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Hello all automotive folks here on the forum. This is my first venture into this sub forum. I like what you have done with the place, looks good.
I have an auto situation and would love some advice and opinions.
Background: hubby is a mechanical engineer and has rebuilt about 20 cars in his time, primarily Mustangs and RX-7. Me, I have rebuilt an old VW supper beetle so not foreign to workings of a car. (but anything with more than 3 wires, I let hubby do )
Having told you that info: last month our oldest son (23) decided he just HAD to buy this 1987 924S automatic Porsche. From a lawyer. Yea, it lasted about 3 weeks and the engine is blown......big hole in the side of the block. He doesn't have the money to get a new engine nor do we. So, we are going to part out the car. Adding up the used prices from used parts dealers and such on the internet and even discounting those, we can get him back his money to purchase something else....that is more reliable! Hubby has parted out several cars, so we feel comfortable selling these parts.
Now here is the issue that I need some help with. Where would we go to advertise that we have these parts available? We are on the one Porsche forum we found that has a section for that, but we don't want to ship the transmission and such. We want to find a cheap/free venue to sell these but I am worried about Craig's list, heard some creepy stories about scams and such from that site. Our newspaper charges an arm and a leg to advertise for even a day. Now if this were a mustang or RX-7, we would have the parts sold already, but this is different bird, need to get to a narrower market of people as it is a special sports car....they didn't make very many automatic Porsche's then.
So any thoughts? Any and all are appreciated.
I think the main problem you are going to run into is the 924 is not very collectable so not many people will be do restorations on them and your best bet IMo would be to just sell it whole to a scrap yard instead trying to part it out one piece at a time.
Your background/expertise in cars is really not the main factor in being able to sell what is otherwise a very limited and not very desirable car ... either whole or in parts.
Your best opportunities to part this car out if it has really outstanding donor parts will be to the group of people who own these cars and are trying to keep them on the road as inexpensively as possible.
Your connection to them is through the various Porsche owner's clubs and forums, at whatever cost it takes to be a posting member. You will severely limit your marketplace there (or anywhere else) by not being able/willing to ship the parts you have for sale, which means local pick-up sales only. If you think shipping a trans is difficult, wait until folks want body parts or major interior parts like seats ....
These cars are so low in desirability ... esp the automatic trans cars ... that when I was offered one a few years ago that was in running condition (with some of the common engine cooling problems lurking about, but not overheated ... yet) with a straight body and interior, but had been sitting for a couple of years in a client's backyard ... for FREE ... I passed up the opportunity. Even at the modest cost of towing it away, I would have been underwater on this car so fast and so deep it would have been very painful ... and being in the trade, I was able to buy my parts wholesale and do all my own work at my leisure on the car. They'd already spent many thousands on trying to make the car a reliable weekend driver ... top end motor work, replacement radiator, upgraded components ... at Porsche specialist shops in Denver. The car sat for several more years until another 924 owner wanted the interior and my client gave them the car to haul away. To put this in perspective, this is but one of several cars I've known of in the same situation over the last few years.
Unless you are in the Porsche car wrecking business and have the time to deal with local customers needing just an item or two ... you are looking at a hobby project which will unlikely be worth your time. As above, you'll be better off for your efforts to simply sell the car to the highest offer to somebody in the business. Don't expect a lot of money for it after the costs of towing it away.
Well, thanks anyway but it looks like we are advertising in the right spots, although few, already because we have sold several parts off already and getting new inquiries ever day so all is good.
Porsche is a reputable make of car...but not all perfect.
The 924 or 928 were DOGS and only served a specific clientile of buyers.
Other car makers have had their share of DOGS without any exception.
VW from Germany also had a few DOGS in their lineup in yrs past.
The VW 411 and 412 with auto trans and AC was the pitts.
Like a poster said...limited desirability makes it a lost cause today...wait 30 yrs and the value of the parts will rise. Park it in some barn and wait.
Steve
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Yea, it lasted about 3 weeks and the engine is blown......big hole in the side of the block. He doesn't have the money to get a new engine nor do we. So, we are going to part out the car. Adding up the used prices from used parts dealers and such on the internet and even discounting those, we can get him back his money to purchase something else....that is more reliable! Hubby has parted out several cars, so we feel comfortable selling these parts. 
