924 prices

[Roboticarm]

Fancy treating myself to a classic, prices seem to be all over the place
What sort of money are we talking these days for a 924 in decent, but no concourse condition ?

[g7jhp]

The classifieds looks like a £8-12k spread.

[944 Man]

No 924 is worth that sort of money. Many, if not most are closer to junk than to concours.

[sixor8]

There's a lot of overpriced cars in the classifieds, not just 924 cars. I think prices achieved at auction are a better guide they sell for what people are willing to bid.

A nice black 924S went at auction in Nov for £5800:

https://angliacarauctions.co.uk/classic/results/re...

A 148k mile 924 with some rust on the front valance but a decent runner went for £2226 in Aug 2020:

https://angliacarauctions.co.uk/classic/results/sa...

[james.a.c.911]

would love to get a cheap one of these and go race it in the HSCC 70s Road Sport - driving to the track and back.
recon this would be the cheapest porsche racing out there i the UK. If you couldd pick one up with no corrosion issues sub £4k and willing todo some work on it would be great value.
If only i had the spare time for the work on the car and the racing..

[944 Man]

But... a 924 will cost just as much to prepare as a 944 or 968. Probably more, and that isnt including the engine.

[james.a.c.911]

I'm not sure just as much, but
- a 944 or 968 doesnt qualify for the 1970's road sports which has a lot of cool cars
- it's lighter!
- given the amound of mods you are allowed (not much), probably still csts you a lot less

[rufusgti]

944 Man said:

But... a 924 will cost just as much to prepare as a 944 or 968. Probably more, and that isnt including the engine.

That's not true at all.
Parts like struts, wishbones, wings, bumpers side lights, interior parts, actually almost everything is a fraction of the price on a 924 than a 944.
That's before you get to the costs of servicing and maintenance on the 944, especially the 16v S2 engine. It's all big money stuff.

[944 Man]

rufusgti said:

944 Man said:

But... a 924 will cost just as much to prepare as a 944 or 968. Probably more, and that isnt including the engine.

That's not true at all.
Parts like struts, wishbones, wings, bumpers side lights, interior parts, actually almost everything is a fraction of the price on a 924 than a 944.
That's before you get to the costs of servicing and maintenance on the 944, especially the 16v S2 engine. It's all big money stuff.

It is true.
Struts, wishbones, wings, bonnets, side lights and interior parts are broadly the same and cost broadly the same. The lights are the same, the bonnet is the same or extremely similar and the same one is used, wings cost the same plus a tenner. The interior comes out, but it is the same.

Add to this that 924s have been pauper cars for over two decades and most have been run into the ground. Plenty of 944s have been built with just an engine service, making them far cheaper than an equivalent 924 build.

[andy97]

james.a.c.911 said:

would love to get a cheap one of these and go race it in the HSCC 70s Road Sport - driving to the track and back.
recon this would be the cheapest porsche racing out there i the UK. If you couldd pick one up with no corrosion issues sub £4k and willing todo some work on it would be great value.
If only i had the spare time for the work on the car and the racing..

There you go, although I think this is a bit pricey:

https://www.racecarsdirect.com/Advert/Details/9976...

Try this for the sister 80s series, better value, I think:
https://www.racecarsdirect.com/Advert/Details/1179...

[james.a.c.911]

Thank you. Saw both indeed and toying with vieweing the 924.
Idealy i would like to find a clean car and do the build myself, but it would indeed be more cost effective to purchase a fully prepared car.
The 924 is a fully developed one, has been raced many years and been competitive. The 944 looks like more of refurb with some light mods that's yet top be tested.

In an ideal world i find a clean 924 in 2021, get it ready for 2022 season and do about 4 race weekends a seasons for a few years - then go to a 944 Turbo (used to have one and would love to race one but completely different budget) and start over. The reality right now is i struggle to find the time to do more than a couple track days a year in my 996 (which is nowhere close to finished on the mods i am doing for the road).

An end product looking something like this would be great: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pr6mXcH8F54&t=...

[944 Man]

Seeing Andy's post has reminded me of a pro-924 argument: probably quicker. I am not sure why though, but old Lodge Sports 924s seem to be faster than 924Ss / series one 944s.

