You didn't get a PPI? So what "surprises" did you find after the fact?

[si Banker]

My 1987 Coupe had 17K on it when I purchased in 11-2003 and as I said I purchased it from a few photos and a verbal description. It had been traded in at a BMW Dealer in Las Vegas and I was dealing with the General Mgr who happened to be a Pelican. They had all the service records and it was a one owner car from Ohio but spent most of it's life in Vegas

I admit it was a ex stream leap of faith. The car was as represented and I was prepared for problems with seals, oil return tubes and fuel system problems. The oil return tubes started leaking after 2K miles and were replaced. That was it!
We changed brake fluid, gear box, and did a full service. The engine is dry as a bone and as of today the car has 46K miles.

I should have had a PPI but I was lucky.

[Jims5543]

I am on the other side of the spectrum. I took the advise to get a PPI seriously. I pad for 3 of them before I could find a P-car that would pass with a decent score and no major issues.

The car I own today was given an overall grade of 9.5 out of 10 by the shop and the 0.5 taken off was for rock chips on the fron tof the car.

I have now owned it over a year, drven it hard, and have put 10K miles on it and have not had to do a single thing to it.

Tholyoak - was the seller on here and he was a man of his word (a rarity these days) the car was everything he said it was and more.

[trader220]

Jim,

I remember that 3.6 swap targa that you bought I thought it was a great deal and Tholyoak was a very straight forward guy when I spoke to him about it. It’s a great looking car I am glad to hear someone’s enjoying it. Post a pic if you like !

[cnavarro]

Originally posted by zumwoll
I have a 50/50 on PPIs protecting you. I just bought a Benz out of texas that was PPId and they missed a lot of stuff. WHat ya gonna do. My 74 that I had PPId and my 83 that I did not have about the same number of probs.
CONCLUSION_ It is who does the PPI that makes all the difference.

Yup, I purchased a 70 from new york and had a "Porsche Expert" go through it. Paid for a tune up, valve adjustment, new gaskets on the carbs (Zeniths), Tensioners (for which I got gouged). When the car came off the carrier, it was pissng gas. He had the carbs off to rebuild them and didn't bother to replace the rotted fuel line going to them! Also, the vacuum lines were all bad on the car (sportomatic) and didn't shift well at all. He also missed the rust laden exhaust, bad shocks, bad tires. Put alot of $$$ into it to get it where it should have been to only sell the car for less than what I paid with the repairs - new SSIs, Dansk Sport exhaust, plug wires.

Another example, the 912 I purchased a few years back - shadetree mechanic special owned by a investment banker. Knew nothing about cars at all. Leaked 1qt of oil every 100mi the whole way back to IL from CA. Can you say rustproofing. Even two years later, oil was coming out of places I didn't know could hold the stuff. The coat hanger throttle linkage was also very original :-) It took $8000 (about the purchase price) to get the mechanicals sorted (engine/trans not included). One plus, the tub was one of the straightest and cleanest I had ever seen and the paint wasn't that bad either!

I have plenty more eBay stories. "Concours" early 70s E with a maaco paint job. Don't get me started. Matter of fact, the "rebuilt" engine wouldn't even idle. I luckily went to look at it and shredded the check infront of the shmuck.

Lesson learned, my recent (and local) purchase of a very low mileage 964 invoved me personally going to look at the car and do my own PPI. Only suprise so far was the leaks in the front diff (c4) resulting in the fresh fluid they had just put in leaking out. Oil level was also dangerously low - they forgot to put the rest of the oil in when they changed it!

Dealer is currently replacing the seals - about $600. The car had a check engine light on at pickup and the seller paid for the diagnostic - loose o2 sensor connector.

[Jims5543]

Originally posted by trader220
Jim,

I remember that 3.6 swap targa that you bought I thought it was a great deal and Tholyoak was a very straight forward guy when I spoke to him about it. It’s a great looking car I am glad to hear someone’s enjoying it. Post a pic if you like !

