964 purchase - I need your help
 

Hello -
After owning 4 different 911's I have decided on purchasing a '91 964. I have found one in very nice condition except 2 items:

The good:
nice color, well maintained, all stock

The bad:
clear coat flaking in several places on original paint
curb rash on all 4 wheels (original C2 wheels).

The car is 100% stock, 100k miles, drives excellant, but I am unsure of my offer. The owner is asking 19500, but will take less. I am not sure how less.

My plan would be to replace the wheels and have the paint fixed. total would be around $5000 to put in a condition that I would be very happy with.

Give me some ideas on an offer

Thanks

what year? Cab, coupe, or targa? Records? If it is a 90-91, has the head seal issue been addressed? Has the clutch been done recently? Brakes? Shocks? Those all go towards purchase price.

Car is a '91 coupe. Flywheel replaced, never had a head leak. New(er) clutch, brakes and shocks.
Drives and shifts perfect.

A 964 is vastly different than a Carrera 911. A C2 or C4 is very nice in many reguards, except that it is heavy, about 300-500 lbs heavier than a Carrera. Of course a PPI is in order. Assuming that everything is OK, some where in the 15-18K range would be a good offer especially if it needs paint.

If it needs paint, offer no more than 15k. Porsches with bad paint and or bad interior are frowned upon by most buyers. They should be a bargain, since a repaint will at least cost you 5k if you have it done correctly.

The curb rash on the wheels also is a turn off for many people. I wouldn't care, there are many other wheels that fit nicely! ;)

George

It is possible to shoot another coat of clear on top if the paint is ok underneath.

what George said. You should be able to beat them up on price pretty good because of the paint and rash. If the mechanicals check out and you don't care how it looks (I know I don't anymore), you could get a good car for a great price.

The stock wheels are pretty bad, so that should not be a deal breaker. If the milage seems reasonable and if there is service records. Sounds like a fair price. Offer him 17500 and he probably will take 18K for it.

I dont' think reclearcoating it constitutes a respray, so you can always say the paint is original.
Sounds like a good deal to me. Mine's 100% too. I didn't even want different wheels. For every change you see on the outside, god only knows what the PO might have done on the inside. If the guy kept even the stock C2 wheels, chances are, he just had it serviced when things broke and drove it around. Not a guarantee of course....but the last thing I wanted was a car some guy took to DE or track or anything else.

I think $15-17K is reasonable offer for a 100K mile C2 that needs cosmetics. $16-18K for a C4.


Sorry to hijack ... what would all of your opinions be about this 964 scenario.

All original '90 C4 - 36K miles. Original owner had it from '90-'99. Current owner has had it since '99 and has put only 3K miles on it. Paint 99% perfect - factory painted original owner custom color. No glaring mechanical issues. Well optioned. Near perfect black leather interior. No obvious leaks. Almost certainly has original dual-mass flywheel and clutch. Obviously I'd redo all the fluids/filters and maybe replace the rubber brake lines. Not sure if/when tires have been replaced, but they wouldn't be on there long (replacing OE Design90s).
I think it can be had for $24-25K - right in the middle of BA's lastest Excellence estimates.

Personally, I feel it's an OK deal for such a clean car. A PPI will be done to ensure it's mechanically sound. What say ye?

I've read that age might also affect the dual-mass flywheels too (rubber detorioration) - any experience/thoughts about that? I have a l/w flywheel that would be put in at the time of clutch replacment ... would rather do that later than sooner.

Car # 1 Great deal 15K Good Deal 17K. Bad paint always kills it for me. As for the wheels, these shouldn't be an issue at all as a new set of 90's are only worth $600 bucks anyway. I would be more concerned about how they got so beat up and what toll that has taken on the suspension components and if the car has any alignment issues.

Car #2 Well it's low mileage, but it's like having a low milege 75 911 S. You'll pay the premium now, but you might not ever get it back. If the color to sample is a cool/rare/highly sought after color then I say go for it. If it's rasberry metallic, I say stay away.

My 2 cents on both.

Why the condition of the paint? Investigate that issue....

All 4 wheels have road rash? Now that is very hard to accomplish.

Price check on aisle 4...

Earlier this year I bought a 93 964 C2 Coupe White/Grey with LSD in excellent condition and only 40k miles for $25K. The car needed nothing. I would keep looking for a better 964. They are out there. You just need to be patient.

Car #1 The only thing that concerns me is that the car doesn't sound like it was taken care of very well. Peeling clear coat means that the car was never waxed and has seen a lot of sun. It definitely lived it's life as a driver and not a garage queen.


IMO, Bruce's "excellent" condition car should be a show car. His "good" condition car is what most of us think of as a super clean car. FWIW, I also think his prices are on the high side.