What's the story behind your 911?

[Matt at Pelican Parts]

I always get a kick out of this story! We posted it to our facebook page recently and it got a bit of attention there!
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=763191849185953&set=a.557554813082992

Originally Posted by sean m

I'll own up. Friend of the family was the original over of the car. He went to Europe for 3 weeks after buying the car. I was asked to feed his cats while they were out of the country.

My friend and I decided it was a shame for this brand new Porsche to sit in a dark garage so we did what normal 17 years old's do........we took it for a drive. As the saying goes...."we drove it like we stole it".

Fast forward my dad bought the car in 1984, then gave it to me in 2000. I've had it ever since.

Still remember the first time I stole it (drove it). Car was an absolute "screamer"

[wallra]

mine was a thirty year dream. my first job in the trade in 1983 was in a porsche, audi jaguar dealer and in 2015 I had a customer who wanted to sell his 964 got in for 15000.00 with the market going up I thought I would never be able to buy one. so I tell people never give up on your dreams.

[dpizi]

My first 911 was a 1983 ROW that I bought upon my return to the states after working in Saudi Arabia for 3 years. Paid $22,500 and kept if for 12 years. Autocrossed, track days and an engine rebuild after a head stud broke on track at Roebling Road. In 2000 i sold the SC and got a 1995 993. I still have it. Not driven as much as I should but it is pretty nice for almost 130,000 miles. Had it painted about 10 years ago and I went through all the mechanical bits. Lots of stories with both of them.

[montauk]

I bought my car 11 years ago from a used car lot. I found it on Craigslist. The previous owner didn't want to deal with tire kickers. Some recent receipts came with the car but the owner's name had been marked over with a sharpie. It wasn't easy but using a light table I was able to find the previous owner's name and phone number.

What's the worst he could do? Hang up on me. I gave Chuck a call. Thank goodness he was actually thrilled to talk to me. It turns out that Chuck wasn't just the previous owner, he was the original owner. We spoke for quite some time. Chuck asked for my address because he still had the original bill of sale and almost all of the receipts for the work he had done on the car. He sent me all that along with the original air compressor.

In his thirty two years of ownership, he put about 185,000 miles on the car. Repairs cost him about $32,000 over that time which is just about what he paid for the car.

Every so often Chuck gives me a call to talk about things but mostly about his Porsche. What a great guy to be so generous with me.

[DaveE]

I bought my ‘78 SC in early 2005 after GM sold off my division and I lost my company vehicle. I was driving 60 miles each way to work every day, and no longer having to drive a GM SUV every day I bought my SC on eBay. It’s a very basic car, no power windows, no sunroof, no AC. I was quite a bit irritated by the German language owners manual in the car til I looked at the registration and servicing pages and realized the factory was the first owner and sold it two years later to a person in Ditzingen, just outside of Stuttgart. Then I looked at the service stamps and saw the car had its early servicings at Weissach and the factory, up to its 80,000km servicing. It’s a very early SC one of the first, chassis #9118300015. Porsche 911 company car. I had been driving GM company cars for 8 years. What a difference!!

[Bill Douglas]

Originally Posted by montauk

I gave Chuck a call. Thank goodness he was actually thrilled to talk to me.

I had a thing similar to that. The original owner's name was in the service records, and one evening I did a google search, found the guys name in Britain, then sent him an email with pic's.

I didn't hear anything for a number of months then I got an email from his son. He said his dad was dying of old age but loved to hear that his first Porsche bought in 1979 was doing well. And thanked me foe making his dad happy, AND sent a couple of pic's of when the car just got home brand new from the dealers.

[MrBonus]

It went through a sympathetic restoration consistent with the values of early cars in the 90s that involved a repaint to red from its factory Albert Blue. You can see the blue peek through in a few spots in the frunk. The pan was replaced at some point in a structurally sound but not perfectly aesthetically pleasing manner. The only relevant early document I have is a grainy copy of the original engine build invoice.

A dealer purchased the car for his personal use and sometime in the mid-'90s, a 2.7 from a '77 was rebuilt by a well known shop in Alabama was installed and fitted with Webers. Apparently he didn't want to spend the money to convert the tach to work with the ignition and ran a big Autometer gauge. The car had the original steelies and some ugly aftermarket seats per the verbal record. Someone at some point fitted the car with uprated torsion bars, spherical bushings, and turbo tie rods. I have no receipts for them but it's definitely stiff.

The gentleman I purchased the car from was a big enthusiast with a sizable collection which he was downsizing. He purchased it from the dealer via eBay in the mid-2000s and had the tachometer converted, redid the entire interior to remove the rear seats, install a harness bar, GTS Classic seats, and RS door pulls and cards. He also installed a set of 15x7 Fuchs that had a custom gunmetal/grey paint applied to them.

