Why did you buy your 944's?

[btsave]

Just sitting here thinking... why did people buy the 944? & who are we? (age/status/jobs, etc.)
When we see another 944, is it a kid or an older man/woman?

Was it a mistaken identity? We thought it was a 911?
Was it the price?
Was it the styling?

What got me thinking is the rather low prices I now see for 928's.. which look attractive. & might be somthing I'll also get (if my wife doesn't divorce me first). but I often wonder if money was not an issue, would we even bother looking at the 944/928's etc?

Would be interested in other people's thought on these issues.

[Porsche-O-Phile]

Initially it was a toss-up between a 914 and a 944 and a 924. I needed a car and was floored by the notion that I could own a PORSCHE for under $3,000 (!) I wrote off the 924 since it had no a/c (a necessity here in SoCal in the summertime unless you feel like listening to the sound of gridlock traffic on the freeway as you swelter in the heat and suck the exhaust fumes from a thousand Lincoln Navigators in the vicinity). I dismissed the 914 since it had a "little rust" according to the owner. I know from bitter experience that there's no such thing as a "little rust" - it's like being a "little pregnant". If there's a "little" that he was aware of, I wasn't willing to find out how much there was in impossible-to-get-to places that would either be an eventual death sentence for the car or an ungodly expensive repair session. That left the 944. I looked at two and settled on the one I did since it had (1) just had the clutch replaced (I still maintain that a clutch job is one of the things I'll avoid doing on these cars and would rather pay someone to do), so that was a bonus. Also it looked pretty nice overall (some minor issues, but nothing that was a show-stopper), no rust, ran strong, all records, pretty good on gas for a daily driver, etc. I got far more than I bargained for - good and bad. I quickly discovered that these are some of the best cars ever built and vowed never to own an American car again for the rest of my life after a little more than a month of ownership. I also learned that repairs / parts are rather pricey and if I was going to keep it, I was going to have to get good at doing my own work. Once I got over the "geez, I know how to turn wrenches, but do I dare work on a PORSCHE ENGINE?!?!?" stigma and realized it's an engine like any other and to simply go slowly and be careful, it became immensely pleasurable - even more so. I've since picked up a 951 and will probably get an S2 cab or 968 cab in a year or two. I'm sold on the watercooled Porsches - they're absolutely the car I "should have had" my whole life! No regrets whatsoever!

[Ninefourfour83]

Like Porsche-O-Phile, I also was amazed at how cheap you can pick up an older Porsche and I was interested in getting one for my sencond car. I was looking at the 924 and the 944. I liked the flared fenders of the 944 better and the 944 that my dad's friend showed me was in much better shape with only 53000 miles. We ended up getting it and so far I am very happy, although I havent had to replace anything on it yet. Hopefully there will be more Porsches in my future

[bearone2]

i traded for the 1st one with a guy who wanted my car and made another trade with the 1st for the "S".

[livewirevoodoo]

back when i was 15, a repair shop a few blocks away from me had a beat up 911 for sale.. i was working my way towards a drivers license and dreamed of how cool it would be to buy and fix up. sent away for an automotion catalouge and saw that even that was way out of my price range...

fast forward 10 years... went thru a geo storm and a new 99 altima.. payed 16k for 5 years on the altima, and it was worth ***** when the payments were done... looked at financing new, or leasing, but wasnt fond of another car payment... cant really say what triggered the thought of a porsche again, but i started toying with the idea and reading the boards and saw that it was feasible.. the 911 body style didnt appeal to me, but i fell in love with the 944.. looks like a beast, ready to pounce.

anyways... i figured i'd better do it now while i'm still young enough to enjoy it.. a few years i'll marry my girl, bang out some kids and resign myself to driving a minivan.. no plans on selling the 944 tho.. it'll become a summer weekend getaway car

[PCA 944]

At only 17 (only an entire 6 months ago) I was looking for a car of my own (with parents money of course). I've always wanted performance and styling, so anything domestic was out of the question. Looking through a few Mercedes Sl's (you can easily get an older one for under 10k) I hit the Porsche button on Autotrader and was shocked to see a 944 for so cheap.

