Inheritance 911 Project

[Erbe_911]

Hi all, I'm new around here but have been an avid Porsche fan since childhood when my uncle bought a new 996. In the roughly 12 years I've been driving I've had a pretty lengthy automotive history: a muscle car, some trucks and SUVs, economy cars, an NA Miata, and most recently a few Audi A4s.

Currently I'm daily driving a manual B8.5 A4 sports package with quite a few mods. Very solid as a jack of all trades car.



The reason I'm here, though, is different. My stepfather got into Porsches after my uncle got his 996; the first one he bought was a 1987 924S, seen here in a circa-2002 picture with my uncle's 996 (which he still has).



Unfortunately my dad lost a brief battle with lung cancer earlier this year. The cars had been a huge part of our relationship, and he left them to me when he passed.

The keeper: 1984 Carrera 3.2 Targa
We found this together, sitting by the side of the road, in the fall of 2005. He revitalized it and drove it a extensively for a number of years; it got put on the back burner when he retired and started sailing more than driving.

Ancient picture:


Current pictures:




The plan:
Friday it gets hauled to a Porsche specialist (ButziGear) to get back on the road. It shouldn't need too much aside from TLC to get going again; it ran perfectly when he parked it and had no major issues.

Once all the paperwork is taken care of (yay probate!) it'll go in for some more work and mods. Priority will be sorting out whatever issues I run across once it's back on the road. For mods, as of now I'm thinking 17" Fuchs, Euro ride height, a Momo Prototipo wheel, possibly a WEVO shifter. Essentially I want to clean it up aesthetically and make it drive as well as possible (including in traffic) while keeping the original character and a generally factory look.

The one that will be sold: Low-mileage 1997 993 Cabriolet, Aerokit II and Porsche Exclusive.
He picked this up when I was in college, and hardly drove it due to the rarity and low mileage. I'm pretty sure it is a factory Aero Kit/Exclusive car; it has all of the aero components and an Exclusive-badged carbon interior with red gauges and belts. Anyway, I don't have room for two toys and have no personal attachment to this, plus (while I don't believe in having cars and not driving them) I recognize that this having under 40k miles makes it unique and desirable. Don't hate him for the wheels, they were on it when he bought it.

Ancient picture:


Current:




So, that's my story, thanks for reading! I have about as much mechanical ability as a doorknob so most of the actual hard work will be done by others, but I'll keep this thread updated as things progress.


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[sixbanger]

Welcome. Looks like we have the same factory stick to hold up the front hood.

[SalParadise]

Welcome to the board. Sorry to hear about your father. I am definitely more of a gear head than my dad ever was/is.

I grew up in the same area as you. I worked my first job at AmeriSpec Ferrari Conversions on Mill Plain Road in Danbury.

I too had a 924 I bought in Bethel.

My advice is to learn about the cars. They are what I call 'Complex Simplicity' Once learned, they are quite easy to work on and fulfilling.

You picked the right car to keep.

PS. Those wheels don't look too bad on that car, actually. I usually hate non-stock wheels, but that cab is a little over-the-top, so they work well.

[Dmitry at Pelican Parts]

Welcome to the forum! Great looking rides that I'm sure you'll have a blast with. Let us know if you have any questions or if we can assist with any part needs.

[Erbe_911]

Originally Posted by sixbanger

Welcome. Looks like we have the same factory stick to hold up the front hood.

If memory serves we actually bought the shocks years ago... they may even still be in his garage... we just never got around to installing them or never had the right Torx tool or something. Lower priority than top-down cruising, but it'll get done shortly.

Originally Posted by SalParadise

Welcome to the board. Sorry to hear about your father. I am definitely more of a gear head than my dad ever was/is.

I grew up in the same area as you. I worked my first job at AmeriSpec Ferrari Conversions on Mill Plain Road in Danbury.

I too had a 924 I bought in Bethel.

My advice is to learn about the cars. They are what I call 'Complex Simplicity' Once learned, they are quite easy to work on and fulfilling.

You picked the right car to keep.

PS. Those wheels don't look too bad on that car, actually. I usually hate non-stock wheels, but that cab is a little over-the-top, so they work well.

