How To Buy An Air Cooled Porsche: 12 Tips For Buying Your First Air Cooled 911

what's up guys will here with the enthusiast my youtube channel centering on giving you a driver's eye view of what it's like to own and live with air cooled porsches on this channel i interview porsche 911 owners and i also document my journey in owning my two air cooled porsches my 993 and my 86 3.2 coupe i reveal the good the bad and the ugly so if you're into air-cooled porsches i urge you to subscribe that brings me to today's topic 12 tips for first time air cooled porsche buyers over the past several months i've gotten tons of messages in the comments on videos and via instagram asking me for my advice insight thought processes on various purchase decisions that some of you guys out there are trying to make so you know what i thought was hey why don't i do a video just sharing tips that i've picked up over time in buying and owning these cars before i get into the tips though i would like to give you a disclaimer i am by no means an expert on air cooled porsche 911s like i love the cars i own two of them i'm actually looking for two cars now i'll get into that in a moment there are plenty of folks out there that have been living and breathing these cars their entire lives so if you're one of those people and you disagree with me or agree with me or feel like you can add to this video in terms of tips for guys and gals looking to buy their first air cooled porsche please leave your insight in the comments you know feel free to beat up on me i'm good with that okay tip number one for buying your first air cooled porsche 911 define your goals this sounds very very simple and straightforward and basic but i will say this it is very easy to get excited about the idea of buying an air cooled porsche and just diving right in and you couple that with the fact that the market is pretty uh crazy right now and good solid cars are limited you might find yourself jumping into something that may not exactly match what it is you're hoping to accomplish long term with your air cooled porsche i made this mistake uh when i had a 997 turbo i bought the car in a hurry i got really enamored with it i didn't think through what the long-term ownership experience was going to be like for me and i ended up really regretting it i had to sell the car lost so you know for me as i indicated earlier i am looking forward to more air-cooled porsches and what i'm doing is taking a more intentional slower approach to picking these cars up so you know when you think about your goals you got to ask yourself hey am i like a concourse person that really enjoys detailing my cars and you know is is top-notch condition important to me do i want perfect paint or you know on the other hand are you somebody who wants to drive the hell out of the car you pick up you know are you cool with some patina so these are the kinds of things you want to ask yourself before you really begin your journey because like i said it's really easy just to start to peruse the forums and snatch anything that comes up tip number two for buying your first air cooled porsche 911 do your research again a pretty basic tip but i will say this it is well worth your time to spend many hours on forums in air cooled porsche facebook groups poking around and just monitoring conversations and posts about strong points and weak points of the various air cooled porsche 911 generations it seems like you know each generation has its issues i'm not going to get into the specific issues of each generation now there's plenty of good information out there in fact what i'll do is i'll throw a couple links down in the description to some wonderful articles that kind of go through each generation of air cooled porsche 911 and outline the good the bad the ugly the kind of things you'll want to look for in terms of preventative maintenance that's been done on any car you're evaluating but the bottom line is that it's better to really know what you're dealing with and you know don't be frightened if a car does have issues a good ppi will kind of help you understand what it'll cost you to repair so what i'm telling you is definitely look into each generation's strong point and a weak point once you've defined your goals and what generation of air cooled porsche 911 you think you're gonna be pursuing tip number three find an air-cooled portion mechanic local to you in your town either right before or during your search here's why they may not be able to help you during your search but once you get your first aircool porsche 911 trust me you are going to need an air cooled portion mechanic i have used two types of mechanics i really enjoy both i have one who's local to me who's kind of your owner operator old school air cooled mechanic he lets me go into the garage and watch him work and he talks to me about what's going on with my car i also have access to another what i'll call like a porsche performance shop it's a bigger outfit again i'm able to walk through the garage and kind of see what's going on having that air cooled mechanic in your pocket before during and after your search is going to be so critical air cooled is an older technologies i'm sure you know the mechanics who are really proficient with air cooled engines are fewer and further between i don't know that i would trust a porsche dealership with my air cooled porsches i'm sure that they could do the work but i'm sure it would also be expensive and i know that