Hi hello! I picked up a new friend and project this weekend.
I had been noodling around with the idea of picking up a project car for, well, a long time. I have really wanted to learn how to get more hands-on with my car, and I want something a little older. Something I can really tinker with. So, I decided to start saving up my pennies and put them towards a project car. But what would I even get? I wasn't really sure.
I've always been really excited about NA Miatas. They are cute and you can do a ton of stuff with them. I test drove one and, well, it kind of felt like a death trap. Maybe it was the specific miata I was test driving. Nevertheless, death felt imminent.
So, no Miata. That's fine.
I decided to look at cars that met two critieria: late-80s to early-90s and pop up headlights. I really love the way they look and how they humanize the car. I'm a girl and, well, I love cute things. My cars have always had names, genders, personalities, etc. I immediately went to the Rx-7 and the 240sx s13, but decided against them as a halfway decent one was out of my price range. I looked at e30s and, while I loved them, they were missing the pop up headlights I really liked. I even test drove a few cars that were out of the scope of what I wanted but in my budget (99 bmw z3, 01 Audi TT, and an 02 bmw 540i). But none of them really gripped me. Finally, I test drove a car that had been on my radar and kind of immediately fell in love with it.
Let me preface this by saying a few things about how I drive: I am not a fast driver. I don't like to go super over the speed limit. I don't like to beat on my cars and dump the clutch and do burnouts and stuff. My cars have personalities, like I said, so I don't like to do things that would jeopardize them or myself.
So, I bought a 1986 Porsche 944.
I have always loved Porsches. I have always drooled over literally every single one I've seen. They were always kind of unattainable goal before I learned more about the 944. Now, I realize the 944 isn't considered a true Porsche by the standards of many car people. And, well, I don't really care. If there's one thing I learned from bagging my Focus ST, it's that you can't worry about what other car people think.
So I bought this thing. And, wow, I love it.
The guy who had it before me had had it for about six months or so. He had no idea what to do with it or what it really was, so he had driven it maybe 300-400 miles in that time. He bought it from the second owner, who had had it for a good portion of it's life and knew everything about it. The odometer broke last year at 136,xxx miles, but based on the history from the previous owner, we are guessing it's probably closer to 138,xxx. The only glaringly obvious flaws are this: the windshield is cracked, there are two dents in one of the front panels on the hood, the front seat is kind of shit, and the radio is busted.
All in all, it didn't seem like a ton of work was needed. It doesn't rattle or shake or have a tantrum at high speeds. The paint and clear coat are in wonderful condition. We haven't seen hardly any rust on it (yet). Aside from having some wheels off of another Porsche, it's pretty much bone stock. (We have the phone dial wheels, too.)
As for what comes next, I'm not really sure. I'm going to get a new windshield installed and I'm going to put in a new single DIN radio and HID headlights. I'm also going to look into getting the timing belt changed. I don't believe it's had one changed in a while, and I'm going to go ahead and assume it's never happened. I don't have any proof of that, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Eventually, I'll look at getting the seats reupholstered. I assume it's on the original suspension, so I'll probably look into putting it on coils just to update that. I don't know if I'll slam it just yet. Right now, I'm kind of just excited to have something to fix, if that makes sense.
Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!
I had been noodling around with the idea of picking up a project car for, well, a long time. I have really wanted to learn how to get more hands-on with my car, and I want something a little older. Something I can really tinker with. So, I decided to start saving up my pennies and put them towards a project car. But what would I even get? I wasn't really sure.
I've always been really excited about NA Miatas. They are cute and you can do a ton of stuff with them. I test drove one and, well, it kind of felt like a death trap. Maybe it was the specific miata I was test driving. Nevertheless, death felt imminent.
So, no Miata. That's fine.
I decided to look at cars that met two critieria: late-80s to early-90s and pop up headlights. I really love the way they look and how they humanize the car. I'm a girl and, well, I love cute things. My cars have always had names, genders, personalities, etc. I immediately went to the Rx-7 and the 240sx s13, but decided against them as a halfway decent one was out of my price range. I looked at e30s and, while I loved them, they were missing the pop up headlights I really liked. I even test drove a few cars that were out of the scope of what I wanted but in my budget (99 bmw z3, 01 Audi TT, and an 02 bmw 540i). But none of them really gripped me. Finally, I test drove a car that had been on my radar and kind of immediately fell in love with it.
Let me preface this by saying a few things about how I drive: I am not a fast driver. I don't like to go super over the speed limit. I don't like to beat on my cars and dump the clutch and do burnouts and stuff. My cars have personalities, like I said, so I don't like to do things that would jeopardize them or myself.
So, I bought a 1986 Porsche 944.
I have always loved Porsches. I have always drooled over literally every single one I've seen. They were always kind of unattainable goal before I learned more about the 944. Now, I realize the 944 isn't considered a true Porsche by the standards of many car people. And, well, I don't really care. If there's one thing I learned from bagging my Focus ST, it's that you can't worry about what other car people think.
So I bought this thing. And, wow, I love it.
The guy who had it before me had had it for about six months or so. He had no idea what to do with it or what it really was, so he had driven it maybe 300-400 miles in that time. He bought it from the second owner, who had had it for a good portion of it's life and knew everything about it. The odometer broke last year at 136,xxx miles, but based on the history from the previous owner, we are guessing it's probably closer to 138,xxx. The only glaringly obvious flaws are this: the windshield is cracked, there are two dents in one of the front panels on the hood, the front seat is kind of shit, and the radio is busted.
All in all, it didn't seem like a ton of work was needed. It doesn't rattle or shake or have a tantrum at high speeds. The paint and clear coat are in wonderful condition. We haven't seen hardly any rust on it (yet). Aside from having some wheels off of another Porsche, it's pretty much bone stock. (We have the phone dial wheels, too.)
As for what comes next, I'm not really sure. I'm going to get a new windshield installed and I'm going to put in a new single DIN radio and HID headlights. I'm also going to look into getting the timing belt changed. I don't believe it's had one changed in a while, and I'm going to go ahead and assume it's never happened. I don't have any proof of that, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. Eventually, I'll look at getting the seats reupholstered. I assume it's on the original suspension, so I'll probably look into putting it on coils just to update that. I don't know if I'll slam it just yet. Right now, I'm kind of just excited to have something to fix, if that makes sense.
Any advice or info would be greatly appreciated. Thanks for reading!
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