911sc prices and everyday usage

[Lowlander]

Hello there,

I'll finally be in a position to afford a 911sc when I get back from working in Dubai later this year. Been doing a bit of reasearch but still alittle uncertain about prices. Most people say 'go for the best you can afford'. with this is mind what is a realistic price for a really nice SC coupe.

My ideal car would be a post 1981 SC in silver with Fuch alloys, leather trim, SSI, top end rebuild, gearbox rebuild, and mint bodywork (not asking much am I !!)

Obviously I would be prepared to compromise on the spec to some extent. condition is far more important than specification, although I draw the line at owning a chocolate brown 911. Ultimately I would like a coupe and not a targa but if I founf a really nice targa then I would certainly consider it.

I'll be doing lots more research before I start looking seriously.

The car will be used all year round including commuting. Is this sensible in an SC? Lastly I know the 964 was a far more advanced car with lots of complicated electronics. My theory is that although the SC is a lot simpler and less sophisticated than the later 964, there are less expensive components to go wrong ! This is a major consideration when shelling out a not inconsiderable amount of money for a 25 year old car to use as everyday transport.

Any comments, suggestions or advice would be most welcome.

All the best.

Martin.

 

[Guest]

Hiya Martin,

You've already had a fair cross-section of opinion on buying and running SC's and Carreras in your previous threads here, here and here, so I won't regurgitate what the guys have already said.

We have talked about values in the past and you will probably know that prices for supposedly 'mint' SC's run from 9 to 21 grand. Personally I think a nice usable car in top condition is no more than £13K at the minute and that is top end, but then if you have the money to spend I guess you could pay more. There is a 48k miler in silver with black on eBay at the minute, ex-Swiss car so LHD, nice spec and absolutely out of the box - start bid is £14k. Personally I see that car here at about £12/12.5 no more as not a lot of LHD fans about when RHD is cheap (silly them) but who knows, someone might pay more for it.

When you see the car Nick Stephenson might be about to buy for £7k you have to say they are real bargains at the minute, especially across the pond. Hopefully the values will stay low in the States long enough for me to pick up a minter in a few years to take to the track []

As for expensive repairs - they are mainly confined to body, gearbox and exhaust. Once those three things are sorted you can survive anything sort of an engine grenading itself (happily a rare event) for sensible money.

Buy the right car and look after it - it will serve you and your wallet well.

 

[jerry911sc]

[FONT=arial"]Hi Martin

You raise some good questions and there are a lot of opinions.

The SC does put up well with daily use but it will ship a lot of water stood in the rain and it takes at least a good couple of dry days and a few miles driving to get it out (and that's just what you can see).

Mine has a good shell so I am careful to keep it dry especially in the winter when it takes so long to dry. I just will not get any winter salt on it but that is just me.

If you do take it out in the winter you might want the heating to work. If it don't, the parts on that can be very pricey especially the control unit (a couple of grand I think) although it can be rigged up with a manual operation.

The SC is very tolerant of traffic and short journeys but short stop start journeys are obviously no good for it.

Unless your daily drive is outside of the rush hour on country roads you will need a car with a good box , the synchro on first often goes and believe me fighting the rush hour without being able to rely on 1st it not what it is all about. And you don't get much change from £2k for a gearbox re-build unless you do it yourself (not easy to get the tools, less easy still to get the parts at an affordable price).

Regular use will also see off an old clutch fairly quickly and obviously that means gettting the engine out.

There is less to go wrong than on a 964 for example no doubt about it. But that is not to say that it will be cheap to run. Not at all. Depends on what you buy and what you are going to do yourself - course if it is a daily drive that might limit you significantly in the DIY repair stakes.

Good luck.

 

[bones]

My slant on this is that you should buy a 'runabout' too for the inevitable days when the SC needs servicing, the weather is crap (they are not pleasant to drive on a cold winters morning) or it's god forbid been in a little ding on the road. They will provide solid service as an everday vehicle with low running costs providing you buy the more expensive parts from breakers and pick a reasonably priced Independent 'specialist' for servicing. The thousands of pounds estimate for a heater control box can be reduced to £50-£100.00 if you look around and this applies to other parts too. In fact a fault with that unit is a DIY repair with a soldering iron. As Jerry points out these cars are not shopping trolleys and stop-start low mileage runs will kill the engine unless you religiously change the oil every few thousand miles, another killer of these cars now is what goes on the roads in winter, needless tons of salt from as far as I can see planners who have no idea on how to look after the roads. This stuff is highly corrosive and if the car already suffers from tinworm (highly likely) this will escalate the problem.
I ran my Targa as a daily car for about seven years and didn't have problems with rain ingress even in heavy storms so that shouldn't be an issue unless it's a bad one. I've always made sure it has regular fast road work to get any condensation build up in the engine exorcised. Get a PPI there are less good cars out there than ever before though but some bargains if you are patient.

 

[Guest]

Excuse my ignorance but I'm looking for an SC myself at the moment and was wondering what a PPI is?

 

[Guest]

Pre-purchase Inspection, an absolute must.

 

[Guest]

Ahh, Cheers.

Have found a porsche specialist near me who says he will have a look at any potental purchase for £100 or a little more depending how far he has to travel.

 

[Guest]

That's great, who is he, is he well known? You should also ensure that he produces a report of what is not as it should be, as well as a cost estimate to remedy the faults. This gives you a clear idea of what is required and can be used to negotiate.
Good luck

Ian

 

[Guest]

He is called Tony Greatorex and is in the Stockport area of Manchester, I havn't used him as i havn't found the right car yet but some friends of mine have and have found him to be cheap, enthusiastic and knowledgeable.