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-   -   How did the 911 Bug get you,your first Porsche? (http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/576649-how-did-911-bug-get-you-your-first-porsche.html)

walter36 11-22-2010 06:13 PM

How did the 911 Bug get you,your first Porsche?
 
I was working at a small size BMW Dealership in 1970,we used to move a lot of cars,in particular the new and pretty 1602,1802 and 2002's,BMW also sold the Alpina tuned 2002 turbo hot rod through the dealer-network at that time.We received a white Alpina Turbo with a shipment of cars and it attracted a lot of well heeled sport's car owners that would drop by and look it over and take it for test drives,the shop staff was not allowed to drive it under any circumstance. Anyway this Alpina also reeled the occasional Porsche owner into our car lot,long story short a 1970 pristine 911 S was taken into trade for the Alpina Bemmer
and parked on the lot.Some weeks later the dealership owner went on a ten day vacation,witch would give the shop staff a change to sample the latest machine's on the lot,with dealer plates and all :D
I was the one who had to wash and clean the 911,as well as change the Oil when it got dropped of at our shop,I noticed the extremely spirited engine and light steering when I took the car back out to the Lot,completely opposite to the docile BMW's.
I was dying to take that 911's for a 15 min spin on an open road,to see for myself what the fuss was all about.
With the boss gone I took it for a spin,my outlook on cars changed radicaly after that,my Bemmer loyalty had taken a major hit :D

Anway in 1977 I bought my first 911,it was a 72 Targa with MFI and the Oil tank
behind the passenger door,its been Porsche ever since ;)

slodave 11-22-2010 06:24 PM

Here's some reading on that. :)

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-technical-forum/530849-fun-where-did-your-porsche-obsession-begin.html?highlight=911+story

drcoastline 11-22-2010 06:32 PM

On my 10th birthday (1974) I received a model of a yellow 1973 RS. The rest as they say is history. 11 years later on my 21st B'day I bought a 1974 911 Targa. I still have it.

hpaull 11-22-2010 06:42 PM

Ha, love this, and I'll bite. My car story starts from a young age, I was always obsessed with anything with an engine. All I wanted was to race kart's but my dad never let me. I turned 16 and got my mom's old z3, which ironically was the cheapest car for my parents to insure me on at the time. Then I started autocross, which snowballed into DE's, and then Time Attack. By the end of the Z3 era it was pretty heavily modified with full GC suspension with spring rates that should never be on a street car and a spare set of R comps. After that I got into Karting finally and loved it. However, the day I got my TaG after I realized shifters was a terrible idea I found out I finally got into the Air Force Academy after 2 years of trying. The next two years I didn't have a car while at USAFA. Then my parents got me a car. It was my neighbor's old volvo T5-r in that obnoxious yellow color they came in. I was not a big fan, it was too boring and practical, not really my style.

Then one night I was wasting some time on craigslist and I came across this ad for an 87 911 at a dealership in Denver. I decided to go check it out for the hell of it. Never have I fallen in love with a car until this 911. Just the moment walking in and seeing it I knew it was something special. Ironically it was flanked by a few Ferrari's and other possibly, and some may argue, nicer Porsche's even a Noble m12 and Pantera, but for some reason this little red 87 stood out in a sea of exotics. The guy at the dealership went and started it up and it was unreal. Once I took it out for a test drive I knew it was game over, I was going to try to work out some way to get this car.

A week later I worked out a deal and was even able to trade in the obnoxious yellow Volvo. I took delivery and was basically euphoric. Then went to my first autocross and things snowballed again. The car has all new suspension FG bumpers and the usual track day goodies.

I have never been happier with a car, and can't wait for the love affair to continue!

