Thinking of selling my carrera

[Bill Douglas]

There's not enough 911s to go 'round. Someone else will appreciate and enjoy it. And you can buy something else more to your taste. Everyone is happy.

[MMARSH]

Well let me give you another viewpoint.....I've sold both my dads SC and my 72 911 in the last 8 months. The SC had been in the family for about 25 years, I owned my 72 since the mid 90s. Quite frankly, I dont miss either one of them and have zero regrets. It's a car, if it doesnt get you excited anymore, sell it and move on.

One other thing, I advertised my car a couple years ago, got alot on interest and just couldnt let it go at that time. But, when I was ready, I sold it and didnt look back.

[Tervuren]

My advice if you have space is to sell it; get the modern car, and also get a 944.

You'll still have a 80's Porsche when you want the old car feelings, and you'll have added the modern car on top of it.

[MMARSH]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

But for now I'm fine with getting my need for speed out on an $8k motorcycle that will absolutely trounce any car on the road.

Wanna bet? 😉

[svandamme]

I miss the raw feel of my 73S, but i don't miss none of the worries it brought me.
Any time i look at some older Porsche, for the money, they can't do what the newer one does...
I can go to a trackday 500 km away, run circles, take off my helmet, drive back in the evening.
It always works.. runs hard.. good seats, AC, good radio... decent power , handles amazingly..


My Cayman is more then twice the car the 73S was in terms of
- what I can do with it
- comfort
- performance
- reliability
- peace of mind.


And yes, the early and even midyear to Carrera 3.2 are great looking cars, but to anybody who actually works for a living and has bills to pay, they have gotten too expensive for the actual use you can get out of them..

I'de love to get me an early 911, but only if i somehow hit the lottery and have ****loads of disposable cash laying around and no longer have to work a day job.

IF you have one.. the question is really ,
1 "Am I having enough fun with it" YES/NO
2 "Is there a way to get more fun out of it" YES/NO
3 "Can it's value get me more fun in another way" YES/NO


In the end it's just a car.


I had the same discussion with my guns.. at some point the shooting became a drag.
I used to shoot prone at 6-1000 yds..
But herniated disks.. stress at work..
Shooting range is 130 miles one way minimum..
Always needs planning, can't just do it after work on a whim.. takes up weekends getting there , loading ammo, etc etc
I had guns to go shoot, i didn't just shoot to own guns (required for permits here)
It all became a drag, sold the lot, and got me a Cayman instead

Now if i need some fun, I get in and drive, and I have fun
Don't keep money vested in something that ain't fun..
They won't keep appreciating and that's not a good reason to keep them anyway..

[Seahawk]

Interesting thread.

Three of my good friends are thinking of buying an Mid Year 911 and time sharing it...we are all in our late 50's, early 60's and want a weekend car maybe once a month.

We are working out the details (there are a lot of them) but it has been fun to think about.

I just can't justify solo ownership of a car I drive once or twice a month.

[DWBOX2000]

I went from air cooled to water cooled, no regrets there.

Have you considered an early 986S. Affordable, relatively quick and no worries modifying. Had one for years, never had an issue. One I am sorry I sold.

[JeremyD]

I love my 996tt - It's a ton of car for the money - still analog enough - but it does SO much!

[javadog]

Originally Posted by Antomero

How does your 915 gearbox shift? My gearbox was refreshed by the previous owner 15k miles ago.
I have a small issue shifting into second with an occasional grind. And when shifting into 3rd quickly it nips the gear ever so slightly. Oh and 4th gear requires more force to get it into gear. Any thoughts?

Those symptoms are typical of an incomplete rebuild. It's expensive to rebuild a 915 properly and too many owners cut corners. I'm not even sure you can still get all of the good parts anymore, it seems like a while back the supply of some original parts had dried up and the aftermarket replacements weren't quite right.

[GH85Carrera]

No doubt my old 85 Carrera is not even close to fast compared to the new 2020 911 I recently test drove. The only thing the two cars had in common were the engine in the rear, both are white and both had a steering wheel and 4 tires.

Every time I go to the garage I take a look at it, and smile and a memory of driving it somewhere from the last 24 years returns. When I drive it I still love the smell of my old 911. It is way better than the "new car" smell of the new 911.

