Need help on 911sc purchase. ASAP

[steelynorm]

78 911sc price $7900

bad: cosmetically it is a rats nest: bad seats, no door panels, cracked dash, hood has peeling paint, fuchs need to be refinished targa seals need some work, one of the license plate lights broken, rear reflector cracked(porsche), steering wheel needs to be replaced, floor behind pedals needs to be replaced, front carpet needs to be replaced, whale needs to be fixed, various seals here and there could/should be attended too.

Good: buying from a reputable mechanic who 5 years ago rebuilt both the engine and transmission. Also the master cylinder was replaced. Since rebuild, only 30k miles. tires look good.

should i run away?

[schumicat]

you can get better deals. unless you are making a track car. the interior will cost you thousands to get decent.

[Noah930]

Depends. What are you looking for (regarding use of the car)? For most people, I'd recommend they keep on looking. In a market like this, there are bound to be plenty of cars that are affordable (I know, relative term) and do not need tons of work to be made reasonably presentable.

But most of the stuff you describe are things most of us (on Pelican) want to change, anyway: aftermarket Recaro/Sparco/OMP seats, RS door panels, Momo Prototipo steering wheel, get rid of the whale (which looks ridiculous on 9/10 narrow-bodied cars anyway) and go for a duck, aftermarket wheels from Fikse/CCW/BBS/RH/etc., lightweight carpet set, otherwise strip the interior for a track car...

If you're looking for a minor project car where the mechanicals are fairly well sorted (and have a budget for another $5-10K for mods), this could be just the thing.

[arbita1]

Tough to say. You'll probably have to put $ 7-10K into it easy to make it a nice car. You can probably get something nice for around $12 - 13K right now. So it really depends on what you want to do.

I'll tell you from experience, it kind of sux having a car that needs a paint job right off the bat. I was always self concious of mine until I had it painted. Now I'm proud of it.

[warner53]

If it has rust- walk, unless you want a time consuming do-it-yourself love affair. Did I leave out costly?

Can you weld? Do you have a garage? Married? LOL

I love my Porsche.

Warner

[steelynorm]

Everything i have read over the last few months, has been, watch out for the mechanical issues.

That is why initially this car seemed appealing, ugly, but with a strong engine drivetrain and brakes.

This car is going to be my daily driver about 50 miles a day R/T.

I am not overly concerned about the paint because a buddy of mine says he will do a decent job for me for pretty cheap.

I was worried about all those little things seals door panels etc, etc., how much do those things start to add up.l

Is my thinking flawed? Purchase a $10k car with 160k miles with less solid mechanicals, but is prettier?

[pete3799]

I would think a mechanic owned car would be in a lot better shape than what you describe.
For a daily driver i don't think this would be a good one.
Keep searching. There are a lot better ones available for far less $ than you would have invested in fixing this one up.

[zippy_gg]

Originally Posted by steelynorm

I am not overly concerned about the paint because a buddy of mine says he will do a decent job for me for pretty cheap.

Decent paint job (on a Porsche) AND pretty cheap do not belong in the same sentence.
If you want to do it right you may have to strip the car and that takes a lot of work... Also the supplies aren't cheap. I doubt your friend will work for free... Unless you just want to re-spray.
There are a lot of threads about painting a 911, very good reading!
Until we see pics of the cars it is very difficult to say if you are on the right track or headed down the slippery slope...
Do you have a garage?, are you mechanically inclined?, and do you have a wife? are all valid questions...

[Scott R]

Something doesn't sound right. Get an independent PPI on that engine. It's hard to imagine someone putting the money into a rebuild like that on car with those problems.

[Noah930]

I don't know if any 30 year-old car makes a good daily driver (unless you're fairly solid with mechanical know-how). Particularly as the climate control in these cars, well, sucks. But I think a decent car (mechanically and cosmetically) can be had in the $12-15K range. I think that's where most prospective first-time 911 buyers should aim. I think it's a bit of a false sense of economy (excepting the rare "deal" out there) to pay less and expect to come out ahead. There was a saying when I bought a car 6 years ago: every 911 is a $20K car

[steelynorm]

Mechanic purchased from his former unemployed customer, who needed money

[Peter Zimmermann]

Originally Posted by steelynorm

Mechanic purchased from his former unemployed customer, hence the ratty condition.

