"buying my porsche, for me at least, was not like buying other cars. i'm interested to see what other folks stories might be."
A thread titled
how did you end up with your current car? was started in Tech, but fizzled.
I thought I'd re-start it under OT, where people aren't busy chasing tech issues...
WEDNESDAY
I had been casually browsing the 911 market for some time. Early this morning, an automated alert sends me a CL ad for an '86 for sale only 20 mins. away. No photo, 2 sentence description, and a realistic asking price. At that point, a reasonably priced 911 could sell within 24-48 hours, and this was my chance to finally test drive one. If I didn't look today, it could be gone by tomorrow.
At work, I called the seller. He could show it to me today after work. I wanted to see the car, but had birthday dinner plans that evening. Should I cancel dinner just to go see a used car? Using Google maps, I calculated that I could do both. I would leave work at 4pm, see the car by 5pm, then drive 1 hour in the opposite direction to be in time for the dinner.
With logistics not an issue, I had no excuse. It was just a little bit of extra driving after work. Local cars don't come along often. If I didn't go see it, I would have to be honest with myself. Did I really want a 911, or did I just want to shop for one? A casual shopper makes excuses; a serious buyer makes the time. (As Unobtanium
stated recently,
"...when you get the call, you make it happen".
I left work and drove directly to go see the car. I got to the house a few minutes before the seller got home from work. There it was in the driveway, under a car cover, with the green bumper peeking out. I had never seen a green one. Mixed emotions. Wow, there is a real 911, just like the ad with no photos stated. More importantly, I've got first crack at it! This is happening. But, wait, what the heck am I even doing? I can't even give you a good reason why I am shopping for one. I've never even driven one. I don't even know if I can maintain one, either.
The seller was a friendly guy. He kept the car nice and it was his pride and joy. The car was clean, and in very nice shape. No reason to walk away based on visuals. So, onto the test drive. I had him drive it first. If you ask me, you never truly fully test drive your first sports car. Just like your first girlfriend, you just don't have the experience to fully take charge. You are politely driving it, since the seller is gracious enough to let you drive it. The last thing on my mind was pulling it to 5000 rpms on some hairy turns. At that point, I didn't even know that was a thing.
After the test drive, I thanked the seller for his time, and said I was definitely interested, but had to sleep on it. I was still apprehensive about actually buying an "exotic", but this car was certainly a compelling specimen from an honest seller. Opportunity introduces urgency. I now had to answer a bunch of questions that, until now, where purely hypothetical. If I passed on this car, I’d have to ask myself, what exactly do you want? Do you actually want one, or just
think you want one? This is where money talks, BS walks, b/c everyone’s a dreamer until they go to the bank, get asked to go behind the glass teller wall, and are instructed to walk out holding a folded newspaper with $30k cash tucked inside like you're Al Capone, while holding a decoy bank envelope in the other hand containing $500.
I said I'd call him tomorrow morning, either way. I went to dinner, and could not find a reason to talk myself out of the car. If I had to state a negative, there were a few aftermarket mods on the car that I wasn't a fan of: cone intake, big rear speakers, strut brace, B&B exhaust. None were legitimate reasons to walk, obviously. Actually, I now remember that the only "flaw" I could muster was that it didn't have the G50. But that wasn't a flaw, it was just missing the Skittles coming out of the unicorn's ass. In hindsight, I am so glad that G50/915 internet lunacy did not scare me away from a near perfect find; I prefer having a vintage 915 gearbox instead of an Audi/944 gearbox.
Oh right, and it had a tail. At that point of my inexperience, the internet said, "tail is bad". I'm so glad I ignored that groupthink as well!
THURSDAY
I went to work. I had slept on it. Man, this car really had every major box filled (very rare color, coupe, 3 owners, low miles, mint interior, mint exterior, 9x16 turbo wheels, ALL service history, no shady past, not being flipped, mature adult seller who owned it for 10 years) It finally solidified in my head: this was a killer find! That morning, I made the decision that I was going to buy it. There are significant advantages of buying a local car, and it could take all summer before another local one was even offered for sale. It was now or never.
Unfortunately, I was not at a place where I was going to buy my first Porsche without an inspection (Today, I know my way around the car, and would be more confident buying without a PPI) In prior months, I had already compiled a list of local Porsche mechanics, and was calling them in between meetings at work, trying to schedule a PPI. Making lunchtime phone calls, I was miraculously hoping to schedule a same day late afternoon inspection. The major 911 shop in the area said to come back next WEEK. Finally, a smaller Euro shop in the next town said he could see it tomorrow, Friday. But, I won't be able to get the car over there until Friday after work. The Euro shop says we can drop the car off tonight, before they close at 6pm. Wow, that works. Drop if off after work, and they'll look at it tomorrow. Perfect!
Unfortunately, during this time, the CL ad had now been up 24 hours, the seller's email and phone has blown up. There are other cash buyers in the wings, way more seasoned than me, who would not need a PPI. I pleaded with the seller to give me an extra day, and convince him of my plan: He leaves his 911 at this Euro garage after work today, before it closes. I will meet him there, and I will drive him home. The garage closes at 6pm, so there is a narrow window of time here. After work, I get to the Euro garage without issues. But, the seller gets totally lost, and gets too flustered to figure out GPS on his phone. It's 5:30pm, I'm at the garage, but he's gotten lost and ready to turn around and go home. The mechanic and I take turns on the phone trying to calm the seller, and get him unlost. While waiting, the mechanic and I bond over the whole thing. Eventually, seller arrives, barely making the 6pm closing time. The mechanic parks the car, locks the gate, and I give the seller a ride back to his home. They will do the PPI tomorrow. This is happening.
(continued....)