Bomach16

Hello all. I just posted in the New Member area, noting that I would be going to see and hopefully purchase a Sable brown 1984 N/A 944 this Friday. From available pictures and description everything looks wonderful, quite a nice deal it seems like, but hopefully there's no underlying issues driving down the price.
Currently it has been kept in storage since 2016, gas was drained and battery removed. Will be starting it back up when I go to see it this Friday.

Being new to Porsche, and older cars in general, is there any key details I should look for? Rust spots, parts failing or soon needing replaced, questions about maintenance done, etc. I know the basics of what to look for when purchasing a car, but you all surely have better suggestions than I could come up with for myself. Any tips and suggestions you may be able to offer would be highly appreciated.

If all goes well and I purchase the car, I do plan on fixing it up a bit. Most notably giving it a proper detailing. Then over time restoring interior if needed, larger wheels, slight tint, possibly even minor body work/suspension upgrades too. Definitely not going for speed or track, more of a show/weekend cruiser. If I wanted performance I would've gone for the S2 or Turbo haha.

Again, really looking forward to diving into the Porsche community and can't wait to hear all of your feedback. Thanks again, Bowen C

austin944

Sounds like this car:
https://rennlist.com/forums/924-931-...l#post18300710

harveyf

My first 944 was some shade of brown that had not aged well. Hopefully the one you are looking at will be salvagable. On that same car, which had not been driven for a while, I immediately clogged up the fuel pump. If they have drained the tank, that is good, but I would research techniques to flush the fuel tank before you attempt to use it. It is very easy to get at the outlet of the fuel tank, upstream of the fuel pump. If you remove the fitting on the outlet of the fuel tank, you will find a strainer. Check it out and replace it is need be. If nothing else, put a simple lawn mower style filter in the line upstream of the fuel pump for a while. And I will be the first to chime in and say Replace the Timing Belt, first thing!

orig944

There's lots of info in this forum in responses, and a searching on 'purchased', 'purchasing', or 'bought' will provide hours of informed reading on what to look for. Although I've learned a lot over the past year of reading and helping others figure out stuff (mostly electrical on early cars like mine,) we did buy ours new, so I haven't had to consider coming at it from your point of view. Along what you might find in response to your query here, searching and a deep dive reading the last year or so of posts here will be incredibly informative. They are great cars, but they can suffer from a number of systemic issues, particularly ill conceived modifications by former owners.

Bomach16

Extremely glad you sent this. This is 100% the car I was going to see. Sounds really sketchy, hoping it's all a big misunderstanding and all works out, but not looking likely. I messaged the starter of that forum asking some questions, and will tread lightly when calling the seller tomorrow morning. Definitely not ready for a broken down car that is a prettied up big lol. Not even considering to go look at the car until I get more details. I will keep you posted. May be a very quick start and end to my Porsche adventures unfortunately