Whats your story?

[kenikh]

My story is one of triumph over adversity. OK, not really, but in a manner of speaking, it is (barely) true. My family is much unlike many of yours: there wasn't a car enthusiast's bone to be found anywhere in my family. The only thing my parents ever did right in terms of cars was to buy a brand new 1971 VW Fastback, which my dad unceremoniously drove until I turned sixteen in 1990. That car became mine was I was 16 years, 6 months old. (on a side note, I was born 2 days after the last day of the last official model year for the longhood).

I won't say the Fastback started it all, but it didn't hurt. The real start of it all was my favorite matchbox car from childhood: a metallic green 1976 Porsche 911 Turbo. That car just lit a fire under me like nothing else. Years later, when the family moved to Germany in 1986, I was able to spend three years gawking at Porsches finest creations at autobahn speeds; needless to say, that first 911 flying by at 130MPH sealed the deal. Yes, I can say that I have been passed by a REAL 959 on the autobahn. Can you?

Fast forward to college and I had the pleasure of:

a) fully restoring the Fastback - this got my mechanical juices flowing (and yes, I still own it)
b) reading the Excellence article on Paul Donkin's green S in 1997

I was done for; my new obsession became the early Esses. Two years ago, I got sick of seeing prices on these cars growing at the same rate as my income and making excuses for why I couldn't afford one, so I told my wife: I'm selling the bimmer and buying an Early S. Good thing I did, because the prices of these cars has hit a new gear since then.

To come full circle, my passion for these cars has pushed upstream what many of your fathers passed down to you: passion for these cars. My dad is now a 911 driver, albeit a 996. Who says the son can't teach the father a few things?

Anyhow, that's history. 2 years and 2400 posts later, here I am: as hopeless a german aircooled nut as ever. You can tell me to shut up anytime.

[jaudette3]

When I turned 16, my father gave me a Nash-Healey that he had purchased new.



There can be no greater motivation to own and drive Porsches than to have started out with a Nash-Healey.

John Audette

[ttweed]

I was another one led to Porsches by my father. As an engineer, he had a great respect for the German air-cooled cars, and owned a succession of three used 356 cars in the '50s. I grew up riding in them, and when I got my driver's license at 16, I was lucky enough to be able to talk him out of the keys ocassionally, but could never afford to buy one myself. I had to settle for a clapped-out '57 MGA for my first sports car, which I bought for $500 in the mid-'60s, and terrorized the local neighborhoods with, pretending I was Dan Gurney. I can still remember him helping me tear down and rebuild the engine in our garage after I blew it up.

I went with him to the dealership when he test drove the new 911S in 1967, and it was an eye-opener for both of us. He traded in his '65 356SC on the spot, buying his first brand new car ever, saying "Finally, they have enough power!" It became his daily driver for the next 15 years, and I had a lot of fun stunning my muscle-car-addicted friends with its handling whenever I could borrow it.

Real life intervened, though, and other priorities prevented me from owning my own Porsche until I was 48 years old. I had always told my father that I wanted his '67S whenever he was done with it, but my little brother snaked me on the deal and bought it from him when he went to a 928. I finally bought my first 911 from a retired chiropractor here in San Diego in 1996, a '66 coupe that had been converted to S specs sometime in the '70s. I started doing PCA events in it and was hooked. I bought a modified '73E from Alex (Russianblue) in the late '90s, to see how the LWB cars went, and then my father's '67S became available when my brother's wife decided they needed a new horse trailer more than they needed a Porsche. I flew up to his home in N. Cal. immediately, gave him the cash for it, and drove it home.

I didn't really need two SWB cars that were so similar, so I sold the '66 to an Aussie, who is still using it for vintage racing down under, AFAIK.

Of course I wish I could afford the real-deal, low-production/race-oriented model 911s, the RS, RSR, etc., but financial realities dictate that I can only satisfy my cravings with emulation, so the '73E has gone the RS-replica route. I have always admired the 911R, too, but the '67S was too nice and original to hack up into a R-look, so I bought a '68 beater last year that I'm modifying in that vein.

