First thread, Kinda emotional story, first Mods, lots of pics!
 

Hey guys, Just wanted to finally introduce myself after lurking on the forums for a while. My name is David and i live in the Bay Area in Northern California. I drive a 1998 5 speed Guards Red Boxster that was my late fathers pride and joy. He bought the car new in 1998 and drove it sparingly throughout the years. It currently has 56,000 miles. I have fond memories of taking the car out on the weekends ,when my parents were out of town, with my friends and cruising in it (maybe some racing happened too). I remember he ordered it and it took something like 6 months to arrive and when we drove around in it people would yell things like "Nice car" and give us thumbs up because Boxsters were still pretty rare. Those were fun times and i cherish those memories. Fast forward 7 years and i move out of state to Colorado to attend college and a worked for a few years. But then i found a job that brought me back to California, so back I go to Cali. Its not long after that my father was diagnosed with cancer (maybe fate brought me back). He battled for over a year and there were ups and downs. He wasn't able to drive after a time but he was so pissed the DMV took his license he stormed into my moms porsche which was an Automatic 2006 Cayenne S, and drove up and down the block to prove he was still able to drive. The other funny car related thing i remember is that he had a favorite lazy-boy recliner chair in the living room that he spent his time in, and he made me drive his boxer onto the front driveway loop so he could see it from his chair. So even though he couldn't drive it he was able to still look at it. After he passed the car basically sat covered in the garage for about 3 years. I would go by my moms to help out with things and try to start the car every few months just to get the fluids going. The battery died from non-use so that was replaced and i watched its charge level more carefully. I would maybe drive the car for a week every year just to use the gas up so i could fill it up with fresh gas. I also tried to make sure the oil was changed at least once every year. But slowly i've started to drive the car more frequently. I'm not sure what has changed but i feel like its now time for the Boxster to driven again. I have used the Boxster for my daily driver for 3 weeks now and had the brake fluid changed, oil changed, new spark plugs, and filters changed. The coolant was done a few years ago when the radiator fan broke on one of my short drives. Let me tell you the car feels totally different from the other times i have driven it while it was sleeping(being stored). I plan to use the Boxster as a second car and know my dad would be happy that we kept her and are still enjoying his toy. My mom is happy to have the car out of her garage i think too. Sorry for the long back story, but it all came out when i started to write this post which was originally just going to be about the mods i did. But now I'm glad I was able to tell my story.

So, now on to my Mods, i did the Euro clear blinkers because i love the look of the newer Boxsters with the clear headlights, i hope to find some newer headlights or go with the ebay LED ones. I also changed out my wheels to update the look of the car and found some Cayman S wheels on plant9 forums for a killer price so i bought those. I hope to update the tails in the near future and maybe add the Cayman wing and an Exhaust.

Now onto the pics.
http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/...ps50279df0.jpg
http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/...ps816953d6.jpg
http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/...ps607db847.jpg

After i took these pics i was feeling like my car looked great and went to the Gelato store to get a treat and instantly felt inadequate when i went to park…:eek:
http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/...ps79884f1f.jpg
http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/...ps6207be28.jpg
http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/...ps7d785498.jpg

Lol, 2 Ferrari's and V10 R8 just sitting in the parking lot:cool: Anyhow i look forward to learning more about the Boxster and maybe doing some other mods i have read about. De-snorkel is sounding necessary.

Also one more pic of my daily driver, 2011 4runner trail edition.
http://i1281.photobucket.com/albums/...ps997eee0a.jpg

Ahh, those brown hills. I'm from Antioch.

Mint car. Looks great. Thanks for sharing.

Moving story. I'm sure your dad will be glad you're keeping her running.

As far as mods go, you can also get the painted bumperettes from bumper plugs.com to complete your visual update. Those wheels look perfectly fine on the car!

Personally I'd look for a set of used Litronics, they're better than the aftermarket stuff IMO.

Great story, your Dad would be happy that you kept the car in the family:cheers: Beautiful car!

Agreed, a lot of folks have had problems with those ebay LED ones. There are also the retrofits that you can get, particlewave and Nine8Six, and they are also researching ways to remove the amber from previously non-de-amberable headlights :) I personally found a set of litronics on ebay and if I can ever get a clear set of halogen lights I am going to do the retrofit from the thread below.

http://986forum.com/forums/diy-project-guides/48169-porsche-headlight-retrofit-%5B-cad-prototyping-finish.html

I personally think the amber looks good on a red car (but then I am red/green colorblind). On that thread there is a red car with the retrofit that has the amber still and it looks fantastic.

I think the Cayman S wheels are the best looking wheels too :)

Porsche - its the people. Great story.

You had me thinking about the times that I was able to spend with my now deceased father and my '76 Triumph Spitfire. He bought us a pair of those British motoring flat caps and we'd drive around LA in them together. What a pair of goofs! Anyway, thanks for reminding me of those days. :)

When it comes to Fathers, children and passing away, I tear up - Honestly - it hits a real soft spot.
I have thought that my kids (20 and 21) would see my Boxster in the same light if I were gone
I recently drove my Boxster down to see my father(84) 950 miles. He had a 914 in the mid 70s and now talks of getting a Boxster.
Seeing the work that is needed to keep these up, I kinda have been trying to dissuade him from it. Mainly explaining some of the problem areas these cars can have.
I'm not sure if I'm doing him a service or Dis-service.
The Boxster is a Grin maker by itself, but knowing it was your dad's car and the felling he had for it - The Grin just gets wider

Enjoy it, enjoy the memories

Very nice.

I would avoid the de-snorkle mod. That removes the very thing that let's you know a Boxster is coming down the street before you even turn to look for it.
No other car has that unique sound.

As far as mods, the guys here on the forum have a pretty coold headlight mod that I would do in a second if I had the old school halogens like you. Gives it the Le Mans GT1 LMP look while upgrading to HID. Much better than spending all that money on factory litronics (which I would NOT buy used unless offered at deep,deep discount... ditto for anything else electrical).
http://986forum.com/forums/uploads01...1397922081.jpg

A set of smoked LED tail lights would look nice too and make the car safer since LED has such higher visibility at night.

http://986forum.com/forums/attachmen...oked-depot.jpg

Moving story and a lovely ride! Enjoy every moment of it. Wishing I was back in the Bay Area and had my boxster. Well.....you can't have it all......or can you?

Thank you for the moving story, and the rims look amazing on your car as is. You sure don't see that at the frozen treat places around here!:cheers: