Is this stupid idea even worth pursuing: Flipping an air cooled 911
 

Years ago (roughly 1999), my dad bought his dream car; a 1987 911 Targa.
He held on to that car as long as he possibly could, through the collapse of his business, divorce, years of off-and-on unemployment, and then finally, just a couple years ago, he was finally forced to sell it.

As luck would have it, his girlfriend at the time had just enough income to buy it from him for $16k, because she loved driving it also. That got him the cash he needed out of it, and the car was still around for joy rides.

They don't talk much anymore, and last I heard the car was mothballed about a year ago and never made it out last year. It needs a little work, but is in OK shape. A couple cylinders come and go, (I suspect maybe it's the 30 year old plug wires) and a couple of the body panels were repainted before dad ever bought the car. Air conditioning doesn't work, the HVAC is a bit weird in general, and it has what I would consider normal wear for a car having something like 150k miles.

So here's where I need some help. A quick look at craigslist, autotrader, and ebay says these air cooled Porsches go for a lot more than they did just a few years ago. But I can't find any that are in as mediocre shape as this particular one is.

If I knew I could get $30k for this thing, I'd offer her the $16k she paid for it in cash right now to get it out of her garage, but I don't exactly have $16k laying around so I don't want to get stuck with this thing if it's not in good enough condition to get me my cash back.

What do you guys think? What is a (probably) running, driving but not pristine air-cooled 911 worth right now?

the non-original ones drop in value drastically from the pristine all original samples
do you have 16k disposable money to invest? if not, then don't be a morAn

This is what I suspected. All the examples I can find are much nicer, so I suspected the value dropped pretty quick for the "regular" examples.

It looks like a very good but not perfect 87 would be around 35-40K - saw a listing for a nicer one if FL with 89K miles for just about 40.

I think the big question is how much money it will take to get it to the point that it will bring over $30K. Even with a good body, 150K miles is going to be a tough hurdle for most buyers unless you show some serious rebuilding/refitting. If you were going to keep it, that's a different story.

Joe Perez needs a Porsche.

he would call it the Porsche Perez

but alas, not enough air cooling for his tastes

Targas are the least desirable currently, so I would factor that heavily. With that high mileage, I would pass... under 100k seems to be the sweet spot.

A year or so ago, a friend picked up a '75 911 for ~$9k, put about $3k into it and sold it for $32k. It was a very solid car to begin with, just had a couple oil leaks, and needed detailing. Same guy currently has a sale pending on the '77 he's owned for 30 years for almost $50k. I think he's nuts to sell that one, it's super clean, and tastefully upgraded.

The market for air cooled Porsches is nuts right now, but you're taking a chance if you're not super familiar with the cars and the market. Clean cars are going for $$$, but the market bubble could burst at any moment.

Thanks for the input guys. I figured it was not a good "investment" but I wanted to hear it from other people also.

If you don't buy it and flip it, someone else will.

Considering the car's provenance, it may be worth "investing" in what could prove a fun project for your daddy and you. Perhaps try to work in a little half-and-half into the deal and get the car, some stale pussy and your father's respect in one shot.

I look at this stuff like House Flipping.

Unless you know what you're doing, have disposable cash, and can do ALL the work yourself.................you're likely in for a BAD TIME.