I have a furry as part of my traveling race crew. He has a super cute little girlfriend and they met in the furscene. That is one more chick than anyone has ever met a a Porsche event.
That's quite a uniform for that cohort. Enforced with all the ruthlessness of an all female HOA board, no doubt. The 24/7/365 yoga pants and flip flops uniform works better, even if they all sport doodle tats and the occasional facial fishing tackle.
"The first part of this statement is a rather unpleasant topic. We were informed that in the late night hours the public bathrooms were left in varying states of unsanitary conditions by our attendees. The hotel noted that some guest rooms had sanitation issues as well. The hotel went as far as to describe the conditions as a “biohazard.”"
Basically, the furries were shitting and fucking where they shouldn't have, oh, and leaving their used adult baby diapers in wastebins.
Doctors today do a lot of elective surgeries that would have gotten their licenses pulled in an earlier era.
My cousin gave me a book about 30 years ago titled Modern Primitives, which was about the body modification scene. It anticipated a lot of what we see today, and more extreme stuff like bifurcated tongues and phalluses.
A wise person once said that before you make any permanent change to your body, go to your closet and look at all the clothes that you *won't* wear anymore.
I've actually watched my mother and grandmother stuff natural casing kishke. They used grinding attachments for their Mixmasters. Sometimes they'd let us use the hardwood stomper to push the ingredients into the grinder.
Maybe it's supposed to be the dude from "Regular Car Reviews" on YouTube in the suit, isn't he into that? Also it's at a Cars and Coffee so it tracks (yes I realize the graphic is likely AI generated.)
Great article! I have a sorted C6 that no 996 has ever passed on track. And I'm in the PCA. Also, I have an S2000 race car with trailer should anyone want give Option #6 a go.
so, there is this recently retired guy, who has a relatively sorted '08 Boxster, who would like to have a '80's +/- air cooled 911 coupe as a fun driver (no thoughts of track use). any thoughts on what the best bang for the (small pile) of bucks would be? thanks.
I second this...1974-77 911S still have the raw feel of the longhood cars, but are more refined and faster once the smog stuff is removed. I'd bet most of the 2.7 issues when new are all sorted by this point. 1977 gets you a fully galvanized body which is a plus.
was not referring to me, who is supposed to be retired but keeps getting sucked into consulting fun, which pays fairly well and funds my bicycle hobby.
if I had garage space I would be buying the mostly restored AH 3000 near me for only $19k, or a NC Miata with PRHT, or a '73-74 Formula Firebird, or .........
There's nothing that'll turn a girls head faster than a sportbike. Sure, they'll look away when you take off your helmet and they realize you are old enough to be their dad but they will look.
This never happened not even once when I had one. I did how however have children wave at me constantly. I don't mean a couple of times. I mean every time I left the house.
I love doing this. I've got a full face with a very dark shield. I will park where there are folks gathered that will notice. Brake sharply, as you do, crank a throttle roll, hit the kill switch at 5k and flip the side stand down without looking. Swing the leg over smoothly and slowly de glove. Then the helmet comes off ............. I should get pictures.
People forget the key thing about the bike versus car as attraction:
-a car might prove you have money, but this is only relevant to women who cluster towards what we think of as gold diggers or low-class-level status chasers; many women, and most of those you’d want to date long term, don’t care that much about your car. Particularly the smart ones, IME
-cars don’t prove you’re tasteful. So if they ignite a woman’s fire you can be sure she will be 1) a rare case, or car buff 2) easily impressed / most likely born less than upper middle class, best case.
-cars don’t prove you’re willing to stick your neck out. Just that you have a silly toy
-cars have the wrong “physical interaction profile” with a gorgeous woman walking down the street as compared to a motorcycle. A motorcyclist talking to a pedestrian is normal, it’s almost pedestrian-to-pedestrian (assuming voices are audible), but talking from a car is a vibes-off/excessively effortful-seeming spatial interaction, plus in a sporting car the man’s body and eyes are at a lower level than the woman walking down the street’s.
Case in point. Many years ago I was walking down a street adjacent to a gorgeous woman when two guys in a gen IV viper convertible idled past. If any modern sports car 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 help a man pick up chicks, certainly a viper convertible would be one such, right? Well, she looked over at them and winced.
I have never seen a woman wince at a motorcyclist.
You're making my broader point, which is there is virtually no existent *sports* car on earth that will help you pick up chicks - maybe aside from a morgan 3-wheeler or other totally oddball stuff
Best car (truck) for picking up chicks, especially in terms of signal/noise ratio (ratio of attention from chicks vs dudes) is a 2-door Wrangler or Bronco. My dad (retirement age, short & bald but he is handsome & takes care of himself) bought a Bronco 3 years ago & says he gets tons of compliments from young women.
That said I’m eager to hear what sorcery made two workmanlike, utilitarian, off-road-oriented vehicles the absolute apex of womanly desirability… given that demographic rarely goes beyond the trailhead and fire roads.
Either excellent marketing, or some thing interesting going on ,
0 - I thought for a moment the furry was the CarFax mascot.
1 - Where are these $3000 trailers?
2 - I have a very nice 2010 Boxster S for sale. I think. My wife mentioned keeping it (bought it out west for a single road trip task) but hasn't been seen reaching for a checkbook.
I’d like to find a basic 6x8 trailer to pull behind my tractor for a few hundred bucks and they don’t exist. $2500 new, $700+ for the worst mostly rusted option.
I bought a nice car hauler during covid for the then absurd sum of about $4200. We need a nicer trailer now, and I've been offered $5k on trade. Doesn't seem all that long ago a workable car trailer was $2500.
Looks fantastic. This is a Boxster S, PDK. It has the Speedster / Cayman R suspension swap, and Sport +. Bought a PDK becuase I suspected that we would see soul crushing traffic around Monterey. I was correct.
Prices have dropped 15% or so since 2021. The cheapest of the cheap steel and wood 18’ car hauler is around $4000 around here. Twice that for aluminum.
I sold a 20’ beat Featherlite Econolite enclosed from the 90s for 3500 in 2021 with no title. A Sure Trac 18’ utility trailer then was $5500 OTD. They’re about $5000 now.
I’m back to needing a car trailer and have been doing some shopping. These have barely come down with a basic 20-24’ enclosed approaching $20k. A basic aluminum race trailer from a reputable brand is high 20s.
This is all before the newly-enacted tariffs on Canadian aluminum.
Other than tire pressure, I have had decent luck with the local U-Haul. Sometimes I’m too lazy to drive a half hour to pick up my trailer and I’ll just grab one from them.
