Two most common ways to ruin a Porsche

[ficke]

For me the most important aspect about Porsche ownership is driving it, the more the better. Road trips, dinner, grocery getter, I like driving my Porsches.
I know the are others who like Porsches as a kind of full size model to play with and others who like to tinker with them, but for me it is mostly about driving pleasure.
So this is a warning for like minded Porsche drivers, about the two most common ways cars are ruined.

Number 1 way to ruin a Porsche for a driver, Restore it.
This is the number one way I have seen good Porsches ruined.
Here is a common conversation to illustrate this destruction of a enjoyably driven Porsche. Me " why are you selling your 911? " ruined car owner " I do not drive it any more" me "why, I thought you loved that car?, you drove it everywhere!" RCO "I can not drive it anymore since I restored it I might get a rock chip are something, so now it just sits in my garage taking up space and you know I spent so much money on the restoration, now I want my money back and a car I can drive" Ruined car.

Number 2 way to ruin a Porsche, quest for speed..
Now some hot rodding is good if you drive the car more because of it, But..
Modifying a car to go faster to only turn the car in to a 'one trick pony' is bad. It usually starts with taking our fun street car to the track and get beat up a little so we start down the path of simple "upgrades" track tires, then springs and shocks and a "better" seat, etc. Tell finally we have a car that is hard to get in and out of, is loud and droning, rides really rough and ironically is slower now on the street because the stiff track suspension makes the car hop over and lose traction over the bumps found on public streets. Congratulations you now have a week end toy that will be used as much as a Bass boat in AZ.
So once again it gets sold to buy a car that you can use, like the one you started with in the first place.

I see Porsches for sale and know the owners have gone down one of these two paths.
Be careful out there and do not ruin your car.

[JacobS911]

Agreed. I've done my go fast goodies in power and suspension and actually made it more drivable! it has great patina on the body but unfortunately that includes rust that can't go ignored. I'll be doing a full body paint strip and rust repair within 12months i believe.Thinking after Rennsport next year the tear down will begin..thought about doing it this winter but really don't want to rush it or get to a point where it sits and miss the roadtrip to Rennsport. When I tell fellow porsche buddies they say noooo! you'll not want to drive it or fear chips, but that will not be the case. I'll drive it more as I won't be afraid to get caught out in rain as I am now with the poor nature of the paint and rust spot. That's my hope anyways.

[Yorkie]

Some good points. I had a concours winning SC that I would literally set on jack stands after each club run and clean the underside. In parking lots I would have to park it away from other cars to avoid door dings. I would freak out when the kids rode in it in case they had sticky fingers. I sold it as I was afraid to drive the stupid thing. Had a restored XKE that I polished more than drove.

Had another SC that I did DEs and other track events and quickly realized that I was not a fast driver so fortunately I did not go down the go-faster goodie road.

I now have a '70S now that has rock chips, scruffy interior and US ride height and I drive it a lot. Shopping, school runs, you name it. Love it.

[SCrescue]

Ha ha, spot on ficke, that's exactly how I ruined mine (number 1)...

[LeftCoastErik]

Number 1--never gonna be me. Been there, done that with the last couple of 50's Kustoms I built.

Number 2- Learned my lesson here too. My fire-breathing 3.6/ITBd car runs camber plates and short struts with Boxster Brakes and Koni Sports. Big Tarrett bars too....but stock Tbars..and its been lightened a lot. I beat the crap out of it and enjoy long rides. Its still compliant for backroads (which are rough around here) so it, in my opinion, still does everything pretty well.. I do miss AC once in a while though (its gonna be 114 here today)

[SalParadise]

I agree. I am not restoring mine. I am just making it safe. Everyone asked me how the restoration is going, if I am going to restore it. No.

The only things I am doing is to make it safe to drive. New brakes/new fuel lines/new seals/new tires. I could care less about paint or interior, though I have nice seats to put in.

You really forgot to mention time as well. I met quite a few guys who have had their cars 10, 15, 20 years - and have never driven them. Always waiting for something or other. Paint, should I flare or unflare? Should I put RS door panels in?

Yeah. I'm not restoring mine. I just don't want any fires and I want to stop.

[ficke]

The Number 2 way to ruin a car is a tricky one, because you can make a car more fun to drive, BUT this is the big one, do you drive it more because of the mods? So are you really upgrading it? or just making a lateral move? or worse, making the car more specialized to the point you drive it less?
For instance removing the A/C does make a car little more fun to drive but now you might not drive it as much. So that would be a down grade.
Sport seats are great when you are in them and for short trips, but they are harder to get in and out of and not good for long trips, maybe less driving, and not necessarily an improvement, but you might drive it more because of them? Time will tell with that mod.
Loud exhaust, fun sound maybe more power, but now the wife does not want to take the 911 anymore on the road trip to San Diego because it drones on the Freeway, the car will be used less, definite down grade.

