1974 Targa price question

[GothingNC]

Spotted a real nice rust free local 74 911 Targa that was brought over from CA back in February.
No Rust
158,000 Miles
Body in excellent shape. Resprayed in original yellow a long time ago. Only way to tell is that there is a bit of paint on the rubber seals. Window and door seals are in very good condtion
Chrome along door windows in perfect shape
No door sag and body panels are very straight. No chips or orange peel.

Used to be owned by a fellow "peliconite" who traded it in for a C4

Interior in pretty good shape except for dash crack and tear in seat

New Tires
Brakes just overhauled, Calipers Rebuilt and Master Cylinder Replaced
Clutch has about 40,000
Top was redone
Top end of motor overhauled at 90,000 miles and case-inserts were installed
Never had thermal reactors.
Cooling Fan updated
Chain Tensioners Updated
Pop-Off Valve Installed
CV's repacked and boots replaced
Tranny and motor mounts are new-Motor does not shake one bit
Took it for two test drives on seperate occassions. One for about 20 minutes and a second short 75 milestest drive and ate lunch in at (Wendy's)
Handled real well on the freeway and twisties. A bit noisy above 65-Top may need to be adjusted.
Had the shop put the car on a lift and spent about 60 minutes looking underneath. Just a little bit of oil smeared on the SS heat exchangers. Muffler is about a year old. Floors are solid. No sign of any stress or accident damage.
Ball joints are fine and brake hoses are new
Fuel lines in good shape


Needs front tie-rod boots
Oil lever gauge not working
Readjust Targa Top
I noticed that the oil pressure gauge sits real low at idle after warm up

Seller is asking almost 15. I've chipped him down to 13,600 which includes fixing the issues I mentioned. Car is local so I've taken the cost of traveling to look at another one in consideration.

I'm a Porsche newbie but my brother is familiar with rebuilding and servicing. I've just wrenched with aircooled and watercooled VW's (TDI)

I've driven an 85 Carrera and a 79 SC Targa as comparo's and this 74 cruised real nice and I like the looks of it but am trying not to be emotionally attached.

Salesmen will be calling me back on tuesday.

This will not be my daily driver.
Just a fair weather car.

Thanks !

[yelcab1]

That is real high for a 74 magnesium case 911

[SandyI]

You chipped him down to $13,600? Yikes. I wouldn't go a dime over $10,000. In So Cal, that car's worth even less.

[GothingNC]

Wow,
I didn't realize how unapprecciated the 74's were even though they had no thermal reactors and a nice trans gearing ratio. This one had records from day one when labor was $40 per hour in Southern CA.

Just saw a 74 Coupe sell for $13,000 a bit north from me and the 75-77's are averaging $14,000 to 17,000.
Being on the East Coast it's harder to find a rust free pre-galvanized body and I also take into consideration travel and shipping as part of the cost of purchase.
I prefer to test drive the car then to purchase one without seeing it in person.

How many miles can one expect out of the 2.7 after a top end rebuild with case savers?

I'll keep knocking down the price again and keep looking for others

John

[cegerer]

If you really like the car, spend the $13,500 and don't look back - that's cheaper than a Hyundai, right? BUt if you had to resell it, it's probably a $9-$10K car tops.

If you're new to the 911 world, the 74-77 versions were sort of transition models - the first cars that had to meet serious emission and safety standards. That seriously hampered performance and the cars have never been desirable relative to other years, thus the resale on these models is not good . The 73 and older cars are referred to as 'early' 911s and are extremely valuable these days. In 78, the SC came out and is generally considered one of the best bangs for the buck in a 911 - great engine, flared rear fenders, and many other improvements. For $13,500, you could find a nice SC in similar shape.

[SandyI]

Unappreciated? No. It's mechanically one of the weakest 911's ever built. Regardless of your geography, the car is overpriced. Buy an SC. MUCH better car.

[SLO-BOB]

Originally posted by SandyI
Unappreciated? No. It's mechanically one of the weakest 911's ever built. Regardless of your geography, the car is overpriced. Buy an SC. MUCH better car.