The only downside to owning your own trailer is storage.
1- Facebook Marketplace, buddy just picked up an open deck that has all new tires, with a tire rack on it for hauling his HPDE/Time Trial car for $3200. Just gotta be fast with the cash, it was posted that day he bought it.
I bought my trailer brand new in 2023, 20ft open steel trailer with a wood deck and spare tire, also paid $3200 for it. Sometimes dealers list on marketplace too! I've since added a winch, and cut out the center of the dovetail peak. I'd like to either get myself a straight-deck or enclosed but I'm not in a big hurry.
As an alternative sportscar I used to recommend C3's but when dying young was no longer an option (my C3 now strikes me as a bit of a death trap), I would suggest a C4 or a C5 depending on which decade you are nostalgic for.
c4s are still dirt cheap i think. i think if you can get a decent intake and tune on an early car and put a not shit manual in there youve got a solid car
I had a 1987 Vette with the Doug Nash, and I had no problems with it in the 11 years I owned the car. It was a bit irritating to have to remember to turn off the "automatic shift into overdrive" function each time I'd start the car, but it was nice to have the additional gear ratio options over the standard 4-speed. It was particularly fun on back roads when traveling at 45-60 mph. I'd be traveling along in the "3rd gear plus overdrive" setting; when I needed to pass someone, I'd just floor it and the trans would drop out of overdrive automatically into straight 3rd gear. After quickly dispatching them, letting off the throttle would automatically shift the trans back to the "3rd gear plus overdrive" setting and I'd be just cruising along again. Once you learned how to best use it, the Doug Nash was a neat combination of auto and manual transmissions.
personally i dont like the concept of the 4+1 which is just a 4 speed plus overdrive
now a doug nash (now richmond i think) 5 speed is another animal and a really top level transmission with fully customizable gear ratios and a very high power limit. expensive though. probably better off swapping in a t56 or whatever
My friend in high school had a 1977 Corvette powered by an L82. It was like riding in the Batmobile with those big fenders. I've always had a soft spot for them, but you're right, probably not all that safe.
I owned a 2003 Boxster for a bit before my first son arrived, bought it in 2008 for under $20K... at that price I couldn't NOT buy it. Put snows on it and took it skiing (the skis JUST fit in the passenger side), traveled back and forth to Boston and NYC and the airport for work, and just enjoyed the heck out of it. But I'm an interior snob, and I also owned an E46 330i M Sport, and THAT interior blew it away. It put me off a 996, as did a drive in my bosses 996 Turbo (scary fast... he took out the AWD system and made it a drag car... yes I'm serious, that's a story...) since it was just a very quick version of my Boxster, but the roof didn't go down. I'll still own a 911 someday, but I want nice switches and cool lines and a soft leather cocoon and a decent stereo, so I'm going to wait until prices come down to sanity. Or maybe a well optioned Cayman...
Find a special edition Boxster like mine, it had the full leather interior, and slap in the Porsche Classic touchscreen radio and you have a very nice interior. Mine is also cocoa brown leather. My buddy calls my car the “Sexual Chocolate” interior.
Mine was pretty nice, it had an extended paint option so interior pieces had the same deep metallic blue as the rest of the car. It was great for a two seat convertible runabout, but it was not a 'luxurious gt experience' by any stretch, so I wouldn't want a 911 with the same exact interior.
It was so sweet to drive. My biggest consideration has been the rear seating for kids (I can still fit all three boys in the E92 to go skiing for the day... barely) but kids grow up, and I'm on a quest to add more cars to the stable since my neighbor mentioned how many I already have in an offhand, derisive way to my wife.
I have a 2020 Miata Club with all the goodies that I've modified with even more goodies (suspension, steering wheel, exhaust, stereo). I love it, but I am often tempted to "upgrade" to a 718 Boxster GTS 4.0.
I've test-driven a few examples over the past couple of years, and while individual things about the Porsche are just undeniably better (solidity of the doors, quality of the interior materials, depth of the paint, smoothness of the engine, etc.), I find the overall experience to be lacking because the Porsche is not as fun a lower speeds and I can't run through the gears at reasonable speeds.
So, I've managed to resist this urge while many others continue to succumb to it.
The Miata is the total package for the driving I do. Sometimes being content is enough.
As an old(er) man, this is my advice: if the urge to walk away becomes overwhelming, park the car. Just find a spot for it, buy a nice cover, fog the cylinders, put sta-bil in the tank, and park it.
Come back to it once the urges pass, or after you acquire something else and find it to be wanting and sell it. Eventually, you stop caring what anybody else thinks and you can enjoy a thing for what it is, and a 2020 MX5 Club is quite a thing.
Anecdotal, but as a dual Porsche/Miata owner I can offer a little perspective. Being able to rag on that little underpowered, tin-can-thin crapwagon at 100% at all times is exactly what makes the Miata a hoot. Anyone who wants it nicer, faster, bigger (ie more Porsche like) is in the end wanting a different car. Driving the Miata is definition of "shit eating grin", but people forget that it's the shit that's a big part of the magic.
I went the opposite way. I had a '95 993 with all the right options that I somehow lucked into just before the prices went stratospheric. like Jack, when prices had been stratospheric for quite some time, I found out what it was worth and was suddenly terrified of breaking it or bending it. it was no longer something I was going to drive to the gym, or commute to work in. it was also stupidly expensive to maintain and even more so if something broke.
I sold it, and about 18 months later bought a five-year-old 2020 Miata GT with the sport package. I love it. it is fast at low speeds, feels faster than it is at all speeds, dirt-cheap to run, and I don't worry about anything beyond curb-rashing the gorgeous Spec MX5 Cup wheels.
all of which is to say... my suggestion is to keep the Miata.
what did you do to the stereo in yours? that's my one complaint - I'd like a bit more volume and clarity from sound system, but space is so tight and the infotainment system so integrated that my usual solution of "throw a big amp and nice speakers at it" doesn't really work.
You're exactly right. You can't go the normal upgrade route with this car.
There is something called the Paco Motorsports Speaker Upgrade Kit, available through the Paco Motorsports website. Trust me when I say that it is a huge difference. I added it to my 2017 Miata, and I had no choice but to add it to my 2020. You want more volume and clarity? Check. Here's why: It's a full system (minus subwoofer) upgrade, not a bunch of various individual pieces. And there are no physical modifications required to install it, so it's invisible.
It includes CDT 2-ohm door speakers, Dayton Audio tweeters, CDT crossovers, a metal (not plastic) mounting bracket for the door speakers, and precut sound deadening for the doors. You can put the crossovers either under the dash in the driver's side footwell using zip ties or behind the passenger's side dashboard below the airbag using a mounting bracket (not included).
