2004 Special Edition "Car Zero" - 986 Forum - The Community for Porsche Boxster & Cayman Owners

humble_programmer · 02-11-2007, 06:48 PM

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
,,,^..^,,,

redman12 · 02-11-2007, 07:10 PM

Thats effin sweet dude.

02-11-2007, 07:32 PM

Too bad... they had all the kinks worked out by 0001. J/K, very lucky. My friends dad has the first production viper in their basement or something along those lines.

C5150 · 02-11-2007, 09:14 PM

Now you just need to clean the wheels!

White calipers?!

CJ_Boxster · 02-11-2007, 09:54 PM

You just bought yourself an effin sweet collector car, i mean #0000 out of 1954! Dont mod it, dont add your own accents, dont do bumper conversions and use a car cover and sell her at berret jackson auction in about 10-25 years.

z12358 · 02-12-2007, 04:09 AM

Very nice Box, but looks like tires could use some protection from sun damage.

I still don't get it, though. Was this the first car from the series, and if so, was #0001 the second one? I would have assumed that #0000 (especially if still untitled after 3k miles) would be a pre-production (beta test) model that companies send to magazines for early reviews. What did you find out about the car after doing the research?

Z.

humble_programmer · 02-12-2007, 04:32 AM

Tires are fine...just muddy that day because of local tractor traffic. Car has been 100% dealer-maintained, garage-kept, and lives under a car cover; we did, however, have the Porsche dealer put a top-notch clear nose cover on it. As my wife and I have said before, half the fun of this car will be watching our three sons fight over it when we're too old to drive it ourselves.

Researching the car, we know that it sat in a warehouse at Zuffenhausen for at least a year (Apr/May '05 through Apr/May '06), and although all the paperwork is stamped as "US Spec", the analog speedometer is still in KM/h, and it has the eurobumpers, i.e., no ugly US bumper warts. Other than that, Larry mentioned that he came to the same conclusion: this was the "Special Edition" show car that was toured around Europe and the US in 2004. He checked with the Porsche sales reps, who could really neither confirm nor deny this theory: anyone got a "car show pic" clear enough to read the VIN number?

Cheers!
Humble Programmer
,,,^..^,,,

RandallNeighbour · 02-12-2007, 05:19 AM

Tell us what you know about those white calipers. Ceramic?

humble_programmer · 02-12-2007, 07:08 AM

Brake calipers are brushed aluminium with "Porsche" in black lettering--they're actually very light silver in color:

For those with higher bandwidth, a full-res version is here. Before anyone starts giving me grief about the rust, this photo was taken just after the car was unloaded from a trans-Atlantic cargo container...because of the rust!

Cheers!
Humble Programmer
,,,^..^,,,

C5150 · 02-12-2007, 09:00 PM

Wheels look happier now - just take her for a drive with some turns to clear up that rust!

Brushed aluminium calipers... never seen any. Very cool! Anyone ever seen these before? OEM?

Adam · 02-12-2007, 09:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by C5150

Wheels look happier now - just take her for a drive with some turns to clear up that rust!

Brushed aluminium calipers... never seen any. Very cool! Anyone ever seen these before? OEM?

They are OEM on the 04 anniversary car. I think I've seen them on some 911's too.

FIG · 02-13-2007, 12:15 AM

Congrats humble......

You are a very lucky man! Enjoy!!!

blue2000s · 02-13-2007, 05:42 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by humble_programmer

Brake calipers are brushed aluminium with "Porsche" in black lettering--they're actually very light silver in color:

For those with higher bandwidth, a full-res version is here. Before anyone starts giving me grief about the rust, this photo was taken just after the car was unloaded from a trans-Atlantic cargo container...because of the rust!

Cheers!
Humble Programmer
,,,^..^,,,

What does the interior of #0000 look like? I assume it's cocoa since the top is. Does it have any other features that the standard car doesn't? I believe the 550 models came with the ROW sport suspension, does yours have it? How many miles are on it now?

I hope you're not driving it now with the weather we're having. Mines been stuck in the garage since November and it's killing me to have to see it but not use it.

wetstuff · 02-13-2007, 09:20 AM

That's a great story. In the old days - before humble programmers brought us the internet - you would have read it in Road & Track. Good for you.

jim

krn986 · 02-13-2007, 08:41 PM

Looks hot! omg... +1 on not modding it keep it BONE stock and baby the car.

djomlas · 02-14-2007, 01:52 PM

great story man.
it kinda sux couse now u cant do anything to it lol

thats what sux bout buying something as rare as that, or beter yet one-off

humble_programmer · 02-19-2007, 02:54 PM

Hmmm...taking pictures of shiny metal with a cheap digital camera is a lot harder than I expected. Hopefully the end result is still legible...

The interior is cocoa brown leather, and the only major difference from the standard S model is that the center console is missing: there's nothing from the shifter back to the carpet-covered firewall. Heated seats are nice, though...

The Special Edition plaque is mounted against the firewall, immediately below the dashboard, and the picture below is actually a little larger than "life size".

jpcolin · 02-19-2007, 10:48 PM

Nice car!

I assume the lower center console (between the seats) is alu look (or artic silver)
Could you tell me if the inside of the armrest box is also painted?
Could you take a picture please?

thanks

boxsterx · 02-19-2007, 10:53 PM

now that's a true collector car! sweeeeeet ride!

986 Special Edition · 02-20-2007, 07:43 PM

This is my first post, but I wanted to say great find! I noticed that the rear lights and the front side markers don't look like the US spec. Any thoughts as to why they're different?