02-01-2012, 05:01 PM
Hello Everyone,
My name is Curtis Weinrich, and the son that I'm referring to is Zachary Weinrich. Since this is an introduction, I should mention that I'm often called "Curt", and we often shorten his name to "Zach".
Anyway, he and I have been planning to purchase a 968 or a 944 S2 for several months, and just a few weeks ago we took the opportunity to fly to Florida, spend a few days to choose the right car out of several candidates, and drive it back home to Ohio.
The car we decided on is a 1995 968 Coupe with a 6-speed manual transmission.
The story really goes back almost three decades .......
I bought a 1982 924 with a 5-speed manual transmission in Zermatt Silver Metallic in 1985. I really enjoyed that car and was able to keep it until 1992 - not long after our second child, Zachary, was born. Even though one child safety seat would fit fairly well behind the passenger seat, there was no way I could move the driver's seat far enough forward for a second child seat and still be able to drive comfortably.
Ever since I decided I needed to sell my 924, I'd been doing my best to be a responsible parent on a budget, and had purged owning sports cars out of my mind and had rarely even mentioned anything about it to my (now) three children ..... including my two teenage boys.
Fast-forward to 2008 .....
Zach was now 16 and had gotten his driver's license and had been working a part-time job, all while doing extremely well in school. One day, completely out of the blue Zach told me he wanted to buy an '87 944 that he found on eBay. My two initial responses were "WHATEVER" followed by "You've Got To Be Out Of Your Mind".
Long story short .....
We bought the car for $4,000, which my wife & I agreed to loan him under an agreement that he would pay us back. Even though at first Zach was nervous just to pop the hood, with encouragement he quickly became adept at increasingly advanced work. Over the next two ears and we totally restored the car. It became a very reliable daily driver that he used for driving to high school & to his part-time job. It was like a rolling science experiment and a truly satisfying father-son endeavor. We did the cylinder head together, then he decided to upgrade the suspension & replace the oil pan gasket and main bearings with some friends from the PCA. From that point we were almost constantly upgrading some aspect of the car.
Last year we decided to add an '86 944 Turbo .....
Sort of a project car we bought it in Cleveland, TN for $3,000. Since he had already paid back around $2,000 of the previous debt we agreed to loan him the $3,000 under the same terms. It's taken a full year, but we finally have that car sorted out ..... the 951 (it's factory designation) has also caused us to acquire a whole new level of expertise. That car has also been a daily driver for most of the time we've owned it.
This brings me back to the 968 that we recently acquired .....
As you can see, things have come "full circle" with the purchase of this car.
Zach and I flew from Columbus, OH to Ft. Myers, FL (with a brief stop in Atlanta to change planes), drove from southwest Florida across the state to Ft. Lauderdale, then up the east coast to the Melbourne area where we decided on this particular 968. From there we drove back to Columbus on I-95 and I-77.
We went from an afternoon at the beach in Melbourne where it was 80 degrees and sunny to Columbus where there had been a winter storm warning the night before ..... barely reaching 30 degrees in the daytime with ice and snow on the roads.The good news is that the 968 is equally at home in either environment!
Curtis Weinrich
Worthington, Ohio
1995 Porsche 968 with 6-speed manual transmission
Nachtblau Pearl Metallic 39C Midnight Blue Pearl Metallic
My name is Curtis Weinrich, and the son that I'm referring to is Zachary Weinrich. Since this is an introduction, I should mention that I'm often called "Curt", and we often shorten his name to "Zach".
Anyway, he and I have been planning to purchase a 968 or a 944 S2 for several months, and just a few weeks ago we took the opportunity to fly to Florida, spend a few days to choose the right car out of several candidates, and drive it back home to Ohio.
The car we decided on is a 1995 968 Coupe with a 6-speed manual transmission.
The story really goes back almost three decades .......
I bought a 1982 924 with a 5-speed manual transmission in Zermatt Silver Metallic in 1985. I really enjoyed that car and was able to keep it until 1992 - not long after our second child, Zachary, was born. Even though one child safety seat would fit fairly well behind the passenger seat, there was no way I could move the driver's seat far enough forward for a second child seat and still be able to drive comfortably.
Ever since I decided I needed to sell my 924, I'd been doing my best to be a responsible parent on a budget, and had purged owning sports cars out of my mind and had rarely even mentioned anything about it to my (now) three children ..... including my two teenage boys.
Fast-forward to 2008 .....
Zach was now 16 and had gotten his driver's license and had been working a part-time job, all while doing extremely well in school. One day, completely out of the blue Zach told me he wanted to buy an '87 944 that he found on eBay. My two initial responses were "WHATEVER" followed by "You've Got To Be Out Of Your Mind".
Long story short .....
We bought the car for $4,000, which my wife & I agreed to loan him under an agreement that he would pay us back. Even though at first Zach was nervous just to pop the hood, with encouragement he quickly became adept at increasingly advanced work. Over the next two ears and we totally restored the car. It became a very reliable daily driver that he used for driving to high school & to his part-time job. It was like a rolling science experiment and a truly satisfying father-son endeavor. We did the cylinder head together, then he decided to upgrade the suspension & replace the oil pan gasket and main bearings with some friends from the PCA. From that point we were almost constantly upgrading some aspect of the car.
Last year we decided to add an '86 944 Turbo .....
Sort of a project car we bought it in Cleveland, TN for $3,000. Since he had already paid back around $2,000 of the previous debt we agreed to loan him the $3,000 under the same terms. It's taken a full year, but we finally have that car sorted out ..... the 951 (it's factory designation) has also caused us to acquire a whole new level of expertise. That car has also been a daily driver for most of the time we've owned it.
This brings me back to the 968 that we recently acquired .....
As you can see, things have come "full circle" with the purchase of this car.
Zach and I flew from Columbus, OH to Ft. Myers, FL (with a brief stop in Atlanta to change planes), drove from southwest Florida across the state to Ft. Lauderdale, then up the east coast to the Melbourne area where we decided on this particular 968. From there we drove back to Columbus on I-95 and I-77.
We went from an afternoon at the beach in Melbourne where it was 80 degrees and sunny to Columbus where there had been a winter storm warning the night before ..... barely reaching 30 degrees in the daytime with ice and snow on the roads.The good news is that the 968 is equally at home in either environment!
Curtis Weinrich
Worthington, Ohio
1995 Porsche 968 with 6-speed manual transmission
Nachtblau Pearl Metallic 39C Midnight Blue Pearl Metallic
