Would you buy this kid this car?

[RedBaron]

Tirerack also works with the BMW cca and they have a course called "Street Survival Teen Driving School". It really teaches you the limits of your car and there is autocross at the end. You may want to look into it...

http://www.tirerack.com/features/motorsports/street_survival.jsp

[choinga]

I wouldn't have any problem with it. I've got two very young boys now and don't have to worry about the oldest asking for keys for at least another 10 years...but that said, if they prove to me that they can handle it then I'll consider it.

Now, I'd DEFINITELY be sending them to a driving school if I put them into anything that could move quickly. And, while I'd subsidize some parts or such from time to time, they'd own the maintenance of an older car and most, if not all of the other expenses (gas, insurance, etc...). By then, I'll hopefully be able to actually do most, if not all of my maintenance on these cars and would love to have that time with my boys. I really enjoy getting out in the garage and working on my 951 and hanging out with me in there is certainly one of their favorite activities now - I can only imagine how that is going to be when they can actually drive one of these.

I'll burn that bridge when I get there - I'll know if they are ready. My wife will be the one that will take the most convincing...she's ridden with me in my 951...she loves it, but knows that mashing the gas pedal down wakes a sleeping giant that someone with a year or so of driving experience would not be able to handle.

That said, if my parents bought me one of these cars new when I was that age (I was 17 when the car I have now was in the Porsche showroom), there's no doubt in my mind I would have had that thing wrapped around a tree or worse.

Responsible parents know their kids - and after we've been driving these cars for years and our kids have been around them I think we know if they are ready for them.

[Steveinatlanta]

Originally Posted by RedBaron

Tirerack also works with the BMW cca and they have a course called "Street Survival Teen Driving School". It really teaches you the limits of your car and there is autocross at the end. You may want to look into it...

http://www.tirerack.com/features/motorsports/street_survival.jsp

Definitely looking into this, thanks for the info. They are offering one in Chattanooga. We're in Atlanta, anybody know of any others? (Skip Barber at Road Atlanta is a bit steep)

[Steveinatlanta]

Anybody know what groups will allow 16 year olds to do autocrosses or DE's?

Is the PCA 18 for Autocross too?

Chin motorsports? NASA?

Thanks for all the great responses - this has been a great way to "Think through" this thing.

Thanks also to the moderators. Technically it's not a very technical topic. But its, technically, about Porsches and their abilities...

[jerryw]

Originally Posted by Steveinatlanta

Anybody know what groups will allow 16 year olds to do autocrosses or DE's?

Is the PCA 18 for Autocross too?

Chin motorsports? NASA?

Thanks for all the great responses - this has been a great way to "Think through" this thing.

Thanks also to the moderators. Technically it's not a very technical topic. But its, technically, about Porsches and their abilities...

My son autocrossed with PCA at 16 - Probably region specific.

[WuTang69]

yeah, my son is 17 and already got his first speeding ticket. There are some OBD2 driving monitors out there but are pretty expensive. I might get a portable device like the SpaceHawk GPS car tracker if he gets another freaking ticket

[Monkey Wrench]

for me it was, if you want a car, insurance and gas money go get a job and buy one, so I cut grass worked on a farm job, got together $200 and bought the worst piece of crap VW beatle imaginable. every part was worn out, I rebuilt everything then bought other junk cars and did the same.
I tried to buy a fairly nice looking giant american car, same price, it was a plymouth fury II it ws a huge boat.

dad looked at it and said no you don't want that.. Its a huge gas hog. back then it would require a parents permission to insure a car at 16 He said flat out, Im not signing it. game over.

I dont think it was so much about gas he just didn't want me driving something that big and powerful. The VW was a death trap. the sterring shook so hard you couln't hold the steering wheel going up over 30 MPH. The brake drums were turned so far they became bands so whan the brakes were applied the drums stopped, but they werent connected to the axles. lol. the sterring box fell apart on a curved bridge bearings fell apart. dangerous !

what it taught me was how to be thrifty , how to fix up a junk car and do engine rebuilding transmission work, brakes and everything else. oh I'd take it off roading VW's go great in the bush and climb well. and Id run over rocks up river beds, and break stuff and be back fixing it, what I learned was how and not to be afraid to stake stuff on.

