Modern-day barn finds are a thing, but they’re not usually in an actual antique barn. Garages are a common location, but so are rather crude arrangements like this 1998 Porsche Boxster is residing in, as it looks like one of those cheap shelters you find at the local hardware emporium. The Boxster has clearly been neglected for some time, and it’s a shame because it wears one of the harder-to-find colors this entry-level roadster could be ordered in. The seller claims it’s in good condition with 105,000 miles on the clock, but I’m not holding my breath. Find the Boxster here on craigslist with a price of $6,600.
For 1998, you could order the Boxster in Pastel Yellow, which I believe is what this car has for a paint code. While the paint job may not excite you, it’s rare enough that it could move the needle slightly in favor of trying to rescue this car despite the horrible presentation and lack of information. The speed-activated spoiler on the rear deck lid is stuck in the up position, which tells me that’s just the tip of the iceberg in terms of the issues that await the next owner. The top looks to be in good condition, and the body panels appear straight. However, that’s sort of the lowest bar you’d expect to clear in terms of condition; the bigger concern is engine health, as even a “cheap” Porsche by modern standards can become a maintenance nightmare if purchased from a neglectful home.
The Boxster, like the 996-chassis 911, is vulnerable to needing the dreaded IMS bearing replacement. I’d wager good money this Boxster hasn’t received this repair given the condition on display here, but that’s really a best-case scenario – hopefully, the bearing hasn’t already failed. If you do buy this Boxster, having it trailered home makes a ton of sense and is worth the peace of mind. Now, I could be pleasantly surprised and find out the seller is more obsessive about maintenance than they are about washing, so perhaps a phone call will reveal the IMS bearing is done and you can drive it on home. Doubtful, but one can hope. Do you think this modern-day mobile carport find is worth a phone call?
As a long time Porsche fan I would not buy one of these because you have to remove the engine to do any work on it which is expensive if you have to have a shop do it. Also, parts are priced sky high. Got lots of money and/or the skills to maintain it, go for it.
Not entirely true. I owned a Boxster and currently have a Cayman. IMS bearing can be done in the car, as well as plugs and coils (through the wheel wells). Also there are access panels above and at the front of the engine for belts, air filters.
Pastel yellow and a transmission listed as other screams Tiptronic to me. And what’s going on with that boot lid? Looks like the battery went flat, the boot release actuator failed and they didn’t know how to gain access to the emergency release to open the boot. Yea, the IMS has probably not been done but the early M96 engine has the double roller bearing which wasn’t as troublesome as the later single roller design. If it makes it over 100K with regular use it’s probably not going to fail. Now sitting dormant will cause it to potentially fail so I would put that on the list. The right thing to do is have it towed to a shop to do a pre purchase inspection and use that as a bargain chip to negotiate a fair price.
Buy it, wash and detail it. Park it in your driveway. Cheap yard art compared to what I see a lot of here.
Needs a LS swap. Don’t know what transmission is in this thing, but there is a adaptation for the Chevy v8 if it is the right one. I saw a write up on the company that specializes in the swap. The one they tested in the video had the 650 HP LS out of a Vette. It would do 0 to 60 in 2 seconds!
Put it back in the Barn , carport , garage, Landfill whatever…
As a past boxster owner and lover
With obvious experience
Remove one zero and buy it
Otherwise
Leave it there
The frunk is damaged as alphasud noted
They obviously did not know about the hidden cable
As for the tiptronic trans , its a nice feature but extremely costly to repair/replace and has to be done with the car on a lift
Same goes for engine removal , no lift , no go as you need full height
Concerning the LS swap , i believe that it is only on S models with manual transmission and it is quite costly
I see this as a parts car unless the seller gets you sitting and driving it …
I’m not aware of many (if any) vehicles that can have their transmissions replaced or repaired without a lift.
Larry, plenty of cars can have the transmission removed without a lift. Some, like the TR2 thru TR6 can be done while sitting in the seats. I had a rare 1963 supercharged Studebaker Daytona hardtop sitting on my car repair lot waiting for parts. Came back one Monday morning only to discover the hard-to-find close-ratio 4 speed had been removed over the weekend, without lifting the car off the ground. That’s when I learned it was a desirable Chevy trans too.
