MrBurns

Looking to spend about 10 - 15k on an old 911, 1980 onwards. Just wondered if anyone had any advice on what I should be looking for ?. Just looking for a standard 911, not a turbo.

RESSE

iTrader: (1)

Mr Burns

I traded in my Evo 6 for a Carrera Super Sport on the 23rd of December, and my only regret is that I did not buy one earlier, superb car and a great drive.

Check out www.pelicanparts.com for some good advice and great links.

I was advised to go for a post 1986 car with the more user friendlier "G50" gear box.

MODELS:-
Targas (lift out roof panel) tend to worth less than the Coupe or Convertible.

BUYERS GUIDE:-
There was a good "Buyers Guide" article in Classic and Sports Car magazine in November (or was it December?) and I have a copy which I would gladly post to you if you want?

RESSE

iTrader: (1)

Mr B

I traded in my Evo 6 for a 1989 Carrera Super Sport on the 23rd of December, and my only regret is that I did not buy one earlier, superb car and a great drive.

Check out www.pelicanparts.com for some good advice and great links.

I was advised to go for a post 1986 car with the more user friendlier "G50" gear box.

MODELS:-
Targas (lift out roof panel) tend to worth less than the Coupe or Convertible.

BUYERS GUIDE:-
There was a good "Buyers Guide" article in Classic and Sports Car magazine in November (or was it December?) and I have a copy which I would gladly post to you if you want?

RESSE

iTrader: (1)

Double post - ooops!

MrBurns

what kind of money did you pay Etheridge-Bird

RESSE

iTrader: (1)

Too much!

20,000 pounds - but my car only has 60,000 miles on the clock and is one of the very last 911 (pre 964 shape) cars.

Plenty of nice cars around at about 10-15 K.

The Super Sport has the turbo body, brakes and steering, regular Carrera is 'narrow body' + 3.2 flat six (lovely).

Mad Gypsy

If you don't mind a LHD, you may find yourself looking at 89+ cars.
Handling on pre 89 cars is scary to say the least. Very very different cars after 89, they are much better. The average driver could extract far more speed out of a 89+ car.

workshy_fopp

Depending on where you live Mr Burns, you could consider joining the Classic Car Club. All the branches have 911's. It's £2000 for a years membership, but you could easily spend that on a clutch and a few bits n pieces. Mail me if you want more info.

www.classiccarclub.co.uk

mj

workshy,

are you in this club then?

in reality, how many days driving does your 2 grand buy?

cheers,

mike.

Phil M

http://www.autoclassica.co.uk/

MrBurns

Couldn't live with a LHD no matter what money I could save. One of the main things about buying a 911 is I get the feeling I could keep it 10 years and it would still be worth what I paid for it. It would be more of a sunday afternoon car. I am a little concerned about servicing / parts costs. I live in Derbyshire so if anyone knows some good local specialists or dealers then I would appreciate the info.

I have looked at 944 turbo's but to me they aren't a real Porsche.

CC

I had 1987 Carrera 3.2l in 1996.

Good points:

-little depreciation
-top notch build quality
-lovely engine noise and throttle response
-the car felt a bit 'special' being a 911 etc


Bad points:

-not as fast as I expected
-handling was 'interesting', a better driver would probably love it
-strange dashboard layout
-very low to get in/out
-no abs
-may be looking a little dated now?

all imo.

Mad Gypsy

Agree with CC's coments.

An 80's Porsche cannot be considered as a sports car by today's standards.
It will offer a real 911 experience, a feeling of being part of a great heritage and will lose very little money, leaving you in a good position to upgrade to a later 911 in a few years time.

Servicing on the older 911's is not cheap as they are much harder to work on. It's far more expensive to service a 964 than it is to service a 996.
Having said that, it is impossible to break an air cooled Porsche, they are bullet proof!

In all, I couldn't live with an older 911, very dated, poor interior, expensive to run and maintain, no real performance (by todays stanards), and scary handling. But still a 911 and worth owning for that reason alone.

