[msort81]

You know these cars and you are willing to add to drive-ability and reliability so your quandary is a good one.
In your shoes I’d look for a rebuilt Euro SC post 81 with the 205 HP, possibly hopefully that’s had the 964 cams added. Good power, with the lighter doors and IB’s. Its early enough you get the analog feel of the early cars, but with added comfort refinement The AC could be upgraded piece by piece, Griffiths or Kehul your pref but not that hard provided your not changing the lines. Easy to stick a couple of recaros upfront, find a pair of 7&8 or 9’s. There’s still a lot of piffle spoken about the Euros but IMO highly underrated and so often overlooked and underpriced.
That said the 997s are creeping back up in price even in a soft market and I believe going to be very much desired, so maybe not a bad choice. I drove a friends recently and was honestly mighty impressed as was my lady. The other option is a 991. Prices have dropped significantly. Both the 997 and 991 are beautiful cars.
I would have said a Mid year and still think the grey 74 with the big motor on classifieds is a heck of a deal, but generally MY seem to have finally come into their own price wise. What about the 996C4S Beautiful looking car and absolutely a future classic, right around 25k price wise.