JohnJ's 82 SC Coupe Ownership, Repair and Maintenance Experience

[ToySnakePMC]

Great thread -- sorry about the premature stop on the way home in the rain. That didn't sound like any fun... Two things I like here: your sparkplug wire fix and your excellent funnel ! Why have I never thought of that for just about any quick funnel needs...? You deserve that upcoming Patent that will pay for your own personal S Pacific island someday soon.

[jjeffries]

Today I drove from my home in NE Connecticut to Charlestown, Rhode Island to see one of my kids, who's in school there.

No fresh photos to prove it, so just imagine a shiny black SC coupe with a tail on a sunny later summer New England day.

As locals will know, there's no easy way from here to there, but that just means you need to take some excellent roads through Windham and New London counties and despite it being a holiday weekend and me heading to some of the Northeast's nicest beaches, there was no traffic.

Here's my point: like any healthy SC, my car ran great, as it always does (that one rain storm excepted). Super driveability ... you don't even think about it. You're happy enjoying all that 911 goodness, grateful and happy.

I understand that dyno results show that a properly dialed-in EFI system can get more out of the motor, but if you just want to drive and not be fiddling with mixture and timing tables, I wanted to provide a real world reminder that CIS is an excellent system and works great.

Best regards to all,
John

[jjeffries]

It's been a while since I updated this thread; 98% of my efforts go to my '87 924S project ... the 911 just gets used, as it's creators intended.

Henry is a retired race horse. Think a Porsche is expensive to maintain?


At my friend's Steve's shop. He could be repairing a 1940's Farmall tractor or a 75 Ferrari 308 GT4, but mostly he's a Volvo man.

Best wishes to all,
John

[jjeffries]

Greetings All,

Friday I drove the SC to a doctor appointment. I didn't go fast or test the handling; I just drove it like a regular car. Back when this car was new, that level of driveability was probably still something of a revelation, as the last generation of carburetors became increasingly complex and less satisfying.

Today I was doing some garage cleaning and moved the black P-car out into the yard to make space. I'm guessing that I'm not alone in frequently stopping and looking at my 911 and feeling grateful to own it, or maybe more aptly, to be its steward? And that it's not only me whipping out the iPhone to take pictures?

The rear wing: the first owner of my car added it within a year of buying the car new (actually, as the dealer's demo). As many like to comment on BaT, I too think the SC and Carrera G-bodies look best with no wing. So will I be deleting mine? No: it has extra fans for the engine-lid A/C condenser that are able to fit due to the space within the wing. I like the A/C too much (and am somewhat too lazy) to change the lid for a non-bewinged version. Besides, most of my garage time is spent on my 924S project.

https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-924-944-968-technical-forum/1046846-johnjs-87-924s-rehabilitation.html

The winter light was noteworthy but I'm guessing the direct sunlight created that little green highlight on the left fender?

Best wishes to all,
John

[AFB24911S]

Such a great story! Thanks for posting, love to read it.

[911SauCy]

Great story! As a fellow CT Pelican who also chooses to simply use his SC as intended...what a breath of fresh air to see a car being loved, improved, and genuinely appreciated for what it has to offer.

The low mileage, cars and coffee warriors....psssht

[jjeffries]

This installment contains a story of trust and the friends we make through these cars.

Back to 2018:

As related earlier, I sold the red 74 Alfa GTV in the fall of 2018. It's sale yielded some useful money for the family coffers, i.e., university fees, although despite getting a pretty penny for the car, the net still represented a deplorably small percentage of the total, even for a state school*. Being incomplete in my parental virtuosity, I earmarked some of the proceeds for the next round of 911 improvements, namely installing a set of SSI's and doing some suspension work.

(* I think that the cost of college/university is obscene, partly because of what country clubs they've become.)

A year or so before this (so, 2017), a gentleman here on PP had advertised a set of used SSI's for a grand or so and I'd replied, but got my signals crossed with him (and pi$$ed him off in the process ... entirely my fault)**. So when another set came up, this time from a fellow-with-an-amazing-name, Pelican poster Robert Liberty, I jumped but with the caveat no parts seller ever wants to hear "I really want to buy your parts but I don't have the money on hand, so if someone else wants them, please sell them accordingly, but if they're still available when my ship comes in, I'd REALLY like to have them." Mr. Liberty must have taken pity on me because he stated he wouldn't mind hanging on to them for a few weeks, and in doing so likely passed on a few over-asking offers. The Alfa went under deposit and I sent Bob the money.