Bob Ashlock 11-22-2010 06:57 PM

In the late 60's, I was a big muscle-car fan and had several fast Chevy's including a 427 Corvette. One of my friends came rolling up in a '59 356 Porsche and I went for a ride. Cute car, but not enough go-power for me. Then another friend dumped his Chevy for a 356 and I'm thinking maybe I'm not getting what's going on. So I start looking at 912's and drive a few and start appreciating the 'feel' of the car. But I'm still looking for more "oomph", so I decide it is going to have to be a 911. Back then there was no internet and no Auto Trader. The only real lead on used cars was my local newspaper (The Los Angeles Times) with the Sunday edition being the major opportunity. So early Sunday morning I pick up a paper and I'm browsing the ads and here's a '66 911 that's just appeared for sale in Beverly Hills. I call the owner and he explains the car has 36K miles and I should come check it out. My friend and I make the 45-minute drive and roll up just as he is pulling it out of his garage. Shiny Gulf Blue 911, wood trim dash and steering wheel, chrome wheels and not a single flaw that I can see. One trip around the block and I'm hooked! No negotiation on the $3600 price. I give the owner a down-payment and show up the next day at his house, cash in hand. That was a happy drive back home, learning the car. I kept that car for many years, rebuilt the engine once myself and finally sold it when it was well-used with about 200K miles on it in 1976.

screenwriter-X 11-22-2010 07:01 PM

1) A funny looking little white slot car with a duck tail spoiler as a childhood Christmas gift. Late 70's.

2) The silver 930 turbo driving through the autumn leaves in that old TV commercial (for Gillette razors? I can't remember...) Around the same time.

3) Discovering the Great Marques Porsche coffee table book a couple of years later (1981 - 82?) and buying it because the opening few pages were almost like the commercial!

4) A bunch of plastic model kits and spotting 911's and turbos on TV shows and the couple around town.

5) Buying my first old 911 (an SC ) at 25. It was as magical and unique among cars as I always knew it would be. And my current 1989 Carrera 3.2 is all that and then some.

JJ 911SC 11-22-2010 07:19 PM

* When I was 7, back in 1964, I sat in my (rich) cousin 911 and said one day...

* Continually ask my father and them my wife "when you going to by me a Porsche"?

* 45 years later... Out of the blue, my wife send me a Kijiji link for a Targa for sale. It was a disaster.

* After a fast learning curve (thanks to the PP community), one month later, I became the 7th (and last) owner of Das Babe. Lots of time to make up.

steely 11-22-2010 10:30 PM

Motive, opportunity, and means (sounds like a crime). :)

I just fell in love with them as a young man - got sick later on and realized life was way too short. More recently, the boss I had at work made an incredibly stupid mistake :eek: - and I had to work nearly 6 months overtime as a result - enough to fund my childhood dream.:cool:

5:04 11-22-2010 11:28 PM

I've been a car guy since the day I was born. I came home in a BMW and my dad had Jaguars, VWs, Benzs, and Bimmers all while I was growing up so European cars were all I know. He gifted me my first car which was a BMW 320i. I love them for their low price and high fun. I owned a couple more e21's an e30, and finally got a Miata and some money to make a track car. I built the Miata into a turbo beast, and once I was done decided I wanted a Porsche. The dream of owning a Porsche was one I'd had as long as I could remember. Their timeless lines and racing history had me hooked from the beginning. I started looking at Boxsters since I wanted a cheap track car, then by chance took a test drive in an 87 911 Targa and was instantly addicted. One month later I bought a 76 911 track car and yesterday I had my first track day with her. I was a Porsche addict in the making, and once I had a taste I didn't want anything else.

James Brown 11-23-2010 01:08 AM

it's 1973, I'm a senior in high school and one of my running mates, Jimmy Zeto's dad shows up with a new 911S in silver. That's all it took. 30 years later, I got to buy one but the bug was set in 1973.

twistoffat 11-23-2010 01:43 AM

Watch this, need I say more....... :)

YouTube - Condorman Best Scene HD Remastered

UrQuattro 11-23-2010 02:25 AM

Ill throw down...

Well, I've been driving, technically, since I was about 10. I know it's unsafe and frowned upon now, but my dad used to put me in his lap and let me steer the car (though I could intermittently feel him correcting me). I graduated to sitting next to him and steering, and finally at 13, he took me to a developing condo community and let me drive his ex-chp POS around there ad I got the hang of using the pedals for once.

I'll make one step back. I've always been a car nut. And I do mean ALWAYS. literally, no joke, my first word was "car".

