The rust issue

[techweenie]

Here's a tip for longhood shoppers, earned through some experience:

10 years ago, you could find a rustfree 911 longhood coupe from time to time in California and Arizona, especially. Today, unless the car has lived in a garage, you've gotta figure water got in around the rear window seals and had its way with the rear shelf and seat buckets.

I've brokered a couple of deals where the cars had no sign of rust at all, but when the rear upholstery, carpet and sound deadening was removed, turned out to have lace instead of steel in the back. The good news is that it takes a lot of degradation to hurt the chassis integrity. Restoration design is now making rear shelf pieces and rear seat bottom stampings. The bad news is that replacing these parts is a major undertaking.

The quick check that you can make without poking an icepick through the sheetmetal in front of the seller, is to open the engine lid and push upwards on the flat panel outboard of where the engine lid hinge attaches. On a rusty car, it will feel (and sound) like you are pushing on a layer of cornflakes. Of course, if there's rust bubbling in the corner sheetmetal, you don't need to check. You've got rust. And for every place rust has perforated the steel, there are 10,000 other places it's about to.

[G450X]

I keep hoping to happen upon a fairly crash/rust-free long hood or two at a decent price that I can stash in my shop as a retirement project.....

[wgwollet]

But what should we pay (just for discussion) for a rust free long hood. T model please so we can put it in a garage for retirement?

Average condition #3 car....coupe $20-25,000 targa $18-23,000 ???????

[techweenie]

Many people have tried to answer that question over the years. Frankly, it varies by displacement and model as well as body style. So we put a '69T Targa at the bottom of the scale at, say $15-17K and a '73 S coupe at the top of the scale at $100K and up. A '73 T IMO, would be $25K for Targa and $30K for coupe in excellent condition. But I've seen '72/73 coupes selling at up to $70K if they have exceptional documentation and show superb care in and out. Many of the higher-end sales take place privately so that the numbers don't enter the public discourse. These are often cars that a friend or acquaintance has lusted after for years, so the price is not a big factor in the sale.

But to give you a straight answer on a #3 car, I think you are close in your pricing. There will be a few falling outside that curve, but if you have a ready $25K, you can take home a 911 -- even a 2.4 -- with a clean underside. It may be Sepia Brown, but you'll learn to love the color. My advice is to buy the best car you can for the money you have. The best '69T on the planet will likely be a better investment than a #3 '72/72 coupe in average condition.

[wgwollet]

Thanks Techwennie:

Look at my other posts about a car I might sell and one I want to buy.
You and Pasta Boy seem to know quite a bit about long hoods I have been out of the prices for a while. just what I am learning now because I have interests again.

I think your right about excellent cars they are sold to people before the general public. Like mine guys want me to sell it.

[G450X]

what appears to be a nice, original '71 911E that is reportedly rust free - but we all know that is extremely rare on the early cars. The owner says it runs/drives well, original MFI, numbers matching engine/transmission. I don't care much for the color (dark red), but like Tech says I could learn to love it - if it's otherwise in good shape. It's priced at "best offer over $20k."

For a restoration project I was looking for a non-runner (prefer 911E) that has minimal rust and no crash damage for cheap (say $7k+/-).

I'm tempted to piss off the wife and dig into the savings and buy this one rather than push a restoration project into the back of the shop for a $25k (or more) restoration 5-6 years down the road....

[wgwollet]

G450X

I don't think that is a bad price per Techwennie, and from what I saw lately.