Some holiday inspiration (refurb chat)

[Gareth135R]

I've just come back from holiday where I picked up a Porsche mag for poolside relaxation!
I can't even remember the title of the mag but...

I found a very interesting article of a guy in HK who was looking for a 911.
Briefly, he found a 993 targa...little tatty (cracked leather seats, yellow stained headlights etc) but mechanically sound car. He then proceeded to refurb the car back to his ideal spec. Retrimmed the seats, gear gaitor, dash, door cards, new lights, changed the wheels for turbo wheels, new exhaust and a respray. There was no mention of cost but now he's practically got a new 993.

So, got me thinking about 964s. Purely as an example:

http://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/p...

What do you think the estimated pot of money you'd need to do similar refurbishment to the article?

On a side note, I'm picking up a 996 C4S this weekend....

TIA
Gareth

[mudy]

No interior shots of that 964 so hard to judge full condition, but at 18 grand for a targa, one would hope that it weren't tatty in any way - perhaps I'm missing the point?

[mr pg]

£18k for a targa will mean it's top notch (my 150k miler sold for half that), and won't need much spending on it. If you want a project car, I'd look elsewhere.

[Gareth135R]

OK, perhaps a poor example but forget that actual car...

[mudy]

(cracked leather seats, yellow stained headlights etc) but mechanically sound car. He then proceeded to refurb the car back to his ideal spec. Retrimmed the seats, gear gaitor, dash, door cards, new lights, changed the wheels for turbo wheels, new exhaust and a respray. There was no mention of cost but now he's practically got a new 993.



Based on that - retrimmed seats at Southbound would be circa £750 a seat in leather - gear gaitor, dash, doorcards another £1,200

wheels and exhaust another £2,000 plus

Respray - anything up to £15,000 depending upon how extensive, but let's say £8,000 amongst friends

So that's very little change from £13,000

may as well buy the car you want in the first place

[marky911]

Yep, good quick summary mudy.

The golden rule in classic cars is that unless you really enjoy doing it, or you are in the trade, let someone else do the restoration and buy a restored car.

You never make back the costs unless it's a rare car that is rocketing in value, but betting on rising values is never the best approach to something.

A 2.4S may have made sense a few years ago. A 993 targa, not so much.