1973 911T targa - valuation and comments, plz.

cashflyer · 01-06-2007, 06:29 AM

Okay, well this old story is revived somewhat.

I was able to get the owner by my shop yesterday to really inspect the cars and make a commitment on them.

The 1970 is being parted out. End of that.

The owner had hoped that the parting out of the 70 would bring in funds to return the 1973 to the road, but that's not really practical IMO, and I told him so. He decided to "sell it all".

Before I go to the classifieds with this, I would like some input on the 73.

It has several patches of surface rust, bot overall is mostly solid. The left battery box area is rusted out, and there is a dime-sized hole in the top edge of one fender. No other rust-thru that I have found. And I did have some of the carpet out to check the tub.

The car has a strut tower brace, SSIs, turbo valve covers, and Bursch exhaust - so the PO must have been at least a little performance minded.

I personally think the car is a little beyond restoration, considering cost vs. value, but it is not impossible. I see this better as a track car possibility.

What are your opinions and what would should I ask or expect from something like this?

Thanks.

Bobboloo · Bobboloo's Garage

To me this is a car for someone who enjoys the process of restoring a car.

Putting money into it in hopes of making it more attractive in the market is lost money.

As for a track car it could be done. Targas are just as capable as Coupes when a full cage is used but here again the same thing apllies as for any money put into it. It won't come back. The best starting point, money wise, for a track car is someone elses track car they are selling.

pwd72s · 01-06-2007, 08:34 AM

Gawd I hate pics like these. Lovely old cars allowed to degrade as if they were a 4 door Ford...

cashflyer · 11:25 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by Bobboloo
To me this is a car for someone who enjoys the process of restoring a car.

Putting money into it in hopes of making it more attractive in the market is lost money.

As for a track car it could be done. Targas are just as capable as Coupes when a full cage is used but here again the same thing apllies as for any money put into it. It won't come back. The best starting point, money wise, for a track car is someone elses track car they are selling.

I just don't see it as a resto candidate due to the fact that nice early Targas can be had for sub-$10k prices.

As for money going in, forget that. It will be sold "as-is, where-is" as a project, or it will be parted out. I hate to see a good car go to the scrapper, but I think track or scrap-heap are the two likely destinations for this car.

At least as a track car, it would mean one less "nice" 911 gets relegated to the track, and it means that this car that arguably has some potential can bring somebody happiness rather than being melted down.

Some people want to build a racecar. Other people just want to drive a racecar. I think this could be made into a good DE car for about the same money as buying one turnkey. The difference, of course, is time and labor. And this does assume that the buyer is a DIY person.

Is it a $5k car? Maybe... maybe not.
There's one on the board right now with more substantial rust - and the owner's asking more for it.

cashflyer · 01-08-2007, 11:02 AM

Come on.... you could always do THIS with it !!

Photography by Kevin Allen

randywebb · 01-08-2007, 12:12 PM

nice early targas < $10k???

cashflyer · 02:29 PM

"Nice" might be subjective, but yeah... you just have to look around.

For my judgement of "nice" in this case, I just mean decent paint, interior, and mechanicals: a car that you wouldn't be afraid to call a daily driver, and count on it getting you to work. I by no means meant show quality.

Okay... this is a '77 - not "early" but it was the first thing I came to in the classifieds: LINK

cashflyer · 01-11-2007, 01:46 PM

I've been offered $3500 as it sits.

Comments?

randywebb · 01-11-2007, 03:37 PM

start adding up the value of the easily removed parts like wheels, trans., etc. ...

subtract storage charges, shipping costs, your labor...

OR

probe the shell very very comprehensively and see what the rust situation really is.

for a track car, why not get a later, stronger & cheaper shell

cashflyer · 01-11-2007, 04:35 PM

Randy,

I had thought about it as a race car, but I was only prepared to offer the owner $3k for EVERYTHING (both cars + all parts).

The guy interested has offered $3500 for the 73, plus $2k for everything else - bringing the total to $5500.

