Nathan,

RDane has built several of the nicest 911's around so he has been there and done that in person. He knows what he is talking about.

Joe A

PS ... Rolling on the floor laughing my ass off

Roger,

Your car was also an inspiration for me as well. Very nice.

These projects are definitely a labor of love and quite the slippery slope. You could save yourself some money and a lot of labor if you could find an unfinished project with potential. However, if you're the type of person that's going to take it all apart to do it all over again, you're better off by starting with a clean slate.

There's a lot of very nice cars on this forum with some very big price tags. $60K to $80K for a nice RSR clone with a decent engine is not unrealistic. My respect to those who take their cars to that level. I'm sure is not just about throwing money at it, but the idea of building a worthy car to meet their standards. Having said that, not all of us can afford such a price tag. Work-out the numbers as Roger pointed above and leave yourself some room for error, more than likely you'll run into some surprises along the way. Good luck on whatever decision you make, and remember to post pictures :)

i too was wondering where the big figures come from. that was before i had a longhood in the garage. i gotta say, it DOES add up quickly. and i am speaking about a car that, according to me, needs hardly anything (to be a decent driver).

seems a large part of the mandatory expenses is body/paint. beyond that it's discretionary for the most part and, therefore, controllable, at least no less controllable than any 911 would be.

i have seen what APPEAR to have been some really nice RS clones listed and sold for less than $30k. My vote is buy finished but take your time searching and, as i was told, be ready to buy when the right car shows up because a LOT of people out there know what they're looking at.

As usual, Sherwood gave an xlnt summary.

re build sequence:

1st & most important is the brakes
2nd the suspension
after that the car is safe and drives well... the nice susp. and (still) 'low' power motor will encourage you to learn driving skills...
3rd - the motor and freshening/re-gearing the trans
4th the interior - this is what you, the driver, sees the most
last & 5th - the exterior - this is what others see

I followed the above sequence - except I swapped 5 & 4 as I heard a great painter was back in business here (turned out he wasn't that great...); you can also go in a spiral, returning to the various steps for later upgrades as the years roll.

The only really critical things are to make sure 1 & 2 are done to a high level of safety first.

For most mechanically inclined folks, getting a good body paint and the color you like is the most important thing. If you have the skills and are a bit of artisan, then you can relax that and redo the body yourself - it is a huge undertaking tho. If you are a multi-mode genius and can do both, and have the time and a heated space then you can buy almost anything and fix it up. In the latter case, you will only" have parts charges, so you could probably do something for $15 to $30k extra over the price of the car - depending how far out you go.

BTW...

This doesn't deal w/ cost but the word doc I put together compares some notable cars, and gives citations to magazine articles about them. It might help give you ideas on which way -- and how far -- to go.

http://www.penaltykicker.com/911/data/

Randy,
Wow. Nice compilation of data.

Thanks,
Sherwood

Sure - I started it when I began thinking about how to reduce wt. and still have a comfy street car. It's always cheaper and easier to build your prototypes on paper first...

Phil, I have been considering selling my 73 RS clone, if you are interested email me and I can supply pictures and detail. Price is at the lower end mentioned

If I ever do this I'm taking Porsche doc's route. I like the idea of a nice interior, solid a/c, usable torque, etc. I like my '88 coupe but there are things about it that are starting to wear a little thin, not to mention it's in the shop since it won't start....AGAIN! sorry...had to vent.

I did a pretty cheap version on a 73.5 tub just to use as a track whore. I will be around $15k when done. It will be nowhere near the quality of these other cars, but still a pretty decent ride. Which is perfect for me since I don't have the money these other guys do, and if I run off the track it's not that big of a deal. But if I had to do it all over again, I would have restored my car to original and back dated a 74 - 77 tub. My car would have been worth more, and I doubt the mid-years will ever take off like the long hoods did and the SC's and Carrera's are about to. Just my $0.02. Carry on.

Wow, Tons of info as you could only expect from this caliber of folks.
Thanks for all the input and opinions. Very spot on and Randy that grid is awesome, printed it out and put it in my file, thanks!

If I were to get one I would probably get rid of my E55 to pick up a toy.

In my mind If I were to get one, I would be interested in doing a 3.0 or 964 engine with a solid tranny.
I would want to body to be on point.

What got me thinking was 1. Those cars just look awesome, and 2. I keep seeing half done projects list for 8-11K here and elsewhere and figured if the body was done already it would be a cheaper route.
If I do decide to go that route, I would be full aware that my budget would get doubled due to the extent of the build-always seems too. It certainly would not be an investment,none of my cars have been, but strictly a toy.


Again thanks for the feedback, interesting to see all the folks who have already made the journey chime in.

Thanks
Phil

There is a black 69 over in the for sale forums that had me thinking about getting a half way done one. I would be thinking of putting a 3.0 or 3.6 in the back of it and do the suspension up.

That is probably the smartest way to do it: backdate C2/4. It already has the suspension, brakes, cooling, engine, tranny. Sheetmetal and exterior has to be backdated. But why ruin aerodynamically superior package?

Funny how things change in 11 years. We all thought 12K for a SC was questionable.