Its a fantastic car, I could not be happier with any purchase I could have made.

Always happy to post a pic. This was from 2 days ago, I played hooky from work for a few hours and went for a ride.

[kühn tune]

My '81 SC came with a beer in the trunk and a sneak-a-toke in the carpet pocket under the dash.

[Doug&Julie]

Originally posted by kühn tune
...a sneak-a-toke in the carpet pocket under the dash.

Does anybody know the option number on that?

[Fronnzy]

it's so good to get this stuff of your chest eh!

No PPI here either - CV's on both sides need replacement, new droplinks for sway bar coming, brakes need attention, seat ripped, oil pressure& temp gauges not working, serious leaks from upgraded valve covers and it goes in for a the out of province complete mechanical inspection on wednesday. I was feeling alone and scared until I found this thread . I'll tell you what the doctor said on thursday. I told them to look at everything - including leak down/comp test. oh man, what have i done.

bjorn

[porschefool]

A tale of foolishness that will ring true for some of you:

Not only no PPI, but fell hopelessly in love after seeing it on a Web site...
I was going to fly commercially from Seattle to Portland to see it, but a pilot/car nut at work offered to fly me himself. Grabbing a friend, we hit the bank and flew down to a small airstrip outside of Portland with a satchel of $$ to see (who am I kidding) to BUY a 79 Targa. Real James Bond stuff, all that was missing were the hot chicks with machine guns guarding the car or something.
Bought her after a quick lookaround/test drive, and immediately drove all the way back (about 3 hours).
I don't consider myself an expert by any stretch, but after owning (and wrenching on) a 928, 914, 924 and an X1/9, I thought my gut wouldn't let me down.
It didn't, and after a year, still no suprises. JW in Seattle did the tensioner upgrade and first valve adjust for me, and gave her a clean bill of health.
Didn't hurt that the car came with a TON of receipts. (and only a few were for towing
Motor on, brothers. These things are tanks...

But I'll never do that again![IMG][/IMG]

[livi]

No PPI either. Just fell in love on the spot.

My surprise after the fact is that the car has turned out to be in great condition. No rust and a tight engine. Lucky me.

[dimeified]

Originally Posted by Shaun 84 Targa

Several lessons.

Best lesson I learned is that small size, distance pics are a car's best friend on eBay, and your worst enemy.

I also learned a similar lesson. A myspace profile with only headshot pics are an obtuse womans best friend on Myspace, and your worst enemy.

[dshepp806]

No PPI here either,..on an '89.....wished I had of....as I should of gotten the guy to come off the sell price, looking at a cracked dash (little did I know what THAT expense would be)..She's had a rebuild (top/bottom 28K ago) and runs like a raped ape.

BUT,...........when I went to change the spark plugs, found #1 crossthreaded! DAMMIT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
For now, she's staying as is,..(running good) until it's time to get the timecert done (drop)..

live and learn.....

Best,

[jcsjcs]

I DID a PPI and still had some trouble. If you DO a PPI, make sure you force them to use a checklist. I had a lot of conversations about how good the car was, they fixed a few issues, but then I found the rest after I got the car. My fault for not being CRYSTAL CLEAR.

Included issues: O2 sensor unplugged (had to replace), tires VERY old though lots of tread (will replace in spring), odometer not working (!) (fixed right away myself by replacing gear.)

Love the car anyway - and my project list is endless.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Bought mine sight unseen without a PPI, but given how little I paid for it, I really didn't care. I wasn't going to find any better in my price range and I didn't want another big car payment. Even with the issues I've inherited, it's still a far better car than the 951 that caught on fire in order to inspire me to get the 911. For what I paid, I expected a few issues and overall I still think I got a good car for the money. The worst thing I found was some rust/corrosion, which I will address by completely cutting out the affected parts (fortunately they're small) and welding in replacement metal. This will not be a "paint over it" or "slap bondo on it" repair - I'm doing this car right and as a culmination of all my knowledge, skills and love for the brand I've accumulated over the years. It'll probably be my last "project" ever - this is the one I'm probably going to keep, even if it is "only" a Targa. It's MY Targa.

