pavulon

Ok, last try. I've posted this request a few times around the site and at Pelican with some replies but not much. So, I apologize if this is annoying but I'm trying to put together a reasonable and educated offer on this car. Can you help?

Looking at an '89 944T, 71Kish miles. No corrosion. Guards red. Some seeping from rear end half shaft seals and PS pump. A/C non-op. Compressor present. A few scattered, small dings. Original, mostly intact paint. Some bolt-on engine mods from Lindsey and a piggybacked ECU. Aftermarket 17" turbo twist wheels. Big red front calipers. Interior is in decent shape with no cracks in dash or rips in seats. Starts without smoke. Some RPM hunting at cold idle. Shifts well. Drives pretty well. Documentation not available for review as it is packed in a box in an attic.

Any valuation ideas?


One wheel cap missing. All the caps had sub-optimal fitment on the aftermarket wheels.

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thom4782

Bring a Trailer posts a chart that shows the prices that cars sold for on its site. As you'll see the 944 Turbo numbers are all over the place https://bringatrailer.com/porsche/944-turbo/. Scroll down to previous auctions and you can see the individual car descriptions and the prices they sold at.

Bmuldoon

Any shots of the engine bay?

Tom M'Guinn

I'll play. No documentation, hunting idle, inop a/c, dings, missing cap, leaks/seeps -- so not a well-loved car, and fixing all that adds up fast! If the paint can be polished out to look acceptable (no peeling clear coat, etc.), then I'd say maybe $15 to $20K. Location plays into it as well. More pictures would yield better valuations though. I'd have someone do a true pre-purchase inspection and go from there.

MAGK944

The 89’s are tough to value unless they are low mile perfect running order cars with good maintenance history. However there’s an easy $10k in parts just in the 52 engine, AOR trans, 928 brakes and spindles, so $15k isn’t unreasonable to ask for a poorly maintained but running car with no records that needs a good servicing and refresh. I wouldn’t pay anymore.

pavulon

Thanks for your time and thoughts. The engine bay is quite clean. The current owner has been doing his own maint. and has a considerable amount of 924 and 944 experience. He says he just completed a front main seal replacement and showed me the old part as evidence. He seems believable. The car seems to have been driven and enjoyed but has a number of cosmetic and small mechanical items needing to be addressed that were pointed out by the owner. All of that becomes money and time and while the paint is original, it needs attention. It also paint-metered at 1 mil in places with my meter so buffing it would be a potential disaster.

That said, it’s still an ‘89 from a dry climate and being corrosion free is a plus in the land of salted roads...which it would never see under my ownership.

A good PPI shop is about 2 hours away so unfortunately not sure that is in the cards for me and I’d need to factor all of this in to an offer which obviously is a leap of faith.

pavulon

Owner messaged this morning and has decided to not sell.

pavulon

...but is advertising the car again.

Bill Lynch

You've gotten some good feedback. $15k would be a great buy, but consider the owner's position, he has one of the nicer model cars and every day there will be fewer and fewer as the dismantlers turn them into parts. If its in reasonable shape, likely he's going to wait for 18k+ to come along. Have you gone and seen the car in person or are you working from pictures?

Some thoughts to consider as a prospective owner
The AC is likely going to cost you a minimum of $700-1500 to repair if you do it yourself (550 for condenser, 100 for conversion kit w\dryer, 600 more if you need a new compressor, hoses, TEV......). Is the batwing in place - you should have this for best airflow to the condenser\radiator.
Have a look at the wiring running to the ballast resistors beside the blower assembly - are they in good shape or totally rotted
What does the battery tray look like
Radio - original or aftermarket (there are mysteries to be solved when folks start cutting and splicing wires)
The leaking power steering - no big deal, every one I've ever owned leaked - terrible design, have pulled a minimum of 3 apart (rack and pump). This is a good opportunity to get to know your car if you decide to do the DIY rebuild ($100 each for the kits).
Half shaft seals. Not done this before, but I don't think this is a owner friendly task, most likely will need to pull the trans to do this, I would consider leaving alone but check the trans fluid on a regular basis (pulling a trans can be done in day but is not easy on your back in the garage.)
What color is the brake fluid - this will tell you about maintenance - its easy to do, a well maintained car should have clear fluid in the reservoir
Can you hear the electric water pump after you shut the engine off? Can you see the fluid bubble in the overflow reservoir - this is an easy $200
The hunting for idle is a bit of a concern, could be anything from a AFM to a vacuum hose or the IAC - lots of info in the forums on this.

There is lots to be considered in buying a 30 year old porsche turbo, one of which is your mechanical capabilities or willingess to spend $ to have the work done. These cars are a blast to drive, but require mechanical attention.

When it comes down to it, price is what the market will bear and can easily be influenced by the owners attachment to the car or his perception of its position within the market.

pavulon

I saw and drove the car. I'm not a 951 expert but have been a fan for some time. Most of the work this car would need would be addressed by a shop. I was thinking 17.5k but the owner seems to believe he's sitting on a barn find of sorts. I'm not optimistic that I'll own it and will let it sit on the market before contacting him again...presuming it does not sell soon.

Nashvegas

15-20

HY M8NC

A lot of great information here. Tom nailed it - try to get a pre-purchase inspection by someone who knows these cars. It's $300ish that can save you a ton of money. Values on these are all over the place - but generally going up. Finding one with a history of maintenance can be more valuable than the number of miles it has travelled in my opinion. Ideally, we all want that car that has been maintained/treasured without concern of the cost. I'm sure if I added up the receipts on mine I would throw up-even just since 2000. Or 2010. The fact is (as Bill alluded to) these don't nickel and dime you to death, they $50 and $100 you to death. But when properly maintained-are a blast.

It's a form of "Barrett-Jackson Syndrome" where the sellers see a poorly maintained or beat on car as exactly like the pristine example that sold online. It's VERY easy to buy a $10k 944 Turbo and drop $15k in to it to make it worth $17k. Nature of the passion I suppose.

I know you have driven the car - so you aren't working on pictures and promises. I would still want to see the receipts - even if it was just to confirm they exist. I might be different than most - but my receipt envelope is in the shelves next to my toolbox-I keep adding to it. Often. It's a bit weird to me that they are in a box in the attic - seems like all that work was done some time ago, and not recently. The owner will have receipts for parts even if they are spinning the wrenches themselves.

I put an ad up to sell mine, but I've put that on hold through all the Covid crap. It gives me more time to play with it, and the current state give me a lot of personal time in the garage I can spend fixing little things. More therapy time. And that might be the case with the car you are looking at - might be for sale, but only at what the buyer wants. I don't know what the covid crisis has done to the market-I think $17.5k a great price if the car is legit - I would just want more info to make sure it's legit.