I purchased the car from him in 2021. Since then, I've swapped to a 10k tach, replaced the non-working clock for a slick faux-Heuer unit (Thanks, JBell), swapped the little Momo Prototipo for a 380mm Abarth wheel, covered the ripped out stereo hole in the dash with a radio delete which I glued the proper matching dash material over so that it looks good from 3 feet. I also converted to EFI, ITBs, and coil on plug and detailed the crap out of it.

Next up (in the next two months!): Full engine reseal, cerakote the fan and heat exchangers, swap my leaking/grinding 901 with a rebuilt unit, replace the front shocks and fix the ride height, replace the original fuse panel, and chase down what I believe is a loose ground.

[Quickstep192]

I searched endlessly locally with no success. Then, one day while browsing through Panorama, I saw just the car I wanted albeit on the other side of the country.

The seller sent me scores of great pictures so I pretty much knew the car was for me. I got on a plane with a certified check for the full asking price.

Upon arriving, I learned that the guys wife was having him sell the car to pay off credit card debt his daughter has accumulated after getting out of college.

He hemmed and hawed all day, finding excuse after excuse to not sign the title. It became apparent that he really didn’t want to sell the car, but didn’t have a choice.

I still feel bad for him when I think back on it.

[audi]

5 years ago, while having my 911 tech-inspected before a track day, I was checking out another car there that was in for service: a granite green metallic over grey-green 911 coupe, with sport seats. The shop owner saw me checking it out and told me it was an original owner car. I thought it looked great in that pretty unusual spec, but didn't think more about it.

Fast forward to last fall, having just sold my 911 and feeling seller's remorse, I start perusing online ads. I came across a one-owner 1988 911 in that same spec mentioned above. Could it be? It was. I bought the car.

It had all its books and records, including the original sales invoice from Ed Byrnes Porsche in Dover, NH, that was signed by the salesman, Steve Kaplan.

When I was 13, I called that dealer and spoke to Steve, who invited me to come down and check out the cars. That was the first of several trips there, Steve was always gracious and encouraging to me as a young kid; I still have the 1988 911 model booklet he gave me on the shelf behind me as I write this. I understand he eventually moved to Florida and passed away some time ago.

Really happy to have this connection to my earliest memories of Porsches and the beginning of a lifelong passion.

[GH85Carrera]

Back in 1967 my dad was in the market for a new car. I was in love with the 911, so I pleaded that we go test drive a 911, and he did. I was convinced it was the perfect family car for a family with two teenage boys! He decided on a much cheaper Delta 88, and it had real back seats and American Air Conditioning.

I still lusted for Porsches. In 1974 I was working one full time job, and two part time jobs to earn enough to go by a brand new, ordered to my specs, 1974 914 2.0 and I got it September of 74, and it was my daily driver and only car until 1991 when I bought my El Camino. The 914 was the toy, and it was non air conditioned and rather slow. I got married in 1992, and my wife said I needed a Porsche with air conditioning. That was before the internet, so I was reading the newspaper want ads magazines. I asked Bruce Anderson for advice on what to get and he said his standard reply, get the newest 911 you can afford. For me that meant a 911 Carrera.

I looked for a long time to find the perfect 911 for me. Finally in 1995, I found the perfect 911. A 1985 Grand Prix White, with Burgundy leather interior, Carrera with just 79,000 miles. It was driven daily, but the guy drove to a downtown building with a underground parking garage, and he had assigned parking between to guys with nice cars, so not one door ding. It sat in the shade so the interior was not cooked. He drove it home to his garage, and they took his wife's car to do errands and other tasks. I sold my beloved 914, and fell in love with my 911.



This is from just a few months ago. In the 29 years I have owned it I have driven it to 41 states, and Canada. I have done a couple of hundred autocrosses, and several track days.




I have driven Hallett Raceway, Texas Motor speedway, Charlotte Superspeedway, Robeling Road, outside of Savannah, GA, Laguna Seca, Indianapolis 500 track, Eagles Canyon outside of Decatur, Texas and Ozark International in Missouri. That is a 4 mile long with 1,200 feet elevation changes super fun track. This summer I will add Barber motorsport track in Birmingham, AL

I do most of the maintenance on the 911, and all the needed projects like adding the Griffith's Mr. Ice AC system. It will blow tons of 37 degree air on me after a 10 hour day, when it is 107 degrees outside like this summer in Palm Springs.



I plan to get to all the lower 48 states driving my 911. This summer I turned 193,000 miles.

[Matt at Pelican Parts]

Absolutely loving these stories! We'd love to hear more so keep em' coming!

