Porsche 944 makes the Pistonheads Shed of the week

[rav]

Read all about it:

http://www.pistonheads.com/news/default.asp?storyId=23655

Not a bad looking example, but that interior would make me sick.

 

[pixie*porsche]

LOL I wouldn't touch a £1000 944 with a barge pole. Sills are £1200 per side ... more than what you pay for the car! Fine if your going to run it for three months and sell it again or use it as a parts chaser.

...but if anyones under the illusion that car is going to be any good they must be mad!

Yet another thing to devalue the 944, with added moaning about the 2.5, the car was a quick car in 1982 when it was produced. 944's shouldn't feel really slow but the later cars do feel less sporting. Considering my BGT V8 only produced 137bhp from factory, 160 out of a four pot isn't bad at all, the public are just used to silly rep mobiles producing in the region of 200bhp from a 2.0litre four pot and I'd still take all of my old cars anyday of the week over a faster new car!

944's in good condition are great to drive but get a bad one and you really won't see what all the fuss is about. I suggest to anyone looking at a cheap 944 - go and try one THEN go and try a well sorted example and then come back and try to justify "they're the same car", I promised you they will not feel anywhere near similar.

 

[simkin911]

ORIGINAL: pixie*porsche

LOL I wouldn't touch a £1000 944 with a barge pole. Sills are £1200 per side ... more than what you pay for the car!

Helen Goff (who I don't know BTW) sold a very presentable and decent s2 on this forum for about the same amount in January (from recollection). It does happen.

I still think the £1200 per side story isn't typical of what most people are paying. The new sills are £160 per side from OPC. Are people REALLY paying a bodyshop £1k per side to cut off the old sill, weld the new one on and repaint?

C'mon, hands up if you paid £2400 to get your sills replaced?!

 

[stevie d]

I've not had a quote for the sills and lower arches to be replaced but my body shop cut out and replaced part of the lower rear arch , cut out the rot where it was bubbling on the sills and then welded a couple of plates in , reapplied the stone guard paint and resprayed them all for £200 (cash []) . Also been quoted £400 to remove the windscreen , grind out the rust at the top of the frame then respray the roof , bonnet , badge panel , bumper and front valance . If he where to ask for £2k + to replace the sills and lower arches i suspect we would fall out very quickly .

 

[Oct]

I have driven two examples of 944's which were in the region of £1000.One early, one lateThey needed some work but not much.Both are still running and still providing enjoyment.There are decent cars available for that kind of money and are a bargain if you are prepared to do some work with them.

 

[pixie*porsche]

I think it depends on what people want. If you want an unproffessional job you'll pay cheap prices if you want it done properly you go to the type of bodyshop that does things well. I wouldn't want my car to be a patchwork quilt with splatted weld all over the shop.

If you can do the work yourself - great - thats a different matter entirely.

As far as structure is concerned IMO it's the most important thing.

While I'm not saying there aren't bargains out there I AM saying a well sorted 944 drives in a totally different manner to a cheap and tired one. Lets face facts if we're honest about 80-90% of 944s on the market are the cheap and nasty sort.

 

[stevie d]

ORIGINAL: pixie*porsche

If you want an unproffessional job you'll pay cheap prices if you want it done properly you go to the type of bodyshop that does things well.

I don't think its necessarily fair to assume just because a body shop (or workshop for that matter) doesn't charge a fortune for work that its going to be of poor quality . There are some people who just want a fair price for a good job rather than charging as much as they can get away with . Equally paying top dollar is no guarantee of top quality work . The body shop i use was recommended to me by a Subaru main dealer who had regularly used them in the past until they got their own body shop . Admittedly its not the most high tech out fit but i've used them for other jobs in the past and been happy with their work .

 

[pixie*porsche]

Stevie d - I see your point [] if you have recommendation - thats excellent. Just remember the type doing modern cars probably won't have done much structural welding work.

I recommend you go and see the bodyshop and have a chat first before just booking in! Especially if it's structural work you want doing. As before if you find a good one thats cheap - fantastic! You do often get what you pay for though, in my experience.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

I still think the £1200 per side story isn't typical of what most people are paying. The new sills are £160 per side from OPC. Are people REALLY paying a bodyshop £1k per side to cut off the old sill, weld the new one on and repaint?

It's at the top end, certainly. In fact, most people aren't paying this because a car needing that much welding is likely to be otherwise pretty worn out, so they are the ones being scrapped.

Labour rates around me aren't less than £65 per hour, and with 20% vat it adds up very easily. To do both outer sills, probably a bit of work to the inners, and the inevitable bottoms of the wings and wheel arches, re-paint to a high standard and reapply stone guards etc. and you can see how it can add up to a scary amount.

The problem with most cheap jobs is that they are meant to be a quick fix, the way you used to have to weld up an old Ford every MOT but for the smallest amount possible. Assuming it's done well, and you treat it afterwards, then there's no reason a patch repair to an area you catch early isn't as good as a later, more major repair.