Anyway, the next step was learning a stick do my dad rented a car with a stick and let me learn on it. It was a ford escort with no tach. God bless him, one of the first things he taught me was a drop-clutch-start. We went to this one stretch of highway in san Francisco out by the beach, and he'd have me pull over and when the time was right he told me that this was what he used to do when he used to drag race on "the great highway" in the city during his youth. So he tells me to floor the gas, dump the clutch, and off we'd go. (that escort held up well considering how many times we did it...)

Anyway, at this point, I've learned to drive a stick, both obnoxiously and smoothly. I, too, wanted to race karts when I was much younger, but my parents wouldn't let me. But anyway, my mothers boss had just got a 92 964 C4 targa, this being 93, and me being 15 with a leathers permit, all I wanted was a ride in that car. I pined after that ride for the whole time she worked there.

Then came the news that we were going to have to move back east for a few months while she did a project for the company.

On the last day that she was in the office, the boss happened to be there, and I finally asked him if I could ride in the 911. Without hesitation, he smiled, took out his keys, held them up in front of my face (holding that unobtanium to me Porsche key right there, taunting me with the p-car crest embossed on it), told me to hold out my hands and dropped the keys in to them.

I looked at the key and was giving it back when he said "what, you DON'T want to drive it instead?"

At this point I blacked out.

As I came to, I realized that I wasn't dreaming and the emissions weren't so nocturnal, if ya know what I mean..

He leads me out to his car, I get in, adjust everything, and then start the car (after he let me search the car for where to put the key - jerk). Once it started, I heard magic, I heard the sound of that flat 6 for the first time on the inside of the car. I looked over the hood and saw the headlight pods shown me where to go, telling me that wherever we're gonna go, I'm gonna have one hell of a time going there.

So we leave the parking lot. It took a minute, but I got the feel of the bottom hinged pedals pretty quickly and didn't even stall it.

He told me to turn on tofoothill expressway in Los altos, which is a 45mph 4 lane divided highway with no crosswalks or cross traffic. I floored it, rowing through each gear until I got up to 5th. (you must remember at this point that I had learned stick on an escort, and while the time spent in each gear was about what I expected, the speeds involved were not, though it felt as though I had made it up to maybe 60mph). Spin cruising for a few seconds in fifth, accelerating a bit still when I look over to the boss and he's just smiling. He even tells me to jiggle the steering wheel a bit so that I can feel how stable it is at speed.

It was that jiggle that imprinted on my psyche a level of handling that absolutely RUINED me for any other car I might ever get.

After I'm done juggling this dudes 911, he calmly looks over and states "oh, by the way, I think we are going about 120mph so you might want to consider slowing down a bit. I thought this statement to be preposterous. 120mph? Ludicrous!! My dad (who grew up w/muscle cars ingrained on me the idea that 100 mph was fast and that the car would feel "floaty". I was experiencing none of this.

Then I noticed the speedometer and the fact that 60 mph was at approximately 9 o'clock on the dial, and the speedo was past 1 o'clock. So yup, about 120. I slowed down and when we finally came to an intersection, I pulled in to the left turn lane to do a u turn and go back. That's when I noticed the auto-spoiler lowering itself behind me.

Long story shorter, I didn't go 120 mph back, I just took it easy and kept it in third ad the boss didn't want me lugging the engine below 2500rpm, which was fine with me because it sure sounded good.

Anyway, since that experience, as I said above, I was ruined, jaded, traumatized by perfection. How could I have fun driving a car that didn't feel like that? So that's my story.

My 81 targa came to me through the passing of my father in November 2005. He bought it after I talked him in to getting a sports car again, and that a 911 was te only choice. He bought it from the third owner in late 2000.

I don't know how, but I seemed to drive it a lot more often than he did. Which is probably best as he wasn't great at taking care of it, and over his tenure, the condition of the car deteriorated significantly. Not so much mechanically, as he was pretty good about taking it to a decent Porsche specialty shop in the city, but being a targa, it leaked...a LOT. It wouldn't leak if he would simply park it facing uphill, but he didn't like to do that because his balance was bad after he wrecked my 86 audi 4000 quattro in a head on collision and almost died..he did die, three times at the scene, but they saved him each time.

