Here's a story for you guys: we were living in Stuttgart, Germany, and in June of 2006 were in the market for a new Porsche. A "friend of a friend" put us in touch with "Larry", a retired US soldier who has been living in the area--and collecting Porsches--since the '60s. Larry claims to own "...somewhere between 4 and 8 cars, depending on the time of year", and knows most of the Zuffenhausen factory sales reps by name. When we mentioned to him that we were in the market for a US-spec Boxster, he mentioned that he "...had a line on a unique opportunity".
He had found a 2004 Boxster Special Edition sitting in storage at the Porsche Zuffenhausen factory lot--papered as US spec, never titled, and with about 2,750 miles on it. He originally was going to buy it himself, but his wife didn't want another Boxster, so he showed it to us. I was already drooling as soon as I laid eyes on the car, but totally freaked out when I noticed the Special Edition plaque above the shifter:
#0000 of 1953.
My "scam alarms" went off in every direction, but after running a VIN search, contacting the factory independently, and having a German neighbor who works for Daimler-Chrysler check it out, the car (and offer) stubbornly remained genuine. We ended up buying "Car Zero" from Porsche--with the hardtop option--for $55K and Larry didn't make a penny from the sale. I don't need to tell a bunch of Porsche enthusiasts about how sweet this car is, but the fact that it is #0000 just makes it sweeter.
Cheers!
Humble Programmer
,,,^..^,,,
