Dear Scott,
Welcome to the forum. To answer your question, it is definetly possible to get a £10.000 Porsche 911 and the obvious sources are Porsche Post (PCGB club magazine),
www.impactbumpers.com ,
www.pistonheads.com , and the porsche magazines such as 911 & Porsche world et all. BUT...
Firstly, you can run a proper Impact bumper 911, with no rot and no engine or gearbox probs for an annual budget of around £1500, servicing and insurance included. Buy at bad one and you find yourself spending for the next 4 years an average of £5k a year. Ask me how I know...
Secondly, try to start with a numbers matching, period correct vehicle WITH HISTORY to a specification you feel comfortable with. You will chuck all your spare change anyway on that car, so better spend it on a keeper. You will improve that rust bubble, find that correct sun visor, buy one of Andy's (lighweight_911 on DDK) momo prototypo steering wheels, and then you read on the forum you really need superpro bushes and bilstein shockers and gor blimey there is a ducktail on Ebay etc.
I spend too much money on improving my 2.7 whilst I was perhaps better off waiting for the right Carrera 3 that I always wanted in the first place.
Thirdly, there seems to be, under the current market conditions, a watershed divide between the quality of the cars below £9,5k and those starting at £12k ish.
If I could turn back time, I would every time go for a turn-key and ready car from a reputable source or seller- the best I could find within my budget. Life is too short to not spend time on the road driving these things, and a bit of tinkering, cleaning, improving etc should be seen in function of the amount of time spend on the road. When petrol runs out and when taxes are getting too expensive, you will have enough time to polish your car :wink: but that's my opinion obviously.
The cheaper ones are sold needing a bit of body work, they might have had "half of a top end rebuild" (actual sale quote I came across), need a clutch within 15000 miles, shockers need replacing within 2 years, there is a third gear crunch that won't go away by switching to swepco gearbox oil and generally they are due for the beginning of an expensive maintenance cycle: you will spend 5K a year.
To illustrate some prices
ballpark)
top end engine rebuild £3,5K (valve guides etc)
Bottom end engine rebuild £5,5 K (mine: bearings gone)
gearbox 2nd and 3rd synchros + rebuild £1,5K
shockers+ suspension bushes £850
setting up the car: corner weighting and balancing and setting the tracking £150- £270 respray in original colour £2K (bad respray under a railway arch ) to 6K and more (Graham Green, Robert Gant, Tuthhills, Nick Moss)
All the window rubbers: £1k
Set of refurbished fuch wheels with the black centre: 6 and 7 x 16: £400 / 1 pair of rear 8 x 16: £450, pair of 9 x 16 £650 more if you want the old style
Set of bridgestone tyres: £370
Pair of SSI heat exchangers: £550 when bought during a deal SSI
exhaust back box: anything form £350 to £550
B post (door post) repair: from £700 to £1200 each SIDE
if kidney bowls gone each side add another £600
sanding down corrosive reaction of front alu bumper,+ respray+ front valance and a bit of here and there £250
1 exchange front wing+ new bead + respray: £300 - 600
Front windscreen corrosion repair + respray: £300
oil service: £130
12000 mile service: £370
brake fluid change : £70
So in summary: due to the relative low value of the earlier impact bumpered cars at the moment (they are picking up) many owners skipped maintenance and used these cars as "cheap Porsches". The result it that many cars were not repaired appropriately because owners couldn't justify the expenditure relative to its market price. Secondly, many owners who bought a cheap porsche were interested in living the dream and flip the thing to another cheap porsche owner. There are some real dogs about. Finally, you also have the elderly owner who mothballed his car with a full history but you need to recommission the whole shebang and will need £1,5K to 2,5k to get it reliable and on the road.(brake and fuel lines, alternator, starter motor, fuel tank?, new tyres, suspension bushes, full service and and and)
There are fools like me who, irrespective of market condition, fell madly deeply in love with their car and, despite the spending spree of 5k a year, we will do it.Alternatively, I would really really try to get as good as a 3.0SC or an early 3.2 carrera as possible. If needs must, go for a LHD or perhaps a targa as they are about 10% cheaper, from a club member who used and maintained their car. Better to have some change on improving either the car with goodies or improving your drivers skills on a track instead of having a paper perfect dream broken down in a garage.
Also, I can heartily recommend Peter Morgans "the original 911" and Paul Frere's The 911 story for further reading....
Best of luck,
Bert
