Buyer's Guide

[74baja]

Hi all,

I am a young German car enthusiast (currently own an '80 BMW 633, previously owned an '84 Mercedes=Benz 300SD) and am itching to get into the Porsche world. I am looking for the best buyer's guide for 911's- one taht can point me in the right direction to help me narrow things down once I am in the right place to make a purchase.

Thanks,
Jack

[Nico911]

Hi Jack.

Well, there's a lot of information on internet. You an type ''911 buyer guide'' in google and you'll find good stuff.

I bought Adrian Crawford's online buyer's guide for the 3,2L model (1884-1989) and I ended up owning one a few months later. You can find his buyer's guides on his site :

Adrian Crawford – Passion for Porsche – Cornwall

I know a lot of people will criticize paying for info that if free on the internet, and on this site. Thing is, his guides are pretty well done and you'll have just one reference, so it's a good and easy start to learn. What I did was building my own inspection sheet so I knew what I was doing and I didn't forget anything when checking out a car.

Have fun shopping.

[BE911SC]

Get Peter Zimmerman's book, "The Used 911 Story." Must-read in my humble opinion.

[Noah930]

I also found the Zimmerman book very useful when I went 911 shopping for the first time. I used Randy Leffingwell's 911 buyer's guide, as well (though the Zimmerman book was more useful, if I could only recommend one). Those should get you pointed in the right direction, at least.

Once you actually find cars in which you're interested, post them here on Pelican to see what the braintrust thinks. People will see and think of 50 things that never even crossed your mind.

[Dave Colangelo]

Pete Zimmermans book and this forum are great but I will say the following as many of my friends have bought Porsche's over the years and I have been consulted on many a deal.

At some point (and im sure you know this from your other cars) just buy a car. Many people will spend months, some times years looking for the right 911. They will nit pick about the little things like color, gauge condition working AC (in all honesty forget AC on early Porsche's) etc. etc. I have seen things like this make or break deals and in some cases cause people to over pay for cars. Little things can always be fixed along the way. You will be far happier buying a car that is 90% there and taking it the last 10% than spending 3 years looking for that 100% car. Some of these cars are more than 30 years old and the WILL have issues. In my opinion, doing the work is most of the fun any way!

Regards
Dave