We Bought the Cheapest Porsche Boxster on Craigslist! [Video]

As many of you probably know, we recently had to sell our beloved project Porsche 911 (RIP). But do not fret dear friends, as we have found TFL’s next project car.

Surprise! We have bought… wait for it… another Porsche! However, this time, we have gone about things a bit differently. Instead of finding the best example we could find in a reasonable price range, we have gone full budget mode and bought the cheapest Porsche Boxster we could find on Craigslist. Costing us a thrifty $6,000, this 1999 Porsche Boxster is about as cheap as they come, and as you can imagine, it has a number of flaws.

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Before I get to the laundry list of problems that this car has, I should mention that I have driven the car and it does in fact run and drive pretty well, The engine runs fine, the car shifts well and it doesn’t make any alarming noises, other than a strange rattle from the driver door…

Additionally, it should be said that the interior of the vehicle is quite nice. All the leather looks good and most of the switches and buttons work well.

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Unfortunately for this Boxster, that is about where the positives end. First on the list is the head-scratching question of the headlights. As you’ll notice in the video, one headlight looks very clear, almost brand new, while the other is quite foggy. This is only alarming in that it indicates the one headlight was replaced at some point during the car’s life, which could point to the car having been in an accident.

Other changes to be made include fixing the heavily curbed front right wheel, addressing the heavily gashed right-side rocker panel, replacing all three of the rear main seals, replacing the IMS bearing (like we did on our last project Porsche), and replacing the clutch sometime soon. The horn doesn’t work, nor does one of the wireless key fobs, the check engine light has been unplugged, the car needs new hood struts in the front and rear, and to top it all off we will need to do an oil filter replacement and oil change, which will cost multiple hundreds of dollars on a Boxster.

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All said, the car would probably need about $5,000 of work to fix every issue. Since the car has over 100,000 miles, we think that the IMS bearing has been replaced, or the car just has a unit which will not fail. Because of this, we have decided that this money would be much better spent doing some different modifications to the new project Porsche. Rather than just restore the car and end up with a stock Porsche Boxster, we are going to turn this one into a rally Boxster. That means a lift, new tires, rally lights, and a list of other mods that should make for a very interesting dirt road eating machine!

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For a much more in-depth review of the problems this car has, be sure to watch the full video above. Also be sure to stay tuned for more of Project Porsche’s second season coming soon.