Looking at an old Porsche 928

January 23, 2005

There’s a guy over in New Albany selling his 1981 Porscge 928. I took a look at it this afternoon and it’s in pretty rough shape. Needs new paint, the interior is generally okay, missing the radio antenna, the passenger door doesn’t open nor does the passenger power window work. But the kicker is that even with a jump it would not start for us today. It is cold, and he’s had the thing sitting out there a few weeks, so maybe it will start in warmer weather.

Yet I feel kinda bad for the guy–I have no way of knowing if this story is true but he says he bought it a couple years ago hoping to restore it and ended up getting into credit-card trouble. Which is why he’s having to sell it. One part of the story does hold up–the license plate holder is definitely from a dealership in my old neck of the woods, Oakland, CA. The kid says he bought it from a guy who had moved out here from California.

He’s already had to cut the price–when I first saw it last week the sign was for $5,000 but he says he’s cut that to $4,200. Unfortunately for him I think that’s still too high. I went onto Edmunds.com and their estimate for a Porsche 928 in rough condition (major cosmetic and requiring substantial engine work) is just $2,750.

The thing is, I’m seriously considering making an offer. It would be contingent on him getting it towed to the garage where they can at least get it running again. I would offer a total of $3,000–of that, he would get whatever is left after the garage has made the car driveable. Not fix all the problems but just the bare minimum to make it street-ready. So if the garage takes $500, the kid would get $2,500 from me. I might call him tomorrow and make the offer, I’m just not certain if it’s insulting or not. I’ll have to think that over tonight.