My brother had a black 99..the entire time he owned it we never saw the engine. Very expensive to maintain and parts also. Took a while to sell it and he took a loss. I would hold off for one that’s been meticulously maintained.
All this stuff is expensive. You got to pay for the snob appeal. Stick with a Chevy or a Ford. You are better off in the long run.
These are inexpensive enough in good working order that there’s no need to buy such a troubled thing. Go to autotrader and pick one.
ANY abused sports car of ANY make is a source of never ending trouble. Don´t bother. There are many in good shape available.
Life as we know it is over. A fried egg roller bearing Porsche 23 years and 100k miles old at $6000?
Asking price of 6k
I am curious for the selling price !
They say a sucker is born everday !
Asking price of 6k
I am curious for the selling price !
They say a sucker is born everday !
Between the IMS and cylinder liners prone to twist and falling out, I don’t understand how Porsche avoided a recall, let alone a class action, on this POS engine.
Walk away. You will spend the price of an upgraded running example to resurrect this one.
As per my memory , i know that porsche upgraded/modified the engines in the boxster
So there are a few different versions depending on the year /model
So not all of them
Have the same engine issues but all of them cost good money to upkeep
I sold mine after 3 years of ownership cause i knew that the trans would fail …
I loved the look and handling but didn’t want to keep a steady job to pay for a car …
Recalls are dependent on the President in power at the time. The heads of governmental agencies varies with who is in office. How they deal with faults that should be the responsibility of the makers is all over the board. Look at the years of the cars and who was in office and then make your own conclusions. 1998 was not an era of consumer friendliness. Example. I bought a new 2004 Dodge Neon that after some number of years had the K member rust out and the front end failed on the highway, car fell onto the ground on the right side, tire was sideways on the pavement. Luckily it was at a fairly low speed. Car was toast. Problem was poor design, the air conditioner dripped on the K member and rusted it out. A 2 dollar piece of plastic would have shielded it, but it wasn’t the case. Several years later the Dodge Caliper developed the exact same problem, but by then leadership in Washington DC had changed and Dodge had to fix all of those. I also had a 2004 GMC pickup with the horrible problem in the dashboards. Apparently some microscopic spot weld breaks and the dash goes in and out. Pretty embarrassing on the freeway at night. Obviously a design flaw but GM was never made to fix it. It is a grand to have replaced, and then no guarantees it won’t happen again. Needless to say my next PU was a Tacoma. GM lost my confidence, but Uncle Sam should have stepped in as GM obviously only cared about the stock price. Americans need to pay more attention to this kind of stuff and less about the silliness they fight over now.
So, a recall is more important than $8 gas , co*vid restrictions, ukraine borders but not texas borders ?
A trucker blockade
Aborting kids until they are 28 days old? Fauci ? Kamel a?bumblin joe?
I do agree with you that the recalls are irregular and it should not be ,but at the present time , more people have pressing life issues than recall issues …
Yolo
Claudio. I would love to take on those issues one at a time but I think that conversation is too far removed from what is allowed here. I have seen others start into such conversations and you never hear from them again. Not sure I agree with that, but I am not in charge here. I suggest moving on and talking of cars. Have a good day.
I like it wish it was closer now I’m considering jumping on Uhaul website and pricing out getting it here.
i would love to find one cheap enough to work on myself, but the bodywork alone on that frunk lid would kill any chance of that…..what a shame :-(
Human nature leads me this comment, as whoever is too lazy to move a couple of signs touting “Learn to flip houses . . .”, cut the weeds away from the car, and give a car a wash, has more than likely done NO work on the car.
Probably bought it as a non-runner and figured on flipping it to a new owner, however on discovering it needed multiple thousands of Dollars he parked it. Now he’s hoping to find a buyer he can flip it to.
Maybe he needs to find someone teaching a course called “Learn to flip cars”!
Run , Forest run !
Too expensive if not running /driving