Value? '78 SC w/o drivetrain

[PcarPhil]

I'm toying with the idea of finding a non-sunroof roller for my 3.2 drivetrain. Someone approached me with a '78 SC without drivetrain. Now I need to figure out an approximate value of the roller. Here's what I know:

-1978 SC non-sunroof
-turbo tail, front rubber lip
-respray with color change a few years ago
-no visible rust, good overall condition
-1978 sport seats
-No Fuchs - aftermarket BBS style 16" wheels

Any idea of value of this roller? Thanks for the help!
-Scott

[umfan866]

From what I have seen, rolllers are worth only 2-4k.
I know a guy who had a targa roller for 4k and sold
it for 3k (at a loss) because it just wasn't worth his
wife complaining and/or the hassle of storing it. If
you have an engine/tranny "lying around" buying a
roller is a good way to get into a Porsche for cheaper
than you otherwise might. Keep in mind you will always
then have a car with non-matching engine/tranny unless
of course you match the years to your motor/tranny.

[PcarPhil]

Thank you for the info.

So you feel a '74 roller and an '83 (or say '89) roller all are worth about the same - $2k-$4k?

I'm not worried about the matching numbers thing. I'd just like to make a fun toy - probably backdated at the same time.

[John Schaefer]

Here are some photos of the car Scott is asking about....

[PcarPhil]

More info:

Description -

There are two areas of surface rust: The front of the trunk, and at the pedal cluster. I have taken photos of both. I took a wire brush and putty knife and scrapped away paint and undercoating in the front trunk to make sure that the rust had not gotten out of hand. The photos make it look bad, but it's only surface rust - no pitting.

The car is originally white, then gold, now this blue. Again, nicely done, but some of the rubber moldings need to be replaced. ie - front smile, rear tail rubber, rear bumper overriders. These pieces are warped from time and sun exposure.

The dash is perfect. The seats are rare original non-leather recaro. New headliner and sunvisers. Needs new carpet.

2 more pics -

[Rich76_911s]

I mean no offense to the seller of this car, BUT.

I say with rust like that you had better be getting a kick a$$ deal. I have experience with a car like this. A little surface rust turns into a lot of rust in places you haven't even considered yet. New paint has the ability to hide a lot of the cars history. I would imagine that with rust like that on the front pan, there have been areas that have been repaired previosly. Maybe the lower corners of the windshield are bondo. Check the wheel wells for at least 15 minutes a piece. Look up into the door latch area, the jack inserts. My 80SC had rust in similar ways and when you get to taking things apart the rest of it shows up.

I think to value the car appropriately look at the value of the parts and start building an offer from there.

[John Schaefer]

Rich,

I am the one selling the car. No offense taken.

The repaint was done over 5 years ago. It is not new. The car has been sitting for almost 2 years - hence the rusty areas I found. I tore the car apart looking for rust as Scott said this is a hot button for him. I noticed some bubbles in the trunk, and went crazy exposing everything. Scott did not post the other photos I have showing areas of potential rust conerns - all of them w/ NO rust.

This car came from Puerto Rico. It has not been driven on snow and salt covered roads. I will take more photos for anyone interested, in any area of the car. I will not misrepresent it's condition.

[balleta]

My 2 cents here. I'm the PO of this car. As John says, the car was painted not 5 but about 8 years ago. It had no rust and no accidents. It was all taken apart including glass and drivetrain to paint it with Glassurit. The rust in the mentioned areas is just in the surface.

John:
Glad to see the car again. Good luck with the sale.