Challenged 84 Carrera Price - am I nuts?

[ZCAT3]

I probably am nuts to even think about this car, but it is calling out to me to save it. Here are the details:

84 Carrera
180K on the odo
3 owners, all in NorCal

The good:

The interior is in good shape - no tears in the leather, dash is good, carpet looks fine, etc.

The engine is bone dry - first time I have seen a 911 with this high of mileage that has had no engine work and the engine is totally dry. Compression was 160 - 175 on all cylinders, and leakdown was 1-2% - truly a testament ot the 80s Carreras.

Fairly new clutch and transmission also in good shape.

Brakes are decent and fairly new.

Body is straight and paint is good, but there was a poor repair job when a rear quarter was hit and now the paint is cracking at the weld seam. Quoted $1200 to fix this.

Has what appears to be complete records (including the original sticker) from new and the complete original tool kit.

The bad:

It looks like the last three owners treated this like your every day honda. They did the basic maintenance, such as oil changes, valve adjustments (probably only when a mechanic told them to), brakes when needed, etc. But nothing else. When I climbed under the car everything looked original - the shocks (Bilstein sports - from the factory - completely dead at 175K), the bushings, tie rods, everything.

The A/C does not work (big shock there).

So my PPI comes back and says the car needs just about every wear item replaced - shocks all around (the test drive definitely confirms that), fuel filter, cap and rotor, plugs, ox sensor, tie rods, ball joints, tires, wheel bearings need adjusting, CV joints need to be repacked, and probably every other service item you can think of.

Total estimate for parts and labor is in the $5K range. Now before you all start thinking this is a shop trying to screw me, I can assure you it is not. This is a very reputable shop and as an owner of 7 911s over the years I have enough experience to know that the items they are saying need attention, do in fact need attention.

On the plus side, almost every item on the list (other than the paint work, mouting new tires, and the alignment) I have done on my own in the past. SO I may be able to knock the total down to $3K if I do most of the work.

But still, at the end of the day I have an 84 Carrera with 180K on it.

What is a decent offer? I almost feel like telling the owner he should part the car out as he will get more for it.

[GothingNC]

I would pay$7-8 K

85 Carrera with 225,000 sold for $8,900 in my area last year.
It had a full motor rebuild along with the G-50 conversion.

[Macroni]

Why buy this car? is my first thought. It seems high mileage carreras in nice condition are going 12 to 16 range. minus 5000 = $7,000 to $11,000. but again why?

[budge96]

maybe he just wants a Carrera...badly?

[ZCAT3]

Although I like the 80s Carreras - have owned 2 87s in the past - I don't "want" this car badly. The deal is that I have been asked by the 3 children of a good friend of mine to help them find a nice 911 for his 65th birthday. This car looked good in pictures and was in the budget range we had set, so I went to look at it. The one thing that jumped out at me on paper, the high mileage, seems to be the only thing that does not appear to be an issue. I was just curious what people would value this car at should I decide to make an offer. After the PPI it is not worth near what the owner is asking - and he knows that.

[imcarthur]

Originally Posted by Luke Marano Jr

It seems high mileage carreras in nice condition are going 12 to 16 range. minus 5000 = $7,000 to $11,000. but again why?

$9K. fwiw

Ian

[Jay H]

180,000 miles on an '84 is only 7500 miles per year. Not bad considering the year round driving you can do with a 911 in California.

The big problem with this car is the fact that there could be motor and transmission rebuilds looming within 20,000 to 50,000 miles. The trans rebuild at even $3500 is worth it and almost expected maintenance at this stage of the game, but if you have to do a top end or a full motor rebuild, you better really like the car to spend that kind of cash on a 180k mile 911...

If you can spend $8000 to $10,000 on this car initially, dump $3000 into it fixing everything, you might just have a nice 911 that runs out nice and looks pretty good that might just last 5 years yet without big issues. However, all of these 911s are $20k car... Pay now or pay later...

There is definitely risk in this car, but even lower mile cars can run into big issues at this point in the game. Kinda gotta go with your gut on this one since you've seen the car and seem to have knowledge on what a good 911 feels like.

Good luck!

Jay
90 964, 84 3.2

[Cal44]

Unless you can steal it......forget it. I can't tell you how many times I have F_ _ _ _ _ myself by thinking I bought it cheap.

[Monza_dh]

CV jonts, bushings and shocks are one thing but paint repair from an accident is another. I agree with the others unless you get this for cheap I wouldnt touch it. There aqre too many deals out there right now. I bought my '88 coupe with mint interior, excellent paint and recent clutch with update, etc for $10K. It needed a top end but in the end I still needed shocks, brakes, AC recharge and tires. I'm still well under the market price of my car if I needed to sell it so I was lucky.