Wasn't there an '05 GTO for sale here right now that needs just a little TLC to be minty nice?
Another option could be the Lexus SCx00 cars. The SC400 with a manual swap and some kind of serious exhaust system just to make it sound nice would be a good way to go.
Giant Purple Snorklewacker wrote: If you are going to buy a Porsche... pick a normal one. Not the bastard love child of some dated 80s GT beauty queen and an exclusive parts mogul. This is the Porsche that shows up in your mind when someone says "I bought a vintage Porsche". Don't fight it.
Amen. The front engined Porsches have zero appeal.
Except maybe a Cayenne. Wouldn't kick one of those out of bed.
http://newhaven.craigslist.org/cto/4718579881.html
'79 928 350 sbc 
NMNA
http://lasalle.craigslist.org/cto/4721453394.html
Lots of fear by reputation. I live with one. I bought an 86 928s for Mrs. Oldtin. I love driving it. It truly is an awesome GT car. Did a fly/drive from San Francisco back to Chicago. Nice drive and it just ate up the miles. Parts from the P-car dealer are spendy, but there are aftermarket options that make it pretty reasonable (i.e. heater blower motor from porsche = $700. Slight mod to the housing and a $115 siemens blower motor will work just fine, or new ignition key from porsche $350 or mail order from australia for $35). Timing belt parts are about $250 every 4 years. Ford mustang 24lb injectors instead of P-car injectors... A lot of the electrical switches are rebuildable and can come back to life with a little cleaning or interchangeable with other 80s porsches. Also for a lot of the wiring issues they are often grounding issues or seals by the a/c evaporator deteriorate and water drips on the main wiring board in the passenger footwell. A little cleaning and sealing and off you go. Biggest maintenance issue we've had was a leaking/failing internal oil seal. Had to drop the sump (which requires raising the engine a couple of inches). The Rennlist board is really good for support of the sharks with a couple of vendors regularly chiming in.
85% of them are automatics - it's a mercedes unit, so parts are available outside of porsche. 5spd cars actually have a different chassis than autos - transmission swaps are not straightforward. Pre S models are non-interference engines. Early euro cars are sorta interference engines and S and beyond are definitely interference engines. Lot's of engine issues are vacuum issues. Lots of hoses under the manifold that can crack and leak. There's also some fuel lines under the hood that can cause fueling issues. A few bucks in hoses often fixes the issues. The engines are pretty durable if the timing belt is changed - although the whole tensioning system is a little flaky on the 4 cam cars. For the auto cars one of the biggest engine killers is making sure the flex plate doesn't shift. There's an $80 fix. People instantly start in with LS swap, but an S makes over 300hp, so at least in my mind, lots of aggravation in the swap for not much gain in power
This is GRM man - people seek out ratty alfas and biturbos around here. A 928 is not that scary.
Check out my profile to see the 928 track car I built with my dad. I find it's not too tough to work on mechanically and extremely reliable after having removed 18 miles of wire and vacuum line.
golfduke wrote: There is more Volkswagen character to them than actual porsche. They aren't the pristine driving machines that the marquee typically values,
This is extremely not true. There was a reason that big wig Porsche execs drove 928s and not 911s for most of 15 years. I can't think of a '78 VW that drives anything remotely like a '78 928. Nothing did. Ditto for 1995.
And on the ergos and headroom thing, that isn't true, either. I am 6' and hefty and I tracked mine. I fit into it perfectly well with a helmet on and my head wasn't far back enough or leaned rightwards over the centerline of the car enough to be near the rear ac.
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