997at

Hi All. I'm currently the owner of a pristine 1982 SC and am looking at a nice 1996 C4S. The car has 78K miles, black over tan, 2 owners (current one for the last 20 years), very well maintained, some minor paint work over the years (front end and drivers side rear quarter (no accidents). One small tear on rear shelf (can be repaired in place). Interior and exterior are both 9.5 out of 10 otherwise. Is 75-80K a reasonable range to pay in the SF Bay Area?

tstafford

Sounds reasonable to me.

ShdwFx

Seems reasonable as well and PPI goes without saying, but for that price would want to see good service records for at least the past 20 yrs. Also, any particular desirable options/upgrades or major work done? e.g., hardbacks? suspension? top end rebuild?

911F1

I would price in a at least a $10k buffer in your total budget. Maybe it will need a suspension refresh, SAI cleaning, top end, etc...

997at

Thanks for all the replies so far guys. I will definitely plan on a PPI. Owner mentioned that Porsche did the top end related to a recall of some sort? I'll need to verify. I'll pour through all service records to see what else is in there of note. I suspect suspension has not been done though. Regarding SAI...can a car go 78K miles without needing it? Owner mentioned it passes smog easily each time with flying colors.

gmorat

Hard to imagine suspension is original at approx 80k miles.

mdude

A bit high considering you can have this (and that's from a dealer):
https://clients.automanager.com/0203...6c306?Framed=1

997at

It's a nice looking car, but what's the asking price? Did I miss it somewhere in the ad?

Thanks.

997at

Never mind...found it.

Gbos1

Says “Price on Request” betting $90k - $105k

mdude

It's on the main menu. Dealer asking: $85,895

gmorat

Say $2k to get it back to CA in a covered truck.

Buying sight unseen is tough though.

Personally, I'd go and give it a once over prior to PPI. I flew to NC once, had a look at a car and then flew home to CA later that day after deciding it wasn't quite what I wanted.

G

aircooledpurist

Looks like a clean example. WHATEVER you pay, expect to spend 10 grand more sorting and making it your own.

rk-d

Market has softened. $80k is on the higher side, I'd say for this mileage. .

I paid high 80s for my very good condition '98 Arena Red with 43k miles a year ago. The market was stronger then and I paid on the higher end of FMV.

You already own an old Porsche, so you know the drill. Get very familiar with all the typical issues - lots of reading to do; the 993 forum here is a tremendous resource.

-Cowl rust
-Check straps
-Suspension?
-Steering rack original? This is a very pricey and common failure
-Clutch replaced?
-Distributor/wires/plugs
-Compression/leakdown
-Etc. etc. etc.

Be sure to drive the car and know that the PPI is not proof against trouble.
Be prepared to spend money after purchase. It's almost certain.

pp000830

Price seems high to me, then again I purchase my car many years ago for a lot less.
If the top end was rebuilt it was likely due to the known air injector port clogging issue throwing OBD Codes..
Cars that saw this issue early in their lives and had it addressed by the dealer with a top-end seem to not revisit the issue.
Going forward just replace the air injector check valve regularly and use care to not overfill the oil by following the procedure of determining the proper fill level with a fully warm running engine and not filling the level past 1/3 of the scale on the dipstick.
Andy ;-)