MJL944
New member
Two weeks on from purchasing my 1989 944 S2 I finally feel I've got acquainted enough with her to post a meaningful introduction.
I gather you're all picture whores so I'll let a few pics speak several thousand words to begin with!
(Apologies - not the greatest pictures as taken under artificial light, but then y'all know what an 944 S2 looks like by now surely!)
Car was purchased from a PCGB member - the ad is still in the classified section.
I paid the full £4500 asking price on the condition the car came with a new MOT & 12 months tax. The seller was a perfect example of how if you conduct yourself properly, write a decent ad to begin with & answer a potential buyer's questions (and believe me I asked a tonne of 'em!) promptly & thoroughly you'll get a sale.
Mega miles at 196k but with all the imperative mechanical jobs (clutch, belts & tensioners) done in the last 3k miles, a huge amount of bodywork repaired/replaced to a good standard (apart from an incorrectly fitted rear diffuser it seems - see my other thread) & a service book stamped a whopping 24 times - the last 5 of which have been at Porsche Mid-Sussex where the Service Manager there was the owner of this car previous to the owner I just purchased from.
The previous owner spent a heroic/horrific(?) amount of money since 2008 returning the car to it's excellent current condition & saving it from a rusting decline into an inevitable 'scrapped for parts' future. From a new dashboard to all new dash buttons in the centre console there's been a huge amount renewed/replaced. I love the non-standard steering wheel BTW - the originals aren't the 944's finest feature (although I did receive the original as part of the sale).
The car has been very little used since 2008 despite the huge expenditure but she's deserved the rest as she racked up 36k in her first 2 years of life (seemingly as a demo vehicle at Porsche Cardiff) & 193k by early 2008. She's my second car but will get weekly fast Sunday outings (if it ever stops raining). Classic insurance £200 exactly limited to 3k miles per year.
On my first journey as the new owner (in horrific driving conditions - the first time she'd got wet since 2008) from East Sussex to home in West Bridgford, Nottingham I was even 'spotted' on the M1 by Fat Albert on this forum - fame before I'd even finished my first journey!
Provenance is a vital consideration when cars get to this age and it was the extent of that allied to the hefty recent expenditure of the seller that made me take the plunge into 944 ownership with this one. There's a huge wedge of paperwork & bills (more of that in a second), email correspondence between the previous seller & one of the long-term owners of the car back in the mid-90's that he tracked down & there's also a number of Porsche mechanics (current & ex of Porsche Mid-Sussex) who were prepared to vouch for the car's condition & history.
As the dismal weather stopped me driving her anywhere since I bought her, I spent hours creating a spreadsheet detailing chronologically all of the paperwork relating to the ownership changes, sale, repair, servicing, MOT's & parts purchasing that came with the car - yes I know I should get a life!
At the end of that I came up with the figure that I was really after - the amount she's had spent on her in servicing, parts, repair & bodywork costs since 1989. The answer? Well, there are invoices detailing expenditure (excluding sale values over the years) for over £36225!!!
And the real value will be significantly higher as the first 2 service invoices are missing as are 2 more service invoices from her mid-life crisis period in the early-00's when she was costing big money to keep on the road!
She must also have had a suspension refresh at some point too as she drives far too well to be on original shocks & springs but there's no invoice, so with that added we must be looking at over £40k having been spent on her just to keep her ticking along as nicely as she does today. That's a sobering sum of money!
She's not perfect as my other threads earlier have indicated. Today's joyous early morning high speed blast along deserted dual carriageways around Nottingham revealed a very slight coolant leak & a distinct whiff of petrol vapour emanating from the fuel tank area for 30 minutes when we got back to base.
There's some cosmetic bits that I know I should learn to live with but I'm not that kind of owner - I want her right. So, flaking black metal trims around the glass, an incorrectly fitted rear diffuser, rear bumper trim separating from the bumper, rusty bits on the wiper arms & a few bits of 24 year old rubber trim that need changing (and I'm delighted to find are still available from Porsche) are on my wish list which will hopefully become a 'to do' & then a 'have done' list.