I have a few projects I want to do on it, and I will get to them this winter. I plan to drive it to more states I have been to next summer. Hopefully soon I will get to the last few states to hit all 48 lower states. Been to Canada, been to Key West. I just gotta get up to the big states like Montana and surrounding areas.

My car is not for sale for any reasonable price. I love it way too much.

[darrin]

Originally Posted by Antomero

How does your 915 gearbox shift? My gearbox was refreshed by the previous owner 15k miles ago.
I have a small issue shifting into second with an occasional grind. And when shifting into 3rd quickly it nips the gear ever so slightly. Oh and 4th gear requires more force to get it into gear. Any thoughts?

second gear issue sounds "normal" for a 915 -- started following Matt monson's (I believe) suggestion to shift into second at/above 3,500rpm and found that helped, along with a brief pause between first and second.

Third sounds like it could be helped with a coupler adjustment.

I'll echo Glen's comments -- love it too much to consider selling (or avoid driving it whenever I can, though I am retiring my snow tires and will try to avoid driving it in the snow going forward . . .)

[KFC911]

I've been thinking about selling my '88 for a couple of years now....but have not...nor am I driving her, haven't in a few years....many reasons why. Something has gotta change

[javadog]

darrin,

That’s absolutely not normal for a properly functioning 915. Or a 901. Or a 911. Or a 930. Every gearbox that uses the Porsche synchromesh will shift with no issues, whatsoever, if it’s in good condition.

As an interesting aside, many years ago I bought a 1975 Lamborghini Countach LP400 which had been restored and had a completely rebuilt gearbox. Most people don’t know this, but those cars used the Porsche style synchromesh. The owner of the shop that rebuilt it demonstrated its capabilities in a test drive and one of the things he demonstrated was the ability for it to be shifted from second down to first at a road speed of something like 15 or 20 miles an hour, using just the synchromesh alone to match the input and output shaft speeds. It had no issues at all doing that and the gears in the transmission were larger and heavier than the ones in the various transmissions used in the 911.

[Antomero]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

Are you looking for people to tell you to keep it?

If so, keep it.

Or..are you looking for people to tell you to sell it?

If so, sell it.

Maybe you should reread the original post

[cabmandone]

Been fighting the same battle for almost a year now. Only thing that keeps me in the car is my brother saying "dude... you'll regret it" My constant struggle is the thought of a more modern car but that weighs against the ultimate cool factor that is the 80's 911. This was my dream car as a kid. Now that the dream has been realized, the shine has worn off a bit.

[Tobra]

Originally Posted by Rick Lee

Do the cheap fixes first - new Swepco gear oil, new bushings, maybe adjust cable and shifter linkage. Then try it again. IME, 915s always behave like that and you just have to know how they like to be driven.

915 transmission does not like to be hurried.

Oh yeah, unless you need the space or the money, do not sell it. Just park the more pedestrian rides in the driveway instead of the garage.

[72doug2,2S]

Ooo

[herr_oberst]

What kind of car websites are you visiting these days?

There's a ton of fun car experience opportunities to be had with the profit from a 911 (quite possibly with a little left over to take Mrs 'Mero out for a nice Indian dinner)

Meyers Manx
Triumph TR6
BMW CSL/2800/3.0
Chopped '34 Ford 3 window with a big ol' V8
1959 Cadillac Convertible
Jeep Wrangler Rubicon
VW Westfalia with a Subaru engine swap
Caterham 7
Audi R7
Original RHD Mini Cooper

Plenty of directions to go off in.

[72doug2,2S]

[cabmandone]

Originally Posted by herr_oberst

What kind of car websites are you visiting these days?

There's a ton of fun car experience opportunities to be had with the profit from a 911 (quite possibly with a little left over to take Mrs 'Mero out for a nice Indian dinner)

Meyers Manx
Triumph TR6
BMW CSL/2800/3.0
Chopped '34 Ford 3 window with a big ol' V8
1959 Cadillac Convertible
Jeep Wrangler Rubicon
VW Westfalia with a Subaru engine swap
Caterham 7
Audi R7
Original RHD Mini Cooper

Plenty of directions to go off in.

Or any Ford Focus RT and that's what burns me.