you wouldn't have that kind of transparent access that i have with my air cooled mechanics so just trust me when i say this don't don't don't go jump out there buy your first air cooled porsche 911 ship at home drive at home or maybe find it locally and then start looking around for an air-cooled mechanic it may be that you find yourself in that position i actually did when i bought my 993 i made this mistake i bought the 993 had it shipped in and started to have some issues and had to do some uh some perusing in my local market so it would have been a lot better to have somebody in my pocket another point i'll make is sometimes air cooled mechanics have access to cars that are going to be for sale or they're passively for sale which could help you in your search so that's tip number three tip number four for buying your first air cooled porsche 911 and this one is actually pretty good news and it was a i don't know about as much of a tip as a little bit of encouragement for you but know that these cars are pretty bulletproof once you get them sorted i always had before i got into these cars this perception that hey it's going to be classic it's going to be vintage and i had heard that porsche's porsche 911s have their problems so i always believed that the cars were going to be finicky and problematic on an ongoing basis and you know imagine my surprise after i got through the sorting process which frankly was worse with my 993 than it was with this 3.2 this thing has been freaking bulletproof but once i got through that sorting process i have been able to hammer on these cars over and over and over you know i'll take them on a road rally and and just really drive them in a spirited fashion for two solid days i'll drive up to the mountains hammer on them drive home so just you know know that there may be some short-term financial pain number one in acquiring the car because they're not cheap right now really they're not cheap in general but right now definitely um i think that the market's a little bit crazy and you know they're not exactly inexpensive to have worked on although i've been pretty lucky just know that they're going to be bulletproof once you get absorbed tip number five for buying your first portion know that you're going to have to be patient in this market and i'm gonna give you full disclosure right now man i am not a patient guy like when i'm in the hunt for a car um sometimes i'll leap before i look that's not helpful especially when buying your first air cooled porsche 911 so if you're not well versed in these cars and you don't really understand the nuances and the differences in the generations and that kind of stuff it's it's easy to get hurt uh financially and otherwise so you know this is one of those things where it may take some time i would have cash sitting on the sidelines ready to pounce uh when you have identified what the which car you want and you know you've kind of set the stage and found an air cooled mechanic local to you have that pile of cash sitting aside and be ready to spring but by the same token you know keep your eyes out for good listings on pca or rent list or pelican parts or any number of other channels but just know this may take some time this is not like hey i'm going to run out and find a bmw m3 those are pretty plentiful readily available so just know you're going to be need to be patient i have learned the hard way with other cars that maybe impatience isn't helpful so just take your time and the right car will find you tip number six for first time air cooled porsche 911 buyers be aware that you are likely going to have to buy your first air cooled porsche at a distance i don't know how experienced you might be with this but i do know that for me it can create some anxiety uh the idea of parting with 40 60 80 000 sending that to some stranger and waiting for a car to appear on a trailer in front of my house hoping that it's going to be what was described to me so you know there is a way of protecting yourself with this but if if you're really if you're starting to look for your first air cooled porsche just know that um depending on where you live you may have to have the car shipped and you may be dealing with a seller at a distance a pre-purchase inspection which i'll get into in just a few minutes is going to be absolutely crucial uh it's a it's going to be a big part of your process to get some peace of mind around this i would also say contact your bank ask them for some advice about how to safely as safely as possible do a wire transfer to a seller and i would also start to shop around for transport services there are a lot of great car shippers around the united states and you know you can easily go to one of the forums one of the air cooled porsche forums and asked the folks there what kind of experience they've had and they might even be able to give you a referral but the bottom line is if you're really going to do this and you're looking for a car that's going to meet your criteria be prepared to buy this thing from a distance and do it in a way that can protect yourself so ppi contact your bank and make sure you find a reputable shipper tip number seven for buying your first air cooled porsche 911 and this is going to be a little bit odd you're going to need to balance your patience with a sense of urgency i touched on this earlier man have your financing set up so that you can do a deal very very quickly what i'm finding um out there right now is that