When did you know you would own a Porsche?

[Jrboulder]

When I was 16 I saw a dumpy 924S at a gas station. I was really an air-cooled snob back then. I wanted to tell the collage kid who was filling it up "nice Audi" (I didn't know any better). As I was sitting in a turn lane I saw it going up an onramp. It was just amazing. From that point on I knew I would own a water cooled porsche.

Jackson

'84 944 (the keeper of the bunch)
'77 924 M&R sold
'86 951 parts car
'86 951 needs an engine

[Arizona_928]

When I was 13 I saw a 924 at the local salvation army car lot.
It was a non running car, and sitting in the back of the lot.
I really liked it, and wanted one since then.
I bought my N/A when I was 16. I've surely been working on her.
They are certainly a addiction, and a money pit. But they are awesome little cars.

[Jrboulder]

These na cars are such a money pit.

[gekkoracing7]

I wanted one after I was able to drive one out of San Jose.CA...up the 101 to hwy 84.....up to La Honda......a very,very twisty road up the coast range of mountains.I never left 3rd go except to drop back into 2nd, all the way up! That was a total rush, all those switch backs and banked turns...a 944's dream (NA of course). When we got to the coast we drove up to 'Frisco and I drove it down Lombard Street.....haha, very slow! Ever since then....that was in 2000....I have desired a 944. One of my good friends father-in-law had passed away and they had his 944 under a tarp in the barn. The car is in great shape (except the mice poo) for sitting for 15 yrs. She is in my garage on stands awaiting drive train drop and rebuild!! I can't wait!!

Ben

[ernie9944]

This is the first Porsche I laid my eyes on,exactly the same color a 58-356 Carrera it was in 1961.Was 16 at that time & working at my uncle garage (nigth) he was Welsh a very good mechanic who will spend hours tuning Jags- MG- Austin Healy & so on. Then this doctor came in with the Carrera after looking it over & asking a lot of questions I decided that one day I will own a Porsche.When to Germany for three years service ,man Porsches were all over the place & even had the chance to get close the an Abarth ,lol even had my behind in it holding the steering in my own hands.Then one day this orange 911T came in camp one our officer had buy it & once more I started drooling.Came back home forgot all about Porsches & when Muscle cars (was the trend at at time for young peoples to own them), in 74 I was ripe & ready for air cool ownership-914/4-914/6-911/targa & so on.In 1980 happen to take a trip to Toronto & there at a Porsche dealer was a beautiful 931 (red & grey) sitting in the show room & decided that maybe water cool made more sense,but hold back until 1984,made the jump & bougth my 83-944 NA,will never regret it,did enjoy owning -working on & driving it until August 09.As everybody knows here I'm still getting cool by water (968) probably my last Porsche.

[James Chimney]

I worked across the street from a Porsche dealer back in the 70's and 80's and always loved all Porsche's, so at 24 I got into Motor Cycles and started my own business, so I am selling my motor cycle and told my wife "I have not owned my own car in 25 years (I used my work van) and started looking at muscle cars (Challengers, Road Runners....etc) and could not find any thing in my price range, and thought "I always loved Porsche's (I called my motor cycle the Porsche killer 0-60 in 2.3 seconds) so I started looking at 911's and these "pesky 944's kept popping up" and I thought "nice looking car" I looked at a few and then found a Guard Red/Linen 85.5 na, 108,000 miles in fairly good shape and fell in love, I put 8,000 miles on last year from May to Oct.
So I knew at first sight/drive this car was mine and still love the 911/930's but feel my 944 stands out more as you can not swing a dead cat with out hitting 911's in my area. Aint love grand

[CorsePerVita]

I remember when I was a kid I always loved Porsches. My dad has always been a muscle car guy. I was cool with that but always loved the euros.

The time came for my first car. I couldn't find a car I liked.

Near our house was a junkyard maybe 1/2 a mile away. One day as my dad drove me home from school I saw this bright red car with a tan interior. I asked if I could stop and look at it, the car was a whole. As I got up close I saw this sleek looking car with a beautiful interior, near perfect paint. I could not for the life of me figure out why it was sitting in a junkyard.

I asked my dad what it was since it had no badges on it (all removed) and he said it was a Porsche 924. He said "no way in hell are you getting that, it doesn't run, you can't afford it, and no son of mine is going to work on that pile of crap."

I got a Mustang II for my first car. (basically a pinto)

I remember every day after school I'd make up excuses to run by that junkyard and look at that car.

One day, years later I got to drive one. That's when I knew not only did I want one but that I wanted to own one more than anything. It wasn't a 911, it wasn't a supercar, it was a simple 924. But I got to relive that dream. It brought back those days that I spent looking at that car in the junkyard wishing I could drive it. That's when I KNEW I would have one of my own someday.