These were "real", or pre-Dansk SSI's, and just beautiful objects, exuding aircraft-engine-grade construction and welding. I spent some highly gratifying hours cleaning them and had my son's friend Kyle, TiG a cracked heatshield bracket and add an O2 sensor bung on the driver's side unit.

You may note that these are thin-flange versions and think to yourself that my '82 SC's stock exhaust would have required thick-flange heat exchanges. I'm not sure if I mentioned it previously in this thread, but when I overhauled the car's engine I'd had the cylinder heads done by Craig Garrett, who did his trademark excellent work.

This being my first 911 and me being somewhat green, I hadn't had a good look - with measuring devices - at the exhaust studs, so I didn't ask CGARR to replace them. They looked OK. But after building the engine up and going to fit the (stock) heat exchangers, I found the tips of those studs' threads to be eroded, by rust and heat I suppose, to the extent that I couldn't torque the H.E.'s ... a heavy-pucker moment, I can assure you. But some amount of practicality washed over me, and I found a way to remove material from the thick flanges to make them mezzo flanges, which allowed the nuts to travel deeper onto the studs to where there was still sufficient thread dimension to get a decent grip. So for SSI's, I'd actually wanted thin-flanges.

**When I'd scuttled the purchase of that first set of SSI's, I'd already lined-up a two-in, one-out '71 MFI muffler from another decent guy here on PP. I'd had to call him and humble myself to renege. But a year later, when Bob Liberty hooked me up, I called the muffler man back - tempting fate ... ("I know I kind of boned you on that muffler once, but ... you wouldn't happen to still have it, per-chance?" Well, he did, and was gracious enough to sell it to me. Thanks Mr. Szabo.

The change from stock exhaust to SSI's brought with it the required change in the oil piping, and here two other great guys helped me out. The semi-circular hard pipe came from 914GT6 (I think? Bay Area Pelican gentleman). I can't recall where the other hard-pipe came from, but it was Len Cummings who not only sectioned on new hoses, but also had everything - including the semi-circular pipe - yellow zinc plated.

Two final acts of kindness enabled me wrapping up the project:

1. Bruce in North Carolina, flat6pac, suggested I use JIS (Japanese spec) 8mm nuts with 12mm hex-heads to fasten the flanges where the socket needs to pass through the access tubes in the heat exchangers. He told me I'd need a 1/4" drive deep socket to accomplish this, and that it had to be a SnapOn socket, in order to have a thin enough wall section.

2. I asked my good friend Tony, master-technician at my former Volvo store to grab me said socket from the weekly visiting SnapOn dealer. Tony did this, then wouldn't let me pay him for it.

Porsche: We Expect the Excellence, but it's the people who take the experience to the next level.

Thanks for dropping by,
John

[jjeffries]

Also over the winter break in 2018 and with some cash liberated from the sale of my beloved Alfa, I set to some suspension refreshing. The need for such work wasn't severe, just things I wanted to do. About ten years before my acquisition, but not many miles, the original owner Tony had had the front strut inserts and rear shocks replaced with Bilsteins. I wanted to rebush the control arms and spring plates (I'd replaced the trailing arm bushes with Elephant items, along with all the sway bar consumables in my first round of work while the engine was still out and in pieces).

This will be fairly routine stuff for those who've been through their 911's suspension. I bought new Rebel RSR stuff for the spring plates and traded my stock front a-arms with Jim Tweet for a pair he'd already prepped with Rebel hardware but wasn't going to use. I bead blasted them and some other items (sway bars, etc) and shot them in epoxy primer then single stage black urethane (which I contend is about as durable as powder coating).

Localised prep ... nothing too radical.

Having already name-checked Craig Garrett/CGARR for his work on my cylinder heads, I also found a thread from him about modifying spring plates for ease of adjustment. The ever helpful Kyle took my sketches and supplies from McMaster and made it all work.

Some of my measurements were practical, others less so.


Tacked to check if this was what I really wanted. I'm amazed at the control a good TiG operator can deliver and was to ask Kyle for some similar delicacy when I whipped-up my own dash vents for the 924S project, out of sheet steel.

This was my first ever project where I sent anything out to get replated, and it sure made me feel like I'd arrived in the Pantheon of Real Mechanics. This stuff was done locally at a big job shop that normally does in batches of 100's of 1000's, with vats of nasty liquids bubbling away like something from a steam-punk horror movie.

I'd carefully catalogued each item. The extent to which the PET describes the pitch and length of every fastener was very cool.