Where will it all end? I don't know, but after driving my LeGrand DSR a bit, I can imagine what it might be like to own something in the 908-962 sportsracer line. Since that ain't going to happen in today's market, I have been casting an eye towards the turbo version of the Diasio D962R. Sure, it's not a real Porsche, but how much fun would 410HP in a 1400 lb. 962-look chassis be on the track?

TT

[RickS]

Growing up with a German father in the U.S., who always raved about 'fine German engineering', it probably wasn't a major leap. There was always a Mercedes or BMW sedan in the garage, and dad loved to drive FAST. He always raved about how his cars could take most curves at 10-15 MPH faster than posted, and regularly drove 20+ MPH over most posted limits. Even though he loved his sedans, he always had a special reverence for what he considered the ultimate German sports car. When ever we were out driving, he would point out every Porsche, and exclaim, "Ah look Richard, there's a P-O-R-S-C-H-E". He always wanted one and even drove one when Mercedes was in the shop, as a loaner-car, but could never justify one. That one drive made an indelible impression and he raved about it for years.

Dad would often say, "You should see the Porsches on the autobahn, they fly by everything in sight." He was still under their spell.

In junior high, I built two Revel plastic models of 67S's. They were my favorite models, and I still have them. I built a succession of them, bought Brumos posters (when other guys had posters of Farrah <- which for the record I DID appreciate), and would visit the local Porsche dealer to collect each year's new literature and drool.

In high school I drove a 67 Beetle and later German Capri V6. My best buddy in HS was also into aircooled, so he bought what he could afford, a Super Beetle and suped it up. He had Recarco buckets, and we would go zipping around corners way too fast, with the buckets giving us a false sense of security, and would end up swapping ends many times - luckily never hitting anyone or anything.

While still in high school, I remember one day sitting at a light in San Jose, and saw to my utter amazement to 70's S's stop light racing. The sound was magic, the curl of smoke, and their blistering speed held me in awe. Dad was certainly right.

Jump ahead to age 25, I found a '72 Sephia T targa in bad repair, but it ran, the top leaked like a sieve, and laid down a smoke screen like you wouldn't believe, but its what I could afford. I instantly loved the sound of the motor, and really enjoyed driving it on warm summer nights with the top off. I busied myself repairing everything my limited skills would permit (read mostly cosmetic and electrical). That first car taught me a valuable lesson about getting a PPI (which I didn't) and the costliness of parts and professional repair (outrageous, compared to my Audi). Job loss and unemployment luckily forced my hand in selling it since it badly needed a total rebuild, front pan replacement, new targa top, weather-stripping, color change, and on and on. Yes I was in over my head.

I had a variety of Audis as daily drivers and being an avid skiier really got hooked on AWD. Several years later I finally purchased another pleasure car, and '84 Audi Turbo Quattro Coupe (UrQ). It was in excellent shape had a fairly powerful motor and cornered like no other. I really enjoyed that car for several years, but always wished it had the 20V turbo with another 100hp. People were doing swaps, but $10K for the swap was too rich for my blood. Great car, no one knew what it was (Is that a big Sirrocco? - Why yes, in a way. Thanks for asking.) I never bothered talking about it being the baby brother to a multi-year world rally champion.

Jump to 2000, and one nice summer weekend day, my wife's business partner came to visit, and she was driving a white '72 911S with sport pipes. She threw me the keys and said, "I'm going to be a couple of hours, would you mind taking it out and exercising it a bit?" "No problemo" was my response.

As soon as I fired it up, all the old memories of my old Porsche flooded back, the sound of the engine - but with loud pipes, the feeling of be planted in corners - but with no cowl shake, and just a feeling of absolute bliss during acceleration that the UrQ could not top. The UrQ was a civilized GT while the Porsche was raw, visceral, and had no frills. That was it, I was hooked again and had to have another.

I sold the UrQ in two weeks and searched the next 6 months for a suitable '72 or '73S. I ended up finding a '73S posted on the Registry in Hollywood. And the rest as they say, is history.

