Roadtrip - Page 3

Baz · Baz's Garage

That was in your Mom's garage?

NICE!

Turbo?

What year?

What's the back story?

id10t · 09-22-2013, 08:00 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Baz

That was in your Mom's garage?

NICE!

Turbo?

What year?

What's the back story?

The TL;DR version - Dad bought it, after he died it rarely got driven, has been parked and not moved for 6 or 7 years....

The long version -

Yup. Dad had a '63 356 that got totaled in early '65. He scrambled, and bought one of the last 356s made and the only one available in Florida... #222522 - which I still have.

In the early 80s, Dad said "Hrm... id10t will be getting his license soon and taking over his mom's station wagon... I've been driving the 356 for almost 20 years... time for a new car for me." Unfortunately (for every car salesman in the world) Dad *really* takes his sweet time buying a car. So... 3 or 4 years later, after every issue of Auto Trader, after driving several 911s of various vintage, a 928, a 944, and even looking at non-P car options (a few Mercedes were tested), Dad decided on a 911. So then he spent almost a whole year after that finding *the right* 911.

He aquired this one in late '87. It is an '84 m491 optioned car - factory turbo look. Turns out 420 were made in '84 (of which 350ish were for US/Canada the rest mostly went to Japan), with just over 1000 made total from '84 thru '89.

Dad drove it "some" until he got Lou Gherigs disease, around 92 he couldn't depress the clutch pedal anymore. Became my job to drive it around the block (we have a LARGE block) once or twice a month. After Dad died in '94, the car sat for a bit until Mom decided to drive it. It was more car than she enjoyed driving, so I started to casually look for a buyer. Unfortunately, no one else knew what the m491 option was, what it was worth, and wanted to pay us about half the parts value for the car - before Shaun, even when the car was running the highest offer I was given was $7k 'cause the guy was going to have to gut it out to make it a race car...

We kept driving the car every so often, until one day 6 or 7 years ago 2nd gear went AWOL. Apparently a known issue w/ the 915 transmission around 72k miles, the car has 72568 on it. Car was parked - Mom didn't want to spend the $ fixing it, she didn't want to be driving it, I couldn't really drive it - too much to insure, and I've got a wife and a couple of kids to worry about. No spare $$ in my life for the luxury of an expensive occasional driver.

Knowing what I know about the car, what it would take to make it "perfect", I've had a very firm price in my mind - it was higher when it was running, but I'm a realist. Earlier this year I did some server work for Shaun, and then noticed how he kept posting about getting disappointed when he'd go look for "the right 911" for himself. A quick phone call with some details and Shaun laid dibs on it - not even questioning the price, totally unseen except for some beauty shots take in my mom's garden several years before when it was running. I insisted on full disclosure, told him everything I knew about the car being wrong, broken, or needing attention, and gave him a video tour of it.

So... now after a REALLY LONG DRIVE... Shaun is the custodian..... I'll miss the car, but it was more of an albatross for mom - she didn't want to spend the $ to fix it, she never really liked driving it (and to be honest my 77 year old mother does NOT need to be driving a 911!), she didn't want to sell it local and see it running around town, she didn't want to sell it to her doctor "friends" that wanted to gut it out and turn it into a racer - she wanted to sell it to someone who realized just what they were getting and would appreciate it. I think we've found that in Shaun....

Christien · Christien's Garage

Beautiful!! But I want to see pics of a 77 year old lady driving a 911!

Don Plumley · Don Plumley's Garage

Great story!

Noah930 · Noah930's Garage

glad both the seller and buyer are happy.

id10t · 09-22-2013, 09:09 AM

Quote:

Beautiful!! But I want to see pics of a 77 year old lady driving a 911!

Dont have any but we'll be in Shauns area in about a year. We'll get one then

speeder · speeder's Garage

How many miles on it? How is the interior? A slate blue '84 M491 coupe in good condition is worth serious coin...sounds like a score.

speeder · speeder's Garage

In certain ways, that was the best pre-'89 911. They are a little heavy but they have the highest ratio of chassis-to-engine, ie. turbo brakes and chassis with N/A motor. If someone gutted that thing for a race car, it would be a travesty. That's a high value Carrera, very collectible.

id10t · 09-22-2013, 10:25 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by speeder

How many miles on it? How is the interior? A slate blue '84 M491 coupe in good condition is worth serious coin...sounds like a score.

Yes, Shaun got a heck of a deal, but I got exactly what I asked for it - no haggling, etc. Of course, that means I didn't ask enough... but knowing Shaun will be keeping this car for a long time and not flipping it or parting it out is worth a lot to me.

Shaun & Dave are probably in the middle of getting it up on a lift and starting to go thru it - he plans to drive it home to Boston from NC in a few weeks. I'll let him post the gory details the tear down reveals....

Baz · Baz's Garage

Thanks for the back story, Steve.....I was wondering if it could be a Turbo Look...that's VERY COOL!

I can also appreciate the family history - a lot like what happened with our family - another post for another day.

The important thing is the car was passed on to a very appropriate "custodian" as you so eloquently phrased it.

Congratulations Shaun and all - a win win for good folks and a great example of the iconic Porsche 911.

speeder · speeder's Garage

So how many miles are on it? What color interior?

id10t · 09-22-2013, 02:21 PM

Quote:

So how many miles are on it? What color interior?

just over 72k miles w navy blue inyerior

imcarthur · imcarthur's Garage

I agree, a great story.

Ian

A930Rocket · 09-22-2013, 02:45 PM

Great story!

Shaun @ Tru6 · 09-22-2013, 04:06 PM

Quick post, gobbled down dinner and have to get on the road and find a hotel. Been working all day. So far we got the fuel system cleaned out, oil and tried a test start. DME may be bad, using the one I brought car now wants to start so very optimistic. Car is a wonderful time capsule that will be an honor to bring back to showroom condition.

Up on the lift.

id10t · 09-22-2013, 04:45 PM

Dude - you gotta start rotating your pics properly. The browser on the iPhone rotates automatically, but for those of us on desktops, we are looking at an Australian car!