Craigslist Crapshoot

By Robert Emslie Feb 17, 2016

The World’s Worst Car Is For Sale On Craigslist
Welcome to Craigslist Crapshoot, our weekly search for the most bizarre, awesome, and/or terrible vehicles that the online classifieds has to offer. 
Last week we went looking for cars that have digital dashboards, which were as big a thing back in the Eighties as were spandex pants and big hair. We’ll talk about what was the brightest idea in just a sec, but first this week’s quest.
It was in the late Sixties that Porsche decided they needed a replacement for the then just several-year old 911. That work eventually spawned the 928, which never supplanted the 911, but instead competed somewhat against it. The 928s, along with their 924, 944 and 968 brethren failed to kill off Porsche’s rear-engine dreams, but that doesn’t mean that front-engine and water-cooled Porsches didn’t leave their mark on the marque. That’s what we want this week—the best deals you can find in front-engine, water-cooled Porsches. Here’s the kicker, let’s keep the price under $20K and NO Panameras or Cayennes!
As always, we want your finds to go down in infamy and not in the site’s spam filter. Since we’ve changed commenting systems, you may need to update your commenter account. Make sure you have a Disqus account – they’re free and easy to get – and then comment away.

Got that? Good, now let’s get digital.


Truth be told, I roll old school and happen to prefer analog dials for my personal cars. Still, I have to say that the digital dashboard-equipped cars you found certainly did light up my life. In fact, a fluorescent display can seemingly make a mundane ride seem special, as evidenced by the ’87 Thunderbirds found by dukeisduke and mrh1965, or the clapped out and crapped out Town Car (Cartier Edition!) located by mdharrell.
I especially jonesed over the Fiat Uno Turbo and its digital dash flanked by switch gear pods. That one was found by Manic_King, and seemed a doppelgänger to the dash in the Subaru XT found by Alff.
As you can see, it was an impossible task picking the most desirable car for sale that featured a digital dash. That means that this week, you’re all winners! Actually, you’re all winners in my book every week, but this week I get to tell you that.
Okay winners, let’s go find some winning front-engined Porsches.
 

49 thoughts on “Craigslist Crapshoot”
      1. Unless you’re on Netflix – I’ve been informed by my daughters in the last couple of weeks that Dr. Who is no longer on Netflix. They are in mourning.

  1. Bumping up against the dollar list, I found this one, which is quite lovely save for having the wrong transmission. Still, that V8 sounds the business, and is my favorite, as it was sampled for the time machine DeLorean in BTTF.
    Where was I? Ah yes, the car. It’s a 1988 928S4, resplendent in black and 18″ 911 turbo wheels (I think). And it’s got 12 years worth of maintenance receipts, though he doesn’t say when some of the critical items were performed.
    http://images.craigslist.org/00M0M_jcxeJSPbUSx_600x450.jpg
    https://kansascity.craigslist.org/cto/5411103250.html

    1. Despite my affection for my reciprocating saw & its endlessly amusing and/or inappropriate applications, I am enormously disappointed in your misleading first sentence.
      Edit – excellent LeMons candidate.

    1. Because there were only about 2400 ever imported to North America over 4 years of production. Lot less common than the 944.

    2. The 968 was a wonderful car – one of the purest handling cars you could ever find. The biggest drawback was the I4 had gotten so huge at that point that it sounded like a Celica with a fartcan. Cheaper competition was catching up on outright performance as well, making the steep price unattractive.

    3. I happen to think the 944 was the best looking of the lineage, but I’d rather have a 968. It’s not like it looks bad, and it is far more obscure than a 944. I know “car guys” who have never heard of the 968.

      1. Even today 240 hp in a car the size of the 968 is respectable. I have a hard time embracing the bloated look, compared to the 944. It’s like the difference between the last Alfa Spider with all the fiberglass cladding and its predecessors.

        1. The trend is going engine-out. When you have no proper workshop with space and two lifts (one for the car, one for the drivetrain) this’ll save a few hours (that you can spend fixing those leaky front seals)

    1. But then you can live out all your Jake Ryan fantasies! Get a birthday cake, dress the missus up as Molly Ringwald…

    1. I was just thinking “what a great idea to jack up the car, just to get a little bit of extra clearance for work underneath”. And then I realized both my driveway and garage floor slope…

  2. Awesome submission:

    “Semi-Race 944 Porsche non turbo ready to be driven”

    Are the headlights black-painted stock pop-up units, or solid-mounted ones with clear covers?

    I don’t know which ones would be cooler…

    http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NDg5WDEwMjQ=/z/vT4AAOSw5dNWrlWA/$_27.JPG

    The interiors actually pretty clean, with the functional upgrade of a cup holder!

    http://i.ebayimg.com/00/s/NzY4WDEwMjQ=/z/lycAAOSwX~dWrlV8/$_27.JPG

    http://www.kijiji.ca/v-classic-cars/calgary/semi-race-944-porsche-non-turbo-ready-to-be-driven/1136859846?enableSearchNavigationFlag=true

  3. What a strange price cap 20kUSD is: show us all the old watercoolers there are, but don’t show us that 968 CS or the 944 turbo S trailer queens. The sweet spot for a very good 944 is well under 10k, turbos and convertibles maybe slightly above.
    It would be more of a challenge to pick out the most sorry ones (under 2kUSD, not so fun to look at, for me…), or the craziest mods (Audi 5-cyl swap, 928-aminos, you name it).

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