[onboost]

This is good.. because they all have stories behind them..

[gled49]

We bought this 70S to build a race car in 88. The car had already been converted to an RSR by 77 and had been a track and B production car in 75. The original drive train was long gone by 77. I was working at Garretson’s in the late 80 and with assistance from Jerry Woods built all the RSR drive train. A move back to Portland in the early 90’s allowed us to finish the car. My wife and I raced the car until 2015 until we packed it in. A few years later I decided to return the car to the street after a failed attempt to sell it. All the fiberglass was replaced with RSR factory steel fenders with the help of Longballa and Jayme the body guy, was able to transform it back to the street. After 1200 miles it remains a hard core Outlaw.

[Bruce911_]

I had a 1984 Carrera that was stolen in 1988. After it was stolen but before the insurance company paid me I started looking for a new car. It was close to the 30 days that they had to pay me. I found a new 1988 Carrera at my local dealer. I decided to buy it thinking that I would be paid shortly for the stolen car.
I then got a call that my stolen car was found just short of the 30 days. Luckily the car was stripped and I was eventually paid. I still own my 1988 today. It has 154k miles now with its original paint and interior. It’s safe to say it’s not going anywhere if I can help it!

[LIRS6]

1986 - I was living in NYC, had a hankering to buy a used 911 Guards Red coupe with beige interior. Test drove a privately owned one, was suspicious as it was never serviced at a dealer, passed. Visited a couple of dealers, nothing on hand. I was out on eastern Long Island, went into Mayo Motors on a sunny summer day inquiring if they had any red/beige coupes. Salesman asked "why would you want a coupe when you can enjoy this Targa in the summer sun." D'oh!

'79 had 32K on it.



...37.5 yrs later, not a moment of regret.

Jason

[Matt at Pelican Parts]

Spoken like a true car salesman
Got to sell that inventory!

Originally Posted by LIRS6

Salesman asked "why would you want a coupe when you can enjoy this Targa in the summer sun."

[sean m]

Originally Posted by Matt at Pelican Parts

I always get a kick out of this story! We posted it to our facebook page recently and it got a bit of attention there!
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=763191849185953&set=a.557554813082992

Thanks Matt. Car has 248,500 on the original engine. I remember my first drive in this car EVERY time I take it out for a drive.

Unreal memories.......

[boernet]

Originally Posted by charlesbahn

Bought a 1985 steel slant nose conversion that was originally a factory turbolook. Almost immediately went to the darkside and turbocharged it. In addition to turbocharger and intercooler, I did the shift coupler thing and added a Seine Shift Gate. Just got back from a spirited drive in the Maryland countryside.

I LOVE THIS CAR !!!!!

if you even have to throw in a Latin quote, you might as well spell it correctly to avoid making a fool of you......

Unfortunately it feeds the prejudice against porsche owners begin axxxxx!

[montauk]

Matt from Pelican reached out to me to tell me that put my story on their facebook page. I don't do facebook but I can see the link without logging in.
Thanks Matt - I've forwarded that link to my kids and my friends.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=771910571647414&set=a.557554813082992

PS - I also sent it to Chuck - the original owner.

Dave

[Fleetwood]

Sold a challenging 75S in 1987 after about 8 yrs. Chain tensioner failure, rust, repaint.

Why would I consider another? Well, joined PCA, did a few track days, found the local pcar network, and met the Famous Racing Mechanic (FRM as identified by Pacific NW Region) Chris Powell. His infuence was almost as important as the wonderful feel/drive of our air cooled sportsters

Searched the local area and found a beautiful guards red/ tan SC coupe in Portland OR that was represented by Vasek Pollack's son, (also a/Vasek I believe) with about 20K miles. Soon after the red car was found, I got a call from a woman that lived near my parents, telling me of her son's car being available. GP white/black partial leather, 22K miles, tensioner update...all the right stuff. Quickly made an appt to see the car the next day. but had to call her back and confirm as I could envision my friends leading me on a wild goose chase. Inspected the car and quickly made an appt with FRM for a pre-purchase inspection. As expected the car was near perfect and Chris said buy it or the two others waiting in the shop would. 35 yrs later with over 240K miles she's still a jewel that makes me smile every time I light her off. Original paint with only a small deer hit to mess things up.

At about 160K miles FRM improved the engine to a 3.2 max morritz syle with 210 rear wheel HP. I'm following some of the lightening and performance tips from other pelicans and having a blast driving and wrenching. Recently started hanging with some R Gruppe guys and their drives are the best

Rear spring place bushing replacement will commence soon. I'm sure I will be asking some questions but the resources available here are a huge part of the satisfaction that makes air cooled ownership so rewarding. Cheers to Pelican