So why this car and why did I get it? Well it belonged to the husband of my next door neighbor’s wife’s business partner. Sounds complicated, but I’ve met the guy and his wife on several occasions over the years. The original owner was his step fathers, he actually thought his step father was the 2nd owner having bought it as a young used cars. CarFax and the fact that Porsche replaced the engine for free (I have the documentation showing warranty) after six years suggests the step dad was the original owner, I think changing the title from Connecticut to South Caroline may have lead him to believe there was an extra owner. It was bought in Connecticut but spent most of its time down in South Carolina as I say. The engine replacement paper work comes from Porsche of Fairfield CT, but the guys address at the time was in SC. Once he got it in 08 the PO has just used it as a weekend toy. It had a lot of sentimental value to him, but I don’t think it was overly popular with his wife. Apparently when he came in the house last week ranting that it was a POS and he was done with it because the electric seat height adjuster was broken, his wife seized upon that to strongly agree with his urge to sell it. It’s spent a lot of time sitting so it’s got various scratches and a few dents plus it’s generally filthy, I mean really dirty inside with a heavily worn seat bolster and a few damaged parts. He put the word out to friends he was thinking of selling and was talking to my neighbor about cleaning it up to sell. My neighbor Dan, he’s a super nice guy who had a 1955 356 and now has a 78 911SC. He loves cars and is a demon at cleaning cars up to look great, he has far more patience than I do for scrubbing out little corners and nooks and crannies inside. He told the seller he might know someone interested in the car as is and he let me know about it. He knew I wanted an S not a base car and certainly not an auto, but figured the guy wanted shot of it without hassle of cleaning it up and wasting weeks on dead beat Craiglisters or offered $2K to trade it in.
So I went to check it out, hopeful but skeptical. I looked it over and drove it. First impressions were it’s tatty and I wasn’t super excited but I test drove it anyway. First surprise. I don’t hate the tiptronic auto. It’s got to be in the top three best auto’s I’ve driven (along with an auto L98 C4 Corvette and an E39 540i) It holds gears well and actually has good engine braking. Yes it’s slow with only circa 200hp, bit it felt faster than I thought. All the time looking around it I was texting a couple of friends one of who wo works at the local Porsche dealer on the parts counter. Given the history, the mileage and the new engine I decided it was worth skipping a PPI (I mean, what could possibly go wrong with a water cooled Porsche!!!) as long as I could get it for a good price. After a few mins haggling I got it for what I think is an excellent price.
The last service I have a receipt for is at the local Porsche dealer here in Birmingham Michigan (Fred Lavrey) in 08 for a service and oil change at 73,235 miles which is only 3,600 miles ago. There is another visit to Fred Lavery listed in CarFax Sep 14 at 76,775 but it doesn’t list what was done. So at best I can assume just over 100 miles on the oil and at worst 3,500. Either way due to the age I’ll be changing it relatively soon. I don’t’ see anything about flushing the trans, so I’ll probably do that soon as well.
It really endeared itself to the family by the battery going flat at the local pet shop 45 mins after I picked it up on Saturday so I called my wife to send Dan, the neighbor, down to give me a jump. The irony is my new Porsche was rescued by the most unreliable car in the universe a Land Rover Discovery! Even better as we were jumping it a guy next to us laughed at a Landy jumping a Porsche and it turns out he works with friend who is at the Porsche dealer above!
The Next night Dan the neighbor being the star that he is dropped this lot on me. An R&T two pack of a 986 and a 550, plus the Porsche option catalogue and ‘lifestyle accessories’ book both from 1999, the year of the car.