 

[Fat Albert]

I paid £600 to have both sides repaired, with the mileage and the general condition of my car it does not make sense to spend any more. My view is that the repair should last 3-5 years, by then it will be over 1/4 million miles and near worthless.....but left miles of smiles behind her...

From this

to this and the same on the other side

 

[zcacogp]

ORIGINAL: pixie*porsche
Lets face facts if we're honest about 80-90% of 944s on the market are the cheap and nasty sort.

Hi Pixie, have you ever met Sc0tty?

[]


Oli.

 

[simkin911]

ORIGINAL: zcacogp

ORIGINAL: pixie*porsche
Lets face facts if we're honest about 80-90% of 944s on the market are the cheap and nasty sort.

Hi Pixie, have you ever met Sc0tty?

[]


Oli.

[]

Fat Albert, I'll be more than happy to love & restore your Turbo in a few years time when it's near worthless. Just give me a shout and I'll send a transporter to collect it! I'm genuinely of the mind that they should all be saved if possible and we shouldn't let money get in the way of it!

 

[tr7v8]

The sills on mine were very very grim, including inners & seat belt mountings & more importantly rear suspension mounts. Part of this could be the fact it lived in Dumfries near the sea in Scotland.
The garage that did them charged £30PH +VAT at the time & seem to have done a good job on the metal work although some of the paintwork wasn't so hot. The total was £1400 of which around £1200 was both of the sills & panels & labour, this was July 07.
I have a bodyshop guy local who is £30 ph & does fantastic work, a lot on more expensive metal than a 944! So decent cheap bodyshops do exist. I think people condeming the £1K Porsche without seeing it are jumping the gun. Slagging it off with sweeping assumptions of "It's cheap so it must be crap" are short sighted to say the least & do no one any favours. The guy seems to have spent money on it & did intend keeping it so it could be a good'un. I'm almost tempted to go have a look at it as it has an immaculate burgundy interior which mine is looking for.

 

[pauljmcnulty]

I think people condeming the £1K Porsche without seeing it are jumping the gun. Slagging it off with sweeping assumptions of "It's cheap so it must be crap" are short sighted to say the least & do no one any favours.

Agreed. The problem when selling a car is that you can only price it against everything else for sale at the time. The sheer amount of cheap cars, of all sorts, on the market means that a Lux looks expensive at much over £1K unless it's exceptional. There are plenty of pretty decent cars out there for sale, often at the same price as the junk.

I think the point is that it's dangerous for people to buy a Porsche for £1K, then expect it to be cheap to run. If it's a good one, or you're able to do work yourself, then it's a bargain. If, however, you spend £1K on a shiny car only to find out that it needs £500 spent on the bodywork, a service that can easily end up at a grand, and the clutch is breaking up, you can soon end up regretting it. Think of it as a £5K car, but you're getting it for £1K and you'll be prepared to put the money in to it.

 

[deafasapost]

my twopeneth worth here. it looks good for the money, and it cant be judged unless seen in the flesh. it could be a bargain, it could be a money pit to put right if anything major needs doing, but the belts etc have been done so thats one big expense already accounted for.

for a grand, even if it needs work is still gvfm as it can be broken for more if its to expensive to put right. win-win situation in my eyes!!

 

[944 man]

Good. Perhaps this will be the end of the £1,200 per side nonsense that is being repeated.

 

[simkin911]

ORIGINAL: 944 man

Good. Perhaps this will be the end of the £1,200 per side nonsense that is being repeated.

Yip - and I'm still waiting on someone putting their hand up to say they paid £1200 a side! []

 

[surrey 944T]

ORIGINAL: 944 man

Good. Perhaps this will be the end of the £1,200 per side nonsense that is being repeated.

I doubt it there are too many idiots who keep saying it!

I might start doing sills my self if anyone really is that stupid to pay that much I'll broker the jobs out to my local bodyshop who do it for half that price and I'll keep the rest .

 

[Fat Albert]

ORIGINAL: simkin911


Fat Albert, I'll be more than happy to love & restore your Turbo in a few years time when it's near worthless. Just give me a shout and I'll send a transporter to collect it! I'm genuinely of the mind that they should all be saved if possible and we shouldn't let money get in the way of it!

You guys will be the first to know when I do have to move her on, until then she will be maintained to a good mechanical level, I expect to spend around £1,000 on her this year, which is the equivalent of 2 months depreciation on my Wife's previous car......oh and the cost of this shed...

 

[pauljmcnulty]

ip - and I'm still waiting on someone putting their hand up to say they paid £1200 a side!

I'm not sure anyone's ever said they've paid £1200 per side for sills. Plenty of people have paid £2400 for restoration work to a very high standard, but that would be a lot more than just the sills. [8|]