urgent advice needed

[Guest]

Ok, this is the story, wife has always wanted a yellow porsche 911 but it has always been out of our reach, A friend of a friend is off to Goa to live next tuesday and has failed to sell his 911. He was asking 12k for it, someone had a look, but found it to be on the hpi register as a cat D so the guy walked away. so he dropped the price to 10k last week, still no joy... Now he leaves on tuesday and is desperate to sell, so he offered it to his friend for 7k but his friend did not want it. I am going to look at the car tomorrow with a view of offering him 6k as that is all i can afford. The accident damage was only cosmetic and happened in 2004 and was quickly put right. My friend says that it is a very tidy car but i desperatly need some quick advice and pointers as to what to look for as i dont want to buy a dodgy one. I have my own bodywork company so i have no worries in that direction, but i dont have a clue what to look for mechanically. I am in the devon area and the car is in somerset. the car is a 1990 911 964 carrera 4 cabriolet.
any advice would be very much appreciated as i am of the opionion that it seems to good to be true, but i would kick myself if i dont check it out (wife would probably kick me as well!!)

 

[burrow01]

Hi,

Was the car owned by your friend when it was accident damaged? It would be good to know the full extent of the damage and the repairs

My 3.2 911 was written off with a value of 12K, and the actual repairs came to 4k in the end for the person that bought it, they then sold it for 9k

One thing I would say, is that are you prepared for the running costs of a 911 - a 964 is one of the more expensive Porsches to service, due to various engine design elements - so it is not just the purchase price that you need to consider - I think most people would quote £1000 per year on average (some years less / some years more....)

The best thing to do would be to get someone knowledgable to do a Pre Purchase Inspection (PPI) - you need someone who knows 911's, not just a general AA type of inspection. I'm not sure who in your area people would recommend - I'm sure someone will be along shortly with a personal recommendation

Saying that - if it is OK and you get it for 6k thats pretty cheap []

Pete

 

[SJW BASIRE]

It's worth more than 6k in bits so looking at it dispassionately you can't lose unless it turns out to be stolen.I have just looked in my Original Porsche 911 book by Peter Morgan with the chassis numbers in and a Euro Spec1990 C4 cab should have a chassis number in the range WPOZZ96ZLS420001-0895 they only made 895 in 1990
1991 models are MS450001-3886
If the chassis nuimber starts 40001 or 41001 onwards avoid it as it is a cut down coupe or a targa respectably.1991 coupes and targas being the same but MS instead of LS.
Hope it helps!

 

[Guest]

Thanks for that, im well aware of the running costs, i have a Mitsibishi GTO TT at the moment, Thats the reason i can only afford 6k at the moment!! I would love someone to come along with me and i would be willing to pay, but im not sure if anyone could fit itin so quickly as it needs to be this weekend.

Thanks for the advice.

 

[Guest]

As for who owned it when the damage was done, im not sure, but i have a pretty good eye for bodywork as i restore classic cars for a living so ill know what to look for there, its just the mechanics im not sure about.

 

[sle1r]

Sounds like a no brainer for that kind of money. My best advice would be to call one of the R15 committee members and see if they or anyone else is free to help with an inspection....alternatively Andy Moss in Honiton is well respected and would do it for a reasonable rate I suspect.

As for the running costs, my philosophy it to worry about that when it happens.....big cost items can usually be found for less with a bit of hunting....and guys like Andy Moss will do a good deal; on the fitting / servicing etc.

All the best
Simon.