[rgrimm]

I bought my Sand Beige 1968 coupe in 1991. I was a newbie--didn't know a long hood from a short hood, a LWB from a SWB. I learned to drive in a 1967 Corvair. What possesed my father to buy that car I'll never know--it was so uncharacteristic of him. In his world of V-8 station wagons, he not only bought a 6 cylinder ("it'll never last"), but he got the 140 hp 4 barrel, 4 on the floor version. Anyway, it did last. I and my 3 brothers all learned to drive a stick with that car (can you say new clutch?) and it eventually was passed to me where I ran it up to about 117k before the body got away from me. Great car--I was even a member of the Corvair society; saw a few with "Poor man's Porsche" bumper stickers on the back end.

So, back to the 911. When I heard the car was out at our local dealer as a trade-in, I thought it would be an interesting comparison and went out to test drive it. It had the vintage look of a classic sports car--metal bumpers, chromed wheels. It was 1991. I was a newbie--didn't know a long hood from a short hood, a LWB from a SWB.

And as soon as I pulled out of the lot, I thought "now this is way more fun." I drove home, my neighbor immediately gave me a thumbs up and told me it was a keeper, and my wife came out of the house and said it was cute and one of her colors (do you remember when women had their colors done--Carol is an "autumn" so looks good in earth tones, or at least that's the theory). So with that blessing, I drove it back and bought it--my greatest impulse purchase ever. PPI? Never heard of it. Heck, it only had 107,000 miles .

I drove it for a few summers, learning about the car and having a blast. Parked outside a friend's house one evening, I came out to find out I was just down the block from the PO's house and he had put a thick stack of receipts under the wiper. Looking through them, I discovered the car had a complete engine overhaul only 20,000 earlier.

Outside of a new radio (a 90's vintage Blaupunkt AM/FM/Cassette which I bought when I realized vintage-looking "twin knob" car steros were getting harder to find) and a repaint in the original color, it remains as I bought it.

[Mr9146]

Parked outside a friend's house one evening, I came out to find out I was just down the block from the PO's house and he had put a thick stack of receipts under the wiper.

That is one of the COOLEST stories I've ever heard.

[LongRanger]

Bumping another Olde Threade . . . .

[elfenbein]

As a child, I once heard a 911 driving by…………………………………………………………………..and that was it!


My Dad had an ivory '58 Beetle when I was born, so I suspect that my brain was affected by the sound and vibrations of that car.
Many years later, I bought the second 911 I saw, only because someone else had first refusal on the first one. 25 years and 95000 fun and reliable miles later, I'm still loving my one and only light ivory '69S Coupe!

Chris

[767driver]

Weeeellll... it sure as hell didn't start with my father...or anyone else I can think of from my family. Dad drove Buicks and F350s. I think the closest thing to a foreign car anyone in our family had must have been a Corvair. My folks always said I was fascinated with cars as a toddler. And I knew Fords from Chevys, Mustangs from Camaros, etc as soon as I could talk. My older cousin had several '69 Z28s when I was a kid. He had other cars come and go but I always liked those Zs. He was the first "car guy" I knew and certainly contributed to my level of interest in cars. My first real experiences with foreign cars came when I changed schools in 7th grade and became friends with my buddy James (my best man and still best friend today). His dad had a 280Z (which he autocrossed and tracked) and his mom had a 528i. I was immediately impressed by how different they were. Different sounds, different looks, and they handled well.

Then, when my buddy turned 16, he got a brand new '81 Fiat Spider. I still had my '67 Mustang. We would swap cars and just drive around. It was a revelation! My eyes had been opened to a whole new world where a car didn't have to have a burbling V8 to be cool. That little Fiat taught me to appreciate smallness and the way only light weight cars can feel. My first Porsche experiences came next...

