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Jack is a guy who has been fortunate enough to have had a lot of fun with Porsches.
This is the next (last) one on his "bucket list"...

I say "ALL IN" !

To be frank - once you are > 60 years old, mid-age can become old-age overnight. All you need to acquire is a bum leg for example and you'd be trading the 87 for a tiptronic. :eek:

Get that car now!!! :D

And make sure to post back with your ownership experience.

G

I am his brother....that owned the 87...and did the backdate...Knowing what I know about the car....I say big mistake for many reasons that I won't go into here....but I thought I would throw in my.02 anyway. I pretty much know what the outcome will be...so all I will say is....Enjoy

Keep your 87, sell other vehicles and save until you have enough. The GT3 will continue depreciating, which will be to your advantage. If it takes one year or three years and you still so desire then its the right thing to do..Good luck, Tim

Jack, I think you would end up regretting selling your 87. It is a sweet ride and set up beautifully. Like several have said, if you don't plan to track/AX the GT3, you will likely not enjoy/wring the best out of it in day-to-day driving. Whereas, the 87 will feel fun anywhere you drive it, at any speed. That is what I love about the old-school air-cooled cars: they are so much fun even at 40 MPH. Drive the GT3 at normal city speeds and I think you would be hard-pressed to tell the difference between that and a "normal" 997.

If I were you, I would wait and figure out a way to have both. If you can't or don't want to get into that situation now, keep the 87, spend some $$ to add the creature comforts back into the car (AC, heat, etc), and rent a GT3 whenever you get the itch to drive one. The tipping point for me would be how easily it would be to replace the 87 in its current form if you ever decided you wanted it back. Taking that into consideration, it would be an easy decision for me. You can always find a GT3 for sale. Best of luck with your decision.

Jim

At least you are not complaining like others on this board, and that is a good thing. Either poop or get off of the pot for Pete's sake. The suspense is killing me. Get you a sheet of paper and write down all of the reasons to buy or not to buy the GT3. Then get another sheet and write down all of the reasons to keep or not to keep the '87. Do what you want to do! Not necessarily the best or makes the most sense, but what you really want to do. If this is your bucket list and the last one on there, then go for the GT3. Life is too short. You will make the right decision! http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat.gif

My 911 is much like yours is, or was - 1987 in Marine blue, though mine is RoW and not the wide body you made yours. A couple years back I almost switched to a 993. It was purchased just an hour or two before I could get a deposit in on it. I have decided to keep my '87 and am happy I still have her but I still think of that sweet 993 from time to time. Yours is a somewhat enviable position to be in; I wouldn't mind at all to have a GT3 with my name on it. Would I sell my 911 to get one? Maybe. It's tough to say for sure without being in that position.

I'm just spit balling, but here's a couple of thoughts...

I mostly enjoy working on and tinkering with mine. With the GT3, you likely won't be able to do that as much, if that sort of thing floats your boat.

Your 911 was never the top of the performance heap of its time, and the GT3 is.

Is your 911 something that would break your heart if you lost it forever?

A lot of this boils down to emotion. The extra cost of the GT3 won't usually matter. I mean, really, none of us bought ours based more than a tiny bit on logic.

If the GT3 makes you giddy and plasters a big ass grin on your face, I think the choice is obvious.

EDIT: the other thing I never considered: if you get the GT3, none of us will wave any more because you're driving a water pumper and everyone knows they're too pretentious and never wave back... :D

Get the GT and don't look back. It's obvious it's a car you want. All the talk on here about values and depreciation and stuff cracks me up. Who the hell cares about that stuff? I never look at those things when I buy a hobby car. You buy these types of cars with your heart.

Jack, you and I have traded emails before. Sorry to see you faced with such a difficult decision. My take is that it's very easy to get bored in a more modern car especially with how you are going to use it (ie. no track). I have the opportunity to occasionally drive cars way beyond my means, and while I enjoy it as a short term thing, they are not the cars I would want to drive daily.

Since this car is from such a good friend, can you work out a temporary deal where you get the car for several weeks to make sure? Maybe a bill of sale with an out in it minus some fee for his patience, just don't sign over the title until the end of the trial period.

Finally even a good deal on a GT3 is still a lot of money. Lots of things you could do in retirement with those funds.

You have your answer! Now act upon it! Happy for you!
http://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat.gifhttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat.gifhttp://forums.pelicanparts.com/support/smileys/wat.gif

* update *

Well...after mucho consideration coupled with some intervening developments that I won't go into here, I've decided to keep the Carrera and pass on the GT3.

In this case, the head overruled the heart...with me and cars, that doesn't happen often! :)

I really, really appreciate everyone's input.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1350260546.jpg

Good choice. It's hard not to follow the heart. I imagine it would be hard to let the '87 go.

I'm on the slippery slope of hot rodding my 911. I don't know if I'm following my head or heart in this decision. I know leaving it stock is the best decision, but not what I want.

Dean

Are you going to try to get the Bullitt you sold back? ;)

Jack,

Bit late to the party here but I think you made the right choice

Having owned a mk1 GT3, mk2 GT3 and a GT3RS (admittedly all 996's) and numerous air cooled cars (mostly involving the letters RS) plus being a serious track day’er, I would take your car over any Kettle if you are just driving street miles.

Whilst both seriously capable the smile per mile ratio of the aircooled cars is achieved at a much lower rate of knots.

Realised that I was pushing my luck in the 996RS when 100mph felt positively pedestrian and pulling out of my driveway and changing gear at 3K rpm resulted in license damaging speeds by the time I had gone 1/8 mile...

That, plus other financial factors, dictate that my next Porsche will be a back dated Carrera of 964. Now if yours is still for sale....

Enjoy.

P.

Hey Don long time. I remember the build, a beautiful car. That being said I'd have bought the GT3. As much BS&T I put into my Carrera I'd have sold it for the GT3. Regrets after, sure but they'd have gone away as soon as I fired up the 3!!
Either way John you have a fantastic car.

Your air cooled 87 is more cool and will appreciate forever. The water cooled car would be a fortune to repair. Your car is practically a cheap to own. I would never ever trade a classic 911 you have history with. You can't replace or buy what your car brings. You made the right move.

Hi, Paul,

Nope, had I known what I know now, I wouldn't have let the Bullitt go but it has a good home now. The current owner's previous car was a Viper GTS that he said was just too much car for him on the street.

My current "work in progress" is a very nice, original '69 Camaro SS I found last year that just needs some undercarriage and underhood detailing, a few inconspicuous suspension upgrades and a set of modern Wilwood brakes.

And the Carrera will get a significant interior upgrade and a new Stratton ducktail in 2013 as well. And maybe later a M&K pre-muffler (the M&K sport muffler is way too loud with the current cat bypass), a Steve Wong chip, etc., etc......

The Camaro sounds like a fun project Jack.

Keeping the '87 was probably a good move as well. I have a friend with a GT2. He often complains that it's too much for the street, that he can't use much more than 10% of what the car is capable of.

Although not as fast as a GT2, I'd imagine the same could be said of a GT3.

Too bad about the Bullitt. You had made modest & nice mods. But..there are still nice examples out there, should you decide to return. :)

Ok, inquiring minds want to know! What was Bullitt?

Gotta send some props to your buddy. I love the way he did up his Champion RG5 wheels with the bolts exposed, centers gloss blacked out and lip untouched. Looks amazingly good on the 997 GT3! Your air-cooled is nice, too.