Please help me decide on a P-car I'm looking at

[twobone]

I put a tentative offer in on this car:

$20K USD

Car is an 80 SC rebodied with steel flares and fiberglass bumpers.

The owner has converted it to a street/DE car.

The engine is a professionally rebuilt 3.0 ltr. with 40 Webers and MSD ignition.

I had the car inspected including leakdowns and the engine and transmission with LSD are in good shape. The Webers are well tuned

Body is in fair to good shape as well. Car was repainted in the original Petrol Blue. The C2 bumpers are a bit rough with some cracks and lots of stone chips.

Suspension is coilovers in rear and front sleeved shocks with coil spring perches. Front towers are braced. The ride is not as harsh as I had expected.
944 turbo front brakes and drilled SC rear rotors

The side and rear windows have been replaced with Lexan, but with handles to raise and lower on the side windows. Steering wheel is a Momo with quick release.

The interior has leather sport seats and RS panels, but no rear seats

It does not have air or heat. It runs Bursch headers and a Bursch exhaust

Turns out it needs heat to safety for the ownership change. So I'm thinking of negotiating a shared cost to SSIs

Planned uses...summer short haul driving to work once in a while, ocassional Sunday blast around, and 2-4 track weekends a year...maybe some day add rear seats back in for the family to share in the enjoyment.

Here are the pros:

Good engine
Good transmission
Widebody
Car has been significantly lightened (bumpers, windows, interior)
Car has been professionally maintained
Likely a kick ass track car
Looks pretty nice at 10 feet

Cons:

Webers (gas mileage??)
Will need some bumper adjustment and paint work
Will need heat added
Has been used as a DE/track car
Car will have a narrow market on resale (as the current owner is learning) unless I spend money in the future to return it to more of a street spec.

Pls help me make up my mind.

[speedracer]

Looks like a fun car. Not sure if you would be interested or not but if you are looking for a track weapon/street car I know of a well set up 77 coupe with a euro RS 3.6 transplant that might be for sale in Saskatoon. I looked at it a couple years ago but it was too much car for me at that time. PM me if you want more details.

[zotman72]

For a DE car it might be fun but in any competitive track event it would be at a terrible disadvantage due to the suspension mods and change in induction. Not anywhere near a stock class and there probably is not enough HP to make it competitive in the GT classes. Are emissions an issue in your locale? Keep looking. YMMV

[MIK911]

IMHO, it's too tracked out/chopped up for your 'daily use'.
For $20K you could get a 3.2 Carrera in very good condition. It'll be more street friendly, and will fill in nicely for your 2-4 DE's/yr. plus the 3.2 will have heat/air and rear seats, and a good paint job, and non-cracked bumpers, and, and........

or buy a nice SC and use the extra $5-7K for suspension mods to enhance your track needs.

If you're worried about resale---stick with something more........stock.
You can add alot of bolt on mods to a 3.2 or SC to have fun, and maintain resale value.

[K9Torro]

IMHO he is asking top dollar for that one, he might have quite a bit invested with the engine work , and other stuff , tail, wheels , susp mods and little bits and pieces along with the original purchase of the car itself. Probably just trying to get his money back out but he will have to find the right buyer, as to a daily driver, my SC does not have heat or a/c so it pretty much just stays in my garage in the summer and winter being driven in the spring and summer, it is killer hot here in So GA, I would think it would be pretty cold up there in the winter without heat, but there is always Sterno I guess.

Todd

PS... if you want the car try and talk him down somewhat, and change out those headlights too.

[twobone]

Thanks - I decided to give it a pass......and keep a look out for a clean, low miles 84-94 coupe.

Thanks for the good advice.

I'm an impulse buyer.....not a good thing for Porsches!

I have to learn to relax and be more picky.

[johncarlos2003]

Good thought--- patience. Absolutely essential in pcar shopping. I'm glad you passed-

There is some good advice above about sc/carreras- 20k should get you a very nice car of either type with potentially a bit of extra dough to start YOUR OWN upgrades-

[Porsche_monkey]

At that price you should be able to buy a nice 84-88 from the US and bring it to Canada.

With our dollar where it is these cars are cheap in the US.