ORIGINAL: pauljmcnulty
Certainly true, but corrosion free 944s are sufficiently scarce as to make that a relaible rule, as well as to command a premium price.
Indeed. As a guide, I've recently raised an agreed value on an S2 from £5K to £7K, because it's had the small areas of corrosion fixed, and some paintwork done. I think there's a lot of merit in buying a sound car, but factoring in doing the work yourself and allowing, perhaps, £3K or so for it? Not a lot of money to throw at restoring a 20-odd year old classic car, let alone a Porsche, and you know how well the work has been done. Same with things like belts. It's a service item every four years unless you're doing big mileage, so you're going to be needing to do them at some point. Buying a car that's otherwise good, but due the belts next service, isn't necessarily a bad thing. You'll have peace of mind for four years afterwards, and not be wondering if they were really changed, or fitted correctly. I think that, if you get your head around the purchase price being irrelevant, then you can get a good S2 for a reasonable price and understand that there WILL be some big bills looming, but it's money well-spent. Let's face it, anything from a clutch to a head gasket is a job that costs the price of a half-decent Lux now, but that's not the way to see it. An S2 is a £10K-plus car; the price you buy it for is only the start. My advice with any older car would be to buy a osund onet, spend what it needs, and treat it as a long-term prospect.
