Looking at 2. 88 XJ-S, $1600, 88k miles, needs fuel tank (it does run but has pin hole leaks), fuel lines and the engine bay lines, vacuum lines and has a little surface rust as well as clear coat issues. Has had a full tune up, new rear brakes, new tires and new fuel pump.
86 944 $1500, 90k miles, needs ball joints, power steering lines, and has dings in several places, dash cracks and front seats are shot. Has had t-belt done, battery DME relay, and a tune up.
So, which would you target??
Very different vehicles. Usage?
Flipping
Ah, that kind of flipping. I'd say it depends on the demographics of the crowd it'll be marketed to.
Both sound like they need too much work to be a quick or easy flip. I'd end up losing money on either one. You might have better luck or skills.
Buy a truck or appliance if you wan't to flip it easily. Niche cars are harder to move.
Will either of those sell for enough to justify all of the work you'd be doing? Neither of those seem like a "can't miss" deal to me. Sounds like they'll both require some fairly expensive parts and a decent amount of your time. I'd pass on both I think unless you can get the prices to about half of what they're asking
Meither
The rust and clear or issues on the xj-s will scare away buyers fast. People don't want to buy ugly for premium dollars and you will be on the plus side of 3k (counting any labor value anyway) before you touch that.
the Porsche sounds good except that the issues are worn out parts that are probably no longer produced. Which means searching time for used stuff. I'm dealing with this on my e30 and it gets frustrating.
Buy appliances to flip. Anyone will buy a legacy or accord or camry. It takes a special kind of person to buy an xj6 or 944, most of which are members here, all of which are too cheap to let you do anything but lose money
Honestly I can't see anyone being interested in the Jag. Who wants a flipped rusty jag with bad paint even if it is low mileage?
The 944 at least has some enthusiast appeal. I still think the price is a little high on it though.
Neither.
This year I sold/flipped:
All sold easy and quickly. But, that's just me, your mileage may vary. 
I'm weird. I can't stand appliance cars. So, I tend to target things I like and/or know. I'm a Porsche guy and had a HPDE 944 car for a while so I know them pretty well, the Jag not so much. Both are only 4-5k cars well sorted. On the 944, The steering hoses are ~$200, ball joints ~120, pad under 100, it's the seats that seem expensive so far. The dings are probably ~$250 on paintless dent remover and another $50 for new rock guards.
For the Jag, a used tank is $100 plus shipping, fuel lines $250, engine bay lines 50-100, body work materials $25 and "top of the line" Maaco paint ~$500. (we aren't talking rust holes here)
I figure unless I can get either for $1000, it's not worth it. They are both 2 weekends work, but yeah, probably 1-2 month to sell, at least. Of course, in the meantime, I'll drive them!!
I'll admit, I'm not the most rational guy, otherwise I'd be looking at mundane cars. I am also looking at old 4x4s too.
The only difference between a $1000 car and a $2000 car is a good cleaning.
So, SVreX, what do you target?
None of the above, flip a Honda. If you want one of these to drive for free while you attempt to sell and are OK with taking a loss, wheeler dealers style, I would take the 944. Jags do nothing for me.
Have to say the same thing. You can flip "appliance" cars all day long and make $$ but the cars that we love (and want to work on) are often too old to make any real money on. Case in point, I recently flipped a Mazda 6 that my son's fiance dropped off in our driveway. She wanted $2,500 for it, had a dented in rear bumper cover and was dirty, but only had 75K miles on it. I detailed it, fixed the bumper cover (just removed it, used the hot water trick) and reinstalled it and fixed the check engine light (bad o2 sensor) and replaced the battery. It also needed a suspension piece. So my total cost was $500 in parts so figure $3,000 cost. Sold the car for them for $4800 so "made" $1,800. I could probably do this once per month and make a nice income to fund my hobby fund......
As long as I don't go nuts, I should make 1-2K on these. The big trick with the 44 is the seats. It is a cream interior (not black) so I can't find any good used seats. New upholstery is in the neighborhood of $800 which would screw up the profit margin.
I shouldn't lose money as long as I don't go for perfection, just nice.
Even looking at ebay sales, prices are all over the place. That is the biggest concern.
Weird how 44 prices seem down a little now. Even a decent 951 is about 10k right now.
BTW, I'm not trying to be beligerent on my position on flipping. Heck, I've been looking at newer Mazdas and WRXs. (wow WRXs are pricey!!)
markwemple said:So, SVreX, what do you target?
That doesn't really matter, does it? You've got your heart set, and I don't think I am gonna change your mind.
