Why do you own a Porsche 911?

[Quicksilver]

I used to do almost nothing except racecar prep with my spare time without actually getting too much actual track time. One morning I woke up and realized I was dreading spending working on the cars so I gave it all up cold turkey for about ten years.
Then a friend bought a muscle car and we spent an afternoon blasting around the local freeways. As I was rolling around the passenger seat giggling I realized it felt good again and I needed a car.

I wanted something with some very serious cornering and handling capabilities that was reasonable in total cost. The 911 was immediately on the short list as I had raced with a number of people with 911s and had a few opportunities to drive them. I was a little reluctant to choose a $15k car with a $10k motor though. I also looked at Mini Coopers and Lotus Europa as I was fairly familiar with those.

The Mini Cooper can produce the performance I want but I really just don't get that warm fuzzy feeling from front wheel drive.

The Europa has startling performance from a 1600cc motor but parts availability is almost nil and reliability is questionable. (Are you sure that the rear main seal ever works?)

The 911 has a reputation for reliability but I really never expect anything to stand up to a truly serious regular pounding. I ran across a silver 911 for sale on the internet and it looked interesting. A week later it was still for sale and I kept looking at it everyday. A week later I called and asked a few questions. It had the G50 which I wanted and I started letting it peculate in the back of my brain. A couple weeks later they dropped the price and I went up and bought it.

After owning it for a while I discovered that the reputation for reliability was very well deserved. There is no other car that can be driven as hard as a 911, day in and day out and have the unbelievable level of reliability. Shift correctly and don't over rev and it just won't break... Period.

[dw1]

Pozee,

You left one extremely important category out of your survey as a reason for someone buying a 911:

Automotive Enzyte / ExtenZe / Viagra

or, perhaps: Mid-life crisis.

;-)

IMHO, that would only really be applicable to 993's & newer...

[Dirty Marty]

A Porsche 911 is a driver's car and truly unique with respect to its characteristics, looks and performance. My early 911 has a distinctive sound to its air-cooled engine particularly with it comes on and off cam...............rrrrraaaattttttt, rrrrrraaaattttt,

Yes there is no substitue and unlike A-holes and Opinions, not everyone has one.

Dirty Marty

Fallbrook, CA

[blk911]

The first time I saw the dash layout of the 911 with the tac dead center and the speedometer almost an afterthought, I said to myself, "that is a serious sports car, must have an incredible engine". IIRC this was about 1976, was a Porsche 930 Turbo ad in a magazine, pure sex.

[CMDR Perry]

#1. Because of the racing history and while Cobra replica's are fast they are just not as practical for double duty up here in the Northland. Wearing a wool stocking cap while you take your sports car out for a morning drive is not for me.

Like others I love the F1 car engine sound and the DIY aspect of a 30 year old car. I wanted the best sports car I could afford, no excuses. Like others have said I like having to develop some real skills to drive the car fast. At times I still regret the high cost of parts & repairs but every time I rev up that little flat six hemi the pain fades faster than the road behind me.

Verdammt you for reminding me, LOL.

[dlague]

Where do I start? Well I just have to look at it. My 1973 just looks right. I never get tired of looking at it.

Then I just have to drive it. Start it up and nothing sounds so neat as that 2.7 MFI motor. I have a very worn out Bursch 3 glass pack muffler...... well it used to be a muffler, I think the glass wool is long gone. Warm it up and rev it up through the gears, the mechanical noise is just intoxicating. the exhaust note is awesome.

Steering is so precise.....feed it into a turn, get on the gas and push it through!! Wow!

The shifting is so mechanical and precise [I have spent a lot of time and $$ getting it there! it is there]

Brakes are like right now......great feel, no power assist. Light weight and big brakes make it just work.

Best part is I get to drive it every day on some of the best roads in the world. I had an appointment in Santa Monica today and got to do Stunt Road, Saddle Peak, and Tuna Canyon, and then the PCH to SM. On the way back it was much the same with Las Flores replacing Tuna. And it is so reliable and just plain runs well all the time with oil changes and valve adjustments.

Nothing else comes close.

[450knotOffice]

Well, I checked three boxes, because no single box encapsulated it for me. For one, I grew up around Porsches. In 1964, when I was born, my dad owned a 356 C. Later - in 1971 - he bought his first 911, and kept it until it basically became a rusted heap up in the Santa Cruz mountains in the mid-eighties. He loved his Porsches and loved to watch sports car racing. He took me to Laguna Seca twice a year as a kid twice back in the seventies and early eighties and parked us at the bottom of the corkscrew every time. I watched first the RSR's and then later the 934's and finally the all conquering 935's just dominate all comers. It was awesome for me.

Second, I love to work on these cars. I'm constantly fiddling with them, fixing this and that. I get great pleasure from this.

Third, I love tracking my cars. I try to do as many DE's and autocrosses as possible.

These are the reasons why I own my Porsches.

Willow Springs turn four:


Autocross at Qualcomm stadium in San Diego - a fast third gear autocross:

[coolngroovy]

Well it was either a mistress or a Porsche..............& the mrs wasn't real keen on the former!

[IDGAF27]

........'cause my wife starts giggle and laugh as soon as I put the pedal to metal , and I like doing that..............
out off all bunch of sport/fast cars I had, Porsche is the only one where wife won't ask to stop or go slower !!!!

[Jack Olsen]

We're all preaching to the choir, aren't we?

But who cares?

