1985 Targa for $24k. 103k miles.

[PushingMyLuck]

Nice looking car. Accurately priced.
$32k would be delusional, but $24k is accurate.
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-cars-sale/796967-1985-targa-sale.html

This winter was an supply side shock aberration with the entire country frozen in, and no one selling.
Prices are going to head back to normal now that there will be more cars on the market.

[MrBonus]

What is "normal?" Have you drawn this conclusion from your data point of one?

[Matt Monson]

I'm wondering how a car that is being relisted at a lower price after sitting for a couple months is indicative of more cars coming to the market.

As for the price? Something is wrong below the surface. His old price wasn't so high that a serious buyer wouldn't have negotiated this car down. But he's got no offers. Why? Due diligence is required.

[PushingMyLuck]

One possibility is that he started too high at $26k.
This probably turned off a lot of buyers, and now the listing is stale.

[PushingMyLuck]

Originally Posted by MrBonus

What is "normal?" Have you drawn this conclusion from your data point of one?

Normal meaning prices from summer 2013.
I think this winter showed some panic buying with cars selling in 1 day because of no sellers.

[Matt Monson]

One possibility is that he started too high at $26k.
This probably turned off a lot of buyers, and now the listing is stale.

He actually started at $28k. Maybe you didn't understand the question. $24k is within the range of a normal negotiation (+/- 20% off of asking). His systematic marking down of the car means he isn't getting offers to negotiate from. It's not that the listing is stale. It's that something is keeping buyers from making offers and negotiating. The process isn't even making it to that step.

[COLB]

*edited*

I'm toning it down.

So nobody was selling because it was cold, but plenty of people were buying despite the cold?

I think your theory is the exact opposite of how seasons actually affect automobile markets.

In order, January, November, February, and October are the worst months for car sales. December (Christmas) and March (tax returns & the start of Spring) are the best. That data is for new cars, but that makes it a really good proxy for buyer behavior , since the "supply" side for new cars is relatively constant.

For used cars, there are fewer people buying cars in the winter, so fewer sellers will try to sell then because prices tend to be depressed -- especially for "fair weather" cars. You are inverting the cause & effect.

[COLB]

BTW -- Garnet Red seems to be almost as negative as Gold.

Perhaps people who like red prefer Guards Red -- and to those that don't want a red car, it is still red enough to disqualify it. Burgundy, too seems to carry a stigma.

[PushingMyLuck]

I like the maroon color. It might even be my favorite.
Doesn't look as obvious as the guard's red, which is my least favorite.

[COLB]

Originally Posted by PushingMyLuck

I like the maroon color. It might even be my favorite.
Doesn't look as obvious as the guard's red, which is my least favorite.

I like maroon as well, but think I am an outlier in that. I don't mind a red car. I can admire the look of a black car that someone else is responsible for washing. I just won't own one.

[DeeJayOh]

To assert that prices were irrationally high due to winter weather, and to support said assertion with a car that DIDN'T SELL at a higher price in February is beyond retarded.

And yep, I'm sure it was frigid all winter in Yucaipa- out there in the California desert.

[MrBonus]

Originally Posted by COLB

I like maroon as well, but think I am an outlier in that. I don't mind a red car. I can admire the look of a black car that someone else is responsible for washing. I just won't own one.

I feel like a maroon for replying to this thread.

[speeder]

There was what looked like a really clean '85 targa on BAT yesterday for $19.9k. Sold fast. Seemed like a sane price.

I really think that some of the inflated market values for Carreras are either comin from current owners pumping-up the talk or people who have listened to them here.

That's not to say that prices haven't gone up some, or that low-mileage cream puffs are not fetching premiums. But high 20s or 30k for average/decent cars is a joke. I think that PML is closer to reality than some of the owner/dreamers here.

[MrBonus]

Originally Posted by speeder

There was what looked like a really clean '85 targa on BAT yesterday for $19.9k. Sold fast. Seemed like a sane price.

I really think that some of the inflated market values for Carreras are either comin from current owners pumping-up the talk or people who have listened to them here.

That's not to say that prices haven't gone up some, or that low-mileage cream puffs are not fetching premiums. But high 20s or 30k for average/decent cars is a joke. I think that PML is closer to reality than some of the owner/dreamers here.

I can't tell. There was a 205,000 mile stock 1984 Carrera on Craigslist that was listed at $21,000 and sold in a day. Other more questionable examples with visible damage, ugly modifications, and missing history seem to sit a lot longer.

Coupes seem to be in demand far more than the open-topped counterparts.

[speeder]

Coupes are always more in demand. There are a lot of 911 fans who consider a targa to be a ruined 911 from a design/aesthetics POV.

[SilberUrS6]

Originally Posted by MrBonus

I feel like a maroon for replying to this thread.

LMAO. You tell him, Bugs.

*Paging Ronnie.930 to the white courtesy phone...*

[RacerX1166]

Originally Posted by speeder

Coupes are always more in demand. There are a lot of 911 fans who consider a targa to be a ruined 911 from a design/aesthetics POV.

Putting my hand up on that one. When I decided to purchase my first 911, I wanted one that had the 'lines of a Porsche'. Cabs and Targas don't fall into that category. The other thing that fuels my desire to have a coupe is that I got the whole open air itch out of my system as a teenager with my Chevelle ragtop.

[SilberUrS6]

Originally Posted by RacerX1166

Putting my hand up on that one. When I decided to purchase my first 911, I wanted one that had the 'lines of a Porsche'. Cabs and Targas don't fall into that category. The other thing that fuels my desire to have a coupe is that I got the whole open air itch out of my system as a teenager with my Chevelle ragtop.

Same here. The lines of the Targa roof aren't "right".

Like you, I got my open-air motoring out of the way with a motorcycle and a couple of Alfa Spiders.

[Matt Monson]

I think you don't know how pleasant a targa is until you own one. So nice to pop that top off, fold it up, and throw it in the frunk. It's not about how the car looks from the outside. It's how it feels to drive it from the inside. It's 911 through and through. But it's 911 with the wind blowing through your hair in a way that a sunroof just can't do.

Guys are either convertible guys or they aren't. At heart I am. And the targa tops on 914s and 911s give me the fix that I need.

I remember one summer's day about 5 years ago I was driving home from work in my 914. Out of nowhere I drove into this storm cloud. Rain drops almost the size of marbles. So big that the wipers wouldn't keep up. Rolled up the windows and I barely got wet because the aerodynamics of the car were such that the windstream blew the drops backwards before they came down and hit me. Try that in an Alfa or MBZ convertible.

[SilberUrS6]

Originally Posted by Matt Monson

It's not about how the car looks from the outside.

For some of us, the part of the car that is industrial sculpture is very much a part of what these cars are about. How the car looks from the outside, how it feels when you sit at the controls, how it sounds when the motor is at full-tilt - it's all part of the gestalt.

Remove one part, and its not the same.

I am, however, very interested in owning a 914. I would love to daily-drive one of those.