I bought my first Porsche August last year. This is how it looked on the ad:
I was tempted by the low recorded mileage, near 61k, and the fact that it was a narrow body. A check on the registration showed no accidents, nine previous owners and a colour change in the eighties. Which is fine because I am not a big fan of Guards Red anyway...
The car was located in Wales, so I called up a local specialist (Mark of RS911) to help me with a PPI. Set up an appointment, and learnt some more. Porsche club member, also has a 944 and a VW Beetle. Kept in an integral garage in a nice farmhouse in Wales, the car was SORN but started up right away. So I proceeded to examine my first proper money pit:
1)The colour change did not affect the engine bay, that had just been coated in Waxoyl. The paint code tag confirmed the original colour was Ice Green Metallic - fine by me!
2)The current owner had kept the car for nine years. Lots of bills from specialists like Autofarm and Tuthills. It has had a new clutch a couple of years ago (before a trip to Le Mans) and not used much since. Not a drop of oil on the garage floor, it seems this engine will only need a cleanup and a service.
3)I had some reservations about the speedometer having a double scale MPH/kmh, but the MOTs (all but the first three years) suggest that the mileage must be correct.
I left for a pub lunch with my "inspector" during which he confirmed rot under the headlights, under the nearside door and its rocker panel. Apart from that, very solid car. I asked him for an estimate about how much it would cost me to mend all this properly, subtracted this amount from the market value of a 911 in good nick from that year and went back to the owner, armed with knowledge and determination to only buy at the right price. Which was considerably less than the price advertised...
The car was on later 6x16 Fuchs. The owner still had the original 6x15 cookie cutters as well, but these were left behind during the negotiations. No owners' manual. Almost complete toolkit, no compressor. I examined the documents again, the last two owners seem to have regularly replaced lots of little parts, so (apart from the body) the car has been looked after. And it passed every single MOT without advisories.
My offer was finally accepted, and arranged to pick it up the following week...
(to be continued)
