Panama

Greetings Porsch 944 owners,

i live in Panama (small country in centrala america) there are roughly 100 porsch owners here, and i hope to be the 101..

Now, i am looking at a 1986 944 Turbo. The car looks extremely well on the outside, it has been garage kept(not driven) the last 6 months(owner bought newer Porsche)it has 40K!! on the meter. The owner has actually 4 Porsches and this one was his weekend car, the other are for competition. He is asking $11500 fo the car. The Porsche mechanic in town says that it needs about $500 in "small stuff", new battery, break pads, disc alignement(all wheels).

This would be my first Porsche, so as you understand, i know NOTHING about Porsches. I am buying it as my hobby, and as a gift to myself for working too hard.

Any suggestion, comments on what i should look at more before i buy the car?

Thank you

Panama

Tabor

If you had a good Porsche mechanic look at it, there isn't anymore you need to do. The car sounds excellent.

IceShark

Welcome to Rennlist! Sounds like a very nice car and as Tabor noted the mechanic should have taken care of most of your worries. The price might be a little high so see what you can do on that. But you know your specific market better than us in the USA.

You do want to make sure the timing belt is in good shape because when that goes you are going to bend some valves. So find out when that was last changed. Also, being in Panama you might have some electrical corrosion. Pick up a big tube of dielectric grease and put it on electrical connectors as you clean things up.

Also, be very careful about the Sun. These dash boards crack like crazy if they get too much UV on them.

I haven't driven in Panama but I hope your roads are better than the rest of Central America. If they are as crummy as Costa Rica, Belize, Honduras, Nicaragua, etc., don't put on big wheels like 18". Your car will shake apart. I mention this because if the car sat unused on its tires for the last 6 months the tires are flat spotted and you are going to want to replace them.

Enough of the warnings, you are going to love this car.

Panama

Thank you for all your advice.

today i actullay made the deal..well, i still have to get the loan aproved.

I got the price down to $10,000, istead of 11,500.

The meachanic suggested that i'd in a short time change the shock obsorbers, and th break pads..which i will do.

The owner also has a "extra"turbo which he bought, but after instaling it he realized that it was a pain in the *** driving in town which so much power, so he had the mechanics put back the factury turbo back. He'll give the other turbo as well...

Today i actually drove the car.... WOW!!!!!!!!!! Before i had tried a 911 carrera and 2 928...not the same feeling at all. The 911 was very fast, but it felt like a go cart more than a car..and the 928 has power, but felt like driving a big boat. The 944 felt like a CAR, and handles very nicely.

About the roads in Panama. They are bad in the interior, but around town they are fine..what is wors in the trafic... I'll keep the car under roof, so there is no problem with the sun. Also i'll buy a windshield cover.

Panama