1985 Porsche 944 Lux for sale

[edunit]

This car has been described as "one of the best Mk1 944s left in the UK" by the secretary of the Independent Porsche Enthusiasts Club.
It has factory-fitted power steering and the Lux spec includes electric windows/mirrors, electric tilt/removable sunroof (complete with original padded storage bag).
It's finished in Kalahari Beige metallic and has only one very tiny area of surface rust just under the near side tail-light. It's been there since I've owned the car and never got any worse.
Most 944s of this age have tatty interiors, this one is virtually mint. The seats are trimmed in a combination of leather and cloth, in chocolate brown with gold pin striping (very 80s) with matching brown carpets and dash. The original steering wheel has been replaced with a period Momo Prototipo as used on the Porsche Cup race cars. The original wheel will be supplied with the car (leather rim needs re-stitching).
Mechanically the car is excellent. Soon after I bought it I had the cam belt, balancer-shaft belt and all bearings, pulleys etc., replaced along with a full service. As the car spends 6 months out of every 12 off the road, it undergoes a service, MOT and full post-lay-up check over every year. Last year I spent over £800 having the electrics fully overhauled to include the removal of the aftermarket alarm and immobiliser. The wiring is now all back to factory spec and everything works as it should. I also had a full stainless-steel exhaust fitted that not only has a lifetime warranty and sounds good too. There is a huge A4 file full of history for the car, including old MOTs, tax discs, invoices for parts and servicing etc.
It has done three trips to Le Mans without problems.
As a long-distance GT car the 944 still compares well with modern machinery even after nearly 30 years - it's long- legged gearing and large fuel tank give a good touring range and the surprisingly large boot gives ample storage for a couple's trip away to Europe.
She's a real beauty, and I'll be sorry to see her go, but with a new baby in the house, needs must!

 

[andy watson]

Hi Martyn,

Sorry to see your first post is the one where you're leaving us, car looks very good and a nice colour that Kalahari.

Just a couple of points you may want to add to help the sale.....

A few more pics including at least one of the interior
Is the dash cracked
Is the interior Cloth & Leather? or leatherette (Vinyl)
How many miles has she done
When were the belts last changed (you say when you bought her but they need changing every 4 years)
How much is the car for sale for.

GLWTS

 

[edh]

Very nice - presumably there are big spacers behind those wheels. Do you have the original wheels?

 

[edunit]

Hi Andy, only just joined mate Ive got one of those weird aircooled things and the 944 belongs to a friend.
He's written leather and he's usually right about these things.
The interior is mint - we all look at it in wonder!
I would hv put an interior shot in the mssg window but it looks like you can only do one pic at a time
I'll ask him about the rest - he's interested in sensible offers btw

Why do the belts need changing so often?

 

[944 man]

Its vinyl if original. Leather and velour was only available on 911s (and 928s). Leather on series one and series two 944s was either leather facings on the fronts with vinyl sides and rears and a vinyl rear seat, or leather everything inside the car which includes all of the seats.

 

[edunit]

Rome of the North - lovvit! (My fave is the Black Cat and the funny little pub nearby)
Good bit of trainspotting - I will admonish the owner for being so unobservant!
Did you blow up the image of the interior - good stuff?

 

[pauljmcnulty]

Why do the belts need changing so often?

Hi Martyn,

Porsche's schedule is 48K miles or 4 years, whichever is sooner. There is (non-scientific) evidence of them being prone to catastrophic failure if you leave them longer, regardless of miles.

A number of things need to be considered, though. Firstly, the belts on the shelf could be anything from brand new to several years old before you even fit them, so it's not about a "best before" date. More a life in the environment on the car.

I think the main factor, excluding very old belts or poor fitting/tensioning, is contamination. I had to have a belt done at a year old because oil was misting on to it from a failed seal: if this had been missed (it was spotted when re-tensioning the belt), four years of oil damaging the belt could have been terminal.

I'm sure that there are belts on engines that are completely leak-free, doing minimal mileage, perfectly tensioned, and were brand new when fitted. It's possible that these could go on for more than 4 years, but it's a risk I'd not take myself. My attitude is that you have to change them, so do it early rather than late. Stringing it out for a year or two more spreads the cost a bit, but how much? A few pounds a year for peace of mind has to be worth it.

 

[Chrishazle]

I'd better keep quiet about the roughly 10 years I (inadvertantly) managed to do with my 968 coupe between belt changes - admittedly the car was a dry days toy and only did 38k miles in that time!

 

[pauljmcnulty]

I'd better keep quiet about the roughly 10 years I (inadvertantly) managed to do with my 968 coupe between belt changes - admittedly the car was a dry days toy and only did 38k miles in that time!

There are tales of ten years or more without trouble, but then there are smokers who live to 100: the exceptions aren't a reason to risk it.

In fact there haven't been many failures in recent years. It's all anecdotal, and people posting about it or contacting me are a self-selecting sample, hence it's impossible to really know where the problem is.

I think that the cars were worth so little 5 years or so ago that more had poor maintenance, skipped servicing, DIY by people who didn't know what they were doing, "cheap" mechanics tensioning it dramatically wrong, that sort of thing. I'm sure a large proportion of the failures were/are down to contamination or fitting, combined with age.

There seemed to be a spate of belts going at about 5 years old. I wondered at the time if you could get a few years out of a belt with contamination on it, but 5 years was too long to push it as the material was weakening?

I'm not sure I've heard of failures on the very low-miles, clean, well-maintained cars. But, there's very little likelihood that many of these owners skip the belt change in the way a car bought for £800 on ebay might. They're also more likely to get an oil leak fixed sooner.

I'd still advise never leave it longer than the official schedule, and if you aren't certain the belt is within it's age then don't start the car until you've had it done. It may be over the top, but seeing really nice cars need a new engine because a belt is a matter of months overdue is never pleasant.

 

[Diver944]

ORIGINAL: pauljmcnulty

In fact there haven't been many failures in recent years.

When Martyn and I were the 944 team about 10 years ago, it felt like I got a call from a snapped belt owner at least every other month - I wish I'd kept records. They were nearly always cars that had been used little, but the belt was well older than the 4 year recommendation from Porsche.

It's good to hear that it is nowhere near as common these days and I think it's an amalgamation of many things. We have been banging on about it on the forum, in Porsche Post and the old email list for 15 years now, so most people know about it. Also, there are less than a third of the number of 944's left now, so all the poorly maintained clunkers have gone off to the scrapheap, leaving all of the 'enthusiast' owned examples which are being maintained properly. I also think the quality of the belts has possibly improved, but that's just me guessing there must have been technological improvements in manufacturing over the years [&:]