It made sense to get these done, too.

Here are the spring plates almost ready for installation. Kyle did me proud.

I guess I didn't take, or save, photos of the front end, but I left the struts connected to their top mounts ... I still have noise in the front end since before this round of work which I wonder is the strut-top bushings; one day I will drop them and replace them, too. I did replace the ball joints having bought the beautiful replica ball joint nut tool from that fellow in San Diego who makes them to an incredibly high standard ... I need to look-up his name again.

Suspension and SSI jobs done in the same big push of work, IIRC during my company's winter holiday shutdown. Actually, maybe it took longer; I wasn't hurrying.

I built these risers, with adjustable feet in preparation for my home/string alignment. I've since done the same process with my 924S project and made several upgrades to improve precision and repeatability. The 911 drives straight and is wearing its tires evenly, but I think this spring I'll recheck it.

My friend Roger kindly loaned me his digital scale set, enabling me to dial in what seemed to me like fairly even numbers (with the car weighted to simulate my personal, too heavy, mass). The rear adjustment was definitely eased by the threaded modification, although when I did the rear suspension on the 924S I left the stock eccentrics stock and they weren't difficult to use.

Thanks for your interest,
John

[jjeffries]

Greetings All:

My 82 SC generally lives in one of the two regular stalls in our garage, next to my wife's car. The "shop" bay is the one with my mid-rise left and all the gear, and since July 2019 (i.e., coming up on three years now) has been occupied by the ongoing '87 924S project. The 911 has been a very reliable partner, it's corroded ignition wire connector notwithstanding, but I had a brief list of items to deal with before the '22 driving season. This list has actually existed for the past 3 or 4 winters, but inertia can be a terrible enemy to progress.

First off, the driver's seat; it had two issues. First and most noticeable, on the lower cushion, my (somewhat zaftig) left thigh could feel the steel frame pushing through. Second, the lumbar support was minimal; I'd added an aftermarket air cushion a few seasons back which ameliorated things, but it still needed improvement.

Before I get into the work I've just wrapped-up, a couple of observations, after the fact.
1. I got this car with 183K miles and now it has 197K. It sounds so obvious, but with the seat disassembled and in front of your eyes, you realize just how much wear a driver's seat suffers on an older, higher miles car. We see the need for new covers, as in, new upholstery/not slip covers, but the foam wears, too. So I can now understand that "restoring" a set of Porsche seats would often include the replacement of the foam with the correct factory molded items, as opposed to a guy carving replacements from a block of generic foam.
2. What I've done will almost by definition be temporary repairs. Hopefully they last another five years? We'll see. The failure of the thread in the seat covers could be the next element to fail.

Driver's seat out of the car and on my "tall-guy" workbench in the basement. Not working in the garage this winter was a must; it's been a cold one here in Southern New England.


I made this visual aid to help me put it back together again. "R" denotes hog ring, "S", the string holding the seat cover to the foam. In the end, I didn't need to mess with the string; having done so would have escalated the difficulty of the project when it came time to re-assemble. The small (1/2" or 3/4") hog-rings around the perimeter are generic, but the wider ones between then springs aren't, so I re-used them.


This shows the left area where the foam had lost its mojo and therefore, my comfort. There's an element of the steel frame that goes up in here ...


... as shown by my hand. The foam in here was crumbling some, but not to the extent of complete failure.


A few years back, we had a particularly beloved coach reupholstered by a local specialist, Tim of Yankee Upholstery in Stafford Springs, Conn. Tim did REALLY nice work and when he delivered the finished couch back to us, I'd shown him the 911 and its seat. So last week, not having any suitable materials on hand I took the cushion and cover up to him in order to buy some foam and maybe get some advice. Before I knew it, he'd taken the seat from my hands, onto his bench and was carving some foam for the repair. Once he was happy with the shape, he cut a matching section of burlap and glued it to the foam; the burlap will protect the foam from that thigh hoop in the seat frame. Then he applied more spray glue and set the section in place. This took maybe five minutes; a guy who know what he's doing. I should note that Tim's shop does furniture and is not an auto upholstery outfit (so that y'all don't call him to repair your Recaro's), but this was a huge favor. I mooched some hog-rings and a section of foam for the backrest, paid him the ridiculously meagre amount of money he requested and thanked the man profusely.


I undid the fasteners holding the back cover on and confirmed the lumbar inflatable cushion I'd previously added was still where it was supposed be. Then I took the strip of foam from Yankee Upholstery and trimmed the external shape.