One 924, 914 and 911 later (and one sold 944) I am addicted. My next goal (once I have a big enough garage) is to add a 356 to the stable.

Every single one of them has their own feel, their own handling behaviors, their own engine note, and not a single one of them is "similar" - and the thing that puts a smile on my face is that no matter which one of them I drive, all of them have characteristics that the other cars I've owned and drive have. They're fun, simple, a real drivers car and have a beauty to them that is easily distinguished.

Although it always cracks me up that I always got hater comments in the 944, a few in the 911. But I've never got anything but "That's a sweet old car!" in the 914, generally followed by "What is it?" or "Is that a Fiat?" the 924 I am looking forward to finishing here soon.









For the longest time I don't think my wife quite understood my passion for Porsches or my masochistic attitude of always wanting to work on them constantly. Once we got the 914 and I took her for the first drive with the top down on a hot summer day and we went up and took it for a picnic up a mountain pass, I think it wore off on her. Now she's slowly understanding my addiction.

[Pete R]

I had $14k in my pocket and was looking for a Corvette. I drove by a 928 for $7k that said "v8 rocket" on the window. I figured what a deal and still had $7k to fix it up. Epic mistake, over $50k later it was done. ...then I didn't want to track it. So I found a 951.

[bnv944]

the car that got me into cars was a 1969 chevelle SS. my shop teacher owns one and it was one of the most beautiful cars i had ever seen at that tI'me. this was when i was 12. for the next two years of saveing and searching everywhere, i had looked at chevelles, corvettes, chargers, challengers, a 'cuda, and a few javelins. all of these cars i had almost owned, but at the last minute the owners changed their minds, or jacked up the price ridiculously, or just sI'mply sold it to a higher paying person. i had basically given up when i remembered an interesting looking car outside this auto shop next to mobile. i had known nothing about Porsche and said what the hell, ill check it out. so me and my father went down to take a look at it, which turned out to be a whole lot filled with 911's, 968's,928's, 944S's, and 924's. all where way out of my price range, so the guy took me town to a local storage unit. i knew nothing about the 944, didn't even know it existed until that day, but i fell in love. i thought it was even more beautiful then a chevelle. i picked it up for 3k the next day, and for the next 2 and a half years, spent learning about it and fixing it up, and it still wasn't drivable by the tI'me i got my license (the price of parts is what slowed me down only having a part tI'me job). now this car is like my child, i have poured my life, sweat and blood (literally) into this car, i do my best to take the up-most care of her, and my goal is too keep it driving till I'm old and crippled.

[HondaDustR]

Being a car guy since day one, I always had a soft spot for all Porsche's since I was a kid, but never really knew the models too well except for the 911. Being a video gamer, I played through Need For Speed Porsche Unleashed back when it came out around 2000. It was a really well made game with lots of "Porsche atmosphere". Strange to say, but that was where I really learned about Porsche history, as it had nearly (and I emphasize that for later) every model, very good driving physics, lots of German scenery, and it made me want one some day. I felt Porsche was the new definition of what a car should be.

Fast forward about 6 years when I was looking around for a cheap first car, Porsche never even came close to crossing my mind. I always kind of liked the small, light 4 cyl japanese cars and found a pretty decent Infinity G20 for sale that was just about everything I could ask for for a $1400 car. 2.0l 16v DOHC 140 hp that redlined at 7500 rpm, tied to a 5 speed manual, sitting in a rather small, light nissan chassis would have made my day then. Well, unbeknownst to me, the Porsche gods were intervening, and the guy never returned my calls. Well, my brother comes home from work and asks me "how much would you spend on a car right now?" Some guy at his work had a 924S he was trying to sell for the upper range of my budget. It immediately got my attention, but since the Need For Speed game did not have any 924 or 924S cars in it (shame!), I had no idea what it was. After I found out it was essentially a 944 (which I really liked) and it had phone dial wheels (which I love because that's one of the unique looks I associated with the 80's Porsches growing up, despite the fact no 911's ever had them). After some research on what I should look for and what I would expect to have to fix, which by the way, was not a comprehensive list by any means , I went to check it out. From there it was a bit sketchy and I probably broke every rule we tell first time prospective buyers here on the forums. The guy was obviously full of BS right from the start, but the car looked pretty solid. I never herd it run before I bought it. I had to be out of town at the time, so I gave the $2500 to my dad, who knows cars pretty well, and told him if he thought it seemed good for the money, to buy it. Barring any obvious deal breaking problems, I was pretty confident I could fix it, having been very good with a wrench on the family cars, and lots of lawn equipment I would work on for fun.

