RE: SOTW: Porsche 944

[wst]

My uncle has a red one (resprayed to cover the fading) - fairly early NA (A plate iirc). it's not quite in concours nick (he can't clean it much due to ill health and lives at the end of a single track road that farmers use) but it's an absolutely lovely thing.

Personally I'd prefer to get a slightly ropey one so I could faff about replacing bodypanels with homemade GFRP ones and give it a bit of extra oomph under the bonnet and suchlike, without thinking "well this is just desecrating a nice one".

[tr7v8]

jimbro1000 said:

Am I right in saying that Porsche declared recently(ish) that the old front engined cars are no longer supported for spares? If that's the case then it becomes absolutely essential to buy the best you can find because if anything breaks you are at the mercy of specialists and breakers to get a replacement - just like all the other classics that cost a small fivetune to keep running.

Makes that missing door handle a bit more of a serious issue...

No they didn't. Factory support for spares for the 924/944 is great. A few bits are NLA but are available second hand. These are all insignificant bits tough, the gear wheel for the rear wash/wipe is one.
The rest are 1-2 days from an OPC or an independent. The door handle is a golf one & there are plenty around, either s/h or probably new.
Some non-service bits are cheap from Porsche others are silly expensive but all the bits can be got!

Come over to TIPEC & there is a buyers guide & loads of people who spanner there own, supported by one of the 944 specialists on the forum. www.tipec.net

[Captain Muppet]

LotusEspritTurbo said:

Not a real Porsche? I seem to remember in the 80s the 944 was a real Porsche and a flashy one at that, and the 911 was looking long in the tooth.

The 944 is a real Porsche compared to the 924, the 968 is a real Porsche compared to a 944, and the Boxster is a real Porsche when compared to the 968.

But none of them are a 911, so none of them are really real Porches, because that's how marketing works.

[over_the_hill]

The brake fluid looks almost black

[glendon]

I'm assuming that's condensation in the back window...

[J4CKO]

jimbro1000 said:

Am I right in saying that Porsche declared recently(ish) that the old front engined cars are no longer supported for spares? If that's the case then it becomes absolutely essential to buy the best you can find because if anything breaks you are at the mercy of specialists and breakers to get a replacement - just like all the other classics that cost a small fivetune to keep running.

Makes that missing door handle a bit more of a serious issue...

Really, so a mass produced car that has numerous aftermarket suppliers, plenty in breakers, parts commonality with other models and an enthusiastic owners club is suddenly going to become a parts nightmare, Porsche still have inventory, they arent going to bin it all, it just means they arent making any more. In this day an age people set up cad systems to produce parts, the gear linakge I bought was aftermarket, frotn wings are available new in fibreglass, there is no reason to avoid them on parts availaibility, it isnt a bloody Concorde ! we can always adapt stuff, found out the other day the Passat gearbox, six speed from the TDi is based on the same box as the 944 and can be adapted to fit.

My uncle has a 1950's Jowett Jupiter, a small volume British sports car from Bradford, he seems to manage ok with a much older, more obscure car .

[Itsallicanafford]

glendon said:

I'm assuming that's condensation in the back window...

'tinted rear window'...classy

[Faust66]

J4CKO said:

Funny how Capri 2.8 injections of the same era cant be got for a grand any more, yet the Porsche was better and way more expensive when new.

Good point.

I’ve always really wanted a 944 but the potential for very large bills would always be at the back of my mind – especially on a sub 1000 quid car.

I’d rather have a nice 2.8 Capri given the choice. True, the Porsche would out drive, out accelerate and generally be the ‘better’ car than the Ford, but cheap spares & the ease of maintenance you’d get with the Capri would seal the deal for me.

I’d say the difference in price today perhaps reflects the fact that the 944/924s never captured the imagination of the fickle British public in the same way the Capri did. Throw in a hefty dose of nostalgia, stir with a rose-tinted spoon, simmer for 30 odd years and bob’s yer uncle; over-inflated prices on the Ford.

Back to this weeks shed: nice enough car for a project/rolling restoration but I’d want a good few quid knocked off the price to convince me. Then I’d change my mind a buy a much nicer one for 2-3 grand... I’ve never owned a Porsche but I can imagine that buying the absolute best one you can find/afford will pay dividends in the long run.

[MonkeySpanker]

Bonnet pins are sooo 80's

[edh]

The red one is a better bet - Maybe just for those wheels
Strange looking car though - 924 turbo bonnet, odd front seats.

I immediately assume that any 944 with sill covers is rotten.

TurboLizard said:

At an extra £500 would this be a better bet? Looks nice although the description sounds worrying!

http://www.autotrader.co.uk/classified/advert/2013...

[Captain Muppet]

MonkeySpanker said:

Bonnet pins are sooo 80's

Easier/cheaper than fixing a knackered bonnet release though.

[J4CKO]

Itsallicanafford said:

glendon said:

I'm assuming that's condensation in the back window...