There is no substitute:

[tmctguer]

I went to Barrett Jackson wanting to buy a Ferrari 512 bbi. I saw an '89 911 Speedster and was fascinated. I bought it and showed the car at PCA concourse events.

Then I needed a Porsche to drive. That lead me to a nice '73 911e. Then I REALLY fell in love with Porsches.

Next I bought an '93 Beck 550 Spyder replica just to imagine what the 1st generation P cars were like.

[carolinatrophy]

Originally Posted by tmctguer

I went to Barrett Jackson wanting to buy a Ferrari 512 bbi. I saw an '89 911 Speedster and was fascinated. I bought it and showed the car at PCA concourse events. Then I needed a Porsche to drive. That lead me to a nice '73 911e. Then I REALLY fell in love with Porsches. Next I bought an '93 Beck 550 Spyder replica just to imagine what the 1st generation P cars were like.

Dude! You're killing me, here. (By the way, are you hiring?)

[advtracing]

Because !!!!:d

[tmctguer]

Originally Posted by carolinatrophy

Dude! You're killing me, here. (By the way, are you hiring?)

rubbing it in now..............
my speedster plate:



my spyder plate:




my E plate:

[TibetanT]

Because I wanted to make the Turbo jealous! Ha!

Like Jack said, "there is NO substitute!"

[pdqcarrera]

Because I cannot afford a Carrera GT...?

[Reaper930]

to experience history...

[David E. Clark]

1. It's loads of fun to drive; 2. Back when I bought mine the early cars were reasonably affordable; and 3. Other than the MFI system it's pretty simple to work on.

[Akira28]

Why a 911?

Good Question, and a long but not so simple answer.

A long time ago in a land far far away….Ok, Mid 1980’s Oregon

I was 16 years old and received my mothers hand me down 1979 Mercury Capri (V6 2.8) so that I could drive to school and work. My daily trip was through a section of highway 101 called the Humbug Mountain Canyon (Between Port Orford and Gold Beach). It’s a series of 25 to 35 mile an hour corners followed by coastal highway with a few sections of wide open, beach side, straight always with excellent viability.

I loved the control of the Capri and with stopwatch in hand shot through this life claiming section of road every day for 2 years, going as fast as I could and improving on my time whenever conditions permitted. One day I was followed on my route by a friend, who in youthful completion gunned his V8 Duster and tried to keep up, he struck the canyon wall spun off the cliff on the second turn and ended upside down in the creek below.

He escaped more or less accidentally due to the lack of a seatbeat and open windows and being young and stupid we just passed this off as “no big deal”. I continued to make my daily runs with a few close calls and an occasional dent, but the handling of the car made it possible for me to improve as a driver without the risks others were taking. The next summer an older highschool rival put some money down on a race from Port Orford to Gold Beach. His hand tuned Hill Billy muscle car easily passed me right before entering the canyon, and on the third outward corner he went wide and struck an oncoming Greyhound tour bus. He also went into the creek (right side up this time) and lived to tell the tale.

Now you would think, having watched in horror as a second person nearly died I would have learned my lesson and driven a little slower, but apparently I was a slow learner. I did however start refusing to race people and continued to solo the same highway, learning how to do what was formerly called “Bootleggers corners” a sort of old school drifting I believe. This new trick shaved off a small amount of my total time, but did nothing significant other then eat tires.

One pleasant summer afternoon I was followed into the canyon by a tourist in a small, low slung, white sports car. I could tell it was a tourist because nobody in my town could afford such a nice vehicle. I promptly ignored him, hit the stopwatch hanging from my rearview and opened her up. I slid through the first corner and the second and looked back, only to be totally shocked to find the fellow less then three feet off my rear bumper.

He kept up within a car length through the entire canyon from beginning to end, regardless of the sliding corners and my all out effort. His car stuck to the road like glue and where I was forced to kick out to maintain rpms he took the fastest line without breaking traction. I was also under the distinct impression he was having to hit the brakes to avoid pushing me out of the way.

When the corners came to an end and the long flat beach straightaways of Niseka Beach came into view I pushed the pedal all the way down and watched the speedometer hit 120 then 130, it topped out somewhere shortly after, but I was too afraid to look down. The window seals were screaming so loud it was deafening and for an instant I was pretty sure I had found a sort of weird fear tinted zen. A state where you know you should be scared but you’re too focused on what you’re doing to think about it. Or at least that’s what I thought I was feeling until the little white sports car pulled along side me, paused for a moment, and walked away like I wasn’t even moving.

Having been out cornered on a road where I knew every square inch and out paced on a stretch where I knew the exact number of missing highway reflectors. It didn’t matter how fast I went after that, the stopwatch went in the glove box and the trip took a little longer each day afterward. I had not reached the end of my potential as a driver; I had simply reached the limit of the vehicle, which is a nice way to say I got my butt handed to me on a silver Fuchs.

I’m on my second Porsche.. The first being a 1984 944, and as much as I loved the beautiful balance and superb handling it doesn’t have that “Strap a rocket to your back” feeling of the 1983 911SC I own today.

So in short answer to your question; at 18 years old, at 130 miles an hour, on an open stretch of Highway 101. I got humbled by a Porsche 911. Its shape, style and its ability permanently burned into my petrol powered soul.

Akira28
_________
1983 911SC Targa

[hrscrk]

small world......if that was 1972 that little white porsche was me in a 914-6 when i lived in coos bay