FWIW, I buy the same kinda E36 M3 you do, and I don't make money flipping cars. Don't be like me- listen to what is being said here.
Maybe the question should be where do you look because I'm not really finding newer, appliance cars worthy of flipping. All seem to be at market or total junk in this area
Would this be more appropriate? https://baltimore.craigslist.org/cto/d/vw-rabbit/6478304150.html
I kinda doubt you are gonna find too many candidates on CL. CL is where people take their worthless crap to try and find a sucker who will pay them more then it is worth. Plus, there are 1000 people looking every day to find something to flip. There are exceptions (like ATL), but not many
Try something with a smaller market, or higher barrier to entry. Copart (for example) is where cars often end up that someone didn't intend to sell, but had an accident, etc and had to sell. I suspect you can find more opportunities on FB Marketplace. Or better yet, a local print publication- "Penny Shopper", etc.
itsarebuild said:the Porsche sounds good except that the issues are worn out parts that are probably no longer produced. Which means searching time for used stuff. I'm dealing with this on my e30 and it gets frustrating.
You're wrong, but that's ok.
Ball joint rebuild kits are available for the aluminum control arms for stupid amounts of money or for more money you can replace the arms altogether. The steel control arms are MK! VW Rabbit pieces and are stupid cheap and easy to replace. Either way, plan on new control arm bushings while you're in there. Steel arms use MK1 VW bushings, aluminum uses slightly different bushings, upgrade these to 968 caster blocks s that is the recommendation of Porsche, especially with larger and sticker tires.
Power steering pump is a standard ZF pump and is easily rebuilt using a rebuild kit. Replace the $15 reservoir while you're at it since it has a built-in filter and its a service item. The power rack can also be rebuilt using a reseal kit and the pressure hose is available as well. Make sure the system is refilled with ATF, not PS fluid as this is the cause for many leaks in the systems.
Leather9.com can recover your dash and sell you replacement seat covers as well as other interior updates. You can also repair the dash yourself if you're handy with spray foam, fiberglass and new vinyl or leather. The seat covers are usually ok, but the seams split due to age and use, they can often be removed and repaired.
Plan on repairing the shift linkage and shift lever as they commonly fail and cause sloppy shifting. Only944.com has greatly improved pieces for reasonable prices that will help when it comes time to sell it. They have some new seals and other improvements that can help make the car a bit nicer and sell for a bit more.
The dents might come out with a PDR, if not then the galvanized body requires a bit more effort to repair, but isn't impossible.
word of mouth. make it known in your circles that you're the car guy. then those people will come to you with friend's car stuff. sometimes they fall in your lap. i picked up a 2011 forester for $500 in excellent condition with locked up motor from my chiropractor because the dealer quoted $13000+ for a new engine so he bought a new accord. used 60k mile engine with warranty from the local LKQ is $700 give or take $50. I'm planning to swap that out, buff it, detail the inside and underhood(which is easy because it's super clean) and ask around $7900 if the buyer I have lined up doesn't take it. He's a friend of my buddy so i told him $6500. Either way I'm doing fine with it.
other people have come to me when their stuff has broken or been deemed not worth fixing by them. I got a free sunbird convertible that i dropped off the trailer and someone stopped and asked if it was for sale. I wasn't even home, my mom sold it for $350 for me.
stop scouring craigslist. every curbstoner does it constantly and they're all going to be there before you, and the ones sitting there for more than a couple days aren't worth flipping. Cue the 1951 studebaker starlight coupe i looked at for Andrew Nelson in november. It was $500, and was honestly a $300 parts car. Some guy bought it, took pictures on his trailer, and has had it up for $1500 since then, and I just laugh every time I see it because he's going to lose his ass assuming just because it's old it's valuable.
If you have to talk yourself into the money making process, you'll be talking yourself all the way through the bath you're going to take when you sell it. John W is buying mostly can't lose cars from the IAAI auctions. He's doing fine, I bought one of them from him for my cousin. I'd much rather dabble in light hits and do salvage title "rebuilds" than someone's headache that they're trying to ditch on craigslist. Once in a while you get a gem, but usually they're worth the asking price and no more. I got extremely lucky when i bought my WRX, I could have flipped it that day on the forum for at least 2k profit. He had people blowing up his phone all day, but I could get there first. Most sub 4K WRX'es aren't what I would call worth flipping either because some bro decided it needed a catless downpipe, more boost, etc without tuning, or just hacked it to pieces. I would be more comfortable parting out cheap WRX than trying to flip them.
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