That is your opinion. I prefer the midyear to the SC. I've driven SCs and Carreras but elected to buy a 77 because I liked it more. Performance? Mine easily hangs with my buddies 81 SC. The 74 mentioned may even be quicker due to the lower (very desireable) gearing and better exhaust. I prefer the narrow look to the fender flares that some consider an upgrade on the SC and Carrera. The 2.7, with the proper upgrades, will last a looong time if maintained. The sound of the mag case 2.7 is unlike that of any other Porsche. You can identify one just by sound-pure music to my ears.

The SC is a good car with a more reliable motor-long term. There are improvements, but if that's all you want, then buy a Carrera, or a 993, or a Boxter. A 74 Targa is a vintage car that stands on it's own. That said, 13k will get you into an SC, but if you prefer the 74, buy it. It isn't too much to pay for a really excellent example. I've seen them listed for as high as $18K-which is not to say they've sold at that price. Also, look in the Panorama classifieds. There are TONS of SCs. There are very few (2?) Midyears. I believe they will be among the most rare of 911s only because they've been abandoned or hacked up.

Be forewarned-midyears are often looked down upon by some vocal SC owners. If you're worried about impressing them-buy an SC.

[mark 74 carrera]

It sounds like many if not all of the 74 engine issues have been addressed. I don't know if I agree that you could get a comprable SC with all the issues listed already done for $13,600.

I do agree that you would have a harder time selling this car later mostly due to the attitudes you see above (reality or not).

Magnesium cases were used on many early cars so that's kind of unjustified slap once you address the pulled stud issues.

Also, if you HAVE (sarcastic) to buy a middle year car (74-77), the 74 is generally considered to have fewer issues due to thermal reactors and heat issues.

Mark

[SandyI]

All I know is that from the description of this specific car, it is NOT a really excellent example. It's high mileage. It's got a respray that doesn't appear to be too "precise". The targa top needs "readjusting" which could be a variety of things that equal water leakage on rainy days. Do I think THIS mid-year car will go up in value any time soon? No I don't. So, I think paying $13,600 for it is LUDICROUS. Now, offering $9,000 and settling at $9,500, that's something to consider.

And by the way, don't feel any pressure to close the deal on Tuesday. The seller will be sitting with that car at $15,000 FOR-EVER. Check in with him in March and see how many offers he's gotten.

[GothingNC]

Bob,

I do like the earlier vintage look over the SC's and the 74 Yellow Targa will match weel in the garage with my Yellow 73 Thing.
It seems like folks on the West Coast despise the 2.7's
My older brother had a 77 Targa and he rebuilt the motor himself at 75,000
He sold the car after he reached 220,000 miles

I have someone drving a 1980 SC coupe to my place tomorrow moring which I'll check out.
245,000 miles

[GothingNC]

Oops,
Hit the return key too quick.
Well the 80 SC has 245,000 miles on it.

Motor was rebuilt from the bottom up at 200,000
Then the top end was redone at 15,000 miles later due to a loose wrist pin so new P&C's were installed
Trans mission was rebuilt
Front and rear suspension gone through
Sunroof removed and serviced
Glass out paint respary in the orignal silver 5 years ago
Interior leather seats , headliner, carpet and door panels all replaced

It was restored as a joint project with a few individuals but when the car was completed nobody really was using it so it's on the market

[klaucke]

As a comparison, world reknowned 911 restorer Rick Cabell sold a 75 US Carrera Targa with a freshly rebuilt motor and tranny, and only got $10.5k on ebay for it... and that is with a bonded RS ducktail that came stock on that car!

Coupes are going to command a higher price than Targas, and while I own a 74 S Targa, I still think anything over 10k is too much to spend if you ever want to resell it near what you paid.

[SandyI]

Originally posted by GothingNC
It seems like folks on the West Coast despise the 2.7's

We don't despise 2.7's.

We're trying to help you avoid a really bad deal per your initial post which I think is entitled "1974 Targa Price Question"

How much do they want for the SC with all the miles?