So, now I have the car. Yeah, I'd love to have a carrera 3.2, esp an 89. And I hate dealing with the targa top and it's flaws. But, I've spent a lot of money since I came to this community last July and have been buying parts from SO many of you so that I can slowly bring it up to a level that I'm proud of and that my dad would be proud of.

Despite its faults, every time I get in to it, I get told to move it or lose it by the headlight pods, and the borla muffler has SERIOUSLY changed the character of the engine. I have replaced the warped door panels with decent used ones, I've added the real h4s, I upgraded to the later carrera 3.2 sway bars, and I have nearly every single part necessary to do a complete suspension upgrade. All I need to get are rear monoballs and rear springplate bushings. I'll probably end up with polybronze, but I'm hoping rebel will come out with the rear version of their gorgeous front control arm bushing/bearing setup before I need to buy.

Anyway, I'm sorry this is so long.

Oh, and as for my handle, UrQuattro. I've got one of them too, and THAT car, I was able to make it so good that 911s care surprised by it. It has enough hp to break the tires loose in 2nd gear around a bend and give me a power based 4 wheel drift on dry asphalt. So, having two of the most significant cars ever built is a nice thing when I have to choose what to drive each day...

Ok, I'm shutting up now

Michael

KCinBR 11-23-2010 03:08 AM

The year 1968, the place, San Bernardino Cal. on a school bus outside of Golden Valley Jr. high school waiting for the bus to load for the afternoon ride home.

To my left, appearing out of a side street was the most awesomely beautiful little car I had ever seen....."Porschaaaa 911" as it sped off up the street out of my view I knew that someday it would be mine.

The year 1977, the place, Greenville SC. in the used car lot of the "Porschaaa" dealership was a beautiful little yellow 914 1.7l that was destined to become my "first Porschaaa"

WHAT, ....a year earlier while traveling through Johnson city Tn. I spotted what I think was my first 914 and remarked that it was the "ugliest car on the planet", that was before I had driven one, funny how they look different from behind the wheel. On top of that, at the time I was in the market for a 1966 corvette, but because a very good freind of mine had just purchased a 914 I had to at least give it a serious look.

The year 2005, the place, Greer, SC walking through Wal-mart I ran into some friends who had an 1988 Guards Red Targa. they told my that they were trying to sell it and had it priced at 16k, hummmm I thought, the wheels in my head were really turning now.

After two weeks of thinking on how to make this happen......it came to me, SELL the Gl1800 goldwing and purchase the 911......simple huh?

YES it was that simple, I made a call to my friends and stated my interest and made arrangements to view the car that night. I looked the car over in the dark, ( did not know anything about 911's at that time) we came to an agreement on the price and came back the next day to drive it. I was given the keys and told to keep it for the weekend!! I chose to take it for a test drive with one of the owners present with me.
This was a one owner car, and it was driven by a lady hairdresser, kinda reads like a story book where everyone lives happily ever after :D


OK, now I gotta sell the Goldwing .....simple huh?

YES, it was that simple, later that same day I put the Goldwing on consignment at a local bike shop and 6 days later I had a check in hand and the 911 was mine.

The year 2010, the place Greer sc. I got the serious bug for a 2005 Boxster S, dont want to sell the 911 but.....cant afford to keep two Porsche's along with a 08 MINI cooper S, 2007 Honda pilot and 2000 toyota tundra.
The mini is my daily driver ( I really love this car and 32 mpg helps) the honda is my wifes car, she aint lettin go, The toyota truck in a must have living out here on 37 acres in the country.

Soooooo the story continues, decisions to be made, finances to be considered,...

So help me, do I sell the 911 which is a beautiful car, and needs little to make it perfect or keep it and continue to make it better.
Would really like to hear from those who have a Boxster and also have owned 911's
SmileWavy :) ;);) :D

robfike 11-23-2010 03:08 AM

Real simple. I'm a racer, and I felt that my resume would not be complete unless I had some sort of a championship in a 911.
Bought my car as a roller in 2003. Built the car to SCCA GT-3 rules in 2004/5. Ran the last couple of races in 2005. Ran the full year in 2006, and won the championship in GT-3 by 1 point.
What a blast!

NY65912 11-23-2010 03:27 AM

I was tooling around in my'71 K Ghia and decided to go a little crazy on it.

