'79 911 SC- School Me

Thinking about this, but I've never owned a Porsche. I'd probably buy it for the summer then sell, so I'm not interested in longterm, but I know the owner pretty well, and it would be around $18,000, can anyone attest to that being a good or bad deal?

The race numbers were removed, but besides that it pretty much sits and gets dusty in his hanger, probably driven a few hundred miles every few months.

I don't know these well, but looking to know if things look normal, problem areas, maintenance etc. I've read they're prone to small oil leaks etc.etc. and the last early 80's 911 I drove had a gearbox that was VERY soupy, what is it supposed feel like? Tight?

Thanks!

Spec:
(within past 2 years)
Custom car cover
Roll cage
Corbeau Racing seats/harness
5 spd
Re-built engine @ approx 68,000 miles
Currently 7x,xxx miles
New brakes
New Bilstein Shocks
Wevo Shifter Coupler/New shift bushings
Carrera Tensioners
Rotary type A/C Compressor/Cold Cold Cold
Lowered Ride height with Bump Steer Rack Spacers
Turbo Tie Rods
Recent corner Balance/Alignment
approx. 5,000 miles on Recent Tune
Excellent leak down and compression
H4 Headlights
RS Door Panels
Stainless header/exhaust, sounds mean and rumbly
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At $18K that sounds like a positive steal. My question (given the above list of work done, which covers many of the usual questions) would be what its accident history looks like.

 

it would be nicer if it were more stock appearing exterior and interior but...seems like a fun and well sorted car. a decent buy for sure. you may love this car and keep it far longer than anticipated. air cooled porsches are fantastic!!!!

 

a couple of more comments:

the factory fuchs wheels are easily sourced and there are many aftermarket replica wheels in 17 inch diameter if inclined.

the 3.0 liter sc motor is a documented 250-300k mile lump when maintained. would be a bit interested in what happened to require a rebuild @ 60k ish?

the gearbox is a 915 version...a bit soupy for the uninitiated but you will find your way quickly and learn to like it. a solid and reliable gearbox.

 

Seems a great buy...with the money saved, immediately find a sweet set of Fuchs wheels.

 

I believe he has black Fuchs that go with it.

I'll have to delve in deeper to find out about the engine rebuild. I hadn't got that far last time we were chatting about it, he had a neat little collection, but didn't drive his cars very often.

Are the modified pieces helping or hurting this 911? Like the door panels? Is that a no-no?

Are there secret rust issue areas? I didn't find any present rust. This is a southern car, no accidents (from his knowledge and my light sleuthing), but are their rocker issues or inner fender wall problems etc?

Thanks again guys, it's like learning a new language lol

-Ken

 

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Yep grab it. This is an iconic period sportscar with lots to love. I've had 5 of them and still have one prepared for PCA club racing in 'E' stock. They are tough as nails, full of character. There won't be any rust and the engine is meteor-proof. Gearbox takes getting used to (just imagine 2nd lives somewhere inside your right knee!) but is rock solid. It hasn't been too badly modified you could drive as is or return to stock and flip it and make money. Great car.

Edit: ok, I'm feeling slightly like a useless fanboy with that post. A rebuild can easily cost $10-15K so as usual, you should do a ppi, get a checklist of issues on the horizon etc etc...

 

To me, all of the mods (roll cage, door panels, wheels) hurt the value. The roll cage is probably the worst item as not easy/worth it/able to reverse? The price seems very good for what you would get if the car checks out- you can drive it for a season or two then re-sell if you want to move on. Seems he tracked the car/set it up for track- personally I'd rather either have a stock street car or a dedicated track car, not a car somewhere in the middle. But overall, if the car checks out I'd recommend that you buy this car.

 

One more thing- it looks like a later speedometer peaking through in the picture...to me the true mileage is unknown on this car (unless he has specific documentation from the place that swapped out the speedometer, which is highly unlikely). Speedometers are easy to swap out. The H4 headlights mean this may be a grey market car (could be that they were originally on the car)- maybe the KM speedometer was swapped for a later MPH gauge? (My '78 euro had the same headlights and still had the KM speedo).

If he was asking top market price for a documented low mileage all stock '79 911 I'd say to kindly decline, but for a driver looks like it may be a nice car at this price range.

 

Looks pretty good , what time is the car using now ?

 

He's in Connecticut, so probably the car is using eastern standard time (daylight savings time currently in effect).

 

I hear you get +5hp if you keep the clocks correctly set to Stuttgart's timezone (UTC+1hr)