Does anyone here have any praise or warning or story about buying a Porsche from Automobile Atlanta?

Are they trustworthy?

Does their service department do good work?

Thank you for sharing any information.

IBTL.

Oh boy.

There has been some negative press about car purchases there a long time ago. I have not seen anything lately. Personally I would be paranoid about any east coast cars. Since your on the west coast, keep an eye on our classifieds and Craigslist. Lots of good deals in so cal. If your not familiar with rust areas, have someone from this forum go with you to check out a car.

You are in SD, a good hunting ground. Look to the east, away from the coast and watch the want ads. I got a great tub out of Escondido, from a auto body shop. It was on Craigslist. Good hunting!

There are a lot of owners on here with lots of friends. These cars come up for sale fairly often. Do you want to share a budget? And maybe what you pine over...A stock 914, a 'GT', 4 or 6 0r even 8 cylinders. So many flavors, what's your poison?

Good answer Steve.
I support Geo @ AA, he is a good OCD Porsche business man and supplies us with 914 parts.
As a 914 buyer it's your responsibility to do a personal inspection by you or a friend before spending money on any FS 914.
Ask our experts for advice, they know just about any 914's on jack stands, running or restored
Tom (just my opinion)

Good answer Steve.
I support Geo @ AA, he is a good OCD Porsche business man and supplies us with 914 parts.
As a 914 buyer it's your responsibility to do a personal inspection by you or a friend before spending money on any FS 914.
Ask our experts for advice, they know just about any 914's on jack stands, running or restored
Tom (just my opinion)

A California blue plate 914 is the best one to purchase as they have lived in a very mild environment with no salted roads. These days, the 914s are so old and commanding so much money, that people are selling 914s that always need a bunch of things done to them. I make comments on BAT all of the time, and urge prospective buyers to send me links so I can review the car before they buy and get disappointed. One can buy a 914 for what they think is an inexpensive price and quickly invest more than the purchase price just to keep it running. We can really not afford to sell 914s any more, as they need everything, and we have way too many customer 914s here, and not enough mechanics!!!!! Please look at some of my youtube videos on how to inspect a 914 to help you in your search, and again anyone who is looking feel more than free to pass by a picture shoot and I will give you my opinion. Phil Owings slid me under my first 914 in June of 1974 to change the right rear bent suspension member on a 600 mile 1.8 and it has been a love affair every since

I have bought parts from AA since the early 80's and have never had a problem. I still buy parts from them and other vendors.

As with any used car, it's on the buyer to validate what they think they're getting. Regardless of where you're buying from, don't assume anything. Get it inspected by someone who knows these cars before parting with your $.
Post pictures here too of anything you're looking at. People here are pretty great at pointing out possible issues, even from afar.

Good luck!

People always need to do their due diligence and not count on a seller to verify condition. It blows my mind how many people think buying on BAT or any other well known dealer, guarantees them a good car.

There is a great thread on ddk-online about a guy taking his early (rust free) 911 into a shop to fix a dime sized rust spot on the front pan and discovering under the paint and bondo that the entire front of the car was cobbled together. $35K later it was solid again.

Any "dealer" sale will come with a price mark up, that is how it works. They have overhead and employees to pay for. A direct purchase might be cheaper but comes with its own set of issues. You might get service, support or a warranty after the sale with one and you might save money and get a 30 30 guarantee with the other. It pays to do your research before hand and ask lots of questions.

It really depends on you and your comfort level. Do you like a net under your tight rope or not.

Keep asking questions here, you will get a wide variety of opinions and some answers.

GL

If there is a next one, it'll be from AA. No doubt I'd know what I was getting. George's videos are excellent. I have no affiliation with AA. Just a happy customer. Also, I had the opportunity to talk with Albert on another matter. Customer service is excellent!



QM

You're in the promised land of dry climate and well kept cars--if you source something from east of the Rockies, chances are it was a car bought from this area of the country anyway. You're better off looking locally within the south western part of CA/AZ/NV... cars come up regularly and if you're patient you can find what you're looking for

Been doing business with AA and knowing George since 1979. He is a straight shooter. Think about the hundreds of 914s he has sold over the last 45 years. Of course some folks may have had unrealistic expectations, and certainly some of those cars did not meet George's expectations. We are talking about a car that has not been produced since 1976. But you can rest assured that George will tell you the good, the bad and the ugly as best he can when selling a car.

Personally, I think George has way to many 914s and he needs to sell me a few.

