924Board.org

[SebringGuy682]

Hello everyone. Recently I purchased a 1979 Sebring 924 with the intention of restoration and resale. It was an impromptu buy (at a local auto auction), all that I knew about the vehicle was the year, model, mileage, general condition, and that it was a Porsche . The general condition now is fair, with a large dent on the front-left fender (looks like tree branch fell on it), rust along removable sun-roof (as well as other areas on the vehicle), and a faded/slightly torn front seat. Now the good- the 924 runs and drives strong (it's got less than 60k miles)....I drove it for about an hour after the auction taking it around and then home...the engine and tranny feel strong, and all the lights work as they should. My question right now is what to do with the vehicle. Any suggestions? Is it worth my time and money to restore it, or should I simply sell it as is? Any information about this model vehicle would be appreciated. Thanks.

[Khal]

Look here:

http://www.924.org/models/Sebring.htm

As for restoration, that depends. It sounds like you're not interested in keeping the car? If you just want to make a profit, I suppose the easiest way to judge it is to ask: Will I be able to sell it for a profit, after restoration?

It's probably not too expensive to source and fit a new front fender. And if the rust isn't too bad, then it could be cheap enough to fix that -dunno for sure, you'd have to get a quote. If you can do it yourself, better still.
Problem is that it sounds like the car's gonna need a new paint job after those fixes. That's not gonna be cheap...

Seems it's good mechanically, that's a plus. But you say it's reading ~60K miles? The odometer on these cars clocks at 99K miles. There's a good chance you're looking at 160K miles, not 60K! Unless you've got documentation to prove otherwise..? Not the end of the world if it is 160K miles. At this age, and assuming the car's mechanically good, it probably won't make a huge difference to the selling price.

So, the selling price; I'm not sure, but from what I've read here, even a mint condition 924 won't attract more than US$4,000 (other's here will give you a more accurate estimate). Special models like the Sebring apparently don't count for much because they're just some fancy stickers and wheels, maybe with different seat-coverings.
What'd you buy it for? Add the cost of restoration -even approximately. Will you get change out of US$3,500-4,000?

Of course, you could keep it They're heaps of fun
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'80 924 Turbo

[SebringGuy682]

Thanks for the response. No, I'm not really interested in keeping the vehicle.....it was more to resell. Though, the idea of owning a Porsche is kinda cool. As for the mileage....you're right, I noticed that as well, but there are two things that make me believe the mileage might be accurate.

1) The auction announced the vehicle as under 60k miles.
2) It was a 1 owner vehicle and shows signs of having sat for a very long, extended period of time. The interior shows hardly any wear.....just some fading on the seats, and cracks on the dashboard.

Like you said though, it doesn't make all that much difference as long as its sound. As for profit after restoration, I'd still probably stand to make at least $2000 on the sebring, depending on the market that is. The thing is I don't really have decent place to restore the vehicle, not even a garage where I could store it. At this point I'm considering doing a little bit of touch-up work, then selling it for a project vehicle. Thanks again.

[gohim]

I hope you bought the car cheap, and have no expectation of making any moey reselling it. The 924 special edition models carry very little additional value over the standard cars, unless they are in very clean, very original condition.

Restoring a car (repainting) usually deducts 10%-20% of value, does not add (unless the car was a total wreck).

If you repaint the car, you will need to replace the decals to maintain the "Sebring" identity. You are probably going to find that the decals are NLA (no longer available) from authorized Porsche Dealers. They were also fairly expensive.

To fully restore the car, you will need to replace the dashboard (if you can find a new one, the cost will be $1500-$2000). Having the existing dashboard professionally redone costs about $1000.

In the currently described condition, the car is probably not worth more than $500-$1000 (you are talking about a 25 year old car). With a fresh correct paint job ($1000-$2000, plus the rust removal), and new Sebring decals ($300-$500 if you can find some), it still would not be worth more than $1500-$2000. You can forget getting $4000 without a new dashboard, a full restoration (which will cost more than you can sell the car for), and some documented proof that the car only has 60K miles on it.

You are never going to clear $2000 reselling the car, whether you choose to sell it the way it is, or fully restored.

What you have is an old, tired car. The 924, while we own and love them, is just an old car with some nice features. They have no collector value (there are lots and lots available for sale in the $0-$500 range), so there is no way to pay for a restoration, and expect to even break even when selling the car.

If you aren't planning on keeping the car, just sell it the way it is, for whatever someone will pay you in cash, and be happy that you are not the one who is going to dump $$$ trying to restore the car.

[Khal]

Yeah, gohim's right regarding the full restoration -there's no way you'd make money on it.

Although I disagree on the decals... there's a person/group making replica's and they are very cheap, probably ~US$100 for the full set.

http://www.porschedecals.com

If you bought it really cheap, and could get the work you mention done yourself (fix fender, remove rust, repaint), then you might stand to make some money. Especially if you can prove it's got an original 60K miles on it. You'll at least be able to command top dollar (which might only be US$2,000 or so, as gohim says).

No-one in their right mind expects these cars to be perfect (as long as the selling price is reasonable). So I wouldn't worry too much about the cracked dash. We've all got 'em

This is only idle comment, though. I've never restored one...
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'80 924 Turbo