Shawn O

Okay, well I walked. When the seller says the car is beautiful you should make sure he has interpreted the question correctly. Of course a turbo is beautiful but is the one you are selling beautiful?

Car was a total driver and he must not have had a garage because it was baked like a 60 year old sunbather. Front glass was delaming, side mirror bases cracked, worn seat bolster, dings here and there, bumper not adjusted correctly, no clear coat on the calipers, etc....

I bet he had a blast dailying the car for 10 years but lack of maintenance made the car a wreck. I didn't even bother to start the car. Looked the car over for 15 minutes, paid my bill and left.

What did I learn? The seller will provide high res pics before I get semi serious. Second, they will take the car to an independent that works for me and I will pay the mech for a cosmetic evaluation and pics and only then will I dig into the motor. After 14 hours of ride time I've got the "gotta have it now" out of my system and will use a little more patience and wisdom.

Thanks for everyone's advice.

niche

Yikes... not a great ending, but at least you didn't get stuck with it. The search is part of the fun, though.

Better luck, next time!

C4S993

Ebay has a '96 Blk/Blk example and accepting best offers. Just a thought......BTW, where was that gem you looked at ?

Shawn O

South Carolina. Nice fellow though. The car is just a driver and I do not need another project car.

Knight

Ouch! Yes high res pics before even proceeding is a must, nowadays I would even go to the extent of having a seller video record the car via Iphone HD etc and send you a link. Another option if possible is get a Rennfax on it.

Johnny_law

Ugh! That's tough. High Res pictures are great, but be cautious, even trusted sellers are very reluctant to send them.

I found it very stressful making a purchase over a long distance. Fortunately for me, my car fell in my lap locally. No better way to buy your dream car.

I got a bit depressed when things fell through but something always popped up later. Hang in there and good luck with your search.

Johnny

chsu74

Procedure to buy a car out of town:

See advert and contact seller.

Ask seller to send high res pictures and maintenance records.

Ask someone here on the forum for a Rennfax

If the above three passes, then negotiate a price and put a deposit down pending PPI from an experienced air cooled Indy.

Hope for good results or negotiate to have issues found resolved.

OverBoosted28

Hey as far as I'm concerned I think you should celebrate. You did the right thing and in the long run you will be sure of what you end up with. It would've been really bad and soured you on the car if you had to dump a ton of money to make it right. In the end when you're making these deals, you need to remember it's all about YOU. Who cares if you hurt someones feelings or insult them. You need what you want and want what you need. Keep searching and don't wait for one to pop up. When you see one inquire if they'd ever consider selling. Don't ever ask me! :-). Take care

Shawn O

You guys are great. I've calmed down and started turning over rocks and calling people that might know where cars are in lieu of searching advertisements. It looks like I'm real close on one. Wish me luck!

I'll you posted!

Ridin Dirty

Shoulda low balled him. I mean you came that far. If indeed it was a daily and OMG you just paid for his tune-up?..... mechanically it might be okay which is the most important aspect. I know you don't want another project but all of those things you mentioned are kinda easily reconditionable. I'll bet that's what someone will do. That Dr. color chip stuff is remarkable for very small chips and rash (which sounds like the worst part of it all). IDK coulda given him your card and a low price written on it. But sometimes you just know if its not right for you. My unsolicited $.02

Shawn O

Getting close. In detail shop...

Johnny_law

Good luck with this one, some times it pays to pay and get someone in the know to help you find your dream car.

In my case it probably helped my marriage with all the crap my wife had to put up with during all the up and down's that came with the search for the car.

I felt that the bubble on the costs of these cars would burst just after I purchased mine (I know I can be a pessimist) but it really seems they are just heading skyward. Now that I have mine 993TT inflation doesn't bother me a bit, except for the fact that I'm planning on driving mine.

Johnny

C4S993

Euro bumper ? Also, looks like stock road height. Why remove the mirrors ?

Shawn O

Well I'm paying retail (whatever that is) but it's probably a better car than I'll find my own searching all over the country (not too many turbos in Alabama) and fighting dealers for. And yes, having to hit the search engines 4 times a days was cutting into my work productivity and driving my wife crazy in the evenings with me on the ipad.

As far as inflation for these cars I'm betting they are like the muscle car bubble. Everyone hit 40 at the same time and bought the cars of their youthful dreams. It lasted 10 years or so and then everyone dumped them. Even now, many of the cars are still worth 5 to 10 times their MSRP. So at a minimum I hope to get out of it what I have in it minus insurance and maintenance. For me, that's better than I've ever done on any other cars and way more return than my wife's decorating.

Euro bumper? Beats me - it's pretty though. As far as ride height, maybe I'll take on a rallycross - . I would guess removing the mirrors would help for a perfect door polish and keep from having all the product being jammed up in the mirror base. Also prevent the paint on the mirror from burn marks.

Shawn O

Looked back at the original car pics. They pulled the bumperettes for the detail.