[Matt Monson]

On a vintage car, like an air-cooled 911, I personally would never try to pull a carfax on it. I might do a title search to make sure that it's a clean and unencumbered title, but beyond that, there's just way too many variables with a 20 or 30 year old car. A good thorough PPI by a well respected shop is really the best thing to do.

I will make an example from my own recent personal history. I had what I thought was a pretty decent 1968 911T. It was a low mileage car at 45k mi, and spent the better part of the last 15 years parked. I traded the car to a local gentleman for my '86 Carrera. We both went over the car, jacked it up, looked it over, etc. etc. To our eyes it looked solid, and both of us are guys in the industry who have been around these cars for many years.

Once he took delivery, he took it to his body man to have a bit of kidney bowl rust repaired, and was considering returning it to it's original light ivory. His body man, who is definitely a specialist who does concours caliber work, told him that the car showed signs of an accident, and based on the quality of repairs he believed it happened in the early to mid 1970's. It wasn't that it was shoddy work. It was just the quality of work they did back then with the tools they had, and not up to the standard of restoration work that is being done today. The previous owners, a little old couple, who I bought the car from didn't know about the repairs. When they bought the car in 1986 they weren't informed of the accident. The shop that serviced it prior to that, which is still around, didn't know about the accident. And me and the buyer didn't see it. And who is to say that it would have been on a carfax if it went back that far anyway?

Do you know how many cars get paint and body work for cash without any insurance trail? Especially during the "low value years" when something like a 1974 911 was worth $5000. If, during the 90's, that car got hit and needed $3000 worth of body work, the owner often wouldn't involve insurance because they would total the car and brand the car with an "S" title. To many, paying out of pocket to fix it is preferable to making a perfectly good car into a salvage vehicle.

It's all about records, reciepts, and a proper inspection. Maybe if you are buying a 2000 Toyota Tacoma it's a good thing, but for a vintage car? I consider it a waste of time and money.