I did the same thing with my 2020 but DIY'd it because I've got a lot of experience with car audio. I used CDT HD-E6 woofers and Hertz C26 tweeters with a capacitor on each tweeter for a 3,800 Hz crossover point. I added sound deadening around and behind the woofer and called it done. The only modification was cutting the tweeter mounting tabs from the A pillar, but I bought replacements for $39 each.
Before and after testing with an RTA confirmed the improvement. The stock system offers remarkably good frequency response - Bose did an excellent job given the constraints they had. The upgrades improved the frequency response with a bit more upper midbass and high frequency response.
The only way to get anything better is to add a PAC wiring harness before the factory amp (it uses OEM connectors for no-splice installation) to feed an aftermarket amp before tying that signal back into the OEM speaker harness. I considered doing so, but decided it was more work than I wanted to do. Still, the restored Soundstream amplifier in the garage keeps tempting me to reconsider...
You are obviously very well versed in this realm. You know exactly what I'm talking about when I say that just a few choice components can make a world of difference with the OEM Bose stereo.
The Paco kit's solution for mounting the tweeter is to encircle the tweeter in double-stick foam tape.
And I agree with you about using an aftermarket amp. The theoretical improvement is likely not worth the cost/trouble.
I must give Paco Motorsports full credit. Its kit is excellent and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't the inspiration for my DIY approach or that that his posts on the subject weren't very helpful. I cribbed from him because I wanted something better than the 3-ohm JBL or Infinity coaxials most people buy at the big-box stores.
Apparently the owner of Paco was working on a subwoofer solution but decided not to pursue it. I'd love to know what he was thinking so I could crib from that too.
With our experience the two of us ought to go into business selling Miata speaker upgrade kits .... we'd be thousandaires!
Yes. Paco's posts were very detailed, and I remember reading all about his quest for subwoofer improvement. I think he made a custom enclosure but didn't put it in production.
I had the same thought you did. I wanted something better than the JBL/Infinity coaxials everyone else seems to love. I figured there's no way they could improve the sound quality that much by themselves.
I like your sense of humor. I've always told people, "If you listen to the OEM Bose system and the Paco system back to back, you'll be sold instantly." So, our business would require us to bring a stock car and a modified one to car shows across the country and sell our wares!
By the way, you apparently can't upgrade the ND3's Bose system in the manner we've done because you can no longer tap into the wiring harness, or something like that.
Having lucked into getting on the 911 train before prices got stupid, I’ve had three generations over the years. A 964 C2, my current 993 C2…and a 2004 996 C2 Targa in between ((https://flic.kr/p/2qkaZFS).
The exterior only had a few good angles, the interior was as cheap as you say, and was by far the least special of the 3. And yet, the 996 was the best city runabout out of them all. Responsive power, a clutch that didn't require leg-days, great visibility (made even better by the glass Targa bubble), and its station as the poor-man’s 911 worked in its favour in paranoia reduction. For the $25K I paid for it, it was a hell of a value. No way I'd take a BMW over it.
In an ideal world with a bigger garage (or a wife who took transit), I’d have kept it as the city runabout next to the 993. But in this world, it was eventually replaced by a street-parked Miata NC PRHT. The enthusiast value on that one is even better.
"One effect of this was that the best guitar makers of the day rapidly expanded their production facilities and, in the case of Gibson and Fender, were bought out by larger corporations anxious to get on board with the latest fad."
Not just the best guitar makers of the day. By the mid 1960s, through perfecting cost engineering and some novel concepts on how to mass produce an electric guitar cheaper than Gibson or Fender could do, Nat Daniel had grown Danelectro to the point where the company was shipping railroad carloads to Sears and Montgomery Wards.
In 1966 Daniel was 54 years old and, like Leo Fender, he sold out to a big corporation that owned a record company, in Danelectro's case, the Music Corporation of America (MCA). MCA immediately moved to a larger plant in Neptune City, New Jersey, employing around 500 people, and changed the overall marketing from catalog giants and jobbers to trying to compete directly with Gibson and Fender in music stores. Danos had a cool sound and many notable guitar players used them but they were designed to be made cheaply (a solid wood frame covered with masonite, and pickups the eschewed bobbins and just wrapped the wire around a bar magnet and stuffed it inside surplus lipstick cases) and standing next to a Gibson or Fender they looked and felt cheap. Combine that with the fact that electric guitar sales had already peak in '65, Danelectro was gone in 1969.
What I think is interesting about the collapse of the electric guitar market in the late sixties was that was when Bloomfield, Clapton, Hendrix, Page, Garcia and others were taking the instrument places it had never been. Radio was full of guitar jams - that period saw the rise of "underground" FM stations playing extended cuts.
Maybe there was such of glut of used instruments left over from folks who started playing during to boom but gave up that even with growing interest in guitar virtuosity there was enough supply to meet demand.
The trouble with cars in this era of the 996 is not the mechanical aspect, it is the electronics aspect, parts that weather they are used or not, just decay , circuit boards and chips that are designed to fail, and the older they get, the more precarious ownership becomes, there is always something that can be done with the mechanical bits that fail, but very few people have the knowledge to reverse engineer a circuit board and write the firmware that goes on it, best to buy something pre 90’s.
don't forget the plastics! I owned a 1998 R129 for about 3 months and in that time went through a tube of JB Weld Plasti-weld and a tube of 5 minute epoxy fixing all kinds of random shit - like, say, every door panel mounting tab.
That is the “MOST” system. That fiber optic cable in the stereo was on the 2002-2004 996 and 986.
My 2004 986 had it.
One of the TRULY awesome things about Porsche and the 996 and 986, is that they are now covered by “Porsche Classic” and they are building cool parts for these cars.
If you have a 2002-2004 996 or 986 with the MOST fiber optic and WITHOUT the six disc CD changer up front, the “PCCM” Porsche Classic 7 inch touchscreen dual DIN stereo wit Car Play and all the goodies, plugs right in with ZERO modifications or wire splicing.
I did it. It’s spectacular!
All the other variations require running a wire to a ground in the frunk.
Dynavin makes a nice modern radio for 9x7 cars that includes all the MOST connectors. I have one in the 911 and Cayman, and will put one in the Boxster before it sells. Having a backup camera helpful too.
