Sounds like you’re not looking for the ultimate best handling Porsche, reliability and mileage matter…so how bout a Boxster? The older ones have to be depreciating nicely, and the way these types of cars get driven, a well sorted low mileage one should be easy to find.
Unless the real reason you want a 911 is, well, the badging.
I’m not a porsche guy, but the Whale-tail turbos make me weak in the knees.
/me wanders back over to the Small Block Chebby.
Not sure what you mean about the badging. The only reasons I want another one is because I like the way they drive, and I like they way they look.
I like the Boxster, but I won’t have one until I win the lottery and get a bunch of other cars. I’d have a restored 914 before a Boxster. Just the way I am.
As for the ‘whale tail’… Eh. Too poseur-y. The ones on the Turbo are there for a reason – the turbo sticks up above the deck lid and the spoiler’s base encloses it. The Carerra whale tail is just there for looks. Seriously my non-tail-equipped 911SC went plenty fast and never came unstuck. The tails are there for show. I just like the smooth, classic drape of the unadorned deck. If it had a tail, I’d feel like people were looking at me. (Which is why I wouldn’t like a red one. White is nice. Though I must confess I’d go for Rally Yellow in a 993. It’s too good a colour to worry about people looking.)
I just wasn’t sure if you wanted a 911 over any of the other models Porsche made over the years. (944-itis, that is, the 944 was a really good car, but suffered because the ‘purists’ didn’t like the fact is wasn’t a 911.)
I guess without knowing your desired budget, it’s hard to tell the difference between a ‘new expensive’ Porsche and an older one.
When I look at an older car, I don’t automatically think ‘It doesn’t need that bit hanging off the side there’, I think ‘that was an iconographic statement that represented the car.’ The whale tail fits that bill to me. The reality is, TONS of them were made that never needed that aeroodynamic addition, but when I think about 80’s Porches, the whale tail comes to mind.
That has a magnesium engine block, right? A friend of mine somehow managed to catch his on fire.
I think so. I’ve seen a VW Bug engine after a fire. And the pool of melted magnesium that went along with it.
My first one was a 924. Perfectly good car. If it had been sold as a VW or an Audi, it would be a classic.
Heh. Since I’m not actually going to buy one anytime soon, I don’t actually have a ‘desired budget’. Basically, I’m assuming I have a decent job (or the videography starts paying off very well) and I have enough disposable income to consider getting a toy. So price is not the main factor. Instead, it’s classic vs. semi-classic vs. future-classic.
Wouldn’t the magnesium just burn?
That’s what the mechanic said it was. I seem to recall an experiment in high school chemistry where the teacher tossed a small chunk of magnesium in a bowl of water and it went off like a oversized sparkler. It may have been some aluminum from another part of the engine. Perhaps the cylinder head?
I’ll bet that was sodium your teacher tossed in water. The magnesium demonstration would have been used with a sliver of magnesium tape over a bunsen burner.
Would magnesium melt before lighting? I dunno, it’s got to have enough oxygen and heat to react.
That would have been sodium.
Following up on this one again…
I just saw a paragraph in last month’s Classic Motorsports magazine that noted a 1973 Porsche 911T sold at auction for a little over $13,000. It said that next year that price might look like a bargain.
that’s pretty much a given. As cars age, the depreication curve bottoms out and they start to appreciate again. In a car that’s 20+ years old, it’s either been coverd and never driven, or every wearable item’s been replaced.
I’m still curious about your thoughts on the 964. 
Also, your take on the C2 vs C4 platform.
Would you keep a one of these as your daily driver?
Also, I know it’s not all about 0-60 numbers but I wondered… you can get a brand new Audi S4 with amazing performance, luxury and daily utility (particularly in the wagon varian) for less than some more recent used 911’s. Again, not the same but close enough for rock and roll, no?
Of course, the purist in me tells me that “there is no substitute”. 
After watching MST3K, you’d think I’d know it was sodium. Sorry, it was over 25 years ago!
Walk down THAT path and you fall into the “Well you can buy a 6 year old Camaro, throw $4500 in mods and blow everything away for less than $10,000” arguement.
Hey now! I’m no philistine… 
I scratched my brain some more and I’m thinking it was indeed magnesium. The teacher was talking about what a lightweight metal it was and someone asked about building ships out of it. He took a piece about the size of a large pea and tossed it into a bowl of water. The piece ignited (very brightly) and whizzed around the bowl until it completely dissolved. He then said, “That’s why not.”
I haven’t looked into those since they were new. (Long time!) Generally with the stuff I collect, I like to get the more mundane versions. I like things simple, and I like the idea of having an ‘everyman’s [thing]’. For example, I could have gotten a Ruger Mk.II with a long, heavy, fluted barrel, adjustable trigger, and sights that are adjustable in increments smaller than a gnat’s whisker. Instead I got the bottom-of-the-line version with a 4" barrel and non-adjustable sights. The mundanity is part of the appeal. So it is with cars. My MGB will be restored one day, and what will I have? One of half-a-million. But I like the way it looks.
There are lots of cars that wil outperform a 911 – especially an older one. But I like the shape. I like the sound of the engine behind.
Another thing is that anyone can go to an Audi dealer and buy a new S4. To get a 911 (or like-new MGB, for that matter), you have to decide which one you want. Then you have to find one. Then you have to weigh the purchase price vs. the amount of restoration you want to do. Buying a used car (a neato-mosquito used car, as opposed to basic transportation) seems to me to be a much more personal thing that just buying a new car off of a lot. Fortunately for me, my tastes run toward the mundane. Mundane is less expensive than exotic! (Speaking of exotics, Ferrari 308 prices are rising. Classic Motorsports reported on one that sold for $36,000 at auction. They said the buyer paid too much. But it indicates that people are going to be paying more for them. Better get one soon!)
[off topic]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sodium[/off topic]
Just fighting ignorance here. (That and Parts of my 98 Corvette are Magnesium.)
From the magnesium page:
The page also says pure sodium must be stored in oil. The teacher pulled this piece out of a test tube that was plugged with a rubber stopper.