Well, thanks to Pelican parts, this forum, a good bit of luck, and LOTS of time over the course of pretty much the entire time I've had it squaring away all of the little glitches, leaks, preventive maintenance, and a few for fun things, it has remained with me, has not made me broke, has not left me stranded miles from home, and puts a smile on my face every time I get to drive it. We've been through some tough times a couple times, but aways managed to pull through better than ever. There aren't too many jobs left I haven't done on this car. It has always been my daily driver and I just never get bored with it. The power delivery, the sound, the handling...there's just no comparison. It is also probably one of the easier and more intuitive cars to work on for me, despite its Porsche quirks. If anything happened to it, I would try to find another. It just makes most other cars seem pretty boring...but I still think back now and then to what driving the crap out of that G20 would have been like. Instead, I just focus on the day I will eventually be able to put a 16v motor in my car.



The pretty new motor that cost me as much as the car did.





So, the short answer...I knew I would have one about a week before I actually did.

[Aufgeladen944]

When I was 14 and started mowing lawns and watching other peoples' ill-behaved children to save up money for a car, I really had my eyes set on an early 944. I just loved (and still do) the way all these cars look. My best friend inherited his dad's 87 300zx (POS but we thought it was awesome), and I had grandiose dreams of 80's sports cars ruling our high schools parking lot.

I decided against a 944; I figured even though there were some reasonably priced examples, it had a lot going against it:

1: my parents wouldn't allow a manual transmission for a first car (why? I dunno-they're much safer). And there is no point in buying an automatic sports car.

2: I was worried it would be expensive to fix/maintain (and they are, to an extent)

3: impractical in the snow. Say what you want all ye snow drifters, they're not better than a Honda or other front-wheel drive car.

4: insurance was going to be astronomical. It was going to be high no matter what, but with a sports car it was going to be worse.

I ended up getting a 1994 Ford Probe GT. Worst mistake of my life. It broke down on the way home from buying it and it basically launched me into huge amounts of debt. The only thing I can say about it is that it drove nicely (it was fun) and I loved the way it looks (it's not far off a 944, really...) I'm a sucker for flip-up lights, I guess.

I went from that piece to a couple of Honda Preludes that I put a lot of money into and did very bad things with, and then set my eyes on a 944. Through the grapevine I got in touch with a guy selling his 86 Turbo with an 88 Turbo S motor in it and it was love at first drive. I remember laughing uncontrollably at the unabashed 80's turbo-sloooooooow OH MY GOD FAST SHIFT. Oh, it was so much fun.

I was truly impressed with the owner though, and that sold me on the car. I showed up at home with it unannounced(much to my parents chagrin) and it's been a raucous five years. I love my car, despite it's odd needs and oldness.

[mattic]

At about seven I had a pail yellow 911 matchbox that was my favorite. My first car was a '72 Super Beetle, but hey, air cooled and moving in the right direction. Since then I've had a '72 914, '79 924 Sebring, '87 911 Cab, and now have a '91 944 S2 Cab. I'll get back in a 911 eventually, but the 944 gives me a reasonable car, back seats for my two young sons, and of course a drop top. I'm still an air cooled guy, currently living in the world of split windows (just finishing a '66 Single Cab), and always have my eyes open for a solid foundation '76 912e. The body of a Porsche with the ease of a VW. What else could you want?

[thekidd]

I was 12 I think. I was a helper at my school for my gym teacher and would go set up for that days class living just a minuet down the road. Near the last day of class, my teacher said that she would pick us up in any Porsche, VW, or Audi. She was the wife of Mr. Holbert- yes of the Al Holbert Family. Me and the the other kids of course said the 911. She picked us up early that day and drove around the area for about 15-20 minuets. That was the first ever (that I rember) going over 100 MPH. It was so much fun.
But the time when I was thinking about buying a Porsche was when I actually sat in the drivers seat of a 1987 924S, but dint know what year or anything like that at the time. It was for sale, and unlocked! Didnt have moiney to buy it, but open the door and sat in the seat. I was so low, and the smell of the car was very distinct. Loved the way I was seated so low, I couldnt see the front of the car except if I sat up- still have to do that to this day.
I think maybee 3-4 months later I rembered that a local shop had a red Porsche for sale that was there for a pretty long time. I called them and they were saking $4,500 for it. Went to the shop later that week, talked to then about with a buddy of mine who had a 79 924 Turbo, and then they lowerd the Price to $3,500. Bout it and had it for about 2 yeras untill it had an engine fire.
Good thread!

[skyehigh]

I was 20 years old if I remember correctly, already a car lover but never able to own anything other than a couple of old honda's. I had just moved to the big city, gotten a new job and was making a bit of money. I was also in the market for a new car. So I looked at a bunch of toyota's, honda's and other regular boring cars. Then... I come across a black on black 924 turbo. I knew I had to take it for a test drive. I remember coming up to a intersection and the light turned amber, so I gunned it to make it through. The turbo kicked in and the car growled and took off like a rocket, needless to say I was sold! Well I loved that car but it turned out to be a bit of a dud and I was not so mechanically inclined back then, so I had to get rid of it. Fast forward 15 years and I still have a soft spot for the 924/944. So last summer I bought a 87 944S. I guess ever since that old 924 turbo I knew one day I would have to own a porsche again!