I bought an Austin Healey 3000 a couple years ago from a classic dealer locally who mostly deals in vintage Porsches. He had a rough 928 S4 in his parking lot he wouldn't sell me despite me making overtures. I wanted the challenge and just to have one for kicks. I give him credit for saving me from myself. There is a reason only a few of the very best 928s are worth more that a couple thousand dollars. They are about the most complicated cars work on you could imagine.
Oh wow, I forgot about that (if I ever knew about it; was in college at that time). I see it had a whopping 10 hp more than the standard I-6. Truly the malaise era of cars.
Check “Rare Classic Cars and Automotive History” on the Tube of You—Adam did a video on the Pacer a couple weeks ago, including a discussion of the V8.
I gotta say, the way 928 people *swarm* the many , many , many problems their peers encounter is— unlike the cars themselves — frequently moving. Before you can finish describing the issue on their forum, 5 guys from across your state will bring a parts car, wiring diagrams on fine linen, and a combined 340 years 928 experience to your breakdown location.
The 928 was the fastest base Porsche you could get in 1978. It was faster and handled better than a 911S. It should have ended the 911 but some *ahem* market REQUESTED Stuttgart continue with the rear engine for tradition's sake. The kinematics of the 928 were better than the 911. Inherently more balanced, it was essentially an AMG GT before all this carbon-fiber malarkey. And those "impossible to repair" nicasil cylinders? At least two different ways nowadays to repair the block if you live in a hellhole where engine swaps are illegal.
It’s a nice enough car, if you’ve never driven an LS 460. The sound is incredible - it is its own reward - but it has been a bugbear for my buddy, breaking in all the ways that only a plastic-engine-componented super-German can.
I wouldn’t say avoid it, but if you do that, get one of those third party warranties for it and have THEM take the downside of you getting a lemon.
I've owned and driven just about every year and model of 911, from a January 1965 built 911 to a 1996 993. I currently own a 2002 996 Targa. The previous owner spent over $20,000, including RMS, IMS, and every single suspension bushing, strut, and shock. All at the dealer. It does drive like a new 911, sorta! And mine has a lot of options, from sport seats, MY02 wheels, and full leather package (even the steering wheel airbag is leather). I like it, but I will be selling it soon and picking up a half finished 1971 911E Targa project to complete with my son.
Why? For all the reasons Jack stated.
Did I enjoy the ownership experience? Absolutely.
Will I take advantage of all the shills saying the 996/Targa is now a Celebrated collectible? HELL YES.
Maybe she winced because there were TWO guys in the car.
Comment was supposed to be a reply to Scott elsewhere so deleted it.
To your point though; possibly. In her defense, the guys were giving off the wrong vibes. They were striped shirt guys
so are you sure those are girls with the furry guy?
I have a furry as part of my traveling race crew. He has a super cute little girlfriend and they met in the furscene. That is one more chick than anyone has ever met a a Porsche event.
Height makes up for a lot.
That's quite a uniform for that cohort. Enforced with all the ruthlessness of an all female HOA board, no doubt. The 24/7/365 yoga pants and flip flops uniform works better, even if they all sport doodle tats and the occasional facial fishing tackle.
"quite a uniform" you know it's AI, right?
Mea culpa. I shot out that comment after reading Jack's but only glancing at the photo.
Still, that 'uniform' exists but the other I mentioned is much more common.
I do wish Jack would be better about labeling AI.
I make the sometimes unwarranted assumption that it's obvious to everyone n
Nah, it's part of the fun. The crowd around the 996 is even funnier.
I'm sure they're lovely people but it's hard for me to see the word furry and not immediately think of biohazards:
https://motorcityfurrycon.org/news/dear-mcfc-2022-attendees-an-open-letter/
"The first part of this statement is a rather unpleasant topic. We were informed that in the late night hours the public bathrooms were left in varying states of unsanitary conditions by our attendees. The hotel noted that some guest rooms had sanitation issues as well. The hotel went as far as to describe the conditions as a “biohazard.”"
Basically, the furries were shitting and fucking where they shouldn't have, oh, and leaving their used adult baby diapers in wastebins.
I just read that!
Three minutes of my life I’ll never get back!
Why I didn’t have the urge to 🤢🤢🤮🤮 in utter disgust, I’ll never know!
Wait until you find out about the furry who froze his hands off so he could put paws on them. That relationship didnt last
the old "whoops i accidentally fell asleep with my hands in dry ice guess youll have to amputate now" excuse
Doctors today do a lot of elective surgeries that would have gotten their licenses pulled in an earlier era.
My cousin gave me a book about 30 years ago titled Modern Primitives, which was about the body modification scene. It anticipated a lot of what we see today, and more extreme stuff like bifurcated tongues and phalluses.
A wise person once said that before you make any permanent change to your body, go to your closet and look at all the clothes that you *won't* wear anymore.
I went no further than the comments here, you just saved me from my cusiosity. As Bismark said, you should never see how a sausage is made.
I've actually watched my mother and grandmother stuff natural casing kishke. They used grinding attachments for their Mixmasters. Sometimes they'd let us use the hardwood stomper to push the ingredients into the grinder.
"defining yourself by joining a “community” made up of Drive Tastefully nerds, then let me suggest that you become a “furry” instead."
Jack, you made several car suggestions but not a single furry suggestion. I thought this was a full service Substack.
In your estimation how do they rank?
I think "wolfkin" are the best, followed by foxkin.
https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/on-all-levels-except-physical-i-am-a-wolf/photos
awoo
Maybe it's supposed to be the dude from "Regular Car Reviews" on YouTube in the suit, isn't he into that? Also it's at a Cars and Coffee so it tracks (yes I realize the graphic is likely AI generated.)
He's into fur, but he is not into women. Also, he cosplays as a bird, which is lame.
not just a bird but a bird with glasses
theres some observation there about self perception but im not clever enough to write about it
Hopefully something about feeling shame and revulsion for oneself after looking in the mirror while sober as a judge!
Or you could just say “perhaps he should tweet about it!”
Does the bird go "cuck cuck cuck"?
Not any I would have been interested in, circa 1977- 1985.
Great article! I have a sorted C6 that no 996 has ever passed on track. And I'm in the PCA. Also, I have an S2000 race car with trailer should anyone want give Option #6 a go.
so, there is this recently retired guy, who has a relatively sorted '08 Boxster, who would like to have a '80's +/- air cooled 911 coupe as a fun driver (no thoughts of track use). any thoughts on what the best bang for the (small pile) of bucks would be? thanks.
Get a 1977 911S, it's the cheapest way into it and many of them have been kind of sorted out by now.
