For some context, my dad and I picked up this 928S (USDM 5MT '83) about half a year ago. Here's the story so far...
I have notifications on my phone for certain Craigslist searches within a 250mi radius, and "Porsche 928" is on that list. It was a Thursday and I got such a notification and opened it up to see a 928 for sale for $5,000. 1983, manual, guards red (
) over black, weirdly with sport seats from a 911/944 (specifically, the later 81-84 version of the early sport seats). It was definitely the most attractive 928 I had seen for $5,000 -- And I've wanted to get my hands on one so I can start to learn about working on them, and because it's a bucket list P-car for me.The ad was only 15 minutes old at the time I looked at it, and it was at a buy-here-pay-here, my favorite kind of scummy car dealer. I called them and didn't get an answer, I left a voice mail and didn't hear back.Flash forward, to Saturday morning, I see this car again for sale. Same area, but different seller, now on Facebook Marketplace. It was now listed for $8,000 -- Which is now starting to get egregious with the price -- I messaged anyway, figuring somebody bought it and had buyer's remorse about the situation and realized they got way too big of a project.
I offer $5,000 off the bat saying I saw the car for sale before, the seller counters with $6,500 and I said I'll be there tomorrow (Sunday) with a trailer. That Saturday afternoon a friend of mine looked at it, ironically with his own dad, as a potential project. He knew I was interested in it, and he wanted a quick fixer upper not a restoration, so they passed on it.
Flash forward to Sunday, and I spend about 2 hours looking over the car, by myself. The seller turns out to be a fairly young kid who flips cars doing absolutely ZERO effort if possible, very scummy. I actually already knew him because he wanted to trade a 280ZX for my 924S that I had at the time, which I'm glad I didn't. I saw a huge whiteboard on the wall with stuff wrong with the 280ZX and it was so long I can't even remember a single thing. The (different) kid who eventually bought my 924S looked at that 280ZX and told me it was even worse, that the engine was giving up on life.
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Anyway back on track, I notice a lot about the car, it was in fact no originally Guards Red, it was Ruby Red Metallic, and it was fully repainted with door jambs. It looks like a late 80s paint job, as some of the clear coat is failed. I find that the passenger fender and door are not original, they've been replaced. Some of the interior is weirdly leather and some is vinyl (original being vinyl). It has a weird radio delete plate, the HVAC totally doesn't work, two tires have nails in them (and they're old!). Despite all the flaws it seems like a nice car.
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As for test driving it, as I was warned by my friend, the seller absolutely doesn't want anyone driving it because it has no tags or insurance. I tell him that's ridiculous and a deal breaker and I'll walk away, he relents saying it's on me if I get pulled over (N.S.S.). Driving it, it was plenty powerful, more than I expect for 236hp, the suspension was pretty good despite the age, and it shifted HORRIBLY. The shifter was totally bluetoothed by age, and I could barely get it into first as a result. I had to sweet talk it but I was able to wrangle it, and find that every (insanely) tall gear worked and I had no major synchro problems.
We get back and I talk to my dad on the phone, I look over some other details, and he told me to go with my gut feeling. I walk into this dinky little office with $6,500 in hand, handing it over and taking the title, which I find out is floated. He goes through the wad of cash telling me I'm $1,500 short. I tell him "No, I'm not. We agreed to $6,500." He disagrees, I panic and hurry up through the DM on Facebook to screenshot that message in case he tries something shady (as I got such a vibe) and delete the message. He admits he was wrong and takes it, since he doesn't have much of a choice considering I have the title in hand. He can't try and take it back, because I could've easily called the police, and with a floated title, and flipping cars (as many as he had) he was definitely breaking several laws...
So I got a 928 now.
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We're still not really sure what we are going to do with it. I want to go all the way with a restoration back to the original color, get original 928 seats (despite that the seats in it are technically correct, they are not on the option codes), and build a custom set of BBS RS in 17" fitment for it.
My dad differs, and wants it to be drive-able, with AC, and to leave it Guards Red, maybe fix up the interior a bit.
Soooo we've had to just ignore that stuff right now and work towards making it drive-able, we differ on the end goal of the car.-