Stuff I've found (unexpected) is that the transmission linkage is goofy (very difficult to get into 5th or reverse), the driver's side door handle didn't work from the outside (extremely annoying, necessitated replacement), the car has had a respray at some point in its history too - in some aspects whoever did the paint did a good job, in other ways it's really half-assed. They did get the engine bay, trunk, door jambs, etc. but they also sprayed over some of the window seals, a few screw heads, etc. Real head-scratcher. They also changed from the original Mexico Blue color to black, which they ought to be beaten senseless for doing, on general principle. Suffice to say, I'll be bringing the original color back to as good or better than the day it left the factory.

Let's see. . . what else? Odometer doesn't work (this was disclosed prior to sale), there's a crappy stereo installation "hacked in" by someone with the skill set of a Best Buy stereo installation monkey (that's getting ripped out), and there was a small tear on the driver's seat that wasn't disclosed (that one kind of pissed me off, since those are expensive to have fixed). Overall though, I think I did reasonably well. She needs a lot of TLC, but will undoubtedly be worth it in the end.

I see great potential in this car. Granted it can easily turn into something that I put 5X the value into fixing up, but I also acknowledge that a car never is a good investment - I might as well enjoy what I have. I also get great pleasure and satisfaction in learning as I take stuff apart, clean it up and put it back together. I similarly get enjoyment out of knowing that I'm doing my part to keep a piece of motoring history alive, rather than defaulting to a "throwaway" appliance-car like so many other people. Yes, you can lose a little money on a car or lose a lot of money on a car, but I'd rather have a car I have pride in and enjoy at the end of it versus choosing to lose a little less money and having a "generic" econobox car like everyone else out there. I prefer to be a little different, even if it costs a little more in the long run.

If I'd been in the market/price range to get something $20k or higher, I'd have definitely done a PPI though, but I don't really regret not having one done for this car - ultimately it wouldn't have changed my decision to get it and as such, would have been money wasted.

[haileypcar]

[QUOTE=47silver;2730718]my son saw the car on cars.com
we had lengthy emails with the owner.
i never owned a porsche and at the time did not want one but my son did so i thought that a car that might need a little work would be a good thing to do together.
i have a good ear for engines/mechanicals and took it for a run, it ran great and sounded superb.
i was unaware of this board or i would have probably passed on it since it was a mid year car.

Question: What is a "mid year car" and why is that a bad thing? I have an 85 Targa; is that "mid year"? Thanks very much.

[Jay H]

Originally Posted by haileypcar

Question: What is a "mid year car" and why is that a bad thing? I have an 85 Targa; is that "mid year"? Thanks very much.

A 'mid year' car is the 911 series produced from 1974 to 1977. The 2.7 motors used during those years were not the most robust engine Porsche ever made. They are great cars if the engine updates are done.

Your '85 Targa is not a mid year car.

Hope this helps,

Jay
90 964, 84 3.2

[Seric]

Depends on your situation from the looks of the posts. I didn't do a real PPI on the Targa, but I have a stack of records from new and I had a fellow Pelican (Rob 930) come drive and inspect it. I had to invest a grand or so, which is normal and was expecting it, but it was a solid buy.

[gigem75]

"eBay out of Texas... cars don't rust in Texas " maybe not from road salt but if you live near the coast you bet they do!

[Scott98]

I paid for a PPI and my mechanic failed to notice the car was burning 1 quart of oil every 500 miles and the fact it "clunked" every time the car was shifted quickly into 3rd gear. Why did I even pay for a PPI????

Scott

[KFC911]

I'm surprised that I got "lucky" without one...I wouldn't do it again