924Board.org

[Mich924S]

I appreciate that it takes quite a bit of money to run these cars..frequently more than the car is worth. But don't forget; even though is may cost $3500 or $4000 to get them running right, where can you find as nice a running car for that kind of money if you were to go out looking for one? That's how I justify the expense of running a 924(T,S,etc). They are well worth the money spent.

[numbers]

Pure what?

[Rick MacLaren]

I think restoration is expensive.

944's typically are better maintained. Thus, less restoration costs.

924's are beaten up. Thus, high restoration costs.

The 944 Turbo looks and smells much better. But man, when they blow, they blow good. A friend just blowed one up and it's costing him his shirt.

[larso]

Dwak, how did you "de-rat" the 924? Take the bumper shocks out and the bumper pads off?

[Lizard]

that last comment didnt make alot of sence dwak hasnt posted a message in this forum yet and what do you mean by de-rat

[larso]

[Cbass]

By de-rat, dwak means he removed the pads, and shocks. I'm not sure if he put the shocks back in after the rest of the work.

The rest of the work being remounting the bumper back a inch or two, and cutting away the metal that doesn't show, which also saves weight. This is my limited understanding, he posted a thread about this on the body section...

[dwak]

dwak de rat is back.
I cut the shock off the bumper shock and shorten the bumber side about 2.5 to 3inches.
And then cut off all the aluminum that doesn't show. The bumperettes go. On my 931, I cut the whole lower half off and am mounting a glass valence below that. Will post when done.
dwak

[larso]

take pictures.

I saw a 944 with this job done, but it kinda makes the car look like a micro-machine, I need to see more pictures.

Lars

[safulop]

Wow, John,

I think I'll buy my next car in Virginia, 'cause there's no way at all that 4-6K will buy you a nice late 944 in Los Angeles.
I bought my early '85 there in 1999 for $4600, and it was basically good and had been fixed up by the dealer that sold it to me but it had trashed paint, a broken odometer, and some other broken stuff.

I was trying to pick up a 944 fast, and in my search I found a lot of junkers for sale for around $5000. One dealer let me walk after I offered him (don't know why) $4000 cash for a junker with a big dent and 4 bald tires. Sounds like that wouldn't have happened in Virginia.

A NICE late 944, as you describe, was for sale for 13,500, as I recall. While I really wanted that car, it was just way out of my reach. I would have bought a 931 if I had found one, but I don't think I would have bought a regular 924 instead of my 944.

-Sean

[John Brown]

Sean:

Interesting. Wonder if it's where we were shopping or the market, or both. By that I mean that the cars were all bought from private parties or local shops we frequent. No dealers. Nothing against dealers, but this kind of car at that price it probably makes a difference. The required markup to make it worth the dealers while is significant. Also, none of them was a really late car, 84/85/87/88 were the 4 cars with which I was most familiar.

For additional perspective an 84 (or 83 not sure) recently went for around 12,000. BUT, it was a street legal completely track prepped with a rebuilt motor, cage, seats, suspension, fire supression, extra wheels, nice paint. Course the motor just blew up on the track, but hey, stuff happens.

Anyway, I would not expect to get a good deal on a (almost) 20 year old car at a dealer.

[safulop]

John,

in my experience in the various metropolises of America (lived in LA, SF Bay, and now Chicago in the past three years), cars have an inflated value over what the general market reports indicate.
This is particularly true in LA, and it is particularly true of lower priced cars. I know that in various parts of the world, like Calgary where I grew up, it is possible to buy various decent old cars of all sorts for $2000-$4000.
In LA this was not possible. Rolling garbage sold for $3500, I saw the crap with my own eyes.

Now, when it came to Porsches, both 924 and 944, there were some pretty nice dealers around like where I bought my car, who specialized in turning around used Porsches and other sports cars, and they actually did a lot of work before selling the cars.
I got a huge value for my $4600 in terms of the work that they did to make it a presentable vehicle.

There were basically two kinds of 924s and 944s in LA at that time---primo models well kept by their owners, being sold privately for a small fortune (this was the 1989 I saw for $13,500, it was not a dealer), and then junkers. Now, private sellers wanted $3500 on average for their junk, and dealers wanted $5500 for junk that they had fixed. I looked at many ads and saw many cars in the LA area, and not one fit the description that we all love to hear---namely, a reasonably well-kept car with receipts and major service performed, for sale by owner for a reasonable price in accord with the market reports.
Never saw one, not a 924, not a 944, not a 928. In LA, that kind of car market seems to be a fantasy, perhaps because of the car-craziness that is the cultural norm.