05-08-2010, 10:30 AM
Part 3 – The Hunt and the Big Adventure
<i><!--sizeo:1--><!--/sizeo-->Warning – this Part 3 is a bit wordy – I’m having fun with the language in an attempt to entertain – I hope that I succeed, you’ll be the judges.<!--sizec--><!--/sizec--> </i>
We left rxter and his faithful son Mike headed to Long Beach for some high speed thrills. Before we continue with the Long Beach scene though let’s back up a few days - - -
<b>The Hunt</b>
I found it really exciting and fun to log on each morning to see what new eye candy was out there today. Found the most new stuff on Friday and Saturday – I guess that’s when we have time to post ads or when we are ready to show the car. Mostly black, red, and white, naturally. One Wimbledon green cab, a bright blue (not maritime – maybe cobalt?) coupe, a couple mid blue metallics, one beautiful Iris coupe with light gray interior – like the danmobile. I might have taken a shot at that one but I really need the wind thing going on, so the cab configuration is a must. And I am hoping to get away from black for once. If ever there was a car to pick a color huh? I really like the greens and blues, pretty much all of them. I even like the amythest.
Now I don’t have to tell you that our cars are getting old. I didn’t keep any stats, but of 50 cars out there I’d guess that 3 were under 50K miles, another 3 were between 50K and 75K, another 15 between 75K and 100K, which leaves 29, or almost 60% over 100K miles. A couple of them are approaching 200K. That speaks volumes to the durability of this great German design, but it also makes it harder to execute the Buy/Go Low approach.
So far I have inquired about a dozen cars, exchanged emails with 10 owners, and spoke to 5 or 6. That has really been a lot of fun. Some owners are extremely knowledgeable, making me suspect that at the least they lurk here [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif[/img], while others are novices and others still are trying to help out someone else sell the car (I’ve run across the retiree can’t drive his toy anymore sale a few times dealing with this genre of car – at least I know where mine is going when I can’t see past the hood emblem and I’m drooling all over my leather wrapped steering wheel). Sorry – back to the story.
I won’t comment here on any of the cars that I have reviewed as that would not be fair to the current owners. Each car has a buyer at the right price. Just because a car does not work for me does not mean that there is anything wrong with it. However, if you are looking and want a second opinion I’d be happy to share what I have learned. If a car has less than 75K miles it’s likely that I have the Autocheck and have completed some level of diligence. Some real gems out there by the way.
Back to the Grand Prix…
<b>The Phoenix</b>
So Mikey and I head up to the race, catching the ALMS series on Saturday. If you have a chance to do that I highly recommend it. Having 4 series on the track at one time is really entertaining – the sounds especially. From the high-rev whine of the prototypes to the banshee wail of the V12 Jag to the baritone rumble of the big vettes. And its fun to sit in the stands with fellow enthusiasts. I’ve been to a couple of NASCAR events and found those fans more knowledgeable about muscle cars than sports cars, which makes sense. The ALMS fans are very much sports car fans. And the parking lots contained some interesting wheels. I’ll not relate our parking area shenanigans, I’ll just say that we were driving in the spirit of the day in my little NA Mazda [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif[/img]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAUX3nvrx2c...feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QJ3xq83gQM...feature=related
After the race we head out for dinner and off to the inland hotel to rest up for the IRL race Sunday. Before I go to bed I haul out the laptop and check the ads – its Saturday after all. BANG – there it is. Not exactly what I am looking for – not my first, or even second color choice, but the car and the pedigree looks good. Don’t get me wrong I’m not a Concours guy, but I do buy into the better maintenance from a single owner theory. Given a choice between a car that has had 4 different owners spread out over 14 years or one that has had one or two I’ll go with the lower owner car every time. My experience is that you are much more likely to find service records and original equipment (lug nut keys and stuff like that tends to get lost through multiple hand offs, especially if dealers are involved, and our cars are more and more being handled by the non-Porsche dealer used lot folks).
Anyway it’s pretty late, even on the left coast and this car looks like it might be in the East, so I send an email and call it a day. Next morning I’ve got a response – must be on the East coast somewhere. We trade a couple of emails in close to real time so I send my phone number. We talk cars in general and Porsches in particular for a half hour – this guy loves cars, and really loves this car, but he has at least one other toy and just bought a brand new big fast sedan with a mega price tag, and he needs the cash (my words not his). We come to agreement on price, payment, inspection, and delivery terms. Done deal. Cool. And I’ve worked a very, very good deal, if I do say so myself. It’s a beautiful day in Long Beach, sunny, 68 degrees with a light on-shore breeze, and the big Honda V8s are going to be qualifying soon. Happy as a pig in poo and feeling pretty darned smart I enjoy a great day of racing with my son. Life is good.