I eventuially became a millwright ( industrial mechanic) and now I do that all the time but with machinery. To my employer Im valuable because I can work inedependently through difficult problems, a lot of the younger guys just can't their main boundary is that they give in and become afraidto tackel stuff. you know what happens Im faced with repairing some 50 year old and very unusual specific purpose machine that is completely obsolete..

good luck finding parts, this is where I can shine because I leaned the basic skills Ill take the broken parts and fix the parts, Il weld it up I'll machine it for a new surface, or make a part or whatever I think will get me by. Ill get it going, there is no factory support this is a very common situation for me. Today there is a real demand for people who can think and work through issues. a lot of younger people dont grow up with dads and briken cars and garages, they grow up in appartments and human birdhouses where they don't use tools. I see 20 year olds that can't use a hammer properly, they never used one ! they go int o be auto mechanics. they arent mechanics they ware parts changers. strip a bolt they are stuck.. they just learn all that later in life if they go into trades, a lot do, Farmers are often taught shop skills, I respect farmers. a lot of them think the same way I do.


even if It is a machine that is foreign to me, il figure things out. At 16 I had no idea what a millwright even was much less that I might ever become one. i twasnt; until I was much older that I learned I actulaly had a gift of thinking outside the box and had a can-do attitude. the reason I aquired this gift wasn't becaue I was gifted it , it was because dad spent the time to teach me. I dint learn that stuff in school, I did learn more later thtrough various technical courses on machinery and such.

I think at 16 "getting that" and becoming confident and trained enough to take things on is key.. its stuff you take all the way through life. We all know people who can't even change their own oil because they won't try. they arent; conditioned to think Gee I can do this.. and just try.

I tend to drive fairly carefully, I learned to doubleclutch early on. I've never paid over 2K for a car, never took a mechanic except a couple times for my wife's car. maybe once or twice when I felt stuck but I fixed pretty much everything I encounter. Its all just nuts and bolts and everything goes around and around or back and forth. To troubleshoot electrical stuff you just need the basics then you go get stuck then you learn as you go. a mentor is really helpful.

I never made a car payment. I never bought a new car, Ive never been on a car lot. ive never paid over 2K for a car in my life. I've worked for what I own and no one gave me stuff for free.

not saying what the OP should do just that I understand now a lot more now than when I was 16 and I learned some valuable life lessons. Had I owned a decent car that parent's just ran out and bought me, I would have missed a lot of those valuable opportunities to learn and grow. It taught me not to be afraid to get into a project that I was unfamiliar with and how to find the resources to tackle problems. the cars came and went.

I learned to be resourcedful If I needed factory tool we'd figure out something, make a tool , I learned basic welding and machining skills. gee we even compressed the springs to change mcphereson struts with pipe clamps and tie wire, dangerous as hell yes, but it worked. Dad would spend all day helping me fix a part worth 5 bucks, it seemed senesless back then.. waste of a day? but he'd say no its ok we tackled that, thing is now you know how not to spend the 5 bucks. what's next? the day was actually him teaching me, the 5 bucks was nothing important. it was about the challenge not to spend money.

to me that was very valuable, maybe less valuable If I had became a doctor with a PHD in brain surgery. and the paycheck to suit.
my brother helped a lot, he had taken a diesel mechanics course he was 4 years older, and had more experinece so he helped me rebuild a couple of engines transmissions and such. Dear old dad helped me a lot too. we'd have crazy arguments on how to tackle things but no one got called stupid or anything personally insulting. It was how we discussed things passionate about the process , not hurtfully

we'd often spend evenings brainstorming how to fix things, usually just with what's around. without spending any money, that was always key. depression era philosophy. I'll fix it with what i have around with the tools at hand, Ill buy a tool or a part, but only if I need it , do I need to or can I just be inventive and find a way? we'd laugh when we got to the part of the manual that says "refer to a mechanic", sure like we'd ever do that.. lol

that would be like defeating our purpose. there HAD to be a way around it.

in the end put our minds together It made me think a lot. he let me struggle for a day then he'd come to help and together we'd tackle any issue that I was stuck on. Dad enjoyed teaching me, passing his skills and knowledge down to me. He'd learned by way of need as well. Informal training by working with others. asking the right questions.getting stuck and working things through.

If I'd had a car that didn't need to be fixed I would have missed those opportunities. I'm thankful for them. I wasnt a spoiled kid who's parents bought him a car. not so much.

I had to stand on my own 2 feet, that's how I see it. he did help me in my 30s let me live in his house and bank some money I returend the favors by helping him out lots as he got older and had some serious accidents and surgeries etc. when he went, we all do eventually, I said Ill always love him and he lives on through me, thats how I see it. I truly appreciate that time we spent. we were very close frineds as well as father and son.