I second this...1974-77 911S still have the raw feel of the longhood cars, but are more refined and faster once the smog stuff is removed. I'd bet most of the 2.7 issues when new are all sorted by this point. 1977 gets you a fully galvanized body which is a plus.
My first Porsche was a 20 year old 1974 Targa. Made quite an impression on me.
Recently retired? Do tell.
was not referring to me, who is supposed to be retired but keeps getting sucked into consulting fun, which pays fairly well and funds my bicycle hobby.
if I had garage space I would be buying the mostly restored AH 3000 near me for only $19k, or a NC Miata with PRHT, or a '73-74 Formula Firebird, or .........
Wow.. An AH 3000 for 19K. I thought I got a good on deal on decent driver one at 30K.
You’ve got good taste Steve
+100
There's nothing that'll turn a girls head faster than a sportbike. Sure, they'll look away when you take off your helmet and they realize you are old enough to be their dad but they will look.
This never happened not even once when I had one. I did how however have children wave at me constantly. I don't mean a couple of times. I mean every time I left the house.
Could depend on the bike and the biker to some extent. And the metro.
can confirm - and I rode a fifth-generation VFR. of course, they lost all interest when I took the helmet off, but that's not the bike's fault.
I love doing this. I've got a full face with a very dark shield. I will park where there are folks gathered that will notice. Brake sharply, as you do, crank a throttle roll, hit the kill switch at 5k and flip the side stand down without looking. Swing the leg over smoothly and slowly de glove. Then the helmet comes off ............. I should get pictures.
Get video, people need to learn this
This is the male equivalent of female catwalk-saunter training
People forget the key thing about the bike versus car as attraction:
-a car might prove you have money, but this is only relevant to women who cluster towards what we think of as gold diggers or low-class-level status chasers; many women, and most of those you’d want to date long term, don’t care that much about your car. Particularly the smart ones, IME
-cars don’t prove you’re tasteful. So if they ignite a woman’s fire you can be sure she will be 1) a rare case, or car buff 2) easily impressed / most likely born less than upper middle class, best case.
-cars don’t prove you’re willing to stick your neck out. Just that you have a silly toy
-cars have the wrong “physical interaction profile” with a gorgeous woman walking down the street as compared to a motorcycle. A motorcyclist talking to a pedestrian is normal, it’s almost pedestrian-to-pedestrian (assuming voices are audible), but talking from a car is a vibes-off/excessively effortful-seeming spatial interaction, plus in a sporting car the man’s body and eyes are at a lower level than the woman walking down the street’s.
Case in point. Many years ago I was walking down a street adjacent to a gorgeous woman when two guys in a gen IV viper convertible idled past. If any modern sports car 𝘤𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 help a man pick up chicks, certainly a viper convertible would be one such, right? Well, she looked over at them and winced.
I have never seen a woman wince at a motorcyclist.
" gen IV viper convertible idled past It should be an excellent car for picking up chicks, right? "
Lol. No, it's a viper. It's a great car for picking up white trash dudes. I say this fully wanting a viper. It might actually be worse than a porsche.
You're making my broader point, which is there is virtually no existent *sports* car on earth that will help you pick up chicks - maybe aside from a morgan 3-wheeler or other totally oddball stuff
i'll edit to make it make sense
If you're going to use a car to pick up chicks, it probably needs a prancing horse on it.
No.
It should be something totally ludicrous, off-the-wall and iconoclastic.
In other words, your best bet is a Morgan, of almost any type. Or a jag e-type.
Think like a woman, not like a man. "i'll just get a ferrari" is caveman-tier man-anthrpomorphizing-the-other logic.
Best car (truck) for picking up chicks, especially in terms of signal/noise ratio (ratio of attention from chicks vs dudes) is a 2-door Wrangler or Bronco. My dad (retirement age, short & bald but he is handsome & takes care of himself) bought a Bronco 3 years ago & says he gets tons of compliments from young women.
See. A orancing hourse
Touché!
I don’t understand the psychology totally but women LOVE wranglers and broncos specifically.
See below, “off the wall.” A jeep is a ludicrous and anachronistic choice
That’s cause those are both chick vehicles
Your assessment is 100% correct, if not more—
That said I’m eager to hear what sorcery made two workmanlike, utilitarian, off-road-oriented vehicles the absolute apex of womanly desirability… given that demographic rarely goes beyond the trailhead and fire roads.
Either excellent marketing, or some thing interesting going on ,
0 - I thought for a moment the furry was the CarFax mascot.
1 - Where are these $3000 trailers?
2 - I have a very nice 2010 Boxster S for sale. I think. My wife mentioned keeping it (bought it out west for a single road trip task) but hasn't been seen reaching for a checkbook.
The $3000 trailers are with the $15,000 trucks our friend mentioned. Parked in 2019.
show me the hoefax
Probably would be called “foxy” as an adjective.
I’d like to find a basic 6x8 trailer to pull behind my tractor for a few hundred bucks and they don’t exist. $2500 new, $700+ for the worst mostly rusted option.
I bought a nice car hauler during covid for the then absurd sum of about $4200. We need a nicer trailer now, and I've been offered $5k on trade. Doesn't seem all that long ago a workable car trailer was $2500.
Same. Look at what $6000 dump trailers go for now ($12K).
C R A Z Y.
Financial repression at its finest.
Oh man… what's the Boxster look like??
Looks fantastic. This is a Boxster S, PDK. It has the Speedster / Cayman R suspension swap, and Sport +. Bought a PDK becuase I suspected that we would see soul crushing traffic around Monterey. I was correct.
We drove it 3050 miles in 8 days.
https://share.icloud.com/photos/0a1gmfRPrYENmb7u2pAjduFxg
Sweet. That suspension swap is perfect, I've done it on 2 987s.
We have the same setup on the 2011 Cayman too. Will keep up with anything in the twisties.
30 U-Haul weekends is roughly $3000.
Prices have dropped 15% or so since 2021. The cheapest of the cheap steel and wood 18’ car hauler is around $4000 around here. Twice that for aluminum.
I sold a 20’ beat Featherlite Econolite enclosed from the 90s for 3500 in 2021 with no title. A Sure Trac 18’ utility trailer then was $5500 OTD. They’re about $5000 now.
I’m back to needing a car trailer and have been doing some shopping. These have barely come down with a basic 20-24’ enclosed approaching $20k. A basic aluminum race trailer from a reputable brand is high 20s.
This is all before the newly-enacted tariffs on Canadian aluminum.
I like the U-Haul comparison.
Trouble is that those things are a pain in the ass, especially once you have your own trailer.
And very poorly maintained, besides.