anytime a really hot car comes on it gets sold like that there was a really cool looking 993 in the pca classifieds the other day it was a driver quality white car had some tasteful mods to it done to it it was 55 000 it went up it was it appeared in the morning and by the evening it was gone it was sold so you know on the one hand you don't want to leap before you look as you're perusing and figuring out exactly what kind of cool porsche 911 you want but by the same token i don't know that you can really dilly dally and you know waste a lot of time when something does come on a tip that i'll give you around this is look you know you need to obviously like i said have your financing set up but also have some means of getting peace of mind to that you can at least secure the car so think about like a low dollar deposit to get right at first refusal reach out contact the seller have that conversation very very quickly and offer to put a refundable deposit down just to hold the car so you can schedule the ppi again um when you you know when you see a good car you're not the only one who's going after it trust me when i say that so you know you need to think that through and be prepared to jump but also to not jump too quickly tip number eight for first time air cooled porsche 911 buyers and this one's really really important and it's also nuanced you know and i'm not this is not original to me by the way like you're going to hear this from other folks who are seasoned in the community but as much as you are buying the car you were also buying the seller i will just say that i am still in contact with both of the gentlemen that i bought my air cooled porsches from we text often it's almost like they passed the cars along to me and that became apparent their their affinity for the cars that i ended up buying became apparent in the first conversations that i had with these sellers you're gonna see a car you want you're gonna reach out to the um to the seller uh you're gonna kind of get a feel for do they seem honest i mean that's car buying 101 do they seem like they're connected to the car are they really eager to get out from under it how long have they owned the car is another question you want to ask yourself you know is this a flip situation which isn't necessarily always something to run away from or is this a long-term owner kind of treasured 911 situation where you know you can just tell the car's been well cared for um for me i know if i buy a car and don't walk away feeling great about the seller even if i've done my due diligence there's just something there that just it doesn't sit right with me that that's that's just me you may be different than i am but i want to feel like i have a connection with the car in the purchase experience and i want to feel really really good about the seller so definitely make sure that you feel good about the seller just like you feel good about the car okay tip number nine for first time air cooled porsche 911 buyers and if you don't know this one you may want to fall back and do some basic research on like vintage car buying but get a pre-purchased inspection before you buy an air cooled porsche 911 it is just too easy to get excited about a car to get excited about the cellar to kind of build this vision in your mind of what the car is going to be and just kind of look the other way and trust too much a ppi is not necessarily going to be a go no-go decision right a pre-purchase inspection can reveal to you a lot about the car i mean you know there are certain non-starters for me like rust i just can't get past that uh compression and leak down test to understand engine health that's a very important one because rebuilds can get expensive so you know there are a lot of nuances that go into a pre-purchase inspection that can inform you on hey i'm gonna buy this car and it's gonna cost me another two thousand dollars after i take delivery of it and i'm okay with that or hey it's gonna cost me another two grand and i'm gonna ask the seller to subtract that from the selling price so just get that pre-purchase inspection scheduled in my experience what i've done before is once i kind of get down the path of identifying a car and having an initial conversation with the seller and having a deal in principle in place i will ask uh for a couple of recommendations of air-cooled shops uh in in the local area to the seller and then i'll reach out to them and i'll i want to know a couple things i want to understand a how much the pre-purchase inspection is but b what am i getting for that am i going to get a written report or am i going to get some old school guy that gets on the phone with me and just says hey this looks great i prefer to get as much information as possible a lot of shops will give you like a robust kind of checklist they'll shoot video of the underside of the car and make points of what what they're seeing some take pictures the compression and leak down test i touched on earlier that's going to give you a sense for the engine health it's going to be probably in my experience i've found the compression and leakdown test is not included in their you know kind of standard issue ppi it's worth paying up for i think because a rebuild can be like 10 or 20 000 that's a nasty mistake so that ppi is going to reveal that information to you another kind of uh tip that i'd give you is find out if the shop has worked on that specific car before i have mixed emotions on that on the one hand