924Board.org

JP Shelton · Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2004 10:24 am Post subject: The Price of Performance

Neil,

I paid a grand total of $1,900.00 US for my 87 924S. It's a Canadian Market car, with the sport suspension option and the limited-slip differential. The first owner traded it in at Beverly Hills Porsche. They tried to wholesale it out, but couldn't seem to give it away. They (BHP) kept it in storage for about nine months before "forcing" a used car dealer in Santa Monica to take it off the lot along with several other later model Porsches as a "package deal".

It turns out that the used car dealer didn't really know what it was. To him, it was just another 924. When my wife and I started inspecting it, based on info that we got from the "944 FAQ" site, he looked a little uncomfortable, and commented that perhpas he should have had the car detailed out and put a higher price on it. My favorite comment from him when we had the hood up was "what do you mean that's not an Audi engine? I though all 924s had Audi engines in them."

He showed me a receipt from Beverly Hills Porsche indicating that he paid $1,700.00 for the car. He also had receipts for a new O2 sensor and a new catylist and a smog inspection and certificate. He said that he didn't do anything else to the car, and wasn't going to. He actually sold it to me for about a hundred less than he was into it for!

Now it was certainly filthy and didn't look too good on the guy's lot. The paint was oxidzed, the carpets dirty, seats soiled, etc. But it ran very well, and everything worked, except the LCD in the as-issued Blaupunkt AM / FM cassette unit.

The bonus find was the binder under the carpet covering the spare tire, and the "Ziplock" freezer bag filled with reciepts that hadn't yet been put into the binder. I had the complete service history!

The poor fellow who traded it in spent $2,700.00 in repairs about 6 months before parting with it. At that time, he had the full front-of-engine done on the car, and had the CV joints replaced. He took it in for an on-going compalint of front end shimmy, which the dealer never fixed -not just that Porsche dealer, but one in Rendondo Beach had failed to fix it after a couple of tries, too. I cured it with new front brake rotors, as the existing ones were warped. I don't know why three Porsche dealers couldn't figure that out in over ten attempts to fix it, but they didn't.

Anyhow, we bough the car and my wife drove it home from Santa Monica. When she stopped off on the way home to pick up our son from school, the throttle cable broke. It spent a week in the parking lot before we could get the part from Newport Beach Porsche-Audi and get over there our church / school and R&R the thing.

With the throttle cable fixed, she drove it to work and had a mobile detail guy give it the once-over. I didn't recognize the car when she came home. He buffed the paint and brought it back nicely, cleaned the carpets to as-new condition, and so on.

All in all, the 924S was in better shape than any 944 we'd looked at, including one that a guy wanted $6,500.00 for. And we had all the repair history on it since the first owner took delivery -and I mean all of it, including a log of all the times oil was added between changes!

Since then, I've bent the lower front valance -or "air dam", if you perfer-when I ran into a "gator" on the freeway going about 140 Kilometers per hour. And I got the hood dinged with a rock flew off of a flatbed carrying a filthy construction tractor.

I wish I knew how to post pics here, then I could show y'all what less than 2K USD can get you if you're patient and the seller doesn't know what he's got.

Since I've had the car, I've done the front of engine service again, put new tires on it, had it detailed repeatedly, put a new battery in it, changed the oil and filters a bunch of times, and so on. I still don't think I'm into it more than 3K, but that's going to change here very soon, as the aircon koncked out, and the clutch needs freshening.

I wanted one when they were new, but I couldn't afford the $25,000.00 price of admission then on my police officer salary, so I bought a used Trans Am, instead. It took me a while to get mine, but it was well worth the wait!

-JP
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Life..... Powered By Porsche

timstar924 · Joined: 04 Jul 2004 Posts: 284

i got my 78 924 n/a for 2000 cdn i think i paid way too much with the problems it has cus i will for sure spend more than its value fixing it up. it needs a new paint job, rust on roof, engine runs, needs muffler, headlights don't rais and lower with switch, headlights don't fit into body, driver door sticks out and the lock didn't work. Interior is good except the crack on dash and ripped backseet. Also will need new leather on roof cus i ripped it off to get to the rust, will need new sunroof seal. Also clutch pedal is stiff will need to fix that and possible transmission trouble, wouln't get into 4th gear. Also batter pan has rust i believe. And now there is coolant leaking out but its just a leaking hose nothing too big.

i founda mint 81 931 for 3 grand yesterday, i will probably spend double that getting my 924 to good condition wit rust still remaining in the roof. i was thinking of selling my 924 but i didn't bother cus they aren't easy to sell especially if i put it for 2000 bucks.

Brad · Joined: 18 May 2004 Posts: 6

I paid Au$5000 for my 78 924, it was in reasonable condition when I bought it, but when I went and picked it up 6 weeks later, it seemed a little different....no spoiler, rear wiper, different tyres (cheap plastic like ones). The list goes on, but I was happy until i had it for 2 weeks and gave it back to the mechanic for another 7 weeks, because he gave it a roadworthy and after a service at a OPC I was told that it wasnt anywhere near roadworthy.

After I got it back the engine didnt leak anymore but there was even more damage then the last time...I remember looking under the engine and the oil pan had been scraped up and lots and lots of gravel came out of here and there....not bad since the car only sat in the garage for 7 weeks....yeah right.

Ive spent heaps on this, but now I dont bother as I bought a clean 1980 931 with carerra kit for AU$10k

A much better car, now to take of all the goodies from the 78 and flog it off, hoping for maybe AU$3500, but I really don't know how much I'll get.

