'84 Targa on eBay, Not the Whole Story...

[Panzer82]

In the Brave New air cooled Porsche market, it turns out, the longer a description you write for a car, it seems, the more money you can ask for it... but in a fast moving (upward) market, people seem to be in it a lot more for the money than the cars.

Here's another 911 that's entered the car flipper meat grinder.

Cruising eBay today I came across a familiar car, my old 1984 Targa that I sold in the Fall of 2013.... sold it to a local guy here in Minneapolis. I had owned it for a couple of years, it was a great, fun car, but wasn't what I considered a long term 'keeper' (repaint, the complete car once, the back half twice, and other things - see below). It's a great driver though, with under 100k miles and a documented history.

6 months after I sold it to the local Minneapolis guy, he called me wanting to know if i wanted to buy it back... for almost $10k more than I sold it to him for. It was that end of 2013 into the Spring of 2014 when the market really took off. Prices, even of the high mile beaters with bad modifications and aftermarket stuff, essentially doubled. I declined his offer... he hadn't owned the car 6 months at that point.

He called me again last Summer, wanting about the same money, I declined. I had replaced the 911 with a fun old 250SL Mercedes (that Magnus Walker almost totaled for me this past Summer, fortunately, he crashed #277 instead, you probably saw the video).

Well, now the '84 Targa is for sale again, this time, it looks like a Porsche enthusiast in the Milwaukee area has it on eBay for $30,000+. He's got lots of photos and videos which is helpful. The description is like a flowery history lesson, but he leaves one important fact out, and the main reason I never considered keeping this long term... There's an accident on the Carfax. Now, it's not like it went head on into a bridge abutment, or got crashed real hard, but the guy I bought it from did tell me how he was rear ended. There isn't any real evidence of damage. He damaged the lower rear valence in another incident he had, which was never repaired, I sold it with that damage... so maybe that's been fixed by now, I can't tell, the photos in the eBay listing get really close to that area, but don't quite reveal it... my guess is, that the damage is still there.

The fact that people are asking $30k for 100k mile mid 80s 911s with stories blows my mind.

The fact that people wait to tell you an important fact like an accident on the Carfax until you call them... I presume that's what would happen in this case, as there is a print out of the Carfax visible in the stack of paperwork, just makes me want to opt out of the used 911 market for a while.

There's an old guy down the street from me who has an original paint '79 SC coupe he bought new, it's got about 88,000 miles. He's seen me in my cars over the past few years, he stops and chats. He said he's going to be ready to sell his car soon, he can't get in and out of it as easily anymore and he said he'll give me the first chance to buy it, he's thinking about $30k. I've made it clear to him that he won't have to ask me twice to come down with the money.

It's refreshing to know that there are reasonable enthusiast guys like him still out there, with great air cooled 911s, that's where I'll spend my $30k... and keep that SC forever.

[NYNick]

I sold an 89 Targa with a accident on the Carfax, all on the up and up, for $30K almost 2 years ago.

The fact that he doesn't reveal the accident is a problem. The fact he's asking $30k is not.

[ohenryinatlanta]

why is it when someone sells something below market - he's reasonable. ?

$30k is likely way too cheap

[MARISOL78sc]

Seems like the seller reveals the accident history in the ebay ad "The history report does state there has been one accident and that occurred to the rear. It looks like any resulting damage was light and cosmetic as the chassis in the engine bay and structure underneath does not show signs of repair."

[SilberUrS6]

Originally Posted by ohenryinatlanta

why is it when someone sells something below market - he's reasonable. ?

$30k is likely way too cheap

With accident damage and other needs? LOL, OK.

[LakeCleElum]

Panzer: Magnus made you pretty famous there for awhile.....You did some smart driving there....Enjoy your Benz, I have a 190SL.

[ohenryinatlanta]

Originally Posted by SilberUrS6

With accident damage and other needs? LOL, OK.

wrong car. see above.


"There's an old guy down the street from me who has an original paint '79 SC coupe he bought new, it's got about 88,000 miles. He's seen me in my cars over the past few years, he stops and chats. He said he's going to be ready to sell his car soon, he can't get in and out of it as easily anymore and he said he'll give me the first chance to buy it, he's thinking about $30k. I've made it clear to him that he won't have to ask me twice to come down with the money. "

LOL, any day and all day.... where can i send my $30k ?

[SilberUrS6]

Originally Posted by ohenryinatlanta

wrong car. see above.


"There's an old guy down the street from me who has an original paint '79 SC coupe he bought new, it's got about 88,000 miles. He's seen me in my cars over the past few years, he stops and chats. He said he's going to be ready to sell his car soon, he can't get in and out of it as easily anymore and he said he'll give me the first chance to buy it, he's thinking about $30k. I've made it clear to him that he won't have to ask me twice to come down with the money. "

LOL, any day and all day.... where can i send my $30k ?

Yeah, for that car, $30k is a good deal for the buyer. Yeah, the guy could get a few more grand out of it, but maybe he wants the car to go to someone with cash in hand, local, and who is an enthusiast? What price do you put on those things? He's reasonable because he doesn't want $10k over market. He's reasonable because he maybe wants something more out of the deal than mere money. I would sell my car below market too, if the person I sold it to were going to keep it forever and drive it like it was meant to be driven. If I were selling to the great wide world, I'd ask market plus.