How bad is this rust on this 930?

[Gus Berges]

The other day I visited an old friend of the family and when I went into the parking garage, I saw a 930 that I had not seen in 15+ years. This 930 is owned by a person who had a brother that I used to know (he passed away a few years ago), but I've never met the owner of this 930.

For those of you who have had experience with rust, bodywork, restorations, etc. what. do you make of this vehicle? Is the rust shown on these images something that makes this car a total loss, or is it something that could somewhat be easily repaired? Car has been sitting for what seems to be 16 years about 250 meters (±825 feet) away from the ocean in an open garage, hence the rust

I'm amazed at the apparent rust on the original Speedline Ruf wheels, especially on the driver's side (less protected from the elements than the passenger side).

Please accept my apologies for the gray overlays. I'm not sure how the current owner may interpret these, thus me trying to make these images as neutral as possible.

[Gus Berges]

I have no information on the car except for what can be seen on the pics.

[Billthebuilder]

It’s always worse than it looks like on the outside. But the areas that are bubbling are the ones that catch water.Edge of lid ,bottom of doors.It would be nice to look at the underside.

[Gus Berges]

[Gus Berges]

Last set of pics:

[Gus Berges]

Originally Posted by Billthebuilder

It’s always worse than it looks like on the outside. But the areas that are bubbling are the ones that catch water.Edge of lid ,bottom of doors.It would be nice to look at the underside.

I just don't know much about what it would take to repair something like this (bodywork). Assuming the owner does in fact get back to me, I'm just trying to get an idea of what it would take/cost/entail to fix this up (cosmetically speaking).

I know the whole mechanicals need to go through and who knows what the engine is like (biggest expense), or tranny, or brakes, or fuel, or suspension, or electrical gremlins, or etc. etc. etc.

[Winter911]

That’s a beautiful car. Sadly, it’s probably worse than it looks, specially sitting near salt water. But it’s far from being a total loss imo.

Are you sure it’s a 930? Seems to have 964 body work and the exhaust is wrong.

[Gus Berges]

It’s 100% a 930. It has had a 964 body kit added to it since I saw the car for the first time about 20 years ago. The dual exhaust has two tailpipes each, similar to what a stock 930 tailpipe looks like. If it’s in fact worse than it looks, meaning not just “simple superficial rust”, then this would definitely not be I’d be too keen on as I have yet to find a decent body shop down here. Perhaps my standards are too high, but I can tell a repaint from 10 feet away of all the work I e seen down here, so tons of bodywork will just end up looking like crap.

The mechanical stuff is “easy to do” (with pockets deep enough…), but yes, from the observations so far, it’s not looking too promising.

[Tom_in_NH]

Every fastener on that car is going to be seized and corroded. Coastal cars are always a mess I would not ever get involved with. I live 1300 ft from the beach to the east and 900 ft from the intercoastal to the west. The non-garaged cars here are a nightmare.
Trust me, there's way more rust there than meets the eye. You'll be way underwater after repairs.

[Balisong]

Hard pass.

[H-viken]

Get it up on a lift and have a look underneath. You won’t be able to see all but will get a good idea

Nothing in those pics would have me too concerned if the price is right.

Won’t be cheap to bring it back to good condition though, a lot of hours needed

[RobFrost]

You need to take a look here.



If it's all good there then you've a good chance of spending less than $25k on bodywork. Which is a good result on a $100k+ car.

Sent from my SM-S918B using Tapatalk

[PeteKz]

That car is in terrible condition. As the others have said, it has much more rust than what you can see. If you are not inclined to personally rebuild the car, then run away.

[GeorgeK]

That is a sick, very sick car. For the right price, it is rebuildable, but do you have the means, in time, space and money?
It is a great project, but a naked shell type of project.

[GH85Carrera]

Unless you want a project car to learn welding and car restoration, run Forest run. If you plan to pay for the restoration you will have to get a real deal on the purchase price.

[PopsRacer]

You are looking at a windows out re-paint at a minimum. Looks like rust around a lot of the glass, probably water leakage. ...& so probably a bunch of metalwork too. Looks like it sat out in the elements, probably for years. (based on the location of some of this rust) Also looks like it may have had "rust treatment" when it was new, always a *huge* mistake bc it would block the drain holes (rust around the bottoms of the doors, etc) The real "killer" spots are what you can't see here - how is the floor, suspension attachment points, etc. If the outer body is that bad, what kind of shape do you think the engine is in? Get it up on a lift for sure and make sure the structural areas are sound. Rust repair was always the major cost in our shop. It could easily take >100 hours to DA the thing down, pull all the glass, repair the metal, and build it back up and paint it. You could easily be looking at a full suspension, full brakes, at least partial interior, fuel lines, possibly an engine re-build... Anything is fixable for enough $$ but is the juice worth the squeeze? (do you own a Mig welder and a plasma cutter? Have you always wanted to?

[Gus Berges]

Thank you all for your comments and observations.

I was secretly hoping it would be something "superficial", but the more I think about it, the less interested I am. Not even going to follow up to see if the owner wants to sell. Shame to see something like this, but when people are paying upwards of $70K for a charred slantnose shell (nothing but the shell), I guess people could believe that anything (this rusty car) is worth anything they ask for (I have no clue if he'd sell and how much he'd ask for this).

Again, thank you all for your input. For the record, I'm a "checkbook mechanic".... I have hung around this place for a couple of decades, but I'm not the sort that will rebuild an engine or anything for that matter. I do like knowing what it takes to fix something and how it's properly done, but let's just say I've often caused more damage while trying to repair something.....

[pmax]

Or you can buy it, fix up some likely minor stuff, get it running, assuming the engine isn't seized.

Drive it, savor the 930 experience, a couple years then leave the major rust to a deeper pocket.
The car isn't falling apart unlike many other 911s which still seem to sell for good money.

[Mark Salvetti]

Usually you hear a full quality respray is in the $25K range. This has rust repair everywhere you can see on top of that. Probably not cut out and weld in patches repair, but the need to kill the rust and then fill the pits. So what, maybe another $10K-$15K in rust repair (just what you can see) before paint?

Maybe worth considering if you know the engine is good, but if it's not......

Mark

[Bill Douglas]

I live a stones throw (at high tide) from the sea, so unfortunately I know about this subject

The salt air drifts in and covers the car 100%, including the underneath, and rusts in places you didn't even know existed. Also can cause electrical gremlins.