you know it's good that they would know the car because you feel like hey the car has been taken care of the owner has put money into it and had it repaired or maintained at this shop but on the other hand you kind of got to say hey does my seller have an inside relationship with this shop who will you know kind of look the other way on certain issues and tell me the buyer who they don't know from adam that oh the car is great when in fact maybe there's a couple of issues so you got to ask yourself like what is your risk tolerance for this bottom line is this do your research on what pre-purchase inspections should look like for each generation of air cooled porsche 911 and get it done tip number 10 for first time air-cooled porsche 911 buyers and i found this to be true as unpleasant as it is set aside five to ten percent of the total purchase price of your first aircool porsche for preventative maintenance and repairs and deferred maintenance items um you know i've talked to you a little bit about what i've done like the pre-purchase inspection buying the cellar feeling good about the car maybe you fly out and take a look at the car and drive it home maybe the car is local to you but in my experience the car is going to need something i'm going to be honest with you i can't really remember what i had to do with this car i think initially i might have had to do plugs or there was just a couple things that had to be done to it once i did it it's been sorted my 993 was a different story i kept running into gremlins i've done some videos about this by the way so definitely you can look through the channel and see but you know i've had to deal with sensors i had to take the engine out and have a have a reseal done it felt like it was one thing after another for a period of time and i'll tell you i think i spent more than 10 of my purchase price on all the repairs but the bottom line is five to ten percent of the total purchase price set aside for maintenance and repairs and oh by the way you're going to pick the car up and you're going to start to say hey listen it's got the stock steering wheel i think maybe i want to put a prototypo in here or man i like the 915 gearbox but it could be even better with a weevo classic shifter or maybe hey like i want to put some new suspension on the car and on and on and on it goes so the bottom line is don't sit there and think that it's just going to stop once you buy the car set aside some more cash you'll be good tip number 11 for first time air cool porsche 911 buyers uh and this is just the case for me and maybe i'd like to hear in the comments if this one ties or if this one relates to you as well once you have you know bought your first air cool portion 911 spent the money to get it sorted and modded start saving your money for your second one because i know for me like i couldn't stop with one i own two as i've shared with you i've got the 86 and the 993 i'm currently looking for like a 73 911 t long hood i'm also kind of poking around for a 964 perhaps in a killer color by the way if you know of either of those two cars for sale hit me up would love to hear from you uh but the bottom line is these cars grow on you they get in your soul and you're gonna want more than one so i hope you find yourself in the position to be able to do that tip number 12 for first-time aircool porsche buyers don't be afraid to ask for help in the community i've shared this in previous videos i have found the air cooled porsche 911 community to be for the most part very positive supportive happy to help happy to network happy to text with you about the cars and any questions you have there are a lot of great online avenues for information right like there's uh the air cooled porsche 911 group on facebook tens of thousands of members there there's rent list with a lot of really great forums on aircool porsches so definitely do your searching before you start to ask basic questions like hey what kind of oil does this car take but you know the last tip i give you is definitely don't be afraid to network and ask guys and gals for advice so there you have it this is you know been my experience again i don't claim to be an expert in these cars i think i have some level of credibility because i have lived with them i have spent money on them i've been around other owners you know i read about them obsessively i monitor classifieds and other auction avenues all the time because you know they really have gotten in my soul so look i hope you've gotten something out of this uh feel free to check out my website ranthusias.com i'm always putting articles up on that site about buying and owning air-cooled porsches and i do hope you decide to subscribe to the channel would love to have you on board really appreciate you checking out the video today and i hope to see you next time [Music]

Channel: Rennthusiast

Views: 27,697

Rating: 4.9366088 out of 5

Keywords: how to buy an air cooled porsche, buying an air cooled porsche, best air cooled porsche 911 to buy, air cooled porsche buy, porsche, 911, air cooled, carrera, porsche 911, air cooled porsche, classic porsche 911, buying a classic porsche 911, buying a classic 911, rennthusiast, porsche 993, porsche 3.2, porsche 3.2 carrera, porsche buying, porsche buying experience, porsche buying guide, porsche buying tips, porsche buying process, porsche buying guide 911, porsche buying advice

Id: 8Bu2CUMX1c0

Length: 20min 38sec (1238 seconds)

Published: Sat Apr 10 2021