'tinted rear window'...classy

I think, when buying something like this we need to look past stuff like that, I would get that home and get busy with a staley knife blade, remove the film, the gash sunstrip, then the sideskirts, the bonnet pins and anythijng else that offends me, I would then see what I am left with, hopefully a solid 944, make a list of what is needed and tick the jobs off, hopefully ending up with an original looking 80s Porsche.

Remember all those lovely pannelled doors and other features in Victorian houses that got boarded over in the seventies and rediscovered or replace in the nineties, this is the car equivalnent, need to see potential rather than how it looks now, also, the area it is in has a bearing, doesnt look like a dump but any car tends to look better in a nicer setting, shorn of the tat in a nicer surroundings that would look a whole lot better, being snobbish the car looks a bit council and so does the estate, nothing wrong with that, we arent all company directors but I think it has been noticed but nobody wants to say it.

[4a4]

Anybody thinking of going for it....Just do it!

I bought a 944 last year, and have run it daily ever since. Great handling in the dry, hilarious in the wet if you stick budget rubber on the back on spare wheels!

It WILL need a suspension refresh, and you also may find that you want to upgrade the rear torsion bars and dampers to stiffer items, as the rear does have a tendency to fall over from lack of compression support.

The roof will more than likely leak, my clutch fluid reservoir likes to randomly empty itself every now and again, but having come from 20+ old Golf GTIs - i'm loving it.

Do not expect to set the road on fire with blistering speed. They are slow haha, but the character makes up for it. I'll be sticking a blower on mine at some point i reckon. The heaters are brilliant.

Also, make sure you buy a Dansk stainless exhaust - they sound excellent for a 4 banger.

I'm a little bit gutted, as now everyone will end up getting one, and i can't pretend i have an expensive classic Porsche haha

[beeblebrox]

Calling fivetenben!

I'm in the middle of reading his excellent book about driving one of these from Plymouth to Cape Town - it's making this SOTW highly tempting...

[thirsty]

JoeBolt said:

thirsty said:

Give it a good look over. If there are no major issues, buy it, thrash it, then trash it. I would think it's good for a year of fun driving?

Why do people repeat this kind of nonsense week in, week out? What a waste would that be of a car 'with no major issues'?

The mature option would be to buy it, service it, drive it, maintain and improve it, keep driving it. Hopefully, such measures would ensure that these cars are around and on the road for years to come.

It isn't nonsense my friend. I have done this several times. If you have little invested there isn't much concern about blowing a gasket as you wind through the gears. You gonna sink your wallet into improving a 28 year old 944 with over a hundred K on the clock? Be my guest. He wants less than a thousand pounds for it. Must be in great nick ... huh? If it was in such wonderful shape he would be asking a lot more money and then worth preserving.

[hairykrishna]

I've had a couple of shed 944's and they were brilliant after some very minor fettling. Parts are not at all expensive so, provided it's not rotten, the risk isn't that great.

[J4CKO]

Faust66 said:

J4CKO said:

Funny how Capri 2.8 injections of the same era cant be got for a grand any more, yet the Porsche was better and way more expensive when new.

Good point.

I’ve always really wanted a 944 but the potential for very large bills would always be at the back of my mind – especially on a sub 1000 quid car.

I’d rather have a nice 2.8 Capri given the choice. True, the Porsche would out drive, out accelerate and generally be the ‘better’ car than the Ford, but cheap spares & the ease of maintenance you’d get with the Capri would seal the deal for me.

I’d say the difference in price today perhaps reflects the fact that the 944/924s never captured the imagination of the fickle British public in the same way the Capri did. Throw in a hefty dose of nostalgia, stir with a rose-tinted spoon, simmer for 30 odd years and bob’s yer uncle; over-inflated prices on the Ford.

Back to this weeks shed: nice enough car for a project/rolling restoration but I’d want a good few quid knocked off the price to convince me. Then I’d change my mind a buy a much nicer one for 2-3 grand... I’ve never owned a Porsche but I can imagine that buying the absolute best one you can find/afford will pay dividends in the long run.

I think you are right on the price, plus the average bloke aspired to the Capri as it was more attainable, the Capri was more blue collar, the Porsche was a lot more expensive, possibly double and wasnt massively quicker. I dotn think the Capri is massively over valued, just that the 944 is under valued in comparison, for a nice one, not this wildcard £995 example.

I dont think spares for the Capri will be particularly any cheaper, 944 parts as a rule arent that expensive and nobody is giving Capri bits away, if anything 944 bits may be chaeper as less about and less competition.

[stephen300o]

Nope, not peeling my banana.

[Strawman]

edh said:

I immediately assume that any 944 with sill covers is rotten.

I thought the same, and the sills aren't a easy job (or cheap) to replace, if they are gone then this is only a parts car really.

[vrooom]

MX5 with fixed roof?