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78 924
80 931 - carerra GT wannabe

procon · Joined: 22 May 2004 Posts: 326 Location: WNC

Picked mine up with 103,000 miles on it, from the 2nd. owner.
She came with a tear in the drivers seat, a few small cracks in the dash & running on the hot side.
Took care of the temp problems & added some tunes, so far so good!
Paid $2800.00 US. & have put another $500.00 or so into it since.

xmcginness · Joined: 01 May 2004 Posts: 94 Location: Denver, CO

1/80 931 with 66,489 original miles was parked in the backyard of a house my parents bought to restore in Denver. They gave the guy $450US bucks for it. She hadn't been driven in nearly a decade. Her frame's straight. A few minor dents and chips. The front seats were ripped out and the dash cap was cracked.

So, far I've replaced

Fuel tank sender
v-belt
camshaft belt
brake switch
master cly o/h kit
fuel pump
ingition switch
wheel cyl
drain plug
oil filter
battery
alternator
rear brake hoses
gas stabilizer
curved h
lower hose
lever cover
distributor cap
rotor
wire set
fuel injector valves
washer pump
injector inserts
exhaust studs
timing belt cover
Warm Up Regulator
4 new tires

<inhale> And then:
vaccum leaks were repaired
connection to fans had to be cleaned
a new battery cuz the other new battery was too tall

<inhale> And then more:
fuel pump relay
and next.... the catalytic converter!

Asthetics:
New badge
New decals
Top of front seats refaced
Bottoms of front seats replaced
Headliner repaired
Door panels repaired

So -- in last 6 months - thrown in $3548.13US, most of that in parts. I haven't had to pay for a lot of the labor. Thank God.

5150 · Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2004 4:43 pm Post subject:

£900 initial cost, needed a new windscreen which my insurance covered (it was cracked, cost me £60 they paid the rest). Engine crapped up and was replaced earlier this year @ £200 for a used one. I think all in all, including the original £900, the car has probably cost £1300-£1500gpb max spread over the 3yrs we've had her.

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Mars Red '78 Euro 924 n/a
http://www.cardomain.com/id/5150_uk

Graphite? Grey Metallic '85 (late model) 944 2.5

There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.

Redwitch · Joined: 05 Mar 2004 Posts: 22 Location: england

Don't forget the paint sprayer and paint to fix up the bumper after you crashed her into a TREE!

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Life is an illusion brought on by lack of alcohol.......

5150 · Posted: Fri Jul 16, 2004 8:15 pm Post subject:

You had to rub that in

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Mars Red '78 Euro 924 n/a
http://www.cardomain.com/id/5150_uk

Graphite? Grey Metallic '85 (late model) 944 2.5

There are two kinds of pedestrians: the quick and the dead.

Neil924 · Joined: 18 Mar 2003 Posts: 4225 Location: Canada

xpernet · Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 12:46 am Post subject:

Well, My dad payed exactly 1550 USD for our '77 924

It has a terrible paint job, but the engine and transmission are very very clean. The electrical system is a mess. I some how sorted 3/4 of the electrical problems. No engine problems since purchase. We have spent about 800USD on buying new tail lights, fixing the steering rack, fixing the brake system and buying new wheels and other stuff.

I think it needs about a 1500USD and the car will look like brand new.

xpernet
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1977 Porsche 924
Sunroof Delete
Megasquirt II EFI & EDIS
Carrera GTS / 944 Body

"If one does not fail at times, then one has not challenged himself." Ferdinand Porsche

hexen84 · Joined: 21 Dec 2003 Posts: 24 Location: Detroit, MI

$1100US then from there I've probablely put in atleast another $1000 in different parts. but atleast I got a good deal on the clutch work $600
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1979 N/A 924

kike924 · Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 6:55 am Post subject:

I´ve paid 7000 U$S dollars here in Buenos Aires for my 1980 ROW 924 in very good condition (but I had to spend an additional 3000 in tyres,shocks,belts, repairing the A/C etc)

The range here goes from 5000 to 10000 dollars depending on the condition of the car.

This cars have no real market price because nobody (nearly)wants to buy them

The few people buying Porsches go for the 911 (just as in the rest of the world)
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Euro 924 1980 N/A
Daily driver + week end racer

1982Porsche924 · Joined: 14 Nov 2002 Posts: 679 Location: Cupertino, CA

Man! This thread brings back memories on when I first started posting here.

To finish up my last post on this thread:
Payed $350 for the car. $600 or so in parts, sold for $2200
Bought a 88 944 for $3250 - drove for 6 months, put $15 in parts, sold it for $3200
Bought 77 924 - running - $300
Bought my track car - not running - $500 - about $2k invested now
Got 78 924 for free
Bought VW Rabbit, $800, invested too much in suspension mods.

Now I'm about to buy a 944 S2.
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1979 Porsche 924 "S"
Engine: Euro pistons, Light Flywheel, Weber TB, Bursch Header, Cam Wheel
Suspension: Front coil-overs, adj sways, Solid bush. Thicker tors. bars, 5-bolt, BBS rims
Body: Fiberglass widebody kit, 931 Nose

Joes924Racer · Posted: Sat Jul 17, 2004 8:47 am Post subject:

$500.00 it didnt run had a rusty gas tank... and the brakes were shot.

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1979 porsche 924 Na
1980 porsche Turbo 931GT Replica
Have u ever driven a turbo.