i ended up buying this vehicle. i don't know what the price was when this post was made, but when i finally saw this ad, it was listed for $35,900.
Originally, i wasn't looking for a 997.2. I wanted a 996.2 C2. Really, I wanted whatever coupe i could find for around $10K to $15K. I was looking for a project car and watching a plethora of youtube videos of first time buyers taking apart their cars and engines and working on them with little to no experience. Being that i already owned a 2006 Cayenne turbo that i repaired and brought back from the brink of extinction, i thought this would be a project i could tackle and enjoy. initially when i started looking, i was finding cars that low in price, and just missing out on them. Then about a month or two ago, prices just went high and I couldn't find anything worthwhile. I eventually started looking at later years, and the 997s, and doing all the research i could on all the issues and fixes. I basically came to the conclusion that it might just not be worth it to buy a "cheap" porsche. So i expanded my sights towards the 997.2 platform, which i read didn't have any of the issues with the ims bearings that the previous models had, being that it was a brand new redesigned engine. One day searching through edmunds, I saw the ad for this car. 6spd manual, 3.8L coupe. it checked most of the boxes, so i got in touch with the dealership. Immediately i knew it was one of those small bhph places, and after checking the vin of the car and doing all the searches i could find, traced it back to an auction. I thought the price was good for a 100K mile car, compared to the $50K to $80K prices i was seeing, and knew that if it was this low, it had to have some issues. It had sat on the lot for about 160-270 days from what i could find, and the price kept falling every few months. I got in touch with the dealer and they sent me the car fax. it had been in about 4 minor accidents, and not much as far as maintenance records, but those from a local kwik-e lube operation that i could tell. It seemed to be a texas car for the most part, so I decided to get a ppi done. The results weren't surprising. It had a lot of cosmetic issues, missing or damaged trim pieces and would need some things to be truly road worthy. It had codes dealing with airbags and minor sensors, but the engine and transmission checked out as far as what was scanned. I can deal with the cosmetic issues and take my time fixing those and eventually get it repainted or wrapped. Just as long as the engine and trans were good, i could tune it up on my own and keep up with the maintenance going forward. so i made them an offer, they countered, i countered, they countered back and i bit. so here i am. a proud owner of a 2009 c2s! So begins my journey.