Did anyone catch the original poster's username?
A bit hopeful methinks...

The budget is tentatively $25k, but this number is based on a few cars I have seen that look good in an online ad. The budget could change if it turns out that I am being unrealistic.

My preference would be a '73 1.7. I am assuming a 1.7 can be had in better condition than a 2.0 for the same money. A '74-5 would be ok too, but I would want to back-date the bumpers.

I am not looking for originality. Matching numbers and rare versions are not important. Condition is important. A car without serious rust history (do they exist?) and collision damage is most important. I have a strong aversion to bondo. The car will be used often and sometimes for long trips, so it should be many miles from the next major repair or breakdown.

I was once a professional mechanic, and have tools and access to equipment of many sorts, so I will be making most repairs myself. I just don't do body work.

There is a car advertised near me right now that I would like to check out, maybe this Sunday. Is there anyone who might be willing to evaluate the car? I would be happy to compensate such a helpful person for their expert opinion.

Thank you Shivers and everyone else for taking the time to respond.

@dr914@autoatlanta.com

George, first thank you for all that you do for the 914 community in not just offering HTF parts, but also your comments here on 914 World and on BaT listings, and your YouTube vids.

However, I feel the need to reply to your comment above: "anyone who is looking feel more than free to pass by a picture shoot and I will give you my opinion."

So ... about 10 or 11 months ago, after about a year of lurking, when I was finally ready to take the plunge and buy my first 914, I called AA and you answered. I explained that I was looking to buy my first 914 which I found offline through a friend of a friend, but needed an expert opinion on it before buying. I offered to pay you to look at pics (since the 914 was in MD) in exchange for your assessment of condition and value.

You said "no need to pay me, just send pics and I'll provide feedback to ensure you don't overpay." Two weeks later I called you to tell you I had all the pics now (went and took them myself as it was not a public online listing) and just needed to know the best way to send them to you. You then proceeded to tell me "there is no way I can provide a value by looking at pics and there's no way I would have told you to send me pics to get an assessment on a 914 - that can only be done by looking at a car in person"

I was crushed.

AA was the first place I went to for an unbiased opinion because I looked up to your expertise and was thrilled when you quickly offered to help a new 914 enthusiast and future owner.

I felt left out to dry ... I was in mid-negotiations. I had the seller let me take his 914 out of the garage to take all of the critical pics for you to assess the value. All for nothing. The seller expected me to buy or move on so he could go to the next buyer in line. I had to quickly scramble to find another alternative to get a value assessment or lose the opportunity to buy.

Just wanted to share that experience. I know AA is busy. Sounds like AA is understaffed (who isn't these days). But what you described above did not play out for me. Not sure why or how that happened (and I'm leaving out some details about how abruptly the call ended for me). Again, I was willing to pay AA for their services and said as much. I would never expect a business to work for free. I understand business models and know they cannot work for free.

Having said that ... I do continue to buy from AA. I actually still recommend AA on Facebook when 914 communities are looking for replacement parts. I still watch all of your vids, but I would hate for another hopeful 914 owner to go through what I went through. That really sucked for me.

Thank you for the advice. I have now watched some of your videos, very informative. Thank you for making them and sharing your knowledge.

It is aspirational.

I missed this when you posted it, there's a handful of us here in San Diego, if you do Facebook we have a 914 San Diego group there too--Happy to go look with you if you can give a heads up and if I can't there's others who'd probably be able to as well...

There’s a 73 2.0 coming up at the Indy Me um auction. I’d find someone experienced to inspect it in person but it looks nice. Shipping adds $$ to your cost but a trip to Indy would be fun.

I've been buying parts from George at AA since the '80's. I've never had anything but good experiences. He's always been willing to work with you on figuring out what you need and dealing with any issues. My fear is that with our 50 year old cars, we're going to lose incredible resources like George, or Rich Bontempi, or my mechanic here in Phoenix, Jack Doverspike. The pool of 914 knowledge is slowly evaporating, be thankful we can still find most of what we need.

Stop looking and buy this car:)

http://www.914world.com/bbs2/index.php?showtopic=359393

Looks like a nice car.

I agree stop what your doing and buy that car before I do.

If you do buy it, pretty please swap the wipers to their correct spots. Drives me nuts.

that is the cleanest nicest 914 for sale under $20k in a long time. There are people in Tx that can confirm it for you , but a lot of work has been done on that car . Its almost 50 years old so dont expect a brand new car. but this one is ready to drive and enjoy.