Shop, click, and find a car online, whatever style dot com. Car buying made easy. Yay, what fun! Might as well look for one with an automatic transmission while I’m at it.
Whatever happened to scanning the classifieds in the Sunday morning paper with that intangible sense of adventure and anticipation that comes with finding what you are certain could be just the right car in just the right condition based only on a brief description and local phone number?
Then of course, there’s Craigslist, a target-rich environment full of shelter-pet 944’s hoping for someone new to adopt them. Shopping on the big CL is infinitely more fun, often full of mystery, sometimes usually fraught with peril excitement; and the indirect result of the red 1983 944 currently residing in my garage. It went something like this:
The Find
One winters’ day and a phone call…
"I’m calling about the 944 you have listed on Craigslist."
"Oh yeah, sorry, it’s already gone."
"Oh, that’s too bad; I was looking for a project car like yours."
"My buddy has one that he might want to sell, it’s in a lot better shape than mine but I don’t think he’s advertised it yet. I can give you his number."
“Would he mind if I called him?”
"I don’t know, just tell him I gave you his number if he gets upset…"
The Introduction
A day or two and one more phone call later…
"A friend of yours said you may have a 944 for sale."
“Yeah, yeah, I think so, I just haven’t advertised it.”
"What kind of shape is it in?"
"Good, I’m still driving it all the time."
"It’s a 1983 right?"
"Yeah, yeah, something like that."
"Why are you selling it?"
"My mom wants it out of the driveway."
The First Meeting
Another day or two later…
"Yup, that is a 944. Can we start it?"
"Yeah, no problem, I shoveled the snow out around the driver’s door, so you can open it and get in."
"Great, thank you. How about driving it?"
"You would have to shovel the driveway first."
"So it seems." "The interior is pretty bad. Where is the rest of it?"
"Yeah, it could use some work, but I think it’s all here. You just need some seat covers."
"I’ll give you $xxxx for it but I have to drive it first. It really is drivable right?"
"Yeah no problem, I’ll get it over to my shop for you to drive it. You can meet me there later this week. I have a hoist and everything."
My friend who came with me to look at the car provides me with advice:
Friend: "Are you serious? It’s a rat."
Me: "It’s Guards Red with a tan interior, and it runs."
Friend: "It was Guards Red, now it’s just looks severely sunburned. What’s with the interior? I’ve seen cleaner kennels at the animal shelter."
Me: "It has sport seats and a sport steering wheel. Those are cool and hard to find. You are so negative"
Friend: "I’ll just start writing out the blank checks…."
The First Drive: (At his "shop")
Several days later…
"It won’t start. So the battery has an issue?"
“Yeah, yeah, I have to jump it to start it. I think the battery is dead but maybe not.”
"What about a license plate?"
"Oh yeah, I have one, I’ll put it on. Take the jump box with you just in case."
10 minutes later
"I had to use the jump box in the middle of traffic on Grand River Ave. Did you know the battery cable wasn’t tight?"
"Probably, sorry about that. Runs great doesn’t it! It’s really fast. I hate to get rid of it!"
"You said you have a clear title, right?"
"Yeah, yeah. No worries."
Another 10 minutes later, car on the hoist
"Both front ball joints need to be replaced. So does all of the control arm bushings, the power steering is leaking, the A/C compressor isn’t working, power windows, engine mounts…"
"Yeah, probably, you seem like you know something about these cars."
“I’ve looked at a few.”
“But it’s not even rusty, and it still has the original catalytic converter! It wouldn’t start but I fixed that too, some kind of sensor."
"Any chance you have a real set of keys for the car instead of these, what are these, house keys?"
“Nah man, sorry, that’s all it came with. Here’s the title, see, green title no problem.”
"Why does it say safety inspection required prior to registration…."
The fraught 944 in question.
Whatever happened to buying the best example you can find? I wanted a project; I already have a nice driver 944 that I intend to keep as original as possible.
Besides, once I checked the option codes on the red rat, I discovered some fun stuff like the M456 Sport suspension and an M220 limited-slip transaxle that paired together rather nicely with the manual sport seats, manual sunroof, and curb weight of only 2,660 pounds.
The non-944.
It’s a perfect candidate for a factory-style lightweight conversion. Oh yeah, did I mention, I also found a 1988 924S a few miles from my house? Well, yeah, it was on Craigslist under the description of "parting out." It was listed as a 944 with a single picture of the car sitting forlornly in the snow next to a barn.
Me: "Did you know this is a 924S not a 944?"
Seller: "No, I don’t know much about these cars. I need to get it out of here, we’re selling the property."
Me: "I don’t really want the entire car, can I have just the doors."
Seller: "I would really rather sell the whole car but I guess that would be OK."
Me: "Great, thank you, I’ll be back with tools as soon as my son gets home."
Now the red rat 944 also has manual window regulators and turbo cup style manual mirrors (less weight and way, way, way, cooler looking) courtesy of the 924S doors.
Craigslist, it’s car buying made exciting.