And of course the major suspension mods really should be measured in amount of time you spend in the car and not your lap times. If you drive it less but have better lap times then the car was ruined.

[ficke]

Originally Posted by SalParadise

I agree. I am not restoring mine. I am just making it safe. Everyone asked me how the restoration is going, if I am going to restore it. No.

The only things I am doing is to make it safe to drive. New brakes/new fuel lines/new seals/new tires. I could care less about paint or interior, though I have nice seats to put in.

You really forgot to mention time as well. I met quite a few guys who have had their cars 10, 15, 20 years - and have never driven them. Always waiting for something or other. Paint, should I flare or unflare? Should I put RS door panels in?

Yeah. I'm not restoring mine. I just don't want any fires and I want to stop.

Time.
I am 55 years old, I might have 20 more good years of driving left in me if I am lucky.
No way do I want to do a 5 year restoration project.
Make them run well and look OK and be comfortable to drive, that is my goal with my Porsches.

[matt930s]

At one time I had all my cars drivable...now I have a 69 911E that needs a total restoration and a 78 SC with the motor dropped. Main goal is drivable with solid running gear and minimal rust, the rest is optTional...

Drove my beater 912 to work today...

[Cal44]

This has been a thorn under my blanket for decades........people thinking they know more that teams of Porsche engineers and designers. I always leave em' stock as possible, I ain't smarter

That goes for big stupid looking tall wheels that are out of proportion to the car, after market flares and wings. As a famous designer once stated "99.9 percent of the population have no taste". To prove my point, go house shopping........gawd it is painful to see what passes for good taste.

Sorry, I've been mid 80's 911 coupe shopping. I can't tell what is worse, what I'm seeing or the thought of sticking a needle in my eye so I won't see....what I'm seeing.

[pmax]

Like this ?

[Catorce]

My solution is simple - I own some garage queens, and some drivers.

[Matt Monson]

I'm just skipping through the woods without a care in the world...

I bought my 74 with the express intent of doing a build and rodstoration. I've built more Subaru hot rods than I have fingers. I've done turbo builds and all motor. I've done old and new. But all my Porsche's have been basically stock. I've done on going maintenance and minor improvements, but I've never had one long enough to make it all mine. I've owned a dozen different models of daily driven Porsche but they've all been stock cars.

I'm down the rabbit hole on both one and two and intend to get back out of it without a slip. Just nice enough. Just nodded enough. Just comfortable enough. And just fast enough.

[pu911]

well I'm currently working on option #1, I've done #2 a few times as well but always loved the outcome. I'll probably only do one nut and bolt resto, it's fun but you're right car will probably be too nice to drive when it's done- that will just piss me off.
Phil

[ficke]

Just to be clear here, there is nothing wrong with hot rodding, if it makes you want to drive the car more. But so many mods actually make people drive their car less. which is ok if your not a driver but a tinker type owner or C&C guy, or some sort of show guy.

We could start a thread ( but should not) here in Porsche market place on all the awesome builds done in the 930 and 911 tech threads that took years and huge money and then we find the owner is selling the car shortly after finishing it. Did they just get over their head on the disposable money and time it took for the fun of the build? or did they build something they just do not want?
Happens a lot, do not be that guy, I have and it is no fun to find your self there.

[mooty]

i have 6 p cars. some new some old
my fav is my 72. it's ratty
i over detail my cars, this one has never been detailed or color corrected.
one of the seat has hole in it.
but i just drive it every where. even today (NO AC and it's 109* here in SF, CA)....
sometimes it's best to just leave things alone

[spyerx]

One stock. 2 modded. Each serves a purpose. All 3 have functional ac.
I will never fully restore a car. Or I will be that guy in #1.

[manbridge 74]

Happens with newer models too. I spent most of a day pulling off the aftermarket springs and heim jointed strut tops from the above GT3RS. Was so low you couldn't get up the slightest incline without scraping. All joints were heim jointed. Only 11k miles and the guy either had enough or moved on to even more of a weapons grade ride. Above pic is after about $7K was thrown at it to get it back close to stock.

[Rick Brooklyn]

Originally Posted by Cal44

This has been a thorn under my blanket for decades........people thinking they know more that teams of Porsche engineers and designers. I always leave em' stock as possible, I ain't smarter

That goes for big stupid looking tall wheels that are out of proportion to the car, after market flares and wings.

Amen, brother.

[Macroni]

sell it......