[VaSteve]

I looked at 3....

I had gotten my wife to agree to letting me buy one in the Spring of 03. IIRC, all summer it rained and I wanted a Targa. Having never driven one, the wearing down process was more fun than the aspect of searching so I put it on hold until someone at work mentioned their uncle's 912. My wife readily agreed when I brought it up again so the search was on.

I started with a budget of $5000 because I knew someone with an 85 Cab once who bought the car for that amount. I quickly revised my budget.

Having still never drove a 911, I found a Dorki who would let me drive his. My first 911 driving experience was driving Ted's car, which was pretty scary because of the tiny steering wheel and stiff suspension. But he gave me a great lesson in what not to buy based on his SC experience.

I then drove 3 cars:

A 77 with 135K(?) and a bad 1st and 2nd syncro and failing throw out bearing. The guy advertised in Pano that it had been garaged for 20 year and repainted. The guy lived 2 miles down a gravel driveway and the car showed the wear. Basically beat to hell, but I took a 45 min test drive. 30 min up an back the driveway. Pulled well, but with the trans and the million other problems, it was a pass.

An 82 with 89K miles. Seemed to be in pretty good condition except for a banged up rear fender. When I drove it, it pulled poorly (as best as I could tell). Guy claimed it needed a valve adjustment. Turned out to need a top end (full rebuild) Mark Wemple bought it on Ebay for like $3000 less than he had it in the paper.

An 80 wih 150K miles. This one looked nice on the internet. I went to see it in Williamsburg after coordinating for 2 weeks with the owner. I think he was "fixing" stuff as we were negotiating, since it smelled like wet paint inside when I showed up. It had this ill fitting hardtop (guy threw away the folding one) and had multiple other problems my untrained eye could detect. The best was the guy was telling me it was a Euro when I showed up. It wasn't. I passed on this as well and it turned up on Pelican a few months later with an owner that knew what he was getting into.

I raised my seeking price and found a pretty sound one owner car in NC.