Strange replies to my valuation query

ckissick · 10-29-2009, 07:42 PM

I'm thinking of selling my 911E due to the economy. So I thought I'd see what the brain trust on Pelical had to say about the value. The link is below.

I'm kind of surprised at the responses. One guy says the car is essenitially worthless, since it has a suped up 3.0 in it, and it's suitable for the track.

I trust you OT guys here more. I also thought you'd get a kick out of the responses. I guess all those R-Gruppe cars are worth a lot less than you thought. (Mine could be considered only one fancy paint job and a couple other upgrades away from an R Gruppe car.) I was thinking it's worth about $15K, give or take, but wanted other opinions. $8K? I've seen rusty rollers go for $8K.

Valuation of 1970 911E

9dreizig · 10-29-2009, 07:58 PM

considering the posters had a grand total of 502 posts and one of them had over 400 of them I wouldn't take them too seriously..
Good looking car..... Then engine is worth 6,, the roller worth 7,, if you really need the money parting it out is the way to go..

Racerbvd · Racerbvd's Garage

The biggest killer is the salvage title, that limits it to the track, unless it is a rebuild title.. It is a good looking car (post pix with Fuchs) and if it is as straight & rust free as you say, I don't think $15K is out og line, but really need more detailed pix to give a fair answer....

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

15k doesn't sound bad... Its a clean good looking car... I'd think its former owner would give it some provenance... Maybe you should contact him and try to sell it back

ckissick · 10-29-2009, 08:23 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by porsche4life

15k doesn't sound bad... Its a clean good looking car... I'd think its former owner would give it some provenance... Maybe you should contact him and try to sell it back

I do plan on giving Johannes first right of refusal. He did learn to race in it, so he might have sentimental reasons for buying it back. I bet he won't let Jorg drive it!

Dueller · 08:27 PM

Preface: I have no clue what the early 911 market is. I am not a porsche purist.

That being said, you might find it telling of the three posters POV/mentality by going to their profile and reviewing threads they've statrted/participated in. I did it for ya. All these guys are purists...looking for obscure parts for their cars, worrying about window decal placements for a particular year, specific paint codes, proper paint for gasburner wheels, etc. Numbers matching and rating cars as drivers vs. concours, yadadadada. Nothing wrong with that if its your cup of tea.

Just not my POV and obviously not yours Your car is a neat little car. But it will not appeal to the 3 posters in your thread. BTW, I rarely frequent the Mrketplace area as there appear to be a lot of folks who know the price of everything but the value of nothing.

I do agree that your car will have narrow appeal with the mods. Also, the salvage title is a killer for all but someone who wants a track car to keep. Value? Who knows? $15's not crazy out of line but it would have to be someone who really wants it for their vision. II know you were trying to be candid about the car's condition...its probably a lot nicer than you presented it in your narrative. Byron's right. tho...the sum of the parts may be worth more than he car as a whole.

I wouldn't let those three guys worry you....their perspective is narrow in the same way yours and mine is in the Pcar world.

fintstone · fintstone's Garage

It is worth whatever you can sell it for. If you think $15K is what it is worth...list it for that. A car like that is not for everyone. Sometimes cars like that sell fast...sometimes not. It is all about timing.

Dueller · 10-29-2009, 08:59 PM

Out of curiosity I searched the cars for sale section on here with the term 911E. Wow... chit all over the place. Two that your car kinda fell in between was a 911E with 2.7/webers at $8500 and a 911E done up as an RS repro with non-original color but kinda trendy for $22.5K. Neither one has sold. Saw a roller at $48oo sell really quick and concours cars at $45K not selling. All over the place.

I'm sure you've already done the search:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/search.php?searchid=4556117

LeeH · 10-29-2009, 09:43 PM

Your car sounds similar to my '72. Salvage title with no signs of damage and a strong 3.0L engine. I've been dropping the price over time (down to $14K) and it still hasn't sold. I've had several parties who were very interested, but the title was the deal breaker each time. I'm trying to figure out whether to drop it some more or just hold on to it.

porsche4life · porsche4life's Garage

Do you need the money? If not keep it...

nostatic · nostatic's Garage

It is kind of an odd duck. Salvage and the history put it into track car territory but it doesn't appear to be built to a class, and usually those cars end up having to run in a class where they aren't competitive. If you find an R-Gruppe or hot rodder type they may like it.

As a point of reference I sold my '79 very well track prepped car in Feb '08 (when the economy was a fair stretch stronger) for $17K. And that was for a class-winning car built to a spec with a brand new $10 tranny. It did sell quickly and I maybe could have gotten a little more out of it, but franken cars and track beasts don't have much resale.

ckissick · 10-30-2009, 06:15 AM

Thanks for all the replies. I expected as much in the Marketplace forum, but I guess that's another world over there.

Of course, I realize that it would be worth quite a bit more if it were a matching numbers concourse 100-pointer. And the salvage title is not good. I wish that could be erased based on an inspection, as there are no noticeable reasons why it would have been salvaged. The PO had it stored for 7 years, but it had a salvage when he bought it. He said the owner before him had it stored for even longer; maybe it was unregistered for a long time.

Lee, if your car, which has a better finish than mine, won't sell at $14K, then mine has little chance. I guess I'll just have to keep it. I may turn it into more of a track car someday, with a wicked paint job. It would take little work to bring it back to showroom condition, but the salvage title makes this not worth the expense. I don't really want to sell it, anyway.

deanp · 10-30-2009, 06:24 AM

Possible it was a recovered theft in it's previous life and the 3.0 was installed in place of missing original motor?

gr8fl4porsche · gr8fl4porsche's Garage

I know a guy looking at 84-89's and I am shocked by the low prices.
I will be buried in my '87 before I sold it for the same price as a Hyundai.

Bad time to sell a toy.

berettafan · 10-30-2009, 06:55 AM

bastards have a tough time getting out of the teens and you pile a salvage title on top of it...well such is life.

pretty cool po though!

also, would apply zero adjustment to prices offered by low post count people. the most qualified people i know to comment on the early 911 market never post here.

i will offer that the market looks like crap right now.

BlueSkyJaunte · 10-30-2009, 07:24 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by nostatic

And that was for a class-winning car built to a spec with a brand new $10 tranny.

Way to splurge, Todd!

Laneco · 10-30-2009, 07:45 AM

The first thing that is working against the value of the car is the economy itself. A collector 911 (such as a very original 911E) still has good value but everything else has slid off the map.

The salvage title is a deal breaker. It's more of a deal breaker on a vintage Porsche than on most other cars because the possibility of keeping the car and having it increase in value becomes unlikely.

We have, through the years, owned quite a few salvage title cars. On a cheap car, say $4,000 or less, the salvage title doesn't really hurt the vehicle. After that, figure a 25% to 30% or better knock for the salvage title. Plus all salvage title cars are difficult to finance (impossible to finance for people with marginal credit). That means the buyer better have cash to pay for the vehicle. Most people can come up with a couple of grand cash, but coming up with $15,000 cash is a whole 'nother thing. Those that can bring that kind of green to the table aren't going to buy a salvage title car.

The worst kind of salvage car you can have is the "salvage for unkown reason - no visible damage" kind. If you can provide documentation for a salvage due to theft/strip, then you somewhat mitigate the sting of the salvage title.

Keep it if you can. The car does not know that it's "salvage" and runs/drives/goes exactly like you want. I'm in the same situation with my 81 coupe. I bought it with a salvage title knowing full well that it would never be worth any money. I don't care, it's a perfect driver. When I tire of it (yeah, when he11 freezes over to a solid block of glacial ice), it will be a perfect race car.

angela