By the middle/end of this year I hope to have a 996 as the early 3.4's can be had for 30-35k. There's just something very special about a 911, regardless of age.

Good luck and enjoy!

[Edited by Mad Gypsy - 1/17/2004 2:04:53 PM]

RESSE

iTrader: (1)

I agree with Mad Gypsy - once you get in the 911 "ladder" you will probably stay there.

I plan to keep my 1989 car for about 2 years and trade up to a 993 - don't buy a 964 as the early cars had alot of relaibiity issues.

workshy_fopp

mj - yes I'm in the CCC. You get 750 points a year so, the 911 (band 4) x3 for the time of year (avergaged - winter is x2, summer is x4)
x1 if it's a weekday and x3 if its a weekend.........so I'll average that at 2 for mixed use.
So.......

4(car)x3(season)x2(day) = 24

750/24 = 31.25 days

Doesn't sound a lot, but that's 7 weekends and two 5 days weeks when you will most definately doing a good few hundred miles in the thing without worrying about it.

There are cars from bands 1 to 6. So your points can go a lot further. I had a Rover P6 3500S for a 5 day week 1x2x1= 2 points x 5 days = 10 points which is about £30.

mj

cheers,

are there any other clubs with more modern but cheaper motors, scoobs,elise,etc..?

must admit that lister 6.0 jag is an animal..have you driven it?

workshy_fopp

No, I'm in the Edinburgh one, though you can use any branch in the country. Had an S2000 for 10 days and Evo 6 Tommi Makinen for a week. The old Mercs and Porsches are good too. All the British stuff is rubbish though

Edited to say. Not the Lister obviously, but the Lotus n Jags n Triumphs are very poor. The Vantage was good, but I only got an hour in it when the ingintion packed in. The gearbox failed on the next punter to take it out

[Edited by workshy_fopp - 1/17/2004 3:32:18 PM]

MrBurns

Just for examples sake, I've seen a,

"1981 PORSCHE 911 TARGA"

for about 10k. What would be the servicing costs for this .

iguana

Mr Burns its impossible to say what its going to cost you to run the targa example, could be £500 pa could be an absolute hound that will cost you a huge amount to sort out.

I looked at a £9k SC a while back that was the worst 911 Ive ever seen, yet a 911 newbie could well have bought it thinking it was ok. I reckon it would have cost £15k just to turn it into a decent car- let alone a really nice one!

There are a lot of dogs out there- buyer beware!

If you are seriously contemplating a 911 drop me an e-mail via my profile as I have a few mates who are selling decent cars at the moment.

MrBurns

cheers for the offer iguana but I am looking to buy in about 4 -5 months. I want to use this time to learn a bit more about the 911 scene. Like I say I would like to know any local specialists around derbyshire.

Also would love to know which age group of 911 I should be looking to buy. Someone said 72 - 76 was a classic 911 release date.

iguana

Mr Burns, you should read all the info you can on 911s as there is so much to learn. The 911 story by Paul Frere is a good start.

Ref 72-76 cars well depends on how you define classic, (other than the fact that all those years are un-galvanised & rust alot more easily) the impact bumpers came in in 1974 so from the outside they look pretty much the same untill the 964 came in in 1989.

There are some gems in that time scale i.e. 1973 RS, but unless you have a far far far larger budget best forget that! the 1974 2.7 carrera (95% an RS but alot cheaper & has impact bumpers) & the later 3.0 Carrera are my other faves from that period. The nasty 2.7 Lux is definatly not- well not unless 150bhp turns you on!

Good Porsche forum on Pistonheads.com or you could try Rennlist- but personally I can't cope with rennlist.

MrBurns

cheers for the info iguana, will check that book out. I have absolutely no knowledge of 911's. My main worry is buying a nail like your've pointed out, sounds very easy.

workshy_fopp

5 mpg - excellent