Current value of an original '73 RS engine?

[javadog]

Over the last fifteen years I have been accumulating a collection of parts to build a reasonable clone of a '72 ST. One of the things that I acquired was an original engine from a '73 RS. It's from a car in the 12xx serial number range and is complete, apart from being fitted with a non-original muffler. At the time I acquired it, it was installed in another 911, not the original RS. The guy that owned it was parting out the car and I bought the engine from him. He had no history on the car, as he wasn't really a Porsche guy and I think he had just stumbled into this car by accident. It was running and driving but I didn't make any further attempts to determine the engine's condition, other than to check a few numbers to ensure that the correct major components were all still there. I had always planned to disassemble the motor and rebuild it for the project, as I wanted a few things changed to be more in line with what the factory actually put into an ST. Plus, I wanted a little more power… At any rate, the engine was removed from the car by a local shop and put into a wooden crate for storage, where it has been for the last decade, or so.

At this point I may not finish the project and I am thinking of selling the various parts. I'm not sure what the engine would be worth, in today's market. Obviously, it would be worth a fair bit to the owner of the car that originally housed it, although I suspect that the car no longer exists. I've never found it listed on any of the registries. I see people asking what I think is silly money for some of the parts (like an injection pump), although I have no intention of parting it out. I think that it should stay intact.

Any opinions as to what this engine might be worth? Have there been any recent comparable sales, that I have missed? It's one thing to determine the valus of a part, or two, as individual parts come up for sale often. Complete RS engines, on the other hand, as rare as hen's teeth, so how does one determine a value on something like this? I actually did do a search before posting and the only other, similar thread that I could find was about 6 years ago.

Many thanks,
Jeff

[69Sman]

Jeff, PM sent.

[69Sman]

Ahhh...found the thread. Check it out.

http://www.early911sregistry.org/for...hlight=6631218

[Soterik]

I'll hazard a guess that Stacey's getting NOTHING done at work, and Jennifer is rolling her eyes and is trying to find a place to stay for a week till this either blows over or comes to fruition.

Easy does it Stace! You don't need your bp going too high!


e

[72targa]

In its original car...a lot

In another car...somewhat less

Any pics?

[javadog]

I don't have any pictures, as it went into the crate before I bought my first digital camera. It's in a shelving rack at my warehouse and isn't something I could handily pull down by myself, to open up and shoot photos. Perhaps, when I get closer to doing something with it...

And, no, it's not the engine from RS #1248. I wish it was, as I'd like to see it re-united with its chassis...

I suppose a broader question than posed in my original query would be this: how would a person go about determining a value? It's an unknown quantity until it is disassembled and inspected. On the other hand, a buyer might prefer to have the shop of his choice do any disassembly. And, it's easier to ship as-is, with no chance of losing parts and a much reduced chance of damaging anything. On the other hand, I'd prefer not to rebuild it, as the next owner might want to do something different than a bone-stock rebuild. There's a wide disparity in value, depending on the condition of the major components. How best to proceed?

Thanks,
Jeff

[69Sman]

If you can find the owner of the chassis it belongs in, then I would say $25 to $45K, depending on how bad they want it.
If the owner of the matching chassis does not come forward, then the engine will be worth on the LOW end of my estimate, maybe less.
I'm guessing, but probably right in there. Comments????

[72targa]

I was thinking something very similar. Note that eBay had a '73S long block for ~$7000 that took a LONG time to sell. But it did sell. It's like anything else, start high, be prepared to reduce price as needed and wait for the right buyer (and know your bottom line price).

[javadog]

I don't think I'll ever find the owner of the chassis. I suspect it was wrecked years ago and scrapped, long before these cars became as valuable as they are today. As I mentioned, I've looked at every registry that I can find and I have spoken to one or two people that are knowlegeable about these cars. So far, nothing.

Having said that, most registries seem to have some significant gaps. I wonder how much of that has to do with owners that choose not to participate? Or are there truly hundreds of these cars that have been scrapped?

$25-40k is in line with the old adage that an engine might be worth 10% of the value of a car. It's a pretty large spread, though. I wonder how many RS cars are currently fitted with a non-original engine? By that I mean one that was built from a non-RS case, or one from an entirely different model, or one that might be far from original (say, fitted with carbs instead of injection, for example).

Any thoughts are appreciated.
Jeff

[MarkH]

Hi Jeff,
In the last couple of years I have seen two for sale, both probably needing rebuild.
One was from a second series RS, the guy was asking 25K and the other from a 74 Euro Carrera for 15K. Can't recall any other details. Good luck.

Mark