Other than tire pressure, I have had decent luck with the local U-Haul. Sometimes I’m too lazy to drive a half hour to pick up my trailer and I’ll just grab one from them.
The only downside to owning your own trailer is storage.
1- Facebook Marketplace, buddy just picked up an open deck that has all new tires, with a tire rack on it for hauling his HPDE/Time Trial car for $3200. Just gotta be fast with the cash, it was posted that day he bought it.
I bought my trailer brand new in 2023, 20ft open steel trailer with a wood deck and spare tire, also paid $3200 for it. Sometimes dealers list on marketplace too! I've since added a winch, and cut out the center of the dovetail peak. I'd like to either get myself a straight-deck or enclosed but I'm not in a big hurry.
I think it's a good thing that I don't use facebag, and have all Meta assets aggressively firewalled out of all my devices.
That checkbook better be 30% bigger than 3-4 years ago.
I look forward to the day your agreement with the bagel company expires.
The day I find out I have pancreatic cancer, I'll even tell the story of the public park that had to be renamed due to weirdo molester behavior!
As an alternative sportscar I used to recommend C3's but when dying young was no longer an option (my C3 now strikes me as a bit of a death trap), I would suggest a C4 or a C5 depending on which decade you are nostalgic for.
c4s are still dirt cheap i think. i think if you can get a decent intake and tune on an early car and put a not shit manual in there youve got a solid car
I know it's weird, but just how bad is the Doug Nash? I'm intrigued by them.
I had a 1987 Vette with the Doug Nash, and I had no problems with it in the 11 years I owned the car. It was a bit irritating to have to remember to turn off the "automatic shift into overdrive" function each time I'd start the car, but it was nice to have the additional gear ratio options over the standard 4-speed. It was particularly fun on back roads when traveling at 45-60 mph. I'd be traveling along in the "3rd gear plus overdrive" setting; when I needed to pass someone, I'd just floor it and the trans would drop out of overdrive automatically into straight 3rd gear. After quickly dispatching them, letting off the throttle would automatically shift the trans back to the "3rd gear plus overdrive" setting and I'd be just cruising along again. Once you learned how to best use it, the Doug Nash was a neat combination of auto and manual transmissions.
personally i dont like the concept of the 4+1 which is just a 4 speed plus overdrive
now a doug nash (now richmond i think) 5 speed is another animal and a really top level transmission with fully customizable gear ratios and a very high power limit. expensive though. probably better off swapping in a t56 or whatever
I'd be lying if I said the thought of an IROC-Z doesn't make me all happy inside.
My friend in high school had a 1977 Corvette powered by an L82. It was like riding in the Batmobile with those big fenders. I've always had a soft spot for them, but you're right, probably not all that safe.
I owned a 2003 Boxster for a bit before my first son arrived, bought it in 2008 for under $20K... at that price I couldn't NOT buy it. Put snows on it and took it skiing (the skis JUST fit in the passenger side), traveled back and forth to Boston and NYC and the airport for work, and just enjoyed the heck out of it. But I'm an interior snob, and I also owned an E46 330i M Sport, and THAT interior blew it away. It put me off a 996, as did a drive in my bosses 996 Turbo (scary fast... he took out the AWD system and made it a drag car... yes I'm serious, that's a story...) since it was just a very quick version of my Boxster, but the roof didn't go down. I'll still own a 911 someday, but I want nice switches and cool lines and a soft leather cocoon and a decent stereo, so I'm going to wait until prices come down to sanity. Or maybe a well optioned Cayman...
Find a special edition Boxster like mine, it had the full leather interior, and slap in the Porsche Classic touchscreen radio and you have a very nice interior. Mine is also cocoa brown leather. My buddy calls my car the “Sexual Chocolate” interior.
Mine was pretty nice, it had an extended paint option so interior pieces had the same deep metallic blue as the rest of the car. It was great for a two seat convertible runabout, but it was not a 'luxurious gt experience' by any stretch, so I wouldn't want a 911 with the same exact interior.
The mid engine cars are better drivers.
It was so sweet to drive. My biggest consideration has been the rear seating for kids (I can still fit all three boys in the E92 to go skiing for the day... barely) but kids grow up, and I'm on a quest to add more cars to the stable since my neighbor mentioned how many I already have in an offhand, derisive way to my wife.
I have a 2020 Miata Club with all the goodies that I've modified with even more goodies (suspension, steering wheel, exhaust, stereo). I love it, but I am often tempted to "upgrade" to a 718 Boxster GTS 4.0.
I've test-driven a few examples over the past couple of years, and while individual things about the Porsche are just undeniably better (solidity of the doors, quality of the interior materials, depth of the paint, smoothness of the engine, etc.), I find the overall experience to be lacking because the Porsche is not as fun a lower speeds and I can't run through the gears at reasonable speeds.
So, I've managed to resist this urge while many others continue to succumb to it.
The Miata is the total package for the driving I do. Sometimes being content is enough.
As an old(er) man, this is my advice: if the urge to walk away becomes overwhelming, park the car. Just find a spot for it, buy a nice cover, fog the cylinders, put sta-bil in the tank, and park it.
Come back to it once the urges pass, or after you acquire something else and find it to be wanting and sell it. Eventually, you stop caring what anybody else thinks and you can enjoy a thing for what it is, and a 2020 MX5 Club is quite a thing.
Anecdotal, but as a dual Porsche/Miata owner I can offer a little perspective. Being able to rag on that little underpowered, tin-can-thin crapwagon at 100% at all times is exactly what makes the Miata a hoot. Anyone who wants it nicer, faster, bigger (ie more Porsche like) is in the end wanting a different car. Driving the Miata is definition of "shit eating grin", but people forget that it's the shit that's a big part of the magic.
Best to get both.
to hell with "Zoom Zoom." this ought to be the Miata marketing slogan
Driving the Miata is definition of "shit eating grin", but people forget that it's the shit that's a big part of the magic.
I went the opposite way. I had a '95 993 with all the right options that I somehow lucked into just before the prices went stratospheric. like Jack, when prices had been stratospheric for quite some time, I found out what it was worth and was suddenly terrified of breaking it or bending it. it was no longer something I was going to drive to the gym, or commute to work in. it was also stupidly expensive to maintain and even more so if something broke.
I sold it, and about 18 months later bought a five-year-old 2020 Miata GT with the sport package. I love it. it is fast at low speeds, feels faster than it is at all speeds, dirt-cheap to run, and I don't worry about anything beyond curb-rashing the gorgeous Spec MX5 Cup wheels.
all of which is to say... my suggestion is to keep the Miata.
what did you do to the stereo in yours? that's my one complaint - I'd like a bit more volume and clarity from sound system, but space is so tight and the infotainment system so integrated that my usual solution of "throw a big amp and nice speakers at it" doesn't really work.