Much more importantly there is some 'surface' corrosion appearing on the bottom of the fronts sills (enough to show up as a low level advisory on the recent MOT) underneath the front sill spoilers the car has had added. The extent of the corrosion under the battery tray needs assessing to but I'm 99% sure that's just some surface grot on top of a previous repair in that area. Once those are sorted she's getting a full Waxoyl/Dinitrol treatment (it'll be the equivalent of Botox to her!) and hopefully that'll see the bodywork through the next few winters.
Oh, all the main lighting units (except the indicator units) on the front of the car have seized screws in them too so if a bulb goes I'm stuffed! I'll be asking Adrian at AMB my local Porsche specialist to remove, clean & securely refit all the front lighting units & clean all the connectors & earth's.
Adrian will also be asked very shortly to have the car in to give it a thorough going over. Of course, if he then hands me a list of mechanical jobs that need doing that's as long as one of Mr Tickle's arms them I'm going to look pretty stupid as I set out to buy a 944 that was pretty sorted.
Long-term, I daren't think of the expenditure I'll find myself inevitably exposed to. My wish list includes a total suspension refurb along with all new Powerflex bushes, new OE engine mounts (I think I still have originals & they're surely going to go sooner rather than later), new exhaust (again - still the original one on mine so it's on borrowed time but still good so far) & I'll be casting envious glances in the direction of the short-shift kits from JM Garages in Bournemouth which are soon come items. I find the throw between 1st & 2nd gear on the 944 transaxle the only irritating aspect of driving them. I dread having to stop in the Porsche which means that I have to do that change!
I'll enjoy her without thinking what might come in the future for the moment though. I already actually feel a real sense of duty to the car to keep her right - isn't that mad!
I look forward to receiving the wisdom of the forum members in the future and as time goes on I hope I can give something back to the forum.
Thanks for reading the rambling,
Mark
I gather you're all picture whores so I'll let a few pics speak several thousand words to begin with!
(Apologies - not the greatest pictures as taken under artificial light, but then y'all know what an 944 S2 looks like by now surely!)
Car was purchased from a PCGB member - the ad is still in the classified section.
I paid the full £4500 asking price on the condition the car came with a new MOT & 12 months tax. The seller was a perfect example of how if you conduct yourself properly, write a decent ad to begin with & answer a potential buyer's questions (and believe me I asked a tonne of 'em!) promptly & thoroughly you'll get a sale.
Mega miles at 196k but with all the imperative mechanical jobs (clutch, belts & tensioners) done in the last 3k miles, a huge amount of bodywork repaired/replaced to a good standard (apart from an incorrectly fitted rear diffuser it seems - see my other thread) & a service book stamped a whopping 24 times - the last 5 of which have been at Porsche Mid-Sussex where the Service Manager there was the owner of this car previous to the owner I just purchased from.
The previous owner spent a heroic/horrific(?) amount of money since 2008 returning the car to it's excellent current condition & saving it from a rusting decline into an inevitable 'scrapped for parts' future. From a new dashboard to all new dash buttons in the centre console there's been a huge amount renewed/replaced. I love the non-standard steering wheel BTW - the originals aren't the 944's finest feature (although I did receive the original as part of the sale).
The car has been very little used since 2008 despite the huge expenditure but she's deserved the rest as she racked up 36k in her first 2 years of life (seemingly as a demo vehicle at Porsche Cardiff) & 193k by early 2008. She's my second car but will get weekly fast Sunday outings (if it ever stops raining). Classic insurance £200 exactly limited to 3k miles per year.
On my first journey as the new owner (in horrific driving conditions - the first time she'd got wet since 2008) from East Sussex to home in West Bridgford, Nottingham I was even 'spotted' on the M1 by Fat Albert on this forum - fame before I'd even finished my first journey!
