: If the damage is fixable and somewhere near my budget I am definitely going to go through with repairs. I've begun to really like this car and I would LOVE to take it to Radwood Austin next year.

The other conclusion has its pros but mostly cons for me. Say the damage is too bad to fix within my "budget" of $1700 (I have some things I can sell for another 5-$600). If I can't fix it the only sensible option is to part it out, and I would feel really bad doing this. The parts on this car are likely worth a LOT of money because it has nice sport seats, a 95% crack free dash and super mint interior, a 10k mile engine and transaxle in fully working order, body panels in extremely nice condition with good paint, basically brand new rubber spoiler, the best cookie cutter wheels you have ever seen, and all the other miscellaneous parts on a 944. While selling all these parts would take a long time, I think I could net at least $10k off of just the parts. Believe me when I say this: this car is in VERY nice condition. Even though I could make over 3 times my money back on straight up parting it out, I feel terrible letting such a nice car go to waste.

I would love to hear your opinions and advice on what I should do with this car. Thank you for reading and I hope you have a great day.


I'll take a better picture sometime soon. This one doesn't show the extent of the damage.