A Porsche comes home story…. In 1996 i had saved all my $$ and at 26 years old bought a 1982 911 SC in Minerva Blue. I was an Aircraft Mechanic and Professional Pilot and my then Girlfriend ( now Wife) was super excited when i mentioned that i was getting a 911. My Dads business partner owned a Porsche repair shop named Targa in Austin Texas and I purchased this car without a Prebuy ( mistake !!). After buying it and driving it for a week, i took it to the repair shop and asked them to look over it. Of course the phone call i got a couple of days later was something to the effect of “ most of the Head Studs are broke, leakdown is terrible, engine needs to come out and its $6000”. I was faced with a dilemma in that i did not have any more $$ to repair the car. While i was stewing on that problem over the next couple of days, a movie scout from the company “ Cool Car Castings” was in Austin looking for a car for Office Space. At the time, there were only 2 in Minerva Blue in Austin, and the other was a 930. They had contacted that owner and for some reason that did not work out so they went to Targa, saw my car and asked ‘who owns that car’.
Shortly after i got a phone call from them, they wanted to lease my car for filming, and would i be interested. As we discussed it and he explained how the process would work, the subject of a lease rate came up. Sure enough they paid……..$6000. So in one hand i had a bill for $6000, and in the other i had income of $6000…..Sold !! We fixed the car, and they picked it up and kept it for 6 weeks. During filming i was able to be on site in Austin at the Initech location ( just off Ben White and 35 ) to watch during the fire scene when Milton Burns down the building. The whole thing was an awesome time it be around , and it was interesting that they had to have a driver teach ‘Lumbergh’ how to drive it to be able to pull in and out of the parking lot, and they had build up a fake shell of a car with the rear bumper on it for the tow truck scene, however i never knew that, so when my entire family was at the premier, everyone in my family was looking at me when the rear bumper was ripped off and i had no idea what was going on, kinda funny later.
As it was such a big deal for Austin at that time, the Movie Promoter called me after filming was done to ask if he could use the car in a Movie promo event on 6th street. I had to fly a work trip that weekend, so I could not attend, i agreed that he could take the car downtown, and i then asked my Girlfriend to go to 6th street that night and see what was going on. She found the car in front of a Bar, surrounded by Females and a Promoter trying hard to sell his wares, but not much of a movie promo. She enjoyed walking up to him , asking him about the car, then commenting that her Boyfriend owned it ( not him ) and seeing all the females depart the premises. !
Fast forward a few years, her and I got Married, and drove away from the wedding in this car. In 2002, i got behind on an Airplane Payment and was forced to sell the car, which was the one decision i have since regretted. She always said not to sell it and if i ever found it again to buy it back.
I knew the guy i sold it to in Dallas intended to track the car, but all my paperwork had gone with it , including the lease for the Movie. I tried to track it down off and on for 20 years, and so a month ago posted a random question on FB, which was answered ( maybe by some of you !) and one included a link to the Bring A Trailer Ad, where the Car sold in March 24 , so i had missed it !. Another random response to my post included a screenshot of the Ad where the current owner had decided to sell it and posted it here. It was posted for sale at 10 am and by 5pm was sold pending funds. I got the sellers email at 5.30 but to no avail, the car was sold and a deposit was taken, so close but yet so far…..however some things are just meant to be. The following morning, the seller emailed to say, the buyer had changed his mind and Bam, after 22 years, my car is back, and im still the listed name on the Title as ‘Previous owner”. I cannot emphasize how much this means to our family, both our boys are into cars, the 20 year old and I restored an MGB, and the 17 year old and I are finishing a VW Thing, and soon they will all drive a 911, and one day it will be theirs. Thank you to those that helped ! Its a once in a lifetime story, now to get an Engine and Gearbox and start putting it back together. The first photo taken today, and the second picture was in 1998