I then used a rather crude technique to taper edges, using a new/fresh utility knife blade ... what us Brits call a Stanley knife. Happy with this, I carefully stuffed it up betwixt the seatback foam and cover.


Yes, re-assembly was the reverse of the way I'd taken it apart, and the many photos I'd taken - thanks iPhone! - were helpful; trusting memory, even for a couple of hours, can now be a risky proposition for something where the exact layering and sequence can mean the difference between competent results and embarrassing slipshoddedness. PLUS, if you've worked on car seats before, you'll know the means by which the covers are fastened to the frame will not tolerate multiple doings and un-doings; there are sharp little steel tangs welded to the frame and folded over to hold the cover ... you cannot keep bending them back and forth. Thus I had to stop and utter some choice words when, having gotten the cover all tightened up, hog rings in place, perimeter wire tightened and steel tangs peened over, I went to attach the seat back to its base and found that one of the two 10mm (15mm head) bolts on the left side just kept spinning. Inspection showed that the nut welded on the backside of the hinge - now mostly inaccessible within the upholstery, had separated and ... was no longer there to receive its bolt; I could not retrieve it. I could have undone the covers, pulled back the foam and welded a nut back in place, but for reasons already described, I didn't want to do that. I took a lunch break and applied some cognitive efforts, aided by the McCarr Master online catalog, and figured a low profile riv-nut could probably be snuck behind the hole and torqued in for an elegant and permanent fix. Opportunity to buy new tools? I'm good with that, but before placing the order I had another idea of sneaking-in a replacement nut to the correct location with a ring wrench and some masking tape, then gently getting the threads started. I had the right size nut on hand, 10mm X 1.5mm pitch and was able to get it done. I added a note - same green 3M masking tape - inside the hinge cover to remind me or whomever's in there next that this nut isn't fastened to the hinge.

The seat tracks were predictable nasty but responded to a cleaning using mineral spirits, then a little grease in the bearing run. But this photo shows some other wear I found interesting, relatively deep grooves in the metal worn by the ball bearings.


Hopefully this round of TLC will allow the seat to keep playing its role for some time to come. When that time does come, I'll need to budget for, save the frames, new everything.

Thanks and best regards to all.
John

[jjeffries]

Continued ...

The other items I'd planned to address may be fairly typical; none of them make for very interesting thread updates.

Speedometer: mine has always understated true road-speed and the needle seemed to max out at around a stated 60mph. This was a pain in the tuchus since knowing whether you're doing ten over the limit, or fifteen can make a difference if a state trooper is feeling frisky. I'd be driving along in fifth and doing the math of RPM's X 23.2MPH to calculate my speed ... and my brain isn't the fastest CPU for anything mathematical.

Anyhow, I finally splurged to send the speedo, along with a couple of gauges from my 924S to Palo Alto Speedometer. (I realized the last time I'd had to have a gauge fixed was when I sent P.A.S. the tach from an '85 Alfa Spider, circa 1994.) Their service was excellent, with a call to review the confirmation and diagnosis of the issues, with estimates to fix. The speedo had a couple of problems, the one above plus the trip meter wasn't working.

P.A.S.'s invoice reads:
Repair and recalibrate VDO electronic speedometer and odometer. Replace odometer gear, update capacitors, install new trip odometer reset fingers, recalibrate speedometer, was 14% slow, clean lens retaining ring, polish clear lens, clean inner and outer bezel, supply good used face plate." This cost $395.

I like to minimize the opportunities for mistakes.



The repaired gauge back in its natural environment.

With the car up on the lift, I saw something which was about to cause a "failure to proceed" moment (Rolls-Royce speak for a breakdown): the arm on the end of the clutch throw out bearing shaft was close to falling off. Why? The circlip that holds the lever on to the splined shaft had gone AWOL.

This was actually closer to falling off than this photo suggests; at this point, I'd nudged it further up the shaft. The lateral tension provided by the omega spring likely held everything together.


Earlier this week I ordered a selection/kit of metric external snap rings, but when I saw earlier today that delivery was still a few days hence, I headed to my local hardware store and found the right circlip for $0.89. The independently-owned hardware store remains a gem in contemporary American life ... long may they thrive/survive, so that we're not solely reliant on big-box stores and Bezos ... convenient and excellent though his service admittedly is.

I've had my car since 2014, and the hood struts - Weltmeister - installed I don't-know-when, lasted until 2020. Thanks to the good folks at URO, today I installed a pair of their 911 511 331 01 replacement struts.