I had a few $$ buring a hole in my pocket at 25 years old. Circa 1980.

I sent the engine out to Claudes Buggies and built a 1835cc engine with all the goodies.
44 Webers, big cam. big valve large port heads, deep sump with remote cooler, light flywheel forged high compression pistons and the case was strengthened and a bunch of other mods.

A cousin of my cousin had wrecked his '67 911 S and had stripped the car of parts.

I had read an article in Hot VW's about grafting in a 901 transaxle into a bug.

I bought the trans, shifter and shift rod and set forth fabbing mounts to fit the 901 in. It was a learning experience.

In the end it worked out great. So there I was with an approx 150 hp (or better) VW engine with a 5 speed. Sweet.

I'll never forget the look on this dudes face when I was going up to Orangeberg NY for a show that used to be held up there in the eighties.

I was on the FDR going north (in Manhattan) and this guy gets on to the FDR with a brand new SC. He had a hot chick with him. As he got on at 59th St (entry from the left lane back in the day) I was next to him in the middle lane.

I was keeping up with him and you could see that he was aggravated that this VW was right with him. Having downshifted to 3rd at about 55 mph the game was on. He threw 4th and so did I, we were up to 70 mph +.

He threw fifth and so did I...he could'nt believe that I was keeping up with him to about 120 mph. He backed down;).

Man was this guy pissed. A lowly VW keeping up with his brand new Porch.

I then realized that the Porsche would have more potential so that was my new interest.

Man was that was fun!

Karaya 11-25-2010 02:43 AM

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/blogs/karaya/363-my-porsche-story.html

Here's mine!

Karaya

chris 964 11-25-2010 03:31 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by walter36 (Post 5688175)
I was working at a small size BMW Dealership in 1970,we used to move a lot of cars,in particular the new and pretty 1602,1802 and 2002's,BMW also sold the Alpina tuned 2002 turbo hot rod through the dealer-network at that time.We received a white Alpina Turbo with a shipment of cars and it attracted a lot of well heeled sport's car owners that would drop by and look it over and take it for test drives,the shop staff was not allowed to drive it under any circumstance. Anyway this Alpina also reeled the occasional Porsche owner into our car lot,long story short a 1970 pristine 911 S was taken into trade for the Alpina Bemmer
and parked on the lot.Some weeks later the dealership owner went on a ten day vacation,witch would give the shop staff a change to sample the latest machine's on the lot,with dealer plates and all :D
I was the one who had to wash and clean the 911,as well as change the Oil when it got dropped of at our shop,I noticed the extremely spirited engine and light steering when I took the car back out to the Lot,completely opposite to the docile BMW's.
I was dying to take that 911's for a 15 min spin on an open road,to see for myself what the fuss was all about.
With the boss gone I took it for a spin,my outlook on cars changed radicaly after that,my Bemmer loyalty had taken a major hit :D

Anway in 1977 I bought my first 911,it was a 72 Targa with MFI and the Oil tank
behind the passenger door,its been Porsche ever since ;)

Walter you may appreciate this from your days in the early 70's and BMW - Its a 71 2002 Alpina that ran the Monte Carlo Rally
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1290688247.jpg

WIL84911 11-25-2010 04:38 AM

Great topic. Yes 1st 911 got me 2.5 years ago. I'm kicking myself for doing it so late.

911Maverick 11-25-2010 06:29 AM

Mine hit not to long ago. I was researching a new project/toy since I have been withouth for a while. I was mainly searching air cooled VW's, during that search I found out that I could actually afford a Porsche! I would have never thought that certain model years would be as affordable as they are.

I do not own a 911 yet but I am working on it and am definitely bitten by the bug!

pwd72s 11-25-2010 08:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by 911Maverick (Post 5692592)
Mine hit not to long ago. I was researching a new project/toy since I have been withouth for a while. I was mainly searching air cooled VW's, during that search I found out that I could actually afford a Porsche! I would have never thought that certain model years would be as affordable as they are.

I do not own a 911 yet but I am working on it and am definitely bitten by the bug!

Run! While you still can...RUN! Take up golf, bowling, whatever....RUN!


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