Would you consider buying this 911

[scottie912]

I took a look at a 1978 SC today and would like some opinion on whether or not it would be worth buying.

The car came from Europe at one point in time, so it has a euro vin. The odometer shows 115,000 miles and the current owner has had it for 10yrs. The car was originally brown and has been repainted in white before the current owner purchased the car. Not the best paint job, and there are rust bubbles on the front fenders. Current owner has not driven it regularly for the past five years, so it has sat around a lot. Cold start is pretty rough. Smooths out once warmed up. Oil leakage and dripping onto the exhaust. Can here some ticking from the valves, probably just needs to be adjusted. Has not had the tensioner update from what I could see.

Now for the drive. Clutch is smooth and quiet. Transmission seems to be decent. A little difficult on the 1st gear entry sometimes. Slight bit of slop in the steering. Brakes are firm, smooth and do not pull. Engine revs fine, maybe seems a little bit tired. Drives straight and rides smooth.

Car comes with a bunch of parts that have not been installed yet like SSI exhaust and new muffler, new carpet, new headliner, fenders for the front, steel flares to convert it to a wide body, extra set of powered seats, and a few more small items.

This cars past is quite vague, but there may be some receipts of work from this current owner. I have never owned a 911, but owned a 912 about 10 years ago and would like to get into a 911 and could get this for under $7k.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

[ArcticOne]

How does the $ 7000 price compare to a good running, properly maintained and well sorted equivalent model in your area? You might be able to handle the $ 7000 purchase, but what if the engine / tranny need major work - can you hand the thousands in maintenance / repair?

jb

[carrera turbo]

i would be concerned that the car not being anything special and collectible, has been parked for 5 years and not just sold. i buy allot of cars that have been neglected and left out to pasture so to speak. and after i buy these said good deals there is normally a problem that took these cars out of service to Begin with, weather people forget or just get tired of telling themselves they will get to the problem and fix the car,

i would pull valve covers and look into head studs, as they break quite often, sometime times there in the covers and other times i have found that someone has removed the broken stud so look close. with the rust coming through the fenders i would get it onto a lift and really inspect the chassis very close.

repaint to a different color not good for value "i normally wont buy these cars"
no motor updates not good for your wallet
rust in fenders "means more rust to come and more sleeping "


have it checked out and see if you can afford to repair what you cant tackle, and do some work yourself.

this is a good way to get into and learn about 911s, this site is a good source for new and used parts to help with most any project.

good luck ed

[racer]

Originally Posted by scottie912

would like to get into a 911 and could get this for under $7k.

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Get into? sure.. get out of? never. A few years ago, the SC crowd had a motto. "They are all $20K cars".. either you spend the money upfront or spend several years and dollars getting the car "right". Which would you rather do.

Most if not all of the low $$ cars need: Paint, Engine, Trans work, Body work, interior work, all new RUBBER (seals, bushing etc). May need new shocks, Hows the rust (early SC are 30 years old afterall ) This one sounds like it needs most of this stuff, but at least the buyer is including some of this from his failed project, right?

[scottie912]

I appreciate the thoughts. All $20k cars makes good sense. You really get what you pay for in these cars I am starting to realize. I am very comfortable doing most of the work myself, but I think this one is a little rougher than what I would like to start with.

Scott