Does doing an auto-to-manual conversion change the value?

[umfan866]

Hi,

With old bimmers, sometimes you can find a nice clean old car that happens to be automatic, and do (or pay for) an auto-to-manual tranny conversion, and then the car sells a lot easier when you go to resell it.

Does this work with Porsches? I have a nice 993 I am looking at, that is about 2-3k under market, I suspect because it is an automatic. I am tempted to buy it, and do the conversion. Another possibility is to just live with it-- I think you can also shift manually by using buttons on the steering while if you want to. But I suspect that in the Porsche world, doing a conversion would reduce the "originality" of the car and be a detriment, not a plus, to price, let alone the cost of a G50 tranny (not sure how bad that is, afraid to ask) and the price of the labor.

[racer]

not worth it imho. Either live with it or find a 993 that has a manual. Tips have never been well received, but given the number of manual 993s built, finding one isn't hard.

Remember the tip is an Automatic with some manual control. It should NOT be confused with the more modern PDK or VW's DSG or, I am sure BMW has something similar.

[umfan866]

This has come up again, because I again see some 993's automatic's seeling for about 3k less than manuals... if the conversion cost is about 3k this could be worth it, just not sure if it changes the value of the car or not (ie. decreases the "originality" of a car, even if the change is for the better..)

Thanks marvin

[Jeff Burger]

Originally Posted by umfan866

This has come up again, because I again see some 993's automatic's seeling for about 3k less than manuals... if the conversion cost is about 3k this could be worth it, just not sure if it changes the value of the car or not (ie. decreases the "originality" of a car, even if the change is for the better..)

Thanks marvin

You would be extremely lucky to find a 993 trans for that price and also to sell the tip tran to help pay for it.

[Matt Monson]

There was recently an article in Excellence about this conversion. It was a DIY project, so that significantly reduced the cost of it. But you should still expect this conversion to cost you $5000-8000 depending on variables.

As for the value of the car? At this point in the game, 993's aren't something that have a lot of concern around originality. Only the lowest mileage or more unique variants qualify as "collectible" even though it's a car that has good value in general and has gone up a bit in recent years. These aren't '67 911S's.

However, at the end of the day, if you're concerned about value you should buy the nicest most original, lowest mileage car you can afford. Any time you modify a vehicle you risk compromising it's value. You need to decide if you want to buy a 911 and have it be "your" car or are you going to buy a 911 that you are concerned about keeping "perfect". It just depends on who you are and what you want. I am personally in the process of contemplating selling my 1968 911t because it's too original for an owner like me. I like to drive them hard and put them away wet. I like to modifiy and tweak them. My current steed is a poor match for someone with my urges.