Provenance is a vital consideration when cars get to this age and it was the extent of that allied to the hefty recent expenditure of the seller that made me take the plunge into 944 ownership with this one. There's a huge wedge of paperwork & bills (more of that in a second), email correspondence between the previous seller & one of the long-term owners of the car back in the mid-90's that he tracked down & there's also a number of Porsche mechanics (current & ex of Porsche Mid-Sussex) who were prepared to vouch for the car's condition & history.
As the dismal weather stopped me driving her anywhere since I bought her, I spent hours creating a spreadsheet detailing chronologically all of the paperwork relating to the ownership changes, sale, repair, servicing, MOT's & parts purchasing that came with the car - yes I know I should get a life!
At the end of that I came up with the figure that I was really after - the amount she's had spent on her in servicing, parts, repair & bodywork costs since 1989. The answer? Well, there are invoices detailing expenditure (excluding sale values over the years) for over £36225!!!
And the real value will be significantly higher as the first 2 service invoices are missing as are 2 more service invoices from her mid-life crisis period in the early-00's when she was costing big money to keep on the road!
She must also have had a suspension refresh at some point too as she drives far too well to be on original shocks & springs but there's no invoice, so with that added we must be looking at over £40k having been spent on her just to keep her ticking along as nicely as she does today. That's a sobering sum of money!
She's not perfect as my other threads earlier have indicated. Today's joyous early morning high speed blast along deserted dual carriageways around Nottingham revealed a very slight coolant leak & a distinct whiff of petrol vapour emanating from the fuel tank area for 30 minutes when we got back to base.
There's some cosmetic bits that I know I should learn to live with but I'm not that kind of owner - I want her right. So, flaking black metal trims around the glass, an incorrectly fitted rear diffuser, rear bumper trim separating from the bumper, rusty bits on the wiper arms & a few bits of 24 year old rubber trim that need changing (and I'm delighted to find are still available from Porsche) are on my wish list which will hopefully become a 'to do' & then a 'have done' list.
Much more importantly there is some 'surface' corrosion appearing on the bottom of the fronts sills (enough to show up as a low level advisory on the recent MOT) underneath the front sill spoilers the car has had added. The extent of the corrosion under the battery tray needs assessing to but I'm 99% sure that's just some surface grot on top of a previous repair in that area. Once those are sorted she's getting a full Waxoyl/Dinitrol treatment (it'll be the equivalent of Botox to her!) and hopefully that'll see the bodywork through the next few winters.
Oh, all the main lighting units (except the indicator units) on the front of the car have seized screws in them too so if a bulb goes I'm stuffed! I'll be asking Adrian at AMB my local Porsche specialist to remove, clean & securely refit all the front lighting units & clean all the connectors & earth's.
Adrian will also be asked very shortly to have the car in to give it a thorough going over. Of course, if he then hands me a list of mechanical jobs that need doing that's as long as one of Mr Tickle's arms them I'm going to look pretty stupid as I set out to buy a 944 that was pretty sorted.
Long-term, I daren't think of the expenditure I'll find myself inevitably exposed to. My wish list includes a total suspension refurb along with all new Powerflex bushes, new OE engine mounts (I think I still have originals & they're surely going to go sooner rather than later), new exhaust (again - still the original one on mine so it's on borrowed time but still good so far) & I'll be casting envious glances in the direction of the short-shift kits from JM Garages in Bournemouth which are soon come items. I find the throw between 1st & 2nd gear on the 944 transaxle the only irritating aspect of driving them. I dread having to stop in the Porsche which means that I have to do that change!
I'll enjoy her without thinking what might come in the future for the moment though. I already actually feel a real sense of duty to the car to keep her right - isn't that mad!
I look forward to receiving the wisdom of the forum members in the future and as time goes on I hope I can give something back to the forum.
Thanks for reading the rambling,
Mark
] )
