1979 911 sc

[biopsea]

have been a member here for a while and currently own a 2007 C2S, which i love. have been bitten by the bug, and have been looking for an older air-cooled car. i am not a wrench and therefore want to make sure i do not make a huge mistake. found a 1979 911 sc with 140k miles and just love the look. am a bit concerned though as to the history and care of any car that is 30+ years old. any pearls of wisdom out there?

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[wvicary]

Listen to your gut... if you have concerns about it's history then stay far away. There should be enough good sound examples out there to choose from.

[thorrall]

I had a 1978SC and later on an almost identical grey market 1979SC, both of which I daily drove including winters, the '78 to 130K miles and the '79 to about 180K miles. I bought both around 50K miles so I don't know their histories before that. Other than routine maintenance which I did fairly religiously, I had very few issues with either car.

I did have to rebuild the transmission around 100K miles on each car. That was not too expensive at the time - around $5K for each as I recall, but it would probably be more today. So I would try to find out if the transmission had been rebuilt or get some kind of warranty on it if possible, but if it shifts easily, you probably won't have a problem anytime soon. If not, a good private Porsche specialist should be able to tell whether it's due to something minor like the bearings in the linkage, fairly common, or whether it's internal.

The rear end was getting noisy before I sold the '79 car. I didn't have that repaired so I don't know if that portended anything major or what that might cost.

I had no internal engine problems with either car, although there were some minor external issues from time to time.

Despite being made of "100%" Thyssen steel, I did have some visible rust around the headlights at higher mileages due to trapped dirt, but that's here in salty New England. If I hadn't driven them winters there may have been no issue with that.

[judgejon]

Listen to your gut... if you have concerns about it's history then stay far away. There should be enough good sound examples out there to choose from.

I agree, but this sounds like a great car. I drove my 911SC for 325k miles before selling it. did some engine work, pistons, jackets, etc, at 160k when a main bearing needed to be replaced. approx 12k dollars. At 325k miles engine was tough and strong. Has this car been updated with carrerra tensioners? if yes and the price is good, color agreeable, and interior viable, go for it. If the tensioners are not yet upgraded to the hydrolic carrera type which I think came out in the 84's, then walk away from the car, as the present owner didn't know how to take care of it, or went to a mechanic unfamiliar with Porsche idiosyncrasies which are actually vital to proper maintaining of the car. My 2 cents, fwiw.. Good luck. PS: I loved my 911SC. PS: I love my C4S too. j