I think i have let the "Pelican" community down

[jkirby4]

see the attached link.

!974 911 2.7

i just think that its just to much work for me to do and i don't have the couple thousand dollars to put into it. I got lots and lots of good info from this form and i just wish i was more skilled to bring this car back to life. Thanks for everyone who helped me along the way !!!!

jim

[equality72521]

Wish I had the cash to buy it!

[80-911SC]

don't give up, just fix it ....

or at least wash it before you sell it you'll get a better price ....... with the dust on it gives it the barn find look, even though I can the your in the burbs .........

[80-911SC]

350 conversion is lower than a good rebuild and takes some of the "mystique" out of it, add HP lose weight at the same butt also lose originality and a different driving experience ... although still not cheap unless you have a 350 sitting around , then still not cheap but cheaper ..........

[JJ 911SC]

Jim

Re-thing this one...

The car cost you nothing so even if it sit for another 5 to 10 years, no real lost and you can pick up the pieces later.

If you go ahead with the sale, you probably going to regret it for a long time.

I'm sure there is some Pelican around where you live (not sure where) that would get out of their way to give you a hand.

Re-think, re-think and re-think.

Hang in there

[Matt Monson]

I am with those saying don't do it. You aren't letting us down. But you may later feel that you let yourself down. Hang onto the car, even if it takes a long time to get to it. It looks fairly solid and if there's no rust in the pan it will be a good car to have long term. Even if you have to go put it in a storage space somewhere it's worth hanging onto. They aren't making any more of these.

[jkirby4]

i posted more pictures after i had washed it . the problem is i regret not having the money to fix it and my son starts college next year ($$$$) and daughter will be 5 years after that. It KILLS me that i don't have the cash to do what it needs. i have a budget for the car but with all the things it might need i coud burn that very quickly. the motor needs to be dropped and just gone thru, all hoses need replaced (brakes/fuel). needs a new fuel pump, fuel tank........ i just can't afford to get nickled and dimed. i feel that if i let it sit for 5-10 more years it will never get done. At least someone out there might get a decent car and put in the money and time to rebuild. I would love to find that "Pelican" friend locally (florida) to work with but how do you compensate someone for their time and skills without either offending them or not being able to afford them. i would have a hard time letting someone invest their time into my car without being able to compensate them properly. hopefully this makes sense..........

[Zeke]

Originally Posted by jkirby4

i posted more pictures after i had washed it . the problem is i regret not having the money to fix it and my son starts college next year ($$$$) and daughter will be 5 years after that. It KILLS me that i don't have the cash to do what it needs. i have a budget for the car but with all the things it might need i coud burn that very quickly. the motor needs to be dropped and just gone thru, all hoses need replaced (brakes/fuel). needs a new fuel pump, fuel tank........ i just can't afford to get nickled and dimed. i feel that if i let it sit for 5-10 more years it will never get done. At least someone out there might get a decent car and put in the money and time to rebuild. I would love to find that "Pelican" friend locally (florida) to work with but how do you compensate someone for their time and skills without either offending them or not being able to afford them. i would have a hard time letting someone invest their time into my car without being able to compensate them properly. hopefully this makes sense..........

+1. Time to let it go. If it comes to be, you may have another. The only codicil is that there is only one "dad's" car.

[rvanderpyl]

Hey I am probably going to do the same thing with my 68. I have done a LOT of work on it fixing all the rust and collecting parts to build the car I would like, but it has been sitting for 2 1/2 years now without anything further getting done on it because other projects have to take priority right now. I finally caved and bought another 911 to get myself out on the track, and I just can't see sitting on the car for another 3-4 years before I get back to it. Let someone else finish it and enjoy it. I can always start again if I run out of other projects. There isn't any shortage of cars that need work out there.

[sobamaflyer]

I can definately see both sides of that, and there's a certain altruism to passing it along to a new excited owner. Sadly you aren't going to get a whole lot of college funding out of what you describe the poor thing needing

Pass it to that college student son, keep it in the family, let him scrounge up the $ to keep a piece of family history.

[mholbrook38]

The journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step. You have the rest of your life to get this car done or, it may never be done. Either way, if it were my dad's car, I would try to get it done bit by bit. It does not have to be concours. It does not cost that much for brakes and some of the odds and ends. The motor on the other hand, is an issue. You might be able to do it yourself or find a 3.0 CSI motor for it.

It's your call. Hang in there is my vote.

