How to find our long lost 86 Targa

[Brokentoy]

While not mechanical, this is technical.
My son bought a 1986 Targa his junior year of high school, very cheap, lots of miles (300k plus), and we worked on it together until it was street ready. He only drove it out of town, once to the prom, and never told his friends he had it or that it was his. He paid for it himself (crazy hard working kid).
He sold it late in 2013 to pay for college expenses, and put a down payment on his braces, and thought he would never look back.
We are both looking back now, and with my recent barn find Targa he really wants to find His exact car and try to see if the owner will sell it to him.
Last we knew, the car was bought by someone in Utah, maybe Salt Lake City, that sold 911's professionally. The car is Guards Red, Tan interior, brown leather dash that was VERY warped from shrink, and had 312,000 miles on it at time of sale.
The paint was perfect, factory black fuchs, and one mismatched headlight ring without adjustment holes. I will look for photos, and post if possible.
Sound familiar to anyone?
Not trying to creep anyone out, if the car is not for sale than fine, but can't hurt to put it out there.

[Brokentoy]

[Matt Monson]

Post the vin. That will help people help you.

[Brokentoy]

[cvlcporsche]

Good luck in your search, definitely post and search with the VIN. Also run a carfax on it to see if it is currently registered somewhere.

My guess is that it is running around somewhere and they owner believes it has 142k miles on it....

[Brokentoy]

My guess is that it is running around somewhere and they owner believes it has 142k miles on it....

Ha!!! If that's the case, I really do want to find the current owner!
The high miles was our favorite thing about the car, it was a badge of honor of sorts.

I called my insurance company to dig up the vin, no word yet.

[Brokentoy]

just got the VIN from insurance co.
WP0EB091XGS160123
Ran a VIN Audit and it came up still registered to us as of 2012????
Maybe somebody is sitting on it without changing the title, or out of the country?
Forgot to mention that the right fog light is amber, not clear. The photos reminded me!

[steely]

For kicks I googled the VIN and an apparently original ad (showing car as sold) was still on the web (listed w/ 312K miles).

Maybe you could reach out to Globalcarmarketing and ask them? They are on eBay too.

Of course, they might want a piece of the action, but you could tell them they didn't transfer the title correctly in the first place.

On second thought, maybe this isn't the right approach, but I do hope you have luck.

[Brokentoy]

I hadn't thought to google it, that was great info.
My son did not remember the name of the buyer's business.
Hopefully the name doesn't indicate a global destination.

[brighton911]

With the registration still showing your son as the owner, my bet is the car is not in the U.S. anymore. Keep searching, you never know and good luck.

[Brokentoy]

I think you may be correct. This forum is wide reaching, somebody wii know the car or doing the few repairs it needed to be correct (fog light, headlight ring, dash)

[bbturbo]

Might be silly, but have you ran a Carfax? I have been trying to hunt down my dad's old 1988 930 factory slant nose for about eight years now, so if you come up with any good information, post it!

[Brokentoy]

Yes, I ran a history report as posted above, thats how we found it was still registered to my son.
It was such an obvious route, don't know how we hadn't thought of it before someone suggested it.
I can't imagine a dealer selling the car to someone in the states without transferring into their name unless they sold it out of state and sent the title with the new owner, and they haven't titled it yet.

[bbturbo]

It could be sitting in a garage somewhere? However unlikely of course, but it may have turned into a race car, or like someone stated above, its in another country. I hope for the best, I am trying to hunt down many of my old 911s and its hard work.

[JJ 911SC]

Maybe easier to track her down

[Brokentoy]

Ahem...I know where my 17 year old daughter is.

[Brokentoy]

Finally got ahold of the guy that bought it, said it went to Europe somewhere, Denmark or Germany.

[steely]

Darn - sorry about that.