[petrolblue83911]

If you are definitly going to keep the car you buy for while, and don't care about high miles, than I'd worry less about paying a few k more than many of us may think it's "worth" and worry more about the condition of the car, get the oil pressure issue checked out, make sure the engine is healthy etc...

-if you pay 13k for the 74 and it's a sweet car in top shape, than that's not too much to pay, so long as you are going to keep it, drive it and not worry about what you'll get for it down the road when you sell it

-if you pay 13k for the 74 and find out it needs 5k+ in repairs, than you'll be pissed!-and you'll end up with a car not worth the $$ you'd need to pump into it..


-the sc's and later are a safer buy because they are easier to sell, and generally very robust, but if you like the narrow body cars better, go for it!

[ischmitz]

As a frame of reference I picked up my 74 Targa as a one-owner car. It passed PPI with flying colors mechanically but its cosmetic shape was 5 out of 10 at best. It had a fully documented rebuilt engine with 20k miles on it and was serviced by the same shop for the last 18 years. I paid little over 8k about three years ago. That was average at the time.

The good: It is easy to do engine swaps due to CA SMOG laws and it needed no major work. I was able to sell the original 2.7CIS engine for some real money.

The bad: It needed a lot of upgrades $$$ such as front oil cooler lines, cooler, 3.5" struts, sways bars, torsion bars, rims, shocks, brakes seats. And I am still stuck with an early 915 transmission.

IMHO anything over 10k is way too much unless there is something real special such as a 10k paint job in the color you always wanted. But the bottom line is that you always pay for a car what it is worth to YOU and that can be anything between zero and a lot of money. I doesn't matter what Kelly or some other sources say. They are a guidance at best.

Cheers,
Ingo

Would

[Jack Olsen]

I think the 74-77 911's are great cars when the proper upgrades have been done. One of the best values in the 911 line.

I also think a GT3 is a great car. But if someone told me they were looking at one that a dealer was selling for $300,000, I'd tell them the price was too high.

13K for the car you're describing sounds like too high a price, no matter how nice an example it is.

[GothingNC]

Sandy,

Thanks for looking out for me about the issues with the 74. The one thing the 74 has going for it is that is was serviced by a local shop that has a very strong reputation amoing the PCA members chapter. The car was completly gone through once is was brought over from California.

The owners are asking $16,900 for the 1980 SC Coupe
They were driving it 50 miles to my house for me to take at look at it. I hope they plan on staying around for 3 - 4 hours .

My plan is to offer no more then 15K for the if everything looks top-notch according to the owners documentary website and it passes the PPI

I still have others in the woodworks to look at.

Thanks everyone !

John

[SLO-BOB]

Originally posted by ischmitz
I was able to sell the original 2.7CIS engine for some real money.

Could you expand on this please. I am considering installing a 3.0 in my car to accomodate the turbo system better than the 2.7. I was thinking of selling mine to fund the 3.0. Is there a market for a decent 2.7?

[ischmitz]

Originally posted by Sebring77
Could you expand on this please..... Is there a market for a decent 2.7?

Well, some simply want to keep their older cars stock. Now every 2.7 needs a rebuilt at some point in its life between 60k and 120k depending on how it was treated. The irony is that a proper rebuilt costs pretty much the same for any flat six. It starts at 6k and can go easily north of 10k depeding on what is done in terms of machine work. In that light a good-running 2.7 with low documented mileage on a proper rebuilt with all receipts becomes really attractive at around 3k to 4k.... do the math. You just need to make sure the engine is not burning a hole in your pocket. Patience is the name of the game here.

Cheers,
Ingo

[GothingNC]

Well I took the 80 SC for a ride.
Looked pretty nice except for the respay on the rear qtr oanel was not perfect.
Interior was perfect , motor ran nice and strong.
Dry and no leaks.

Only issiue is that is real hard to get into second and 4th.

TRanny was replaced with rebuilt unit and the owners said it was worse then the original. Then they rebuilt the orginal and had to have part of the trans case welded. I guess that didn't go well. Would not budge below $15,900.
They have been trying to sell for about 7 months.

I will be taking a look at an 84 Targa this week