[sailchef]

Put it on blocks, cover it with a couple blankets, keep it dry, and come back to it in 10 years.

It's your Dads.

[doublestuff]

One thing to consider heavily if you decide to keep the car and get to it some time in the future - in Florida, if it hasn't rusted by now (and my guess is that it has), it will. So think about how you might store it long term so you don't one day find the money and time to fix it only to find you can sweep its remains into a dustpan. Ask me how I know...
My .02, it's a car. If you think selling it is the best thing to do, sell it. With cars like this, you could always try to keep in touch with the buyer in case you later find the means to buy it back. If it were me, I'd rather sell than see it deteriorate so far that it's ruined completely.
Good luck, and +1 on not letting anyone down. Some guys even put Chevy engines in their Porsches, and we let them live

Jason

[jkirby4]

the thing about the college fund is not that the car is worth that much its just that for at least the next 4 years i'll be paying for his college then after that her college. The car has been a garage for the last 10 years. it has some surface rust but everything seems and looks solid. I hear what everyone is saying about keeping it and regretting selling it once its gone but when the garage door goes up everyday and i look at it it just depresses me even more. I had the illusion that i could put a couple grand into it and it would magically come to life. I am not exactly that mechanically inclined and i have to think of the priorities in my life right now. Like the previous poster said, if i store it for another 5-10 years it may be in worse condition, but if i let go now someone else may get a decent car and bring it to life. I don't wanna let it die because i honestly know that i am intimidated by the work it needs. Most of ya'll look at this situation with excitement of the challenge but i look at it with the fear of spending more money that i could not afford then still possibly not get it to the end. To me 2000-3000 dollars is alot of money that i can't just possibly piss away, and my wife would kill me. A local recommended Porsche mechanic said that the motor should be dropped, disassembled, new gaskets and seals installed, install new head studs (even though theres no evidence of them being pulled he said you should replace them anyway) and other minor things i could blow my budget with just that !!!! If the wifes not happy then nobody is happy!!

[jkirby4]

My dad would be happy knowing its possibly running somewhere rather then sitting in a garage to possibly never see the light of day again. Theres not a big sentimental attachment to it because it was dad's car.

[twistoffat]

Jim I think I´d keep it. That said if you wanted to get rid of i´m sure the resale value of it restored would be much higher than the cost of restoration considering you got it for free. A bare metal respray and some new fuel lines etc might not be as expensive as you think. I am sure some Pelican out your way can give you some advice

[Tonka]

PM Sent

[sobamaflyer]

Originally Posted by twistoffat

Jim I think I´d keep it. That said if you wanted to get rid of i´m sure the resale value of it restored would be much higher than the cost of restoration considering you got it for free. A bare metal respray and some new fuel lines etc might not be as expensive as you think. I am sure some Pelican out your way can give you some advice

with all due respect, There's no way this would work for our poster, he seems to not be in the position to do the work himself (only reason some of us can afford a 911 ) and not in the position to spend even a few thousand $ on it (understood more than he knows )

IMHO getting this car cleaned up and running, done by someone else is going to cost $6-7k (cutting lots of corners) and will net not a whole lot more $ than that. Sadly a narrow body in pristine condition is not a very expensive Porsche and it WILL take far far more to get it there than it will be worth, when you start talking things like bare metal & opening up the engine.

This looks like a fun starter car for someone with a little time and just a little $ with the right expectations of having a fun toy that doesn't have to be perfect right away. I'd say someone could make that a driver with a few weekends of garage time and about a grand to pour on it right away after the initial purchase. I was lucky enough to find a similar situation recently and it was the realization of a long time dream.

........since you have fully satisfied all of us that want to make sure there's not emotion involved (not much sucks worse than the ones we sorely regret selling later)

[twistoffat]

You are possibly right but if those rear bumpers don´t deceive thats a Euro spec 2.7. Over here at the moment these cars are only going up in price and the right car with matching numbers and supporting documentation do better than those which have been slightly molested

[rfn026]

I'm sort of the expert on keeping non-running cars around. My theory is that a non-running car is worth the scrap price. If i keep it and get it running one day maybe I can get my head above water. I've had this one for ten years now. It's never run.



Over the next few months I'm determined to at least get it started. btw - That's a 1.7 914 engine - otherwise known as a VW Type IV.

One day all of my cars will run. At least that's the goal - or the fantasy.

Richard Newton
Speed TV Blog