I started college in 1984 at the age of 20 in Daytona Beach. I eventually became friends with a guy named Jay who had a very nice white 914. He later dropped out of school and started a business dealing with 914 maintenance and mods. Then the 911 business started coming in. This was probably 1986-87. He quickly became one of "the guys" to go to if you wanted a faster 911. He started building pretty wild turbo motors. I can distinctly remember staring at a monochrome 14" computer screen while he was burning custom chips for his clients. This was pretty cosmic stuff in the mid 80s. There was an engine dyno as well. He would show me how he would test run engines to get the tuning right. I want to say that thing used a water brake to load the engine. I can remember those big single turbos taking a while to get going and then WHOOOOOOOOSSSHHH!!! We used to take the cars out to I95 for test runs. Lets just say those were some of the wildest rides I have EVER had on 4 wheels!!!

So now I had a much more complete appreciation for things automotive. Fast forward about 20 years and finally, in March of 2009, while perusing the Pelican Parts for sale section I see an ad for a 911 about an hour and a half away up near Phoenixville, PA. A 2-owner original paint '88 Carrera. Been loving it ever since. We have done 3 Northeast Mountain Melees, a Targa California, and the RGruppe Treffen with this car. Just made arrangements yesterday to ship it west again for this year's Targa. My wife and I have thoroughly enjoyed meeting so many nice people at these events. And we are pshyched for Targa!!!

[gsjohnson]

I was 15 years old and against my Father's wishes I went out and bought a 55 Chevy with a 4 speed for $300. I didn't have a driver's license and self taught myself to drive a manual shift and to work on the car. My Father had little interest in cars. He was a hard ass Union Iron Worker who worked himself into an early grave. Still, I had a lot of respect for his work ethic and his relentless efforts to raise a family in the proper manner. We were middle class people living in an affluent area. He was married to my Mom until he died.

My best friend lived in the very affluent part of town in a what I would call a border line mansion. It was the horse property part of town...Berkshire. His next door neighbors had a 356 Super 90 and a 356 SC, husband and wife Porsches. We would watch them travel up and down there 200 foot driveway to their stables endlessly...dreaming how we would so much like to own those cars. A couple of years later those 356s had morph'd into a 69 911S and a 70 911E, again his and hers. We drooled daily over those cars as well.

Within a couple of years I had built a B Sedan 124 Coupe and I had joined a club called Road & Sport at our local college. There I met Randy Swayden, John Thomas and Topper Chassie. Randy and Topper had the coolest 914-6s I had ever seen. I had to have one! I saved for a year and I bought my first Porsche in 1975, a burgundy 914-6. I stayed active in the club and became close with all 3 of these guys. John Thomas worked across the street from me at Bozzani. I later changed jobs and I had this police officer as a customer who drove a 1955 Black Speedster. I would constantly ask him about the car and I would always remind him if he ever wanted to sell, to please give me first shot at it. One day he comes into our store and announces that he is selling his Speedster and did I still want the car. I jumped and said YES! He told me there was a problem with the car in that it had blown the engine. I said that's ok, what's the price? He stated that he wanted $2700 as is and that the price was firm. I didn't hesitate, I went to his house and towed the car home. The following weekend, I began assessing what was actually wrong with the motor. I could turn the motor over by hand, and after some fussing around, I bought a new starter and the car magically started right up. I can't tell you how jazzed I was with this! I never did have the heart to tell the seller what I had found. I just kept it to myself. There's no sense in rubbing salt in an old wound.

I became more serious with SCCA and IMSA, going to the runoffs 6 years in a row.
Women began to get in the way and I married and had a child by 30 years old. All my Porsche Toys went by the wayside...
Later...with my daughter grown and after she had graduated from college... and I was divorced after 17 years.

Fast forward to 2006...I always wanted a 911 and I had never really owned one before, so I purchased a 72 Leaf Green 911T. Developing more interest in the mark, I decided what I really wanted was an SWB. I sold my T and in 2008 and bought my current 68 911. The 911 experience is not like any other. I have owned F-cars, Shelbys and assorted other hot rods and the 911 is unquestionably the best bang for the buck....although the world has now found our little secret and the prices are becoming unreachable for others...