Went to the Concours at Amelia this weekend and bought my first 911 in the process!

patina · 03-11-2012, 06:29 PM

New member here.

I have always loved the older 911's and have planned on purchasing one for quite a while now. Up until recently I was always turned away from actually owning one because I simply thought they were unattainable at any decent budget. The costs of an engine/transmission rebuild always loomed over my head and I talked myself out of trying to own one until I could afford a nice one and the maintenance that would come with it.

I just recently graduated college and moved to the Charlotte area, taking a job in business under a fellow Porsche (mostly 930) enthusiast. Once I moved up here I realized his resources when it came to Porsches and his wealth of knowledge and decided it was time to finally own one.

I had a fairly mild budget so I was restricted to searching for early SCs and the 2.7-series. After months of looking, I found a few cars that were decent drivers and would be OK to own, several of which I was ready to pull the trigger on. Thankfully my boss was able to throttle me back and told me to wait it out for the right car. Fast forward to this weekend.

We had been planning on attending the Concours at Amelia for months now and I was very excited to attend my first one. While on the interstate on the way down to Florida I decided to jump on craigslist and see if anything was available in the Jacksonville area. I saw a very simple ad for a 1984 Carrera that stated it was a clean car with decent paint and it drove well. That was about it, no pictures and no further details/phone number. I emailed the owner and consequently set up an appointment to view the car on Friday afternoon, even though she told me the car was "brown". I was upset that I was going to be missing the Drendel cars go across the block at Gooding but if the car was in decent shape it would be well-worth her asking price.

Long story short the owner of the car scheduled two buyers (myself and another party) to look at the car at the same time. I guess she figured we would just work it out between ourselves. Unfortunately for me, he showed up 5 minutes before I did... Unfortunately for him, I showed up with cash and he didn't. Needless to say I was ecstatic to find such a great car within my budget.

So here it is, my new 1984 light bronze sunroof-delete Carrera. It had 99k miles when I bought it Friday and today I turned over 100. I believe the car is 95% original paint (

) and the exterior has been maintained meticulously. I have about 15 years of records from Brumos. The headliner has a few tears, the dash has a few cracks, and the steering wheel is starting to fall apart but all-in-all it's a great car. My only plans for the car include a mechanical once-over and a (hopefully) vintage prototipo.

So I got it back this afternoon and gave it a quick bath. Sometime in the next couple of days I will compound and wax it along with detailing the interior/engine bay...it should clean up really well.

I can't wait to spend time learning on the forums and enjoying my new car. Joining the PCA tomorrow

szyzygy · szyzygy's Garage

Congrats! Looks great. Love the color. You will become hooked as the rest of us have been.

This site is great if you need answers to questions and/or parts.

Enjoy!

DUK · 03-11-2012, 06:38 PM

Hey I know those buildings. Got some tires stored there.

Nice looking car. You should join up with us for some Dragon runs.

patina · 03-11-2012, 06:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by DUK

You should join up with us for some Dragon runs.

Absolutely, I've been to the gap several times in my old S2000, it's a great time. PM me any info and I'll see what I can do.

MattKellett · MattKellett's Garage

Oh man what a great looking car - love the color!

Congrats, she's going to be a blast :-)

dan79brooklyn · 03-11-2012, 08:18 PM

Sweet, I like them stock. Enjoy it.

Canada Kev · 03-11-2012, 08:23 PM

Ain't nothing wrong with that brown!

Congrats, and welcome to the addiction.

1985RedTarga · 03-11-2012, 08:49 PM

Pretty. Congrats.

Wiese · 03-11-2012, 09:05 PM

A beauty! Enjoy her, the color is great!

oalvarez · 03-11-2012, 09:07 PM

great find....and good lookin' too.....enjoy!

sbmackie · 03-11-2012, 09:08 PM

OK, welcome to the club. Bit of unsolicited advice: define your purpose (which could change, of course). Auto cross? Driver's Ed? Rally? Social? Tinkering? All are worthy. Defining will help you spend resources (time, money, brain space) most efficiently.

Slippery slope, but one that will bring you great pleasure, perspective considering. Either through planning or good luck, you've got a great car at what appears per your post to be a relatively early age. Some of us waited...a loooooong time to aquire one of these gems.

Enjoy.