A company sells drop in speakers for the Blowse drivers. Dig around miataforums.
You're exactly right. You can't go the normal upgrade route with this car.
There is something called the Paco Motorsports Speaker Upgrade Kit, available through the Paco Motorsports website. Trust me when I say that it is a huge difference. I added it to my 2017 Miata, and I had no choice but to add it to my 2020. You want more volume and clarity? Check. Here's why: It's a full system (minus subwoofer) upgrade, not a bunch of various individual pieces. And there are no physical modifications required to install it, so it's invisible.
It includes CDT 2-ohm door speakers, Dayton Audio tweeters, CDT crossovers, a metal (not plastic) mounting bracket for the door speakers, and precut sound deadening for the doors. You can put the crossovers either under the dash in the driver's side footwell using zip ties or behind the passenger's side dashboard below the airbag using a mounting bracket (not included).
I did the same thing with my 2020 but DIY'd it because I've got a lot of experience with car audio. I used CDT HD-E6 woofers and Hertz C26 tweeters with a capacitor on each tweeter for a 3,800 Hz crossover point. I added sound deadening around and behind the woofer and called it done. The only modification was cutting the tweeter mounting tabs from the A pillar, but I bought replacements for $39 each.
Before and after testing with an RTA confirmed the improvement. The stock system offers remarkably good frequency response - Bose did an excellent job given the constraints they had. The upgrades improved the frequency response with a bit more upper midbass and high frequency response.
The only way to get anything better is to add a PAC wiring harness before the factory amp (it uses OEM connectors for no-splice installation) to feed an aftermarket amp before tying that signal back into the OEM speaker harness. I considered doing so, but decided it was more work than I wanted to do. Still, the restored Soundstream amplifier in the garage keeps tempting me to reconsider...
You are obviously very well versed in this realm. You know exactly what I'm talking about when I say that just a few choice components can make a world of difference with the OEM Bose stereo.
The Paco kit's solution for mounting the tweeter is to encircle the tweeter in double-stick foam tape.
And I agree with you about using an aftermarket amp. The theoretical improvement is likely not worth the cost/trouble.
I must give Paco Motorsports full credit. Its kit is excellent and I'd be lying if I said it wasn't the inspiration for my DIY approach or that that his posts on the subject weren't very helpful. I cribbed from him because I wanted something better than the 3-ohm JBL or Infinity coaxials most people buy at the big-box stores.
Apparently the owner of Paco was working on a subwoofer solution but decided not to pursue it. I'd love to know what he was thinking so I could crib from that too.
With our experience the two of us ought to go into business selling Miata speaker upgrade kits .... we'd be thousandaires!
Yes. Paco's posts were very detailed, and I remember reading all about his quest for subwoofer improvement. I think he made a custom enclosure but didn't put it in production.
I had the same thought you did. I wanted something better than the JBL/Infinity coaxials everyone else seems to love. I figured there's no way they could improve the sound quality that much by themselves.
I like your sense of humor. I've always told people, "If you listen to the OEM Bose system and the Paco system back to back, you'll be sold instantly." So, our business would require us to bring a stock car and a modified one to car shows across the country and sell our wares!
By the way, you apparently can't upgrade the ND3's Bose system in the manner we've done because you can no longer tap into the wiring harness, or something like that.
Mario marked himself safe from 996 ownership, ty.
Well, at least YOU could do a better Aerokit!
Having lucked into getting on the 911 train before prices got stupid, I’ve had three generations over the years. A 964 C2, my current 993 C2…and a 2004 996 C2 Targa in between ((https://flic.kr/p/2qkaZFS).
The exterior only had a few good angles, the interior was as cheap as you say, and was by far the least special of the 3. And yet, the 996 was the best city runabout out of them all. Responsive power, a clutch that didn't require leg-days, great visibility (made even better by the glass Targa bubble), and its station as the poor-man’s 911 worked in its favour in paranoia reduction. For the $25K I paid for it, it was a hell of a value. No way I'd take a BMW over it.
In an ideal world with a bigger garage (or a wife who took transit), I’d have kept it as the city runabout next to the 993. But in this world, it was eventually replaced by a street-parked Miata NC PRHT. The enthusiast value on that one is even better.
Your 996 looks exactly like my 2002 Targa, and $25k is what I paid for mine too! Lapis blue?
Yep! Lapis on Savannah Beige. That blue looked great when clean…which was all of 30 seconds before the first layer of dust hit it.
"One effect of this was that the best guitar makers of the day rapidly expanded their production facilities and, in the case of Gibson and Fender, were bought out by larger corporations anxious to get on board with the latest fad."
Not just the best guitar makers of the day. By the mid 1960s, through perfecting cost engineering and some novel concepts on how to mass produce an electric guitar cheaper than Gibson or Fender could do, Nat Daniel had grown Danelectro to the point where the company was shipping railroad carloads to Sears and Montgomery Wards.
In 1966 Daniel was 54 years old and, like Leo Fender, he sold out to a big corporation that owned a record company, in Danelectro's case, the Music Corporation of America (MCA). MCA immediately moved to a larger plant in Neptune City, New Jersey, employing around 500 people, and changed the overall marketing from catalog giants and jobbers to trying to compete directly with Gibson and Fender in music stores. Danos had a cool sound and many notable guitar players used them but they were designed to be made cheaply (a solid wood frame covered with masonite, and pickups the eschewed bobbins and just wrapped the wire around a bar magnet and stuffed it inside surplus lipstick cases) and standing next to a Gibson or Fender they looked and felt cheap. Combine that with the fact that electric guitar sales had already peak in '65, Danelectro was gone in 1969.
What I think is interesting about the collapse of the electric guitar market in the late sixties was that was when Bloomfield, Clapton, Hendrix, Page, Garcia and others were taking the instrument places it had never been. Radio was full of guitar jams - that period saw the rise of "underground" FM stations playing extended cuts.
Maybe there was such of glut of used instruments left over from folks who started playing during to boom but gave up that even with growing interest in guitar virtuosity there was enough supply to meet demand.
The trouble with cars in this era of the 996 is not the mechanical aspect, it is the electronics aspect, parts that weather they are used or not, just decay , circuit boards and chips that are designed to fail, and the older they get, the more precarious ownership becomes, there is always something that can be done with the mechanical bits that fail, but very few people have the knowledge to reverse engineer a circuit board and write the firmware that goes on it, best to buy something pre 90’s.