New parts ready to install.




My custom-made oak hood prop-rod stick can now stay in the garage.

Thanks for dropping by,
John

[jimtweet]

Love every part of this thread. The desire to work with what you have and not always replace replace replace is only something that comes with experience!

[jjeffries]

Thanks Jim. When you see the car in April you’ll see it’s pretty lived-in … just a nice old SC.

[jjeffries]

Originally Posted by b2524

John
Why not swap the 4 injector with one of the others. If the problem moves with it then you have a bad injector. If it stays at number 4 then it probably is the wiring.

Sorry thought I was in the 944 thread.

Yes, the 924S … no worries. Already did that! And today pulled and checked all the injectors using hokey carb cleaner and 9V battery technique. All showed nice pattern and volume. Next: leak down test. It’s been a perplexing thing … I’ve been working hard to diagnose/understand and not throw parts at it. I’m not doing anything else to the car until this is resolved.

Best, John

[jjeffries]

Hi All,

Thanks to those who voted for my 924S thread here on Pelican; it made it to the Top 12 and I have to admit that felt good, not least for the company it put me in.

If you're interested:
https://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-924-944-968-technical-forum/1046846-johnjs-87-924s-rehabilitation-40.html

Jonny 042's thread thoroughly deserved to win; as I've noted elsewhere, "he had me at the home made MFI test rig" ...

It was a long winter, and therefore road-salt season in New England, but I've been getting the SC out for some exercise over the last few weeks. Generally, I'm using the car as opposed to working on it, but I am running a list of little things which will benefit from some TLC once the 924S is off the lift.

Last weekend I went to see progress on a friend's early 912 bodyshell at the shop of a metalwork meister in an undisclosed location here in Connecticut.

Today I attended an event I've been going to for the past fifteen years or so, the Vintage Sports Car Club of America (VSCCA) Spring Sprints at Lime Rock Park (LRP). In my mind I always associate this event with the kind intensely bright, arc-like springtime sunshine that gives you an unexpected sunburn, but today was cloudy and COLD. At least it didn't rain. I've mentioned before that the drive itself to LRP is a favorite ritual of mine and today was OK, but the dull light and abysmal driving of others encountered on the highway phase of the trip detracted. (I'd be interested to learn how law enforcement agencies view this obvious deterioration in road manners, although I realize it's not just on the roads that we seem to witness a marked disintegration of societal norms.)

Once onto the country roads of Litchfield County, the pleasantness returned and the last ten or so miles from Cornwall Junction, alongside the west bank of the Housatonic river was as sweet as ever, seeing Orvis-bedecked anglers pursue their obsession - we all need a hobby.

This year's entry lacked any of the significant pre-war machinery some years provide (e.g., last year, Alfa Romeo Monza; 2017, three Bugatti's). I also look forward to the arcane and esoteric machines not there to race, just brought along to the paddock and today a couple of neat rides filled that bill.

Here's some of what piqued my interest ...

Three 912's:

I guess someone forward-dated this one? It looked good in the flesh and felt like it could have been a valid model from circa 74-75 when blacking out chrome and stainless trim was all the rage.


This sophisticated coupe was from the Gaswerks Garage contingent. The fact the trim decals were done in cream, not bright white, yielded an excellent look.





I very much like the matte-finished steel wheels, and I don't mind the roof-rack, -
maybe a bit contrived after so many Luft-parties? - but I think Rennline would be well-advised to either not bang their brand-name on it quite so boldly, or perhaps just come up with a more vintage version of their logo for items destined for older P-cars?

More to come; thanks for dropping by,
John

[jjeffries]

More from Lime Rock Park and the VSCCA Spring Sprints ...

Maybe someone better versed in the World of MOPAR can tell us what year Super Bee this is? It was incredibly well restored; I can only imagine the hours spent in the body- and paint-shops.

I'm a major military aviation geek and all the appendages on this one, plus it's overall poise and attitude just make me think of something like an F-4 Phantom, all kitted-out with Sidewinders, drop tanks and the other external accoutrements of air battle.

I loved looking at this car but am pretty sure I wouldn't have enjoyed driving it too much. But what a beautiful example.

More to come.

John

[jjeffries]

More from VSCCA @ LRP, 5/7/22:

Cool to see this 964 RSA being used. A car dealer friend of mine had a silver RSA when it was a couple of years old. The tweed sport seats were perfection.




