924Board.org

[quart]

About a year ago, I almost grabbed my mechanic/buddies '88 as a project car and sat on my hands and life happened and my disposible income dried up. Fast forward to earlier this month andi it again is on the table.

In a decision I will forever regret, I traded my 2008 Audi S4 in on a new car for my wife... we've been together for 10 years and I have had 3 new cars, she was still driving the same one from back in 2002.

To make a long story short, she now has a new GLK and I am driving her old SUV. I am not an SUV kind of guy and am finding it hard to find a lower mileage used car for what her old Nissan Pathfinder is worth. I've been looking for an early Boxster, a Mini Cooper S, another Miata (had one before we married) or even a Toyota MR2 but to no avail.

My buddy, the mechanic still has his '88 924s and I have calculated that if I sold the old SUV I would have a few thousand to spend on fixing up the 924s at his current asking. The two biggest expenses would be interior and body, since he has recently redone the entire fuel system (Tank, lines and injection system), it has new clutch, tires and koni's.

He is in the process of checking whether or not the AC just needs charging or would need to be replaced, which would facilitate swapping over the the new system and would change his asking price a little.

It really is a clean car as far as history and he specializes in VW, Audi and Porsche cars, so he isn't a Ford mechanic just fiddling with another car. I trust him and his work, my big issue is even with an entirely new interior and paint would I be spit-polishing a turd or could I have a good solid daily that wouldn't need more than regular maintanence.

As a side note, I am fairly mechanically inclinded and while I do not know my way around a 924 at the moment, would not be afraid to get my hands dirty and have a pretty good teacher in the before mentioned mechanic who would humor me on the weekends and when I am in need.

All in all, how many folks drive their 924's as daily drivers, what sort of issues come up, whats the mileage and insurance when doing full coverage? Thoughts, and Feedback are appreciated and please don't tell me how crazy I am to either get rid of an S4 for a GLK, or get out of a Nissan for a 25 year old Porsche, I've heard enough of that over at the VWVortex forums....