grass queen, should I buy?

brandon2944 · 09-02-2005, 03:22 PM

I currently own two NA 944's and love them both, but have always wanted a turbo and without selling one of my cars and coming up with alot more money I thought I would be stuck enjoying the curves

. I found a 86 951 for sale obviously not running and weather beaten(and missing rear hatch glass, broken out). The car is complete but nothing else is known about the condition of engine or transmission. The owner is small dealer of mostly beaters and said he bought it at auction and it does have a clear title, he was told that the car stopped running about three years ago and they thought it was DME, but no one ever fixed it so the car just sat outside for 3 years. He is asking 1250, but I can tell their is room to go lower. I have repaired and maintained my cars for a couple of years now, but should I roam into major repair on a more complicated car like the turbo? Would the car if not realistically repairable be worth the money in parts? Any info on a full turbo restore and how much I could have to spend would be helpful. I have done paint on both of my cars and even stripped the 84 in order to do a complete color change, silver metallic to alpine white. Just resprayed the 87 in gaurds red. So body is not my worry. Turbo's and all the addt'l plumbing is. Thanks.

AaronM · 09-03-2005, 12:14 PM

As always, it is cheaper to buy a perfect Turbo than it is to restore one. On the other hand, if you have the time to put into the car and the place to work on it you could have a very nice Turbo for about $20,000 in total investment (assuming your labor is free and that you don't have to buy a bunch of tools).

The positive side of restoration is that you basically make "payments" at your own pace and if you stop working on the car for a few months around Christmas to save up some money, you can do that instead of the guy who has bought a car and is locked into the payments or the bank comes and breaks his knees.

That said, the car's only worth something if it's on the road and if you never finish the project then it's just wasted money, so there's that to think about too. You need to be damn sure you're committed to fixing the car. After sitting so long there are bound to be lots of things that need replacing.

Aaron

jimbilly · 09-12-2005, 01:57 PM

Check the options codes, if it has 220, and the tranny is in good shape, the tranny alone would be worth that.
Buy that one for parts for the running and driving 951 that you should be able to find for a good price.
That one will likely cost way too much to fix up, -but maybe not? It sounds like a good deal if you're interested in parting it out, or if you have room to store it for your own parts car.