Back in a Porsche, buying my 993

[Mike]

Well it's been a few years, but the affair with the redhead is over. We shared wonderful times together, mainly to and from the mechanic, but the time had come to get back in a Porsche!

But the question was, which one? It's been a tough decision to make and in the true DDK spirit I'll bare my soul and talk you though my thinking. The overwhelming point was that it had to be a driver, something I could jump in and take to the South of France or the Porsche museum in Stuttgart without a moments thought, so something completely opposite to the Ferrari then...

I'd done my 72 and 73 cars and anything earlier didn't really appeal from a design point of view, not that I could afford one anyway. Talking of budget, my life at the moment is all about getting my two millennial kids on the property ladder, so had to sensible. That rules out the exotica and even the non-exotic actually, with even very boring stuff creeping over into 6 figures these days. I also decided I didn't want to go down the road of a full on restoration project, the Martini car was 6 years full on so a little bit of been there done that.

My trip to Italy and back in Ricks 964 was an eye opener, it's a great car and ideal continental tourer. 964RS's are long gone price wise but the other problem is those big bumpers which to me only work with the turbo's, the big arches draw the eye away from the bulbous front and rear and it all sort of blends in and looks great, but again even the crap one's are over 100k.

So then we came to the 993. Problem is it had to be rhd with black interior, and I'm pretty fussy about exterior colour too, no red, yellow or greens for instance, so now were really narrowing it down! Obviously someone at Porsche in the early 90's thought that light grey/beige/blue interiors was the way forward, black one's are like hen teeth! Then there's the narrow body wide body debate, love wide bodies on turbo's but wide bodies on standard cars I hate, seems pointless, rather like an 3.2 supersport for instance... The 2 or 4 wheel drive decision was made for me by Mr Bainbridge... so it had a be 2 wheel drive then!

So there we have it, had to be a narrow bodied 993 Carrera, rhd, manual, blue or black or at a push silver, black interior, not rocket ship mileage, and well looked after.... shouldn't be difficult should it!

[sladey]

Easy peasy

[Mike]

So the 'last of the air cooled', now undoubtedly a classic, but not a rare car with tens of thousands having been built. I do like the rare and unusual however, so how to find something that fits that bill would be even more difficult!

If I'd wanted an Aventura green tiptronic with a crap interior and 124,000 miles on the clock it would be easy, but it quickly became obvious there are very few decent cars around. With so many cars made originality wasn't a big concern, and really liked the idea of going down the restomod route. I had considered an RS rep, really straight forward to do body and interior wise, but to do it right meant a 3.8 engine conversion to experience anything similar to the real thing which for me are what reps are all about.

Then again I'd done reps, so back to that restomod idea...

[Bootsy]

Ok so the signature tells us more - where's the pics?

[Mike]

- where's the pics?

ok ok here's a b/w of the engine bay to keep you going...

[Mike]

So I'd been chatting with Ferry Man and following his fantastic work on the Mexico car build, and while watching the spiraling costs I remembered the old adage, 'buy the car that someone else has spent all the money on'! It's the exact opposite of what I normally do, what if I could find something already done.......

[brembo]

- where's the pics?

ok ok here's a b/w of the engine bay to keep you going...

"Oh your such a tease,but I like you"
Good to see you back in a Porsche Mike.

[inaglasshouse]

From which we learn...

Pre-varioram (knew that already since it's a '94 car)
No aircon
Motorsound airbox
Nice and clean

A man after my own heart! (As with the narrow body preference - I don't "get" the S premium on 993s).

[Darren65]

Narrow(!) 993's are far prettier imo ......

.....and I've seen that engine bay before!

[Mike]

.....and I've seen that engine bay before!

ha of course, I was forgetting it's your local OPC!

I better do the reveal before Darren does, so here goes. Pictures taken by DDK'er 'Mitch' Nigel, early last summer when I first got to hear of it.
Nigel's second home is Dick Lovett's so he gave it the once over....

[bjmullan]

Finally Mike. You are such a tease. Cool colour

[KS]

That is gorgeous...

[hot66]

Very Cool ... Although I've spotted the even cooler nomad in the back ground

[Mike]

This was back in May 2016 and they were asking crazy, crazy money at the time!

Dick Lovett's claimed it was the only original rhd Riviera C2 coupe in the UK, but I think there's at least one more. Obviously other Riviera S's, RS's and cab's, but for me it ticked that 'rare' box I wanted. Porsche in Stuttgart say they don't keep records of how many cars in particular colours go to which territories, as they call the counties they export to. Porsche Reading maintain they have no records of how many cars in particular colours they bring in, so no real way of checking at the moment.

After the colour, the wheels are the next thing you notice. Sacrilege I know but I've never been a great fan of the cup's, so these modern fuchs are great for me, and I love the black retro look it gives the car.

[yoda]

So basically you copied Ferryman and changed the wheels?

Very nice!