[james.a.c.911]

i have read that 924s is quicker than 944 dues to lower weight and better aero - i don't knowif it's indeed true..

[944 Man]

A 1988 model may be a little bit, but most 924Ss were lower compression which took away the advantage that a lower frontal area gives. Remember too, that a lot of nonsense is made up about the cars.

A Lodge Sports 924 will probably show a clean pair of heels to a 924S racer though, in the real world.

[andy97]

944 Man said:

Seeing Andy's post has reminded me of a pro-924 argument: probably quicker. I am not sure why though, but old Lodge Sports 924s seem to be faster than 924Ss / series one 944s.

The BRSCC / Lodge Sports cars were very light. Istr that they were 1000kg with the driver and 140 bhp. Not HSCC compliant though, but they now appear in the 750mc “CALM All Porsche series”
My old 924S (incidently the best handling car I have ever raced) weighed about 1150 I think with 170 bhp. A 924S with the Lodge Sports lightweight panels would be a weapon!

[944 Man]

At the time I suspected that it was shell prep which was letting you down, but I couldn't really say so on the club forum.

Seam welding: everyone does it, then hides it. If you observed the rules then you were at a disadvantage as probably the only legal entry.

[davejones]

I've been racing a 924 on and off in the now defunct BRSCC Toyo Tires Series for about nine years and dragged the old girl out for an outing in the CALM Trophy at Brands last year - these are brilliant little cars and the BRSCC Toyo Tires championship was a great series until a couple of Banzi guys came along and the damage started.....however driving standards were generally good and Paddock camaraderie was excellent.
I started out buying an existing prepared car and then we built our own - as these are 30-40 years old now quite a few things can let reliability down. Being essentially converted road cars things like wiring looms and fuel/brake pipes and tanks all really need replacing - lots of my fellow competitors struggled with reliability issues due to the looms literally falling apart - the heat generated in the engine bay generally exceeds that of the standard road cars and thus the old wiring becomes brittle and starts to breakdown. My own car has only suffered DNFs due to driver brain fade, we had the engine professionally built and although due a refresh now, has completed five seasons with many podiums without being touched, other than regular oil changes and maintenance.
The HSCC series requires quite a lot of the interior and exterior trim to be retained (or put back) and that the cars have to run on "factory" wheels, thus they run 14" diameter wheels whereas the Toyos were on 15" - I think the added weight and wheel diameter affects overall lap times - at Brands last year a couple of my ex Toyo friends ran their cars in HSCC spec and the lap times were pretty slow compared to a Toyo compliant car. I did hear a suggestion that the HSCC may relax their rules to allow some Toyo cars to compete (maybe in an invitation class), as there are still quite a few out there and the CALM Trophy may not suit everyone.
With a little planning a reliable 924 can be built and the drawbacks engineered out without too much spend - the handling and balance is great and they can humble much more powerful opposition - last year the CALM Trophy was run on the GP circuit mixed in with Bernie's V8s and there were some very surprised V8 and more powerful Porsche entrants who were beaten home by the humble 924s!!!!

[944 Man]

What happened to the Toyo series Dave?

[davejones]

It collapsed - not entirely sure why but there was a bit of churn in the Boxster camp and numbers dwindled - there was also a bit of a "class war" and although the 924 field was always fairly strong there was a feeling the Boxsters were the main act.....Obviously first across the line will get a bit more publicity and TV coverage but sadly the numbers overall dwindled. Personally, I think some of the changes to the "full fat" Boxster class made that look less appealing and drew them further away from being used in other series with the fairly ridiculous wings and splitters introduced in the last couple of seasons - then there was the entry level Boxster "B" class which was still using the Boxster S but without the lowered suspension mods and thus these were slow in the corners and held up the quick 924 boys - there were never more than two or three B class Boxsters out there before people converted them to "full fat" or quit. If there had been a 2.5 or 2.7 class maybe more people would have migrated but the costs of going from a 924 to a "full fat" S were considerable.
Most of the 924s were being run by enthusiasts and bizarrely now have more options available to run in than the Boxsters (I'm not really biased!!) It was a bit of a shame as in the early years, I did it seriously in 2013-17, it was great fun and good close racing.The PCGB championship used to be a big leap as they ran on Slicks although there were some in the Toyos who would do loads of testing and run new sets of tyres each meeting....