[Tomikaze]

So I've been searching for a 968 to buy for almost a month now. Learning a lot on this forum in the meantime. Not many of these cars to look at in person in my neck of the woods. This car wasn't advertised on any typical 4 sale sites other than the dealer's web page. Funny how I stumbled across it but that's a whole other story. It's a 1995 with 62k on it. Clean carfax report and no immediate signs of any paint work. It's also local so no transportation fees associated with the purchase. Low mileage, late model and a decent selling price. That's the good. Now for the bad... Hood, front bumper cover and pass. door need to be refinished. I hate paintwork on cars but black is an easy match. I can deal with that. Paint needs a serious buff/wax but I think it would come back to life. Aftermarket lowering bits. Couldn't get the brand name so no idea how good/how bad this is. Wrong wheels but I do like 18" Turbo wheels. Nitto tires in decent shape. First upgrade I want to do to any car is new wheels so I'm OK with things so far. Super Dynamics exhaust/muffler? Haven't researched that yet. Rear hatch looks like the glass is delaminating at the top edge? Under the hood... Missing the factory air box. Some aftermarket cheap cone style air filter. All in all pretty dirt under the hood. Oil was clean. Inside... sunroof doesn't work. Cheesy aftermarket shift knob, pedals and e-brake knob. No radio installed but he says he has the OEM radio. Rear portion of the head liner is torn and hanging down. Rear seat latches broken and seat backs don't stay in the up position. Worn leather on driver's bolster. Good looking leather on pass. side although it was HARD as a rock. Mechanically... who knows. Probably like the rest of the car. The guy had to leave and I didn't get a chance to drive it. It started a little rough and I noticed a lag when you hit the gas and reved it up. I would have a PPI done before I purchase any Porsche. Story was it was running rough when he bought it and the variocam wasn't positioned as it should have been. Had that fixing along with the timing belt and she "runs great". Don't quote me on that story. That's just what I was told.

I think I already know the answer but was interested to see what the experts had for input. Price falls under my budget with 2 to 3 thousand left over to make it nice(er). What do you guys think? Any guesses on the asking price? Worth it at what price? OR money pit STAY AWAY. Let me know.

-Tom

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[Tomikaze]

Forgot to add... crack begining in the dashboard. Armrest broken. NO maintenance records.

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[aslet]

Without records... I just had my belts and water pump done and that cost around $1500. Unless you can get the car dirt cheap I would not both. Also since some of the parts that you would need arn't that common to find it may need a custom fix. I bet the headliner is the same as the S2, but you never see them around...

Offer like $4k [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/smile.gif[/img]

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[link517]

Getting this car up to snuff could easily approach 15k.

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[Johannvb]

Walk away unless it is dirt cheap. I also do not believe that a car that looks this knackered has only 65k on the clock.

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[94SilverCab]

If you are left with only $2-3k to bring this up to snuff you should definately pass. This car needs a helluva lot of work to make it even bearable...

JMHO,

Jay

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[CVG968]

Money Pit Stay Away.

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[lbpesq]

Tom:

I can relate as I went through a similar experience this summer. The first 968 I looked at (stumbled upon at a lot where sellers place their cars - I didn't even know 968's existed at the time) looked nice. Then the PPI revealed lots of little things. In talking with the mechanic who did the PPI, I came to realize I was looking at about $10K to put her right. The seller was asking $13K. I almost did it - I did make an offer of $9K. Thankfully, the seller never got back to me! After thinking about it some more, and talking to my sports car nut buddy in Denver, I decided it made more sense to put my money into a good example than to try and clean one up. It took another 5 or 6 weeks, but I found a likely candidate on Autotrader about 400 miles away. I talked to the seller who also owned a 928 and was an obvious Porsche nut. Good sign. The mechanic checked it out and said if he had the money and wasn't anti-convertible, he'd buy it himself. The result? I spent less on this one than I would have on buying and restoring the first one. And I'm happily enjoying driving my new ride instead of visiting her in the shop. My advice is to hold out and look for one in better shape. It will be cheaper in the long run. Or, as a friend on a musical instrument forum that I'm active on is fond of saying, "There will always be another".

Bill

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[Scott Collins]

Great comments. Better off waiting and even flying cross country to find the right car instead of buying someone else's problems.

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[DaveN]

I'm in the run away category. This car will nickel and dime you to death. With all you have said I would just bet the oil was JUST changed for the sale as well.

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[pipes]

I wouldn't do it mate, I'd agree with Johannvb in that it's condition doesn't concur with the odometer reading.

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