Which would you buy? Need advie soon!

pryord · pryord's Garage

So, I'm looking at two SC's which seem like good deals. I'd love your input!

1983 SC Targa: 120K miles, needs tires, original fuchs, faded kiln red, rebuilt clutch and tranny, updated tensioners and pop-off valve, 2 owners, good brown interior, headliner sagging in a few places, a few spots of oil leakage.

1979 SC Coupe 180K but 5K on FULL rebuilt engine, original fuchs, good tires, rebuilt clutch, new CV joints, tranny inspected and found good, updated tensioners and pop-off valve, H4s, cheap respray of metallic brown with intention of good paint job later, good cork interior.

Both cars seems like winners to me. The coupe is selling for around $1,500 more than the targa, plus I'll possibly have to pay $700 to $1000 shipping. Here's the big catch: I don't have a garage. I can store a targa during bad rains in a friends garage, but it's quiet street parking for most of the time. The targa owner says his car is very dry, with only a slight dripping near the passenger window while driving in heavy rain (and he seems very honest).

Thanks for any input!
David

Rot 911 · 01-15-2002, 12:36 PM

If you can handle the color, I would say no contest. The Coupe is the better of the two cars period.

jwetering · jwetering's Garage

Easy choice (for me)...the coupe. The Targa needs more work, will leak when parked outside, and ...I know this is only my opinion...the Targa is not as cool, although the colour sounds nice.

LeeH · 01-15-2002, 12:46 PM

What will the purchase price be for each car?

rscupper · 01-15-2002, 12:48 PM

No question - the coupe is the best value (and looks better, too

)

J P Stein · 01-15-2002, 12:52 PM

Buy a local car.....I agree with Kurt, a coupe. Good ones come up around here on a regular basis. Take your time. I have bought 2 local 911s. Each took 3-4 months to find the "right" one.

wckrause · wckrause's Garage

How much do you know about the rebuilt engine? Do you know exactly what was done? The word "rebuilt" has many different meanings.

Jack Olsen · 01-15-2002, 12:56 PM

I'd say: learn as much as you can about the rebuild, then see if a PPI confirms it. Then by the coupe. A few drops at a time can mean a lot of water in your cabin, which can mean mildew or rust.

Glasgow 911SC · Glasgow 911SC's Garage

Does the age of the coupe make it less powerful? In Britain, older SC (not sure of crossover year) had 180hp compared to 204hp. Not sure if this applies.

Bill Douglas · 01-15-2002, 01:23 PM

I wouldn't buy either. The coupe sounds good apart from the bad paint job. What ever car you buy you will love it and want to spend lots of time in it and a bad paint job will anoy you. Plus it's hugely expensive to get a good job done.

My recommendation is to pay good money up front for a really nice car and not have to do anything major to it for quite a few years. Living in the states you have so many great cars to choose from.

And, get a PPI with the lower valve covers off to look for broken head studs.

Bill '79SC

carrera · 01-15-2002, 01:25 PM

I like the coupe, although as Bill suggests; what is this rebuild?
With street parking is a targa a prudent purchase?
But.. if you really want a targa then a coupe will never do.
In this instance the coupe 'seems' to be the better car.
Do your homework as the old adage holds true. "haste makes waste"
Good luck!