All that said I can toatally see how you may make a father and son project of restoring a 30 or 35 year old 944. Personally I would not fund it, That's just one guys opinion. we tend to appreciate things we work for, what we are given at 16, ,less so.

the chicks still dug my groovy VW beetle .. I decked it out with brass and black walnut and painted it , custom dash, made may own brass and black walnut steering wheel, brass window winders, brass everything that I could replace.. and so on..brother helped me rebuild the engine. it was a lot of fun. I enjoyed imagining things and then creating what I had imagined, I still enjoy all that. Its the creative process, its an art. when I see guys building race cars, its the same , they have the money and shop to do more than I can but its still a creative process, this is an art form in my opinion. lots of guys who have bags of cash still enjoy that creative process and restoration , its not always about money but sometimes it is just about pleasing yourself through accomplishments.

I need projects that allow me to spend time accomplishing things, with out that I'd be unhappy. I also like having fun and social activities, I took up snooker as a social activity. Its a life balance. If I won 10 million I'd still enjoy tinkering with old cars. hiring people do do all that I'd find less satifying because I would not consider that an accomplishment to be proud of.

[wwdwgs]

This is an old thread, but I must add:
16 oy on any Porsche - not a good move. The young fella must learn how to drive on a simple car, in case of accident it won't hurt financially. That's one.
Two. I will not allow a youngster to drive any Porsche with THAT t-shirt!!! C-mon! It should say, at the least, "I love Porsche". Matching color would be nice, too.
I had 914 as my first Porsche, but not first car. And I learned how to drive smoothly on that 914. Financially, it was a mistake to own 914 at THAT time and THAT area. But it was fun. Lots of people hated me because of 914. And I had a matching yellow t-shirt.
To OP, with so many years that passed from the original post and today, I hope that the young fella enjoyed his first Porsche responsibly.

[wwdwgs]

Originally Posted by WuTang69

yeah, my son is 17 and already got his first speeding ticket. There are some OBD2 driving monitors out there but are pretty expensive. I might get a portable device like the SpaceHawk GPS car tracker if he gets another freaking ticket

I would force him to pay for the ticket and any accompanying expenses, like high car insurance for 18 or more months. Also, anyone under 25 pays a higher insurance premiums (at least in the greatest state of all - NY).

[Monkey Wrench]

LOL the thread jumped from 2009 to 2025
he was 16 at the start of the thread

[azbanks]

I bought my oldest son a 71 914 for his first car with the stipulation that he pay me back when he got a job. He was involved in a bunch of school activities at the time and a straight A student.

My thoughts were/are that it had great handling and brakes which are important for avoiding an accident, It only fits two so he couldn't load it up with a bunch of friends and do stupid things. They take a hit very well if he was in an accident. It doesn't have enough power to go out drag racing. I can literally beat him across a 5 lane intersection on my bicycle.

[wwdwgs]

914 with great brakes? Many 914 owners upgrade brakes, either by larger master cyl. alone, or by upgrading calipers, or, next step, is upgrading to 5-lug hubs and, therefore, larger brakes. The 914 brakes may fill good because the car is very light. But you're right about how much friends one can fit in the car. I had 2 passengers one time to "transport" them a few blocks. Why didn't I think about rear trunk at the time? ))

[azbanks]

Originally Posted by wwdwgs

914 with great brakes? Many 914 owners upgrade brakes, either by larger master cyl. alone, or by upgrading calipers, or, next step, is upgrading to 5-lug hubs and, therefore, larger brakes. The 914 brakes may fill good because the car is very light. But you're right about how much friends one can fit in the car. I had 2 passengers one time to "transport" them a few blocks. Why didn't I think about rear trunk at the time? ))

His 914 has the BMW 320 brake caliper upgrade.

[80sVibes]

Can’t be any worse than the z-28 Camaro I got for my first car! Maybe he’ll be inclined to take better care of it if it’s a cool car. I know I did.

[Racerbvd]

I’d say that my 67 VW bus was much more dangerous than any 944, slow, poor brakes and handling and lots of room for shagging!!!
Now after the engine was built up (and back then, there were no suspension and brake upgrades available, it was Even more scary, but a excellent learning experience, as to keep it going, dealing with the poor brakes and handling, one had to literally pay attention to what was going on. You learned the sounds and feel of the VW so you could tell when something was wrong or going wrong.
Of course back then, we had to earn the money to buy our cars, learn how to fix or pay someone else to fix it, etc.

[akaKJB]

I drove plenty of high powered cars when I was a kid. I also grew up in a family that owned an auto shop and towing service in Southern Iowa. We did towing for the Highway Patrol so I saw the results of stupid driving firsthand since I was 7 years old. Yeah, I got put to work changing oil, washing windows, pumping gas and even fixing tires from the age of 7!
It showed me exactly what happened if you were stupid behind the wheel. Did I still drive fast at times? Of course I did! But I knew when and where to do those things. If this were kids in the 70s or 80s, I might be okay with it but most kids now I'd be afraid to give them something like this as a first car unless they were rebuilding it first.