Newbie in SE London

[fattyw]

Thanks for the feedback. As you've asked, here's the nitty gritty:

Obviously budget is variable, but £20k is roughly my purchase budget...with the assumption that more work will need to be done. This is higher than I had originally planned because of my focus on the 2.7 MFI and Carrera3.0s. I came from ImpactBumpers, where there's some strong 3.0 advocates. Currently trying to cope with unrealistic desires for that 2.7 MFI sound, so my price threshold is a little higher than it ought to be.

In truth, the 2.4-3.0 range is absolutely arbitrary and probably comes from two major factors: (1) a fear of getting something too old and (2) keeping the car search a reasonable task (too many models makes internet searches even more time consuming).

As an aside, I'm a first time 911 buyer, but after a lot of reading/chatting, I'm skipping the mantra of having a 3.2/SC as my first car and diving into the classics. I'm a fan of 'less is more' and look to the golden age of the porsche...no need for creature comforts like servo-assisted brakes. So all these cars actually have appeal., regardless of displacement. Probably a 911S from 72 should really be the apple of my eye.

That said, I've no business getting into maintaining a real classic; I want a driver's car---and I'll be bolting in a rear shoulder belt for a baby seat. The 'luxury' of living in London is that I don't need a daily driver. So the 911 will be the family car.

Thus my ideal is to invest in something that I can run hard w/o too much fuss and gradually bring up to 'restored' spec over time if will (and budget) allow.

The poo-brown 2.7 at Buxton was a great example of this--I thought it would rankle collectors (incl. color) but it was maintained in good order (not by porsche specialists, but the owner was head of a garage). Some 11 owners and fairly light on documented history. Probably needed £4k to get it to the point where one might spank it w/o to much fear. Much more to get it to the astronomical £60k these 2.7s are fetching. I had it inspected by a porsche specialist, who was fairly surprised by the good condition. Only major flaw was front wing repairs that we speculated was some small front-end damage that had been repaired to a reasonable standard.

£30k was above my budget, and for a car that you'd scrap to make into a racer, I'd find the price a bit high. However the buyer admitted that the same car can go for 50% more in Oz/NZ, so there's a cushion for him if he decides he doesn't need the car.

I'd need a barn-find like that Buxton car to afford a 2.7Carrera (though I'll keep looking). Do the 2.2 and 2.4 engines produce that same magnificient growl? Also a believer in going slow to go fast, so HP isn't really critical. Enjoying a porsche experience is.

Chris

[hamishf]

Hi Chris - really interesting read.

For my tuppence worth (and its purely preference) get yourself a test drive in a good 2.4E. I had one prior to the 2.7 MFIs (raced it for 3 years) and its got damn near the same sound as the 2.7s (especially with a rallye style muffler), its perfectly fast, it looks arguably better because its narrow bodied, and in terms of cost/value for what you want to do it makes more sense. As a family car they've got appreciably more tq (well they may not, but it feels like that compared to say a 2.2S) and they are driveable at sensible revs. And if you keep them on 6" rims, and dont get too sticky a tyre, you can have great fun at sensible speeds. Try one out, I'm sure there are some people on the board with one. They are magic.

[fattyw]

Ha, I feel like I've been talking about someone else's girl: everyone, Let me introduce Hamish, who owns said poo brown car.

Thanks for the advice, Hamish. I may be seeing a 2.4 very soon. I assume the carrera has arrived. Have you had a chance to look it over?

Chris