Funtoy

[Anker]

Took my 10 year old grand daughter round the neighborhood and then gave the keys to my son in law so he and my daughter could catch the Boxster bug.

Top down, of course, even though the temps were around 40.

Next week she will be prepped for hibernation, sob!

[Anker]

A couple of things I learned:

You need a really low and long reach shop jack to put the front end on jack stands. The 3.5" clearance jack I just bought doesn't have enough reach to allow me to put the jack under the reinforced pad on the chassis and leave enough room to put the jack stands under the jack points. I was able to, but just barely, fit the jack stands under the reinforced members when I put the shop jack under the jack points. The 19.75" lift height is also at the low end for working under the car on jack stands. To get under the car from the side panels the height of the jack can't be more than 6" at its highest point.

[Anker]

So how did we end up with a Boxster?

I have always ended up purchasing "practical" vehicles, with my better half getting the sportier ones. A Firebird in 1985 and a Buick Reatta (remember those) in the 80's. The latter one was a surprise gift to her, much appreciated.

The Porsche part of the story goes back to my younger brother. He lived in Sweden and worked in Denmark. My family is from Denmark, but he lived in Sweden for tax reasons. One is that in Denmark you buy 3 cars, give two to the government and they graciously let you keep the third. Yes, this really is true. Anyway, he bought a rare 944 Turbo Cabriolet in Germany and put a 6 speed transmission in it. 10 years ago he tragically died in a diving accident and I tried to get the 944 to the US as a memento. Unfortunately the advice I got was that it would cost a fortune to make it comply with US regulations, so that didn't work. But it did put the Porsche bug into my head.

Wind forward 10 years and we saw a sad looking Boxster at our local used car dealership. We test drove it and were hooked. To make a long story short we didn't buy that one (thank God), but purchased Funtoy which has an IMSB retrofit and a service record. We had no idea purchase prices could be so reasonable, otherwise we would have done it years ago.

Every time I take a spin in Funtoy send a thought to my brother, and hope he receives it. All of which makes it the more precious to us.

Back in the 60s and 70s I did all of my car maintenance myself, but once I could afford it I always paid other people for it. With Funtoy I am back to doing maintenance. No pressure, because it is a toy car and not a daily driver, and I can do the work in an attached garage, which is much better than lying under the car in the snow. New brake pads a few days ago and new trailing arms and probably new front disks before she gets unpacked next spring.

Here's a picture of my brother's 944.