Thank you! The memories make it far more valuable than it's cash equivalent, and I'll hand it down to my eventual kids one day.

The wheels arguably look worse in person... it's crying out for a set of twist wheels. And I agree, it's very over the top but from what I've gathered some people love the Aero Kit style.

[Flat6pac]

Pictures are so gigantic you can’t read the script
Bruce

[Erbe_911]

Originally Posted by Flat6pac

Pictures are so gigantic you can’t read the script
Bruce

Sorry about that! I'm new around here and I posted the thread through TapaTalk; if there's a way to shrink them or make future posts not do that I gladly will. The Audi and watch forums I'm on auto-justify image sizes.

[sixbanger]

I've got new shoes too Never got around to installing them. I have new shocks for my 944 hood too but the sticks just seem to last longer.

[joegt3cup]

Just sent you a PM.

Joe

[Jack Stands]

Over the years, i’ve Learned that the factory stick works more consistently than the factory gas pressure struts. A large umbrella can also work in a pinch if you lose the factory stick! ��

[Brian Cameron]

Sorry to hear about your dad.

Beware of driving the 993... you might get much more attached to it than you might think, and quickly too.

We have a 79 SC, 96 993, and two sons. They can’t wait to get their hands on them someday...

[SalParadise]

Originally Posted by Jack Stands

Over the years, i’ve Learned that the factory stick works more consistently than the factory gas pressure struts. A large umbrella can also work in a pinch if you lose the factory stick! ��

....or the same bathroom shower curtain pole I have been carrying around all these years.

[kc911s]

How long since the 993 has had a bath? Poor girl.

[Erbe_911]

Originally Posted by kc911s

How long since the 993 has had a bath? Poor girl.

Several years for both of them, the gloss black just shows it worse. His widow thinks they were on the road during the summer of 2016 but I'm not entirely sure that's accurate.

And yes, every time I saw him I asked if I could take care of them and got turned down. Lol.


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[Chuck.H]

The hood shocks are much easier to replace if you don't bother to put the retaining clips on the lower pins... The pressure from the shock will keep the pins in place, at least it has for most of my miles.

HTH,
Chuck.H
'89 TurboLookTarga, 438k miles

[Pedro '84 Coupe]

Sorry about your dad. What color blue is the Targa?

[Erbe_911]

Originally Posted by Pedro '84 Coupe

Sorry about your dad. What color blue is the Targa?

Appreciate it. Luckily we knew it was coming and had a chance to say goodbye, and he didn't suffer long. It was the best way for a bad situation to occur, I guess.

Unfortunately I'm not sure what color the Targa is, nor what it was originally. This is very close to (if not exactly) the original shade. It is a Porsche color for sure, but they did about 432,238,955 different very similar blue-gray colors in the '80s.

We had it resprayed about 10 years ago; I thought it was a factory-correct respray, but my dad remembered that it was a different Porsche color. I'm not sure who is right. He kept exhaustive records throughout his ownership but for whatever reason the paint job information didn't end up in there.

It's a little frustrating that I'm unsure of the color since I would probably like to do a Euro headlight conversion at some point and ideally I'd paint the bezels. I'll have to either run them black, which is fine and would match the Targa bar, or have a shop figure out how to match the paint for some ungodly amount of money.

[GaryR]

Condolences on your dad's passing. Get the chrome bezels, will look better than flat black..

[da Vinci Dan]

I have a factory tomato post. Maybe it was just an ‘88 thing...

Anyway, welcome to the board, get lost in all the fun topics, “search” is your friend. These are always more than just cars. Your car has a bit of your father to it. That is beautiful. Be sure to check out all the fun past posts on targas. I seem to remember a “show me your targa” post from a while ago. This may give you some mod ideas.

[Erbe_911]

Originally Posted by GaryR

Condolences on your dad's passing. Get the chrome bezels, will look better than flat black..

I generally have a vendetta against chrome on anything made after the mid-70s; I think the black would match the Targa bar if I go that route. I'd ultimately want them body color, though, so I may just hold off until I feel like dealing with all of that. It should look good when the other mods are done, even with the sugar scoops.


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