Wow! I didn't see this thread going here, but it just shows how "in tune" we are on this board. The reason I loved the 968 (& the later 944's) was that I felt they didn't attract the same level of disdainful envy as the 911 and the oh so excessive 928.
For our US cousins, in Australian slang the term "wanker", whilst technically referring to a person given to Onanism, is used as a term of contemptuous abuse to describe a person who is pathetically self-absorbed or self-deluded, usually with an overly high opinion of their own worth. To describe someone as "a bit of a wanker" is a term of dismissive or disdainful abuse, rather than abuse of a hostile or aggressive kind. Peter Lorre's character in "Casablanca", Signore Ugarte, might have been described by Rick and Capitain Renault as a bit of a wanker; right up until he pulled out the gun that is!
You can now see why in Aus the term is used for Porsche owners; "
What's the difference betweena Porsche and a porcupine? On a Porshe the pricks are on the inside".
This was one of the reasons that the Marque was floundering when the 968 was on the show room floors. A bad PR taste left over after the excesses of the 80's & 90's Greed is Good ethos, the 928 which was gross in so many way, the 911 which was 30 years old and basically unchanged, and a very complex and expensive-to-build joint venture with Volksvagen and Audi. Thankfully the company identified the problem and fought back with the boxter.
The thing with the 968 is that non-car people don't usually register it as a Porsche, but then quite rapidly change their attitude when they discover it is. Most have the decency to relent a bit when they discover that the car is old enough to vote, the nasty taste remains, despite it being one hell of a car. The only scintilla of regret I have over selling it is the inevitable lament - "I had one of those once" when the car is recognised on it's merits and prices and values rise, as they inevitably will.
BTW I don't give a s*** about what ignorant people think about me, but like most of us I value the good opinion of those I respect. That might be what I was trying to say when I spoke in my initial post about being one out with the car down here in the south west. Had I been in Melbourne things might have been different, but I still wouldn't have had anywhere safe to keep the car under cover.
So, on to the next toy, or toys. What'll it be? A BMW R69S from the '60's? A Schindelhauer Ludwig XVIII bicycle? A late model Alfa Romeo Giulia 1600 Sprint? Probably not another Borresen BB10.
Who knows, but I'll keep on wanking until something comes along <img src="/forum/images/smilies/968/smile.png" class="smilie" alt="" />
