My first Porsche....

[Mystery Machine]

In other news, I took a little drive over to Dartford yesterday where this was waiting in a yard amongst some other classics:







It's gained a few dents since I dropped it off at the shipping agents in Toronto, but considering the work it's going to be getting, they aren't really a huge issue. Bloody annoying, especially the one on the front wing, but the excitement of actually, finally, getting the car wasn't dampened too much by the damage incurred in transit.

I signed the paperwork, paid the 6 days storage fee (I had a lot on the previous few weeks so ended up having to wait longer than I wanted to before collecting the car) then loaded my very first Porsche onto the trailer.





This was the view I'd be having for the journey back to Bristol. Looking in the rear view has never been so good!




I drove a few miles then pulled over to recheck the straps. I also called a friend who lived nearby and he rushed around to take a look. We don't get to meet up as much as we'd like. He loves cars, he loves Porsches, so it was great to have a short catch up.




My road trip friend, Dave, double checks the straps again. No harm in being thorough?




Service station stop and I can't help but take a few more photos....








Finally, after 11 months of planning, an amazing trip to Canada, a seemingly long wait and a trip to Dartford and back, my first ever Porsche is on my drive.

My excitement levels were far outweighing my sheer and utter tiredness...






It'll be living here for a day or two until I can move my Land Rover down to my lock-up, clearing space for it in the garage. I'll need to reorganise everything and I've even bought a shed which will be built to house as much paraphernalia as possible from the garage, maximising space for working on the car.

I cannot wait!



It's been a long time coming but it's finally here. It's finally MINE!

[912uk]

nice... I seam to remember this car up for sale a while back with a white one. So being you where close to it was a result..

nice one.. good luck.

I think that might have been a different car? This one was never advertised for sale, certainly not in the last four years, I know and have met the previous owners who sold it on via word of mouth. I bought it from a friend who lives in Canada, he only agreed to sell it to me because I harassed him for months into selling it. :D

I agree with you about it not being advertised I had details of two cars that way one black one white. That car park you picked it up from is the same back ground. Interesting...

Anyway you have it ... that's the main thing.. is it what you expected?

[Gary71]

Looks great! The start of a new adventure

[Mystery Machine]

nice... I seam to remember this car up for sale a while back with a white one. So being you where close to it was a result..

nice one.. good luck.

I think that might have been a different car? This one was never advertised for sale, certainly not in the last four years, I know and have met the previous owners who sold it on via word of mouth. I bought it from a friend who lives in Canada, he only agreed to sell it to me because I harassed him for months into selling it. :D

I agree with you about it not being advertised I had details of two cars that way one black one white. That car park you picked it up from is the same back ground. Interesting...

Anyway you have it ... that's the main thing.. is it what you expected?

The car was only in that particular yard for about 2 weeks before I collected it. It was moved there in the last week in August because James, who I bought the car from, moved house at that time and he therefore lost his storage and garage at the existing house.

Here it is at the workshop in Waterloo where the previous owner, Joe stored it for about three years:






It was then moved to James' house in Waterloo in November last year where it sat on his driveway through the winter, I got to watch it as it was buried deeper and deeper into winters finest covering:









In February it was moved into this garage and allowed to thaw out:


Then covered up to protect it until it was moved to the yard from the first photos at the end of August when he moved house.


As I say, it was never advertised or offered for sale. Do you have any photos of the black car? It'd be interesting to see how much it looked like this one?

As