So invoices are available for the transmission and engine repairs? Can you scan/post them? Without paper I wouldn't touch that car with a 10-foot pole. $6K for paint, $3K for interior, $1500 for wheels/tires, shocks (?), suspension bushings/tie rods (?), clutch (?), etc...

The Pre-Purchase Inspection by Peter Zimmermann - Rennlist Discussion Forums

[steelynorm]

My mechanic was funny, he said all the expensive stuff has been taken care of.
If i can live with the cosmetics.

What should i offer him?

[mholbrook38]

It is a steep downward slope you are embarking on. The car is radically overpriced. Pete Z is telling it like it is. My paint on 79 SC was $6k. And my car only had 49k on the clock when I bought it. I've put about $10-11k in the car over the last year and almost ready for prime time.

For that money, you should get a very decent SC.

[FrinkFrog]

Better listen to Pete Z. and others here. "The Used 911 Story" would be a good place to begin your next research project.

[t-cup]

I concur with what seems like the consensus here, that at $8k a Targa should have more right with it than your description. Also, while there may be some big ticket items taken care of with this one, don't underestimate the cost/effort/time for seemingly small tasks, like the fuel leak I discovered in mine on Thursday. Quickly these projects can snowball into having the car down for 3-4 days, looking at a few hundred in parts to do the task right, etc. Are you dead set on an SC? Or a 911? Why? There are other great Porsches (see my signature).

All that said, I applaud your unconventional thinking with having an old car as a daily driver. I've been that way for 2 years now, the SC playing weekend/backup with first a 123 chassis Mercedes Diesel Wagon, and now the 951 as the primary. My advice is first to get one you love, because no matter what car you choose sooner or later you'll be laying under it in the driveway with a bunch of oil or gas or blood dripping on your face thinking, "Damm, I could have had a new Civic and not had to worry about this." If you don't love the car, guaranteed your next stop will be Home Depot for a For Sale sign. Second is buy 2 old cars. When (not if) one is down, the other one should still be working. Plus, Hagerty costs me only $200 per year, DMV is nothing, emissions tests are non existent, and depreciation is flat; so your normal operating costs aren't that much. Third, buy a car that is supported not only by a great parts source, but also by a forum as strong as Pelican--preferably all at the same URL.

Best of luck in whatever you choose to do. Also, if you put your location in your sig, you might get another Pelican to go with you as a 3rd base coach when you look at the car. Worst case you make a new friend...

Tim

[g sturgill]

Some of the prices for paint, upholstery and other interior work depend on where you live. I just had my 73.5 911T stripped and painted for $3800. And the work was more than workman like. In addition, the color was black, which is even more difficult to do. No waves, flaws, runs. My local upholsterer does sofas, and recliners most days, but he had no difficulty re-doing my recaro seats for 175.00 each, and had them ready in less than a week. (They look better than factory, by the way), bought a nice plush carpet kit for about $250.00. Took 2 days for me to install it, but it looks as good as if I'd paid someone else to do it. I do live in small town in western Colorado, but there are craftsmen everywhere, and some need the work and will for less. Check around, especially on big ticket items like paint.

Jus sayin, g

[snbush67]

Originally Posted by steelynorm

My mechanic was funny, he said all the expensive stuff has been taken care of.
If i can live with the cosmetics.

What should i offer him?

You stated above “from a reputable mechanic who 5 years ago rebuilt both the engine and transmission".

Ask him for receipts and a build sheet or any documentation for the motor and transmission, if it checks out then a might be worth a chance. If you have any mechanical skill at all you could come out all right. I think that 4.5k would not be bad, but 7.9K is Crazy Talk. interiors are an easy fix and there are a few cars being parted with decent interiors, often right here in the classifieds.

As far as paint, if you have a friend who is experienced and going to do it right for cheap then really good paint alone is going to cost about 1K. You can get cheap stuff, and if you aren’t doing a color change you can probably just sand through the clear coat and keep the base. If you are going to do it then do it right and buy all new seals and fender beads. You can probably get away without doing the rear glass seal, but if there is any leakage around that area then you must replace it. I think you can budget about 1K for all seals but you may be able to salvage some to save money.

The deal is, that even if you bought a decent looking SC ,that you would probably not get a fresh motor, and you could probably use a paint job to freshen it up as well. Again it wouldn’t hurt to freshen up the interior and lose the 100lb steering wheel. So if your intentions are to have a good running, great to look at car anyway then this just might be a cheap ticket to get there.


Shane