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Should I do it?


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Hello everyone! I am interested in learning more about 505's as I don't know that much about them. I'm sort of looking for a project car and my uncle has a 505 turbo (86 I think) that has been sitting in a half enclosed shed for at least 20 years. I understand that when the car was parked it ran and drove, and I don't know what caused it to be abandoned. He has been talking about getting rid of it, and I am thinking about the possibility of trying to get it going again and saving it from an unknown fate. My first question is what resources should I call upon if I were to try to get it on the road again? Where can I look for more information about these cars? What are some common problems that these cars have? Where do y'all get parts? I have some mechanical aptitude and would do all the work myself of course, and I am trying to decide if it's something I want to undertake. I live in Oregon and the car was originally purchased in California. Thanks!

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hi PJ, welcome to the group

as with a lot of things, the answer to your questions is, "it depends." leaving aside that this is a rare-in-the-US French car, it's a car that has been sitting for 20+ years, so getting it started up and running will take a bit of effort and skill. getting the car started (if it's possible) will be a straightforward project if you know what you're doing, and definitely a good learning experience if you're just starting out with European cars from this period.

that said, what happens next depends on what was meant by "ran and drove" -- presumably the car moved under its own power, but did it have any mechanical problems that needed to be addressed at that time? for example, 505 turbos are known for having cracked cylinder heads (for a variety of reasons I won't go into here) and they can run with this problem though not very well. so like any old car, there may be mechanical problems that require lots of money and/or skill to fix to get the car fully sorted.

I'm no expert on 505 turbos, but off the top of my head the main issues that people see are rust (probably not an issue in this case), electrical problems (old electrics that were not super-robust to begin with) and cracked heads; I'm sure others here can add to this list. as far as I know the 86 turbos have relatively few parts that are "unobtainium" and some of those can be repaired if no replacement is available. there's lots of information here on this forum and on other forums you'll find links to here; also, the factory manuals are still available and some of them are even posted online.

as for parts, we get them from a variety of sources; we have vendors listed here who stock NOS parts, new aftermarket parts and some of them have parts cars to draw from as well. there are also vendors in Europe and elsewhere who have parts available as well. again, it all depends on what you need, how much you are willing to spend and how patient you are.

like I said, there are others here who know lots more about 505 turbos than I do and I'm sure they'd be happy to answer any specific questions you have. to start out with, though, I know we'd all enjoy seeing pics of the car, so if you have a chance, please post some! outside, engine bay, interior, etc.

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