<i><!--sizeo:1--><!--/sizeo-->Warning – this Part 3 is a bit wordy – I’m having fun with the language in an attempt to entertain – I hope that I succeed, you’ll be the judges.<!--sizec--><!--/sizec--> </i>
We left rxter and his faithful son Mike headed to Long Beach for some high speed thrills. Before we continue with the Long Beach scene though let’s back up a few days - - -
<b>The Hunt</b>
I found it really exciting and fun to log on each morning to see what new eye candy was out there today. Found the most new stuff on Friday and Saturday – I guess that’s when we have time to post ads or when we are ready to show the car. Mostly black, red, and white, naturally. One Wimbledon green cab, a bright blue (not maritime – maybe cobalt?) coupe, a couple mid blue metallics, one beautiful Iris coupe with light gray interior – like the danmobile. I might have taken a shot at that one but I really need the wind thing going on, so the cab configuration is a must. And I am hoping to get away from black for once. If ever there was a car to pick a color huh? I really like the greens and blues, pretty much all of them. I even like the amythest.
Now I don’t have to tell you that our cars are getting old. I didn’t keep any stats, but of 50 cars out there I’d guess that 3 were under 50K miles, another 3 were between 50K and 75K, another 15 between 75K and 100K, which leaves 29, or almost 60% over 100K miles. A couple of them are approaching 200K. That speaks volumes to the durability of this great German design, but it also makes it harder to execute the Buy/Go Low approach.
So far I have inquired about a dozen cars, exchanged emails with 10 owners, and spoke to 5 or 6. That has really been a lot of fun. Some owners are extremely knowledgeable, making me suspect that at the least they lurk here [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif[/img], while others are novices and others still are trying to help out someone else sell the car (I’ve run across the retiree can’t drive his toy anymore sale a few times dealing with this genre of car – at least I know where mine is going when I can’t see past the hood emblem and I’m drooling all over my leather wrapped steering wheel). Sorry – back to the story.
I won’t comment here on any of the cars that I have reviewed as that would not be fair to the current owners. Each car has a buyer at the right price. Just because a car does not work for me does not mean that there is anything wrong with it. However, if you are looking and want a second opinion I’d be happy to share what I have learned. If a car has less than 75K miles it’s likely that I have the Autocheck and have completed some level of diligence. Some real gems out there by the way.
Back to the Grand Prix…
<b>The Phoenix</b>
So Mikey and I head up to the race, catching the ALMS series on Saturday. If you have a chance to do that I highly recommend it. Having 4 series on the track at one time is really entertaining – the sounds especially. From the high-rev whine of the prototypes to the banshee wail of the V12 Jag to the baritone rumble of the big vettes. And its fun to sit in the stands with fellow enthusiasts. I’ve been to a couple of NASCAR events and found those fans more knowledgeable about muscle cars than sports cars, which makes sense. The ALMS fans are very much sports car fans. And the parking lots contained some interesting wheels. I’ll not relate our parking area shenanigans, I’ll just say that we were driving in the spirit of the day in my little NA Mazda [img]style_emoticons/<#EMO_DIR#>/wink.gif[/img]
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UAUX3nvrx2c...feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QJ3xq83gQM...feature=related
After the race we head out for dinner and off to the inland hotel to rest up for the IRL race Sunday. Before I go to bed I haul out the laptop and check the ads – its Saturday after all. BANG – there it is. Not exactly what I am looking for – not my first, or even second color choice, but the car and the pedigree looks good. Don’t get me wrong I’m not a Concours guy, but I do buy into the better maintenance from a single owner theory. Given a choice between a car that has had 4 different owners spread out over 14 years or one that has had one or two I’ll go with the lower owner car every time. My experience is that you are much more likely to find service records and original equipment (lug nut keys and stuff like that tends to get lost through multiple hand offs, especially if dealers are involved, and our cars are more and more being handled by the non-Porsche dealer used lot folks).
Anyway it’s pretty late, even on the left coast and this car looks like it might be in the East, so I send an email and call it a day. Next morning I’ve got a response – must be on the East coast somewhere. We trade a couple of emails in close to real time so I send my phone number. We talk cars in general and Porsches in particular for a half hour – this guy loves cars, and really loves this car, but he has at least one other toy and just bought a brand new big fast sedan with a mega price tag, and he needs the cash (my words not his). We come to agreement on price, payment, inspection, and delivery terms. Done deal. Cool. And I’ve worked a very, very good deal, if I do say so myself. It’s a beautiful day in Long Beach, sunny, 68 degrees with a light on-shore breeze, and the big Honda V8s are going to be qualifying soon. Happy as a pig in poo and feeling pretty darned smart I enjoy a great day of racing with my son. Life is good.