I phoned the owner earlier, and I could tell this was a real disappointing number.

I personally think the offer is as good as he can hope for, but I want to make sure that I do the best I can for him - just as I would for anyone else who asked for my assistance.

There is the possibility that he would earn more revenue if the parts were all stripped, cleaned, and sold individually... but that involves considerable time and labor.

If $ were assigned for the time and labor, I think the additional revenue would be more than offset by the time and labor - which makes an outright sale, IMO, attractive.

Does anyone here think I the returns would be worth the effort to dismantle and sell piece-meal??

cashflyer · 01-11-2007, 04:37 PM

Oh... and I did just spend the last few hours under the car. The tub looks good and solid, except that left battery box. The A-arm pivot points are solid, and what I can get to of the rear torsion tube areas all look good.

scarceller · scarceller's Garage

To bad it is not a 73 911S then it would be a diffrent story.

the 911S are really worth restoring see ebay item #160071941236

However, the 911T is just not worth the effort or money at this time, even if the car was free you could not recover the restore costs today. See ebay item #270076005663 for a 911T under $10K.

Or you could find something like this 73 911T ebay item #120073520377 it has no engine or seats but looks super clean for maybe say $5K to $7K range then marry that ebay car with this one and make decent ride for around $10K

Sorry for the not so good news.

randywebb · 01-11-2007, 08:22 PM

"Does anyone here think I the returns would be worth the effort to dismantle and sell piece-meal??"

- Not me. It would be a labor of love. But he might get good $$ for gritty parts and then go back and clean the and prettify just the ones that don't sell in round one. Still storage tho.

If prices go up like they have been then he will make $$ on it in 2+ years. BUT I expect prices to decline.

The good thing is that the tub is solid.

If he can wait then he can get a good price even if values don't go up. That's because you are not selling to the average buyer, you are waiting for someone on the far tail of the statistical distribution (bell curve) -- the perosn the car speaks to somehow. For example, I had a fabulous '75 in Gulf Blue. I waited about 3 years but I finally got $18,000 for it. And it was well worth that. It was a real luxo-boat of a 911. How long is he prepared to wait?

Shauny · Shauny's Garage

For what its worth I'd say the car in the UK would go for around £4500-£5000 as is which is approx $8900 so personally I'd tidy it up a little, try and hold the rust from going any further by keeping it indoors and a load of WD40, see what prices do in a couple of years cos lets face it with $3500 your not going to be able to buy much with that nowdays...
Under there ok maybe deep underthere lies a nice early genuine porsche...
Regards Sean

cashflyer · 01-13-2007, 01:14 PM

Well, the deal is done and the cars are gone.

$5500 for all.

The junk man said that he would turn about $3k profit from dismantling - giving them a real value of $8500.

This was about the same figure people and my local mechanic had all mentioned. Of course the caveat is "if you have time to dismantle, time to advertise, time to wait on the right buyer", etc.

For some reason I still feel like I got "took".

randywebb · 01-13-2007, 01:23 PM

sorry to hear - go look at the thread where milt rebuilt an entire rusted out car for solace...

you saved yourself an incredible amount of labor...

cashflyer · 01-13-2007, 01:28 PM

I guess the positive spin on this is that I now have open space in my garage.
Must be time to start my SC rebuild.

EarlyPorsche · 01-13-2007, 04:56 PM

Did you make any money off this stuff?

cashflyer · 01-14-2007, 07:37 AM

Quote:

Originally posted by EarlyPorsche
Did you make any money off this stuff?

Me personally? No, not a dime. I'm giving the entire check to the owner and not charging for my time or storage.

I sat in my empty garage for ever an hour after they were gone, just thinking about the whole deal. (ordeal)

I know "costs of time and labor" would have made a wash of any extra profit from a complete dismantling, and I had hoped that I would feel better about it after sleeping on it for a night, but for some reason I still feel like the owner got ripped off.