Before that day I had never known what a 944, or wasn't really thinking i'd own a Porsche in the near future. I looked at a 928 (15 grand, auto, overpriced) and a few 924's. But the 928 was too much car for me, if that possible, and the VW 924 didn't have the right styling. The 944 on the otherhand has the larger flares and wide aggresive stance you can't not fall in love with. So I bought the first 944 I looked at a few miles from my house. An 86' 944, alpine white, broken odometer (didn't realize that until a few months later), ok body (a lot of little nicks, but nothing noticable) for 4k. I couldn't be happier today.

[seaboltman]

haha i am not alone!

first one was an 87 that i picked up when I was 16 and mainly because it was cheap. My mom was poking around on the local classifieds on the internet, and found a 944. She showed it to me and i said.... thats probably the coolest car im going to get for under 3000 (which was my limit). Took that home and loved it.

Wrecked that car about 6 months later and now after going through a dodge stealth and realizing that car was a hunk of crap, i came back to the 944 with arms wide open remembering how great mine treated me and how much fun it was to drive.

[btsave]

I feek like the grandfather here, 52, married, 4 kids, 2 grand kids... never owned a Porsche & saw a 944 on eBay which was ending in 10 minutes and was only at 2500$. Bid on it, not knowing ANYTHING about 911, 912, 914, ,928, 968, 944 etc... though a Porsche was a Porsche!

Since purchase, fully rebuilt it & now love it... If all Porsche's are this much fun, I may start collecting Porsche's instead of British cars!

How old are the rest of you 944 owners? I am the "old man" here?

[fast924S]

When I was 16 I was crazy about cars, I was driving a 86 VW 2 door jetta, I drove past a local junk yard and saw this great looking car covered with bushes and weeds so I got out a looked at it not knowing anthing about what it was, There where no badges on her and she was in bad shape, I was looking for a project car to play with so I saved up $1,500 and went and picked up my 87 924S. It took me about 1.5 years to get her road worthy, rebuilt the engine and put tons of TLC into her, I fell in love with the car the first time I got it on the road and it has been a working project ever since. Until I got my 87 924S I didnt even know Porsche made any other models beside the 911. I love the style of the 944/924/951 and there arent alot around here. My 924S has tought me many lessons, from how to fix it to how to keep my cool. Gotta love it but some days you just wanna smash it. I will never sell my 87 924S, I have put way to much $$$$$$ and time into her to make it worth any sale. Now im 22 working for toyota and still playing with my 87 924S. Im sorry to say this but some of the 911 turbo slant nose's have been getting my attention, SHHHHHHH dont tell

[Dan in Pasadena]

5 years ago, sudden divorce after 20 years of marriage and I lost everything. Had to sell my '95 Volvo 850T-R, I was driving my son's beater Camaro because I had no car. I mentioned to a friend I needed an inexpensive car and she said, "I have a car you might want to buy". I said, "What is it?" and she replied, "It's a Porsche". In my mind I saw 911 and she told me it was a 944 and I pictured 928's! It was parked inside the back of her huge garage with tons of crap stacked on top of it. It hadn't been driven in 6-1/2 years! It had 59,200 miles, was Guards Red over Black and had flat El Cheapo tires.

I hadn't thought of seriously about Porsches since I had fallen in love with a then-new '72 911S in my senior year of high school.

I bought this car for $5500! (I didn't know better) I have dropped another $5000+ into motor mounts, clutch, rear axles, headgasket/full valve job, brakes, AC, all fluids, filters, polished 16" PD's, tires, throttle cam, Magnecors, you name it. It runs like a champ, looks great and gets thumbs up often.

I often think of selling her and looking for "my" '72S but I feel bad about selling this car that saw me through the toughest time of my life. Sometimes I think I'll just look for an awesome Guards Red over black 928 - a car that would remind me a lot of my car with lots more power!