These decals suggest the owner is an accomplished driver and instructor, i.e., knows what he/she/they is doing

Sometimes, in this era when the standard for old-car restorations has become so high, it can be refreshing to look at historic sports cars precisely because they're often still a bit "rough & ready"; perhaps their imperfections made them ideal race-car candidates in the first place? But this Volvo P1800 had been restored to a very high standard ... too nice for the track? Only if the driver bends it!

I'm guessing this is a Jensen-built P1800, and not an "S". More knowledgeable anoraks are welcome to set us straight.

This next one was about as non-sequitur as you could have dreamt-up. A P4 Rover, known colloquially as the "Auntie" Rover. A car for the most discerning yet fusty middle-class (in the British sense of that label) English gent of the 1950's, maybe even into the 1960's?

The windows were open, so did I stick my cranium inside and breathe deep, to recollect the scents of my Motherland? You bet you jar of Marmite I did.





Somewhat akin to diametrically-opposed Super Bee, this car was in gorgeous condition. The Smiths gauges, the (light) wood veneers, the real wool headlining ... all first class.

Worth reading about ... when new, these had some innovation in them:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rover_P4#Rover_100

More to follow.

Thanks for reading the thread,
John

[jjeffries]

VSCCA @ LRP (cont.)

There were at least three Formula V racecars there today and I took pics of these two. I am ignorant about the details of the fantastic little machines other than knowing they are limited to running a 1200cc motor with a single carb, the stock front beam, stock drum brakes, etc. Back in its heyday (I'm guessing the formula started in the late 50's? Need to look it up ...) the grids of this genre must have been huge.

This first one was beyond immaculate, a total pinnacle of preparation.

The header was a work of art.



How's about some negative camber?



The slave cylinder was a neat touch and must be an improvement over the stock cable.


This ran with the 1600-2 liter street-based cars - Alfa Giulias, 356's, the Lotus Cortina, et al and was doing pretty well.

This next one's body was quite different:

I'm guessing that rectangular grille is from a 356 ...which exactly model? Super 90? Someone please advise.

Thanks, John

[jjeffries]

VSCCA @ LRP (cont.)

This MG special (based on a TB, the writing on the body tells us) is for me the quintessential VSCCA machine. A lovely old thing.

This Lotus Cortina looked freshly and expensively prepared. The names on the side suggested it had fairly recently arrived from the U.K., where it had been driven by some well known peddlers.

I may have a hard time getting you to be as enthusiastic about this W116 Mercedes-Benz S-class as I was. Just another 70's Benz barge? Hardly ... it's a 350SE, and:

- Italian spec, so the bumpers it was built for, not the mondo structures required for the U.S. market.; clear turn signal lenses.
- 3.5 liter version of the SOHC V8.
- Short wheelbase (SE, not SEL)
- Manual 5-speed
- Green velour upholstery ... nicer and more luxurious than leather, let alone MB-Tex.

It saw use today as the pace car. These were the bee's knees when new and this one was a real sweetie ... what an unusual machine in today's world.

Last batch coming next.

John

[jjeffries]

Last installment, VSCCA @ LRP 5/7/22:

Here's another car that embodies the VSCCA ethos, a well-used Fairlady that should last as long as we can still get the dinosaur juice to make them go:

This must have been an extra-special 2002 when new: black exterior, white interior and blue-tinted glass:

1997+2022 = 25 years, and therefore here we see our first Boxster with Classic plates:

Given the chance, which vehicle would I have taken home? Maybe this brand new Airstream (and the 350SE to tow it? I suppose a Cummins diesel-equipped pick-up would be more appropriate).

Here's my car with two GTVs. The red one belongs to my friend Bob, whom I've known since the early 90's.

And bringing us back to the subject of the thread, my SC, which did a great job hauling me to and from Lime Rock today, on the Interstate and rustic Litchfield County roads.

Kind wishes to all,
John

[jjeffries]

Excellent article those of us who do or who've done track days (me) and/or instructing (not me) will relate to.

https://www.hagerty.com/media/motorsports/right-seat-confessions-of-an-on-track-driving-instructor/

I remember a few excellent instructors over the years. “Mash the motor, boy!” yelled one as we have down the hill onto the main straight at Lime Rock.

Another leaned over and cinched my SABELT harness shoulder straps tight. “They ain’t supposed to be comfortable”, he drawled with that confidence-inspiring pilot-voice.

As the cliche goes, the best money you can spend on making your car go faster is to first fix “the nut behind the wheel”. I often think about that when I see cars on these forums getting all the go-fast parts installed.

Kind regards,
John