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Greetings! I thought I would start a thread about my recently acquired car. But first just a little background on me and my car obsession! My brother and I love performance cars of all types, but especially European sports cars. Between us, we've owned a long succession of German and Italian cars. He now owns a 69 911 with RS body work and a carbed 2.4 E motor. I've known for years that Porsche ownership was my ultimate car goal. But as a private prep school teacher and family man, it had to be done on a budget. Fortunately, I work on my own cars and have a lot of DIY experience.
In January of 2014, I saw a 1992 968 on the local Craigslist. After checking it out, I sold my restomod 1970 Datsun Roadster to my neighbor and bought it for $3500. I did a thread on Pelican about that car if anyone's interested: http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...500-968-a.html
Unfortunately, the 968 was totalled in an accident in February 2015. With the insurance payout, I went in search of another budget Porsche. I didn't want to go backwards on performance, so I figured an early 2.5 Boxster might be a good choice. Searching nationally on Autotrader, I found a 97 in my hometown! I bought that for $5500 and have been enjoying it's amazing handling since then.
But despite its engineering, the Boxster wasn't satisfying something that the 968 did. So I casually determined to get a 944 Turbo. Then in October, one showed up on CL for $3400, and it was about a half mile from my house. After checking it out, I picked it up for $2500.
The day I bought it after a bath and installation of 17" Boxster wheels:
It's Nautic Blue with linen and black interior and just over 120k miles.
It's had some hard knocks in it's time, with a respray and many small dings and dents. The guy I bought it from did not work on it himself and he had probably had some poor advice from some local shops. He was told the entire suspension would have to be re-bushed, and it was a bit clunky on the test drive. I got it home and inspected the entire suspension and it was actually quite good, expect for the passenger side sway bar bushing. Looked in the box of parts he gave me, found a new bushing and installed it in 30 minutes. Suspension felt much better.
The water pump and belts had been done by a shop three years prior and according to the PO, they and whined loudly the whole time. So he hardly drove it. I figured the balance belt was probably not tensioned correctly, so I adjusted it until it quieted down. I'll actually do new belts this coming summer.
Good buy. Just my informal observation but 944 prices are creeping higher. If you're good with a wrench, the 951 is a lot of fun....Bruce
Yeah, 50k mile Turbo S models…. otherwise, don't believe the hype. Most cars in the market have been for sale for more than 6 months, and aren't coming off the market any time soon.
Agreed, there's '88 Turbo S, though, a 96,000 miler in Phoenix at 25K for over a year, he's down to 22,500 now. Bought my mint '89, 65K miles for 14K a year ago. Wished it was a 25,000 dollar car~! But, it's a keeper.
Agreed on the high prices not selling, they say it's curving up but I still keep seeing the same cars again for the same high prices.
But back to the post, go though everything and replace/refresh, I'm doing that now on my 951, and while time consuming means you can enjoy it without destroying what value it has. At 2500 I'm sure just an Italian tune up probably increases the value!
Enjoy in good health! (But do belts stat so you know).
Congratulations for your purchase. Looks like you're in a relatively warm climate. Don't put too thin an oil in these cars like you might in the Boxter. You want a 20w/50 in many / most cases.
Thanks for the comments and advice! There is so much knowledge and information on this forum.
My plan is to alternate between repairing/upgrading and driving the car through the winter, dealing with issues that bug me the most or prevent it from being road-worthy.
The first aesthetic work I did on the 944 was to get rid of the pinstripping. I'm not a fan of that look in general, but I really don't like it on a 944. Those awesome flares should get to speak for themselves!
So, careful work with a razor gradually got rid of them.
You can really see the orange peel in the paint, so down the road when I get the dents and dings taken care of, I'll color sand and polish the whole car and see how it looks.
Up next was dealing with the badly torn shift boot.
When I had my 968, I put in a suede shift boot from JF Boots and a shift pattern insert from Rennbay. I loved the look and feel, and though the suede takes some abuse on the shifter, I went for it again on the 944.
It looks like someone repaired the passenger side with that amt. of orange peel, as factory european clear/factory orange peel isn't that significant.
I'd hit it with 1000/1500/2500 to knock down the peel, then use a DA with some m105/m205 to get it looking great again. Hopefully you have enough clear as to not go through it. Good luck with the car and congrats, the price was right, so go out and have some fun with it.
It looks like someone repaired the passenger side with that amt. of orange peel, as factory european clear/factory orange peel isn't that significant.
I'd hit it with 1000/1500/2500 to knock down the peel, then use a DA with some m105/m205 to get it looking great again. Hopefully you have enough clear as to not go through it. Good luck with the car and congrats, the price was right, so go out and have some fun with it.
Yeah that's sort of the plan of attack. I'm pretty certain the whole car was resprayed, but I feel like with some patient work, I can get it looking very presentable. In the meantime, I try to do something on the car most days to keep the progress moving.
I'll do all of my own wrenching, so that's a savings, but parts still cost plenty. I am sure the car will easily become the $6-7000 951 in a matter of a couple of months, due to deferred maintenance, bad paint, and a redo of all the suspension, hoses, brakes, tires, belts, wp, oil leaks, fuel lines.
I would rather part it out, just like Lart does, no emotional attachment, just business.
12-05-2015, 11:02 AM
The $2500 951