[livewirevoodoo]

who are all these previous owners that leave a freakin PORSCHE sittin around for years?? Mine was driven like 15k in the past 7 years (before I got it)

[Dan in Pasadena]

Mine was my now sister-in-law's whose doctor husband bought it for her as a surprise for putting him through medical school. Short version? She never really liked it that much - didn't care for the Guards Red. Then they moved to the local SoCal mountains after the first two years and couldn't drive it during the winter. One winter it just didn't come out again for 6 yeats! These were the kind of owners that treated it like it was a Ford Taurus or something. They fixed things eventually when it broke. They were not disciplined about well, anything. They took it to Midas Muffler shop for brakes - the only pre-purchase receipt I have!

Yet, it has cleaned up well and has never left me. I've had it through the Mojave Desert at 130MPH indicated and she ran strong. I've used it as a daily for awhile and she is now retired to a Casual Friday driver and perpetually polished to the nth degree. She deserves it, she's done her time in hell.

[bluebullet]

well when I was back in highschool at the age of 17 or so, my friend had a 83 924. Gaurds Red over black, new clutch cable, rebuilt head with some porting and polishing done, new clutch, ROH spyder wheels (in 14"!!!) and a Borla muffler. That thing was just so dam loud and it was a blast to drive. I didnt know anything back then. I loved the style of the old 3 pod gauges.

I bought the car from him after highschool ended for $3500 (mind you this car had 49k miles and was SPOTLESS inside and out). I owned it for about 6 months or so, then sold it cuse I couldnt afford the insurance on it (I was only 18 and in NY) and the McD's paycheck I was getting wasnt cutting it (yes I know I know let the jokes begin). How I hated to part with that car.

Fast forward 6 years. Sitting in the shop one afternoon (I used to work for Precision Installations not too long ago) and I was about to go leave work early with one of my friends to drop him off to pick up his mustang a few towns over (10.50 car on the spray) and he was like "oh yea remember you were sayin you had a Porsche back in the day? Well there's one around the corner...we are about to pass it." Around the bend we went and I saw not one but two 944s sitting in the driveway (one black and one red). The fire had been rekindled inside of me, and as soon as I dropped him off I went rushing back to look at the car.

Only the red one was forsale, and it had a loud muffler on it (mind you I had never seen a real 944 up close in my life). I sat inside of it, revved it a few times, the owner said it just got new bearings in the bottom end and a rebuilt head and turbo cam. The seats had some abnormally large sidebolsters (I didnt find out til quite sometime later that I had picked up a euro model which had the better seats) and power everything. I couldnt be happier. A few weeks later and $2300 out of my bank account and I was the proud new owner of a somewhat abused 944 (the paint was poor and the car looked to have some slight damage in the rear, inside the car in the trunk it was still straight so it couldnt be that bad), and it didnt turn very well. And the gauge cluster backing turned out to be bad (junkyard trip fixed that). I had the steering rack rebuilt, which didnt solve the problem, and realized that the steering link had rusted. I freed that up, only to get slop in it a few months later. One clutch job later and me swearing that if it breaks again im selling it or burning it, and she was good as new again.

Ive done some small maintenance here and there (going to change the balance shaft roller cuse it seems to have taken a crap) and when I have the cash Im going to get the belts done again (PO said he did them but has no reciepts cuse he owns a euro specialty shop and the motor has no oil leaks) just so Ive gotten the two major things out of the way. That and Ive been building up a hefty pile of invoices and reciepts for various stuff ive replaced. Everything from the clutch down to plastic clips and oil changes.

I'll never settle for something Japanese again.

