Looking for some insight from some one that has lived with a 911 as their primary vehicle. Looked at and test drove this one today. What do you guys think of it.


http://honolulu.craigslist.org/oah/cto/1037409962.html

Great year for a Carrera and it seems to be well taken care of.

I drive my 911 daily in the summer months (Utah, snow, salt).

I find them a joy and, like a 914, they tend to fit like a glove with regular use.

I drove my 85 for my daily driver for a couple of years. The only complaint was stop and go traffic is a chore.

Absolutely a great car, I've never had to put $$ into it other than normal maintenance. I've got about 90K on it, runs and drives perfectly.

The car you are looking at looks to be a very nice car at a very good price.

It may be missing the chin spoiler? I'm not sure if they all came with them.

Get a PPI & if it checks out buy it !

Here's mine a week ago , my teenage daughters love driving around town in her.

Looks like a very well preserved 911. Price is surely right. Given "regular" times Id question that price, but times are tuff for sellers. My 911 (73T) is strictly a warm weather driver, something I'm certain you no problems with.

I love the "rev-forever arrogance" of the early cars. Next best thing to a 914-6 !

Little maintenance, runs like stink. Who cares about the lousy "stereo" (why would you listen to it anyway.

Go for it!

I'm am very tempted. AC does not work and I like it when I am stuck in traffic.

The silver over burgandy interior is very cool IMO!

I have a 993 TIP convertible. Its much more comfortable than the 914 and I can get my kids in the back seat. It also has AC and powered everything. The only down side is luggage space. There is less room than the 914 to carry stuff.

I called the seller and told them I would take it!

Good to see my old GT in your avatar

I drove my 78' 911 SC as a daily driver for 12 years

I agree with Greeni about the stop & go. That said I hvae used my 83 for a "seasonal" daily driver in the past. Now if I lived on the islands it would have to share duties with my teener & bike.

Go for it, years from now you'll have great memories of all those drives

You'll love it as a daily driver. I have an 80 and drive it daily with the exception of the snow months of dec-jan-feb. I have about 85k on it and about the only thing it takes from me, besides a big smile, is normal maintenance. It's never left me stranded!

d/d

AWSOME car . The only way i get from A to B is PORSCHE .
87 daily
74/3.2 fuely for FUN

Rtm

uno mas

The more I think about it the more excited I get. Made a deal with the guy for 16K and pick it up next Sat. I'm pretty happy with my decision.

I hope that you made the deal based on a satisfactory PPI.

Find someone that knows thses cars and pay them the $300.00 or so to inspect it for you. Money well spent in my opinion.

These are great cars but they do have issues, and they can be very expensive issues to correct. Get the compression & leakdown done, you will know a lot about the health of your car if nothing else.

Congrats!

I pretty much daily drive my 911. It is of the same vintage as that one as well. Mine is an '84 Carrera. Ergonomically it is a strange vehicle. Things seem to be put in odd places. Like for instance, the mirrors are remotely adjustable by a joystick on the driver door. But unlike other cars with this feature the switch for picking which mirror you are adjusting is on the dash away from the joystick. The same for the wipers. It has wiper control on the stalk coming out of the steering column but for slow speed in misty rain there is a knob on the dash... I have yet to figure out the heat and defrost controls and the AC is a cruel joke. Think of it as someone pointing a blow dryer at you on a hot day. The real joke about that is, I am told mine works better than most.
The engine can pull head studs just as the earlier motors can so I wouldn't go as far as "bulletproof".
All of that said, I love it. If it sounds like I am complaining above I am not. I think of those things as part of the character. Mine has 60K miles on it now. It looks and feels like a new car.

My daily is an 83 Cab, 3.6 backdated to a longhood RS style. A real Bastard. Of course BOTH the car and driver are old and grumpy.

No heat, was gonna fix that last summer but a few car projects got in the way.....so I just wear a bigger/warmer jacket.

I had a DD '89 911 Targa for a number of years; however, the 911 I have now is not a DD.
Great buy based on the pictures. Love the 87-89 911's. Classic Porsches with a rugged engine AND the G50 tranny!
Did the seller make any reps re: engine condition and/or oil leaks? If not, first thing I would do is take it to a good Porsche wrench and have the engine tested for compression/leakdown etc.
Later,

The car was recently serviced. Clutch replaced. Car feels real tight!

Check those fuel lines on the top of the engine. Notorious for cracking and leaking.

I've been daily driving a 911 most of the time since 1970. In my current life the wife and I both commute to work in a 911, an 83 SC or an RS America. This is when I'm not driving the 914 or we are not fighting over who gets to drive the Boxster. We love Porsches.
We both had 87 911's at the same time and the cars were terrific except for the head temperature sender. This issue may be fixed by now but you might think about carrying a spare and the proper tool for replacing it.

Congratulations. Looks like a nicely maintained, all original version, down to the air cleaner.

These are great cars, I've owned an 88 and an 87 which were used as daily drivers. The current 911 is a 97 993 Targa.

The A/C is not very efficient in the 87, but you still have the benefit of the larger dash vents compared to the earlier Carrera, and the G50 and 3.2L are pretty much bullet proof.

They make great DD's. They're inferior track cars but very nice on the streets and good parts donors if they get crashed.
One of my customers said that he was horrified at the $100.00 oil changes at first but after he sold his 911 to buy a new one he realized that his SC had appreciated $3000.00 and during the same period his wife's Mercedes SUV had depreciated 75%.

Its official! My 914 has a sibling. Picked it up today and I'm enjoying getting used to driving it!

Quick question for you guys. When you take one for inspection for a PPI, is a pulled or broken headstud easy to detect? Friend just picked up an SC, sure enough 2 broken headstuds... $8500 later he's up and running again.