[alfadoc]

When I was in college in the early '80s, I worked with a guy who was selling gray market Benzes, Porsches and BWMs to folks around the DC area. I'd take the Metro to Union Station, ride Amtrak up to Wilmington DE, and clear the newly arrived cars through customs. I'd then drive them to my house in Takoma Park, and do the DOT conversion work to make them comply with the "one time exemption" rules then in effect.

Drove some interesting cars, and made some nice coin. My favorite was a Minerva Blue '81 911 SC, with a sunroof. That car felt like it was carved out of a block of stone, and the sound of the engine was addictive. That gave me Porsche lust.

Fast forward to 2009. Mind you I still have not owned a Porsche to this point. Finding myself with the redundancy of two 4 door sedans (Alfa Romeo 164S and a 560SEL), I decide to jettison one in favor of a smaller GT type car. It had to have good looks, some measure of utility, decent gas mileage, a price of entry somewhere around $5K, be screwed together well and made of good stuff. And not Asian. When I whittled down the list of contenders, a late 944 made the cut.

The 86 N/A I started with immediately went to "top five favorite cars I've ever owned" status (out of nearly 100 cars). The S2 I have now is insanely fabulous, or will be when I get through the nit-picky things I do having just purchased a new ride.

[LSA]

I had always dreamed of driving one most likely an air cooled since I grew up with them. My dad was a Porsche guy he would always say there is no substitute and joke about the cars. He had numerous 914's before I was around but during my time he had a 914-6 that he had restored and painted gaurds red gorgeous I still remember how the garage would smell after firing up the carbs. He also had a Chevelle SS that I vaguely remember but the car I really remember was his 98 C2S last of the air cooled was one of his favorite things to say. That car was absolutely beautiful. Black on Black, leather, light weight fly wheel a chip and turbo twists man that car flew. Unfortunately he sold it, didn't really drive it enough and put the money into his business.

I was driving a 200 Passat great car but at 170k I was tired of dealing with all the elctronics that constantly broke, O2 sensor probably once or twice a year the abs module went out. Once my dad died though I really wanted a Porsche it was just something that seemed that it would be comforting so I looked over craigslist for a few weeks found out that 944's were basically dirt cheap used what money I had saved and freshman year of college made a really stupid decision..... I've loved every minute of it.

Now a year and a half later and probably spending what I bought it for I love this car, it's so much fun to drive. Driving isn't a chore it's enjoyable and the car really means something to me, even though my dad was a bit of an air cooled elitist I'm sure he's looking down and smiling. In retrospect I should have waited for a better piece I acted on emotion but there's no sense in dwelling on the past just enjoying the present in my Porsche

[ronster]

I was looking for a car but didn't know what I wanted. I had been to a local dealer and had driven three or four of their used cars but was not impressed with any of them. I went in one day to test drive four cars, two mini's, a VW turbo and my soon to be Boxster. I drove the other three cars and they were ho hum but when I got in the Porsche I knew it was the one and when the salesman told me to take it up to redline getting on the freeway that was it. The intake and exhaust note along with the acceleration was an instant seller. I've been elated with my car for almost two years and they can bury me in it when I'm dead.

[looneybin]

I was asked to drive my neighbors dads 944 to a park-n-sell lot.
He just picked up an S2 cab & needed to sell his NA.
I drove right past the lot, went back home & scrawled out a check on the spot.
Not a single regret

[944Larry]

Late 60's. A school buddy dated a girl whose brother had a 914. Wanting a Porsche kinda' hits you like the plague.

[djnolan]

Porsches: I obtained my first 944 from craigslist on a whim or personal dare in 2007. I remember seeing 944's around in the 80's when I was in college. Man what a racket I could make with one of those things! Here was one for $1700, no smoke, many new parts, can't go wrong. So I bought the 944 and after a year or so (and a few transmission repairs!) it became a daily driver. Low and behold someone had the nerve to back into it and destroyed the front sheet metal. After getting the parts together I gave my dad a call to help me put it back together. Dad is in his 80's so he really couldn't do any more than watch and hand me tools. He started telling me a story about one of his friends from when he was stationed in Germany. His friend Pete had bought a circa 1960 Porsche and took him out for a few rides on the autobahn, and had even gotten it up to over 100MPH. Pete later wrecked the car, and Dad remarked, what a tinny thing it was, he was lucky. I think Dad at this point was a family man and wouldn't consider owning anything other than a family sedan. His friend Pete shipped the repaired Porsche back to the US. Anyway it was a great thrill to take Dad to a Porsche garage where they had a half dozen 356's under restoration. He retold the Pete's Porsche story several times that day.