[BananaClip]

when i was 15 i didn't know or care about cars at all. I figured that i would just get an old buick or something when i finally got one, and i didn't worry about it until i got my license and thought i was going to find a car. it occurred to me at this point that I could have an old BMW or Benz within my budget. I started to care a little more. One day I happened to be watching the history channel, and a special on the history of Porsche came up, and I thought to myself (now don't laugh ok) "hey, Porsche's are fast. Cool. I bet I could get an old one for the same price as a BMW or Benz." well I might be paraphrasing a little, but thats the idea. I immediately cracked open the used car classifieds of the paper I had sitting by me, and found a 944 for about $5K (cheapest thing in there, FYI). If i remember correctly it was an 84. Got my dad to drive me out to look at it. It was interesting to say the least. Oh yeah an auto too. Thing would hardly start, exterior was junk, interior had FREAKING 4" FUR COVERS ON EVERY UPHOLSTERED SURFACE. We moved on. A few months later, my dad found, in the middle of the old down town of a nearby city, a porsche repair shop. About 20 porsches (new and old) and a delorean in a little garage in the ghetto. My dad talked to the owner on my behalf, and the owner had this nice little restored german imported '83 944. The thing was beautiful. Before I could get my money together to buy it he sold it to an existing customer. He directed me to a friend of his who had an '84 in equal condition he was willing to part with. I went there. Actually, to be fair, a good half a year passed between the time I missed the first one and talked to the second seller. My interest in the cars had waned and I was hot for the 300z at the time. I just figured I'd give this car a look. When I got there it blew me away. 300,000 miles on it, near perfect interior, good aftermarket paint, engine ran like a swiss watch. The owner took me for a drive in it, and let me tell you, that thing ran like a stuck pig. I have no clue how he got it so fast. He claimed it was stock, too (aside from the usual throttle body mod). He got out onto an empty road (this is out in the country a ways) and started it going. As he approached the redline, he pointed it out, then shifted from first to second, and explained that the larger throttle body made it more difficult to shift from first to second smoothly, shifted to third, and then he said, "look, we're going 80." AND WE WERE. The total package sold me here. $5K for a 95% perfect 944 with (its only flaw) 300,000 miles on the (albeit VERY clean) engine, and to top it all off, a spare computer and ENGINE with 50,000 miles. Told him I'd be back when I had the money. Got the money, went back, it wasn't for sale. IF YOU'RE READING THIS, YOU KNOW I'M TALKING TO YOU, RAY. I STILL DON'T GET IT AND I'LL WRASSEL YOU FOR THE CAR. Anyway, I then had to move out for college. See the timespan for all of this is a little stretched out. I had the money and I needed a car, so I looked around the area in the paper and online. I was driving with my parents on the way to look at a last-gen celica (I was getting close to my last option for the day), and we decided to stop at a gas station and get a drink (of gas. lol). while there, I picked up an autotrader magazine. $4.5K '88 944. Called the guy, drove out there, it was good enough by my experience, and I bought it for $4,160. That day.

[auh]

When I was 12 my dad came home in a '74 914. Fell in love with Porsche's that night and made him get me a 3 year subscription to Excellence magazine. I read every article in every issue until my subscriptions ended 3 years ago. Now at 19 I can honestly say I've forgotten more about Porsche's (general info) than most Porsche salesmen know. In fact I've only ever met one guy that generally knew more than me and he was a salesman at a Porsche Design store. When I turned 18 my dad bought me a 914 and I loved it so much...I just hated how much it broke. So after one year I sold it for 2000. One week later looked at Autotrader and bought me a 944 for 2200. Not a bad 200 dollar upgrade if you ask me. 0-60 went from 13 sec to about 7.5-8 sec and a top speed from about 108 to about 134. Not to mention now I had a car with working interior dash lights, working heat, door handles, etc etc. I've know about the 944 since my love for Porsche's began and after the 914 was getting towards the end I knew that I loved the looks and the price and that it would be my next Porsche. I also loved the fact that I could out run my dads '70 911.

Did I mention that I delivered pizzas in the 914 and now the 944? In the 914 I would keep the pizzas in the front trunk cause it was the most level place in the car and so many times I heard, "OMG, I thought you pulled your car into my driveway to fix it." But the 944 makes a great "pizza truck".

Soon I am going to add a Power Prom chip and research some other goodies so I don't regret not finding an affordable 951...

[PCA 944]

" 0-60 went from 13 sec to about 7.5-8 sec and a top speed from about 108 to about 134"

134 mph? Ive gotten up to 130 (well, i didn't want to go too fast on the freeway.... ) and it was still going to strong to its 160 mph limit.

