Ok, so back to the subject of the thread... The blue 911. Going to see it next weekend and I'd love some advice. The hard part: a PPI is going to be near impossible as the nearest qualified shop is a five hour round trip (!) away from the seller, who is a seven hour round trip from me in the other direction. On the upside, I'm thinking the following:
-The seller has been super with lots of information, pics, all receips for the motor rebuild and other work done. So I have documents for everything since this guy imported the car.
-The seller is a member of the Porsche Club, as am I. We are a small club in a small country, you can't hide here. Seller owns a 996 also, so he's still active in the club.
-Since its an imported US model, I ran a carfax which is clean and verifies the mileage. I have also spoken to the shop that has done all the work on the car here and they were very helpful with information about the work done. His forum posts also support everything he's told me.
-Since I can verify everything that the current owner has repaired and replaced, which is a lot of stuff, it seems like he already taken the major hits for repairs... not least a complete motor rebuild with everything, tires, brakes, caliper rebuilds and hoses, full stainless exhaust with headers, etc. (Read: he already did the major and expensive heavy lifting that a PPI might have revealed if he had done one.)
-His asking price is a bit above other SC's that are cosmetically nicer, but may not have the level of maintenace done to them. To its credit the car is 100% original, OEM Fuchs wheels, virtually rust free. Has a COA and matching numbers (need to verify.) The car has original paint and interior that need help and I see these items as bargaining chips on the price.
All opinions welcome as always.