100%. Late 90s German electronics are absolutely terrifying.
don't forget the plastics! I owned a 1998 R129 for about 3 months and in that time went through a tube of JB Weld Plasti-weld and a tube of 5 minute epoxy fixing all kinds of random shit - like, say, every door panel mounting tab.
"Late 90s German electronics are absolutely terrifying."
<laughs in British electronics of any year>
Lucas electrics and fridges….warm beer sucks 😂
didn't the 996 also have fiber optic cables in the audio system?
That is the “MOST” system. That fiber optic cable in the stereo was on the 2002-2004 996 and 986.
My 2004 986 had it.
One of the TRULY awesome things about Porsche and the 996 and 986, is that they are now covered by “Porsche Classic” and they are building cool parts for these cars.
If you have a 2002-2004 996 or 986 with the MOST fiber optic and WITHOUT the six disc CD changer up front, the “PCCM” Porsche Classic 7 inch touchscreen dual DIN stereo wit Car Play and all the goodies, plugs right in with ZERO modifications or wire splicing.
I did it. It’s spectacular!
All the other variations require running a wire to a ground in the frunk.
>>That fiber optic cable in the stereo was on the 2002- […]
Pretty sure (based on my 2002 996) that MOST starts with 2003.
Oops. You are correct. It was on the ‘03/‘04 cars. My mistake.
Dynavin makes a nice modern radio for 9x7 cars that includes all the MOST connectors. I have one in the 911 and Cayman, and will put one in the Boxster before it sells. Having a backup camera helpful too.
https://dynavinnorthamerica.com/products/dynavin-9-d9-ps-plus-radio-navigation-system-for-porsche-911-boxster-carrera-cayman-2005-2012-w-most-adapter
928 it is then!
SIR
I bought an Austin Healey 3000 a couple years ago from a classic dealer locally who mostly deals in vintage Porsches. He had a rough 928 S4 in his parking lot he wouldn't sell me despite me making overtures. I wanted the challenge and just to have one for kicks. I give him credit for saving me from myself. There is a reason only a few of the very best 928s are worth more that a couple thousand dollars. They are about the most complicated cars work on you could imagine.
Perfect. You'd have the world's fastest AMC Pacer, if only it would start.
Wait, when did the Pacer come with a V8?
late 70s
wasnt a big or powerful v8 but it was there. not unlike the gremlin tbh
yeah, those were the sad days when a V8 "upgrade" could be slower and worse mileage than the base engine.
sure but parts interchangability meant getting the hot 390 or 401 bits wasnt that hard and the aftermarket while small was still there
1978. 304 AMC V8. 130 untamed ponies of power.
The 928 bore an uncanny resemblance, except that it had dead fish eyes for headlamps.
Oh wow, I forgot about that (if I ever knew about it; was in college at that time). I see it had a whopping 10 hp more than the standard I-6. Truly the malaise era of cars.
Check “Rare Classic Cars and Automotive History” on the Tube of You—Adam did a video on the Pacer a couple weeks ago, including a discussion of the V8.
I’m continually amazed at the diversity of obscure car knowledge by those on this site.
genuine laughter
I learned how to swap fuses at a stoplight in one.
I'll bet you did.
My mom bought a 1976 Pacer brand new. Black over black vinyl. What all that glass, it was HOT in that thing all summer.
928? Is that not the car that the U-Boat Commender (Tom Cruse) put in a lake?
Even with a salvage title Porsche are overpriced. https://www.autoweek.com/car-life/classic-cars/a37662877/risky-business-porsche-928/
I’m still traumatized by the 1978 one my girlfriend had.
I'm quickly talking myself into this idea.
The 928 and naturally-aspirated Panamera GTS are the only Porsches I've ever really wanted to own.
LS3
I gotta say, the way 928 people *swarm* the many , many , many problems their peers encounter is— unlike the cars themselves — frequently moving. Before you can finish describing the issue on their forum, 5 guys from across your state will bring a parts car, wiring diagrams on fine linen, and a combined 340 years 928 experience to your breakdown location.
(Srsly: those guys are mutual-defense Fanatics)
It would almost be fun to put up some fake posts from beyond nowhere just to see the reaction when they show up.
“Unlike the cars themselves— frequently moving”
Bro,
https://fsmedia.imgix.net/ca/9c/86/a0/2ee4/48d0/bb74/8ed7a150d1b9/asteroid-impact-dinosaur-extinction.gif
The 928 was the fastest base Porsche you could get in 1978. It was faster and handled better than a 911S. It should have ended the 911 but some *ahem* market REQUESTED Stuttgart continue with the rear engine for tradition's sake. The kinematics of the 928 were better than the 911. Inherently more balanced, it was essentially an AMG GT before all this carbon-fiber malarkey. And those "impossible to repair" nicasil cylinders? At least two different ways nowadays to repair the block if you live in a hellhole where engine swaps are illegal.
They were basically a German take on a Corvette. When my girlfriend's car ran, it was a joy above 80 mph.
Except the transaxle predated the Corvette with 20 years.
i think pontiac of all companies had a transaxle in the early 60s
Pontiac lost something when John Z. got promoted away.
Buddy had (or has?) a Panamera GTS.
It’s a nice enough car, if you’ve never driven an LS 460. The sound is incredible - it is its own reward - but it has been a bugbear for my buddy, breaking in all the ways that only a plastic-engine-componented super-German can.
I wouldn’t say avoid it, but if you do that, get one of those third party warranties for it and have THEM take the downside of you getting a lemon.
Legitimately laughed out loud.
Thanks !
😂😂😂
I've owned and driven just about every year and model of 911, from a January 1965 built 911 to a 1996 993. I currently own a 2002 996 Targa. The previous owner spent over $20,000, including RMS, IMS, and every single suspension bushing, strut, and shock. All at the dealer. It does drive like a new 911, sorta! And mine has a lot of options, from sport seats, MY02 wheels, and full leather package (even the steering wheel airbag is leather). I like it, but I will be selling it soon and picking up a half finished 1971 911E Targa project to complete with my son.
Why? For all the reasons Jack stated.
Did I enjoy the ownership experience? Absolutely.
Will I take advantage of all the shills saying the 996/Targa is now a Celebrated collectible? HELL YES.
Go forth and MAKE BANK, sir.
a "save the manuals" sticker on the rear quarter window will add $2,000 to the sale price.
Mine is a manual, great idea! 🤣
One of my life goals is to revive an old car or 2 with my future children. Wishing you much luck with the 911E!