[legion]

I've been wanting a 4 cylinder sports car for a while...

I finally decided that I would get a Pontiac Solstice when they come out next summer. Then one day, leaving Wal Mart, I see a white 944 pull out with a for sale sign in the window. Never did see that car again, but I decided to start researching 944s. I decided that I wanted a Turbo or an S--S2's were out of my price range. I sold my Grand Am for $9,000 and bought a $500 pickup truck to tool around town in.

I test drove one Turbo in Chicago that had a sheered bolt stud on the exhaust manifold. Offered the guy $6,000 for it, (he was asking $12,000) and he passed.

Showed up at a dealership in Chicago that had a Turbo sitting on the lot for a few months prepared to offer $6,000 (I had $8,500 that I could write a check for that day). They were cleaning up the car for someone who had the same idea and beat me to it...

Bid on a Turbo on eBay. I was winning the auction at $5,500 (I think I put in $7,500 as my maximum bid), and the seller closed the auction 10 minutes before close. (He had a $12,000 "buy it now" price and no reserve. I think he just didn't want to sell it for so little. It was at a dealership in the quad cities in Iowa...

Bid on an S on eBay. Ended up winning. Paid $4,200. Mechanically sound, all the big stuff works. Needs lots of small repairs. Drove down to a town in Illinois about 30 miles north of St. Louis to pick it up. Truly the middle of nowhere.

[toolboy62]

hmm, why did I buy a 944? well, at the time I was looking for a car I was making payments on an '02 GTI 1.8T which I loved, but really was unable to afford - the company I work for screwed me by changing my position from hourly to salary literally three months after I purchased the car, which seriously impacted my ability to pay for it and still have money left over at the end of the month. A coworker had this old 944 and he took reasonably good care of it, so I figured it would make a decent daily driver. It was also new enough that my credit union would give me a loan for it, which was important. Of course, I suppose I could have gotten a new Hyundai or something instead, but I prefer something a little less mind-numbingly boring to drive.

Of course, what ended up happening was my mom decided she needed a new car so she ended up buying the 1.8T from me (no, I didn't rip her off.) Now she's offering me her old '86 Golf so the financially prudent thing to do would be to sell the 944 'cause I have the loan paid off and it's worth more than the Golf... I really don't wanna, I've finally got it almost to the point where I am confident in it... but I do have to think about saving up for a down payment for a house... argh...

I have no regrets about buying the 944 however; other than a big initial bill for T-belt maintenance it has still been consistently less expensive to run than making a new car payment, obviously I have been doing a lot of the little stuff myself, but other than the engine it seems overall pretty easy to work on. I also upgraded to the IceShark headlight kit which makes it the nicest car to drive at night that I've ever owned. Actually the biggest complaint I have about the car is that it's (relatively) slow; it is the nicest-handling and most comfortable car I've ever had.

nate

[Damian in NJ]

When I was single I drove Italian cars-four different Alfa's, and a Fiat Dino (the one with the 2.4 liter Ferrari engine). Alas, after getting married and having kids things like mortgages and college education funds took precedence over having a fun ride.

After 7 years of marriage, I got the 'itch' back. I said to my wife, 'I'm getting either a sportscar or a girlfriend, you choose'. I'm now on my third Porsche, the first being a mint 30K mile Alpine White/full black leather 85.5, with heated 8 way sport seats, color matched 15" fuchs with polished rims, sport suspension (not mo30). I put on 70K miles, and sold it for 75% of my purchase price. Then a slate grey 968 coupe, now the speed yellow cab.

[mattdavis11]

This might sound like b.s., but I bought for the gas mileage. It has more than paid for its self. I knew the cars maintenance history for the previous 11 years. It was rarely driven. It has been my daily driver for the past 3 1/2 years. I recently acquired another vehicle, bringing my grand total ownership of autos to 3 1/2 (I share ownership in a 58 Willys). It now will have a reduced role. However, I did drive it to work today, and probably will tomorrow. 29 years of age, 30 is 2 months away.