I'm just posting because maybe somebody will learn from my mistake.

A friend of mine had a nice car for sale - an '87 924S. It looked great, but it had an interferance engine and he wasn't too good about timing belt maintenance... you know what happened next. I picked it up for $500 (5 bent valves, an easy fix). He moved not too long before then and is having problems finding the paperwork for it.

Anyway, in the meantime I run a carfax report on it.
2/12/87 - car bought new, titled
4/21/90 - salvage title issued
... pretty normal from there but every time it changed hands it's salvage title

Edit: got the callback. He didn't know anything about the salvage part, and I trust him on that. It looks like he's going to file for lost title but I'm not sure what I'll see. Does carfax have wrong information very often? I could see where some repair was made a long time ago (very good skills though). I'm still not sure what to do if it comes back salvage title... moral of the story is to carfax it even when you're sure the car (or truck) hasn't been in an accident!

 

A severe deer hit can give a car salvage title, even though it wasn't a severe wreck. If it runs and drives good, i woulndn't worry about it unless your intent was to sell it, then it makes it hard to sell. Salvage title is based off dollar value rather than type of damage, and varies from state to state. Iowa is something like $3000 damage, and can be quicly reached with all the plastic and crumple parts on the newer vehicles, considering air bags alone make 500 a pop.

 

Haha, well I'm between a rock and a hard place since I only remember it running well (haven't fixed those bent valves yet).

The fact that the accident supposedly happened in 1990, when the car was only 3 years old makes me wonder though. I'm not sure what to believe. On one hand:
-they're bound to be right more often than not
-I do see repaired accident damage up front but I have no idea how it could've totalled the thing at only 3 years old (maybe it's those stupid expensive parts?). It's uni-body construction and there's a straightened crease near the front of those frame rails. From what I've seen, it doesn't take much to do that though.

On the other hand:
-My friend has no idea about any of it and he owned the thing for 6 years; he never saw 'salvage' written on the title anywhere (he's filing for lost title so we can go ahead and wrap things up). From what I understand, Texas titles are pretty clear on when it's salvage.

Can TxDOT or someone at the county office tell me what's going on here? I have tomorrow off and it's sounding like a worthwhile trip to me. This information should come from the final authority - the state.

 

Salvage does not require being totalled in all states, I don't know about Texas, may be worth a call to find out. Like I said before, it is based on a certain dollar anoutn here, so it doesn't have to be totalled to make a salvage title. i buy salvage vehicles at a local auction, and the damage isn't all that s3evere, one we did was a hood, radiator, straighten core support, recharge air and replace condenser, grille, and headlight. That was a 92 Regal, and our cost was only $500, and that was about 3 years ago. Had it been hired done, it would have probably been more like $2000. My mom had bought a 96 Le Sabre that had a deer hit, and the repair was quality, the car had 40,000 on it, but since it had that on it's record, the price was reduced. Never had any trouble until after 200,000 miles on it, and it was an electrical issue.

 

Yep, it's got a salvage title. I'd wonder how somebody could've missed it, but knowing Chris it doesn't surprise me...

Now it's going to be an extra $65 to get it in my name. Still deciding if it's worthwhile to fix it. I'm looking at around close to 400 to get it to run (head work + the usual gaskets you have to remove to get at the head).

 

Despite the title problems, there's a bigger question:

How much can ANY '87 924 be worth? Let's be honest: it may say "Porsche," but it's really an Audi underneath. If you can get it running for not a lot of money, fine. But I wouldn't make a large investment.

 

The 924 has the 95hp Audi engine. The 924S has the 944 engine - the car is identical to a 944 except with narrower fenders and the pre-'85.5 interior.

It's still up in the air right now, I'll probably take the weekend to think it over. If I sell it, I'd be putting more time back into the F-100 (I bet everybody says "SELL!" now!). It's needing more of my attention now since it leaks a little oil from somewhere when hot. Problem is, if I start digging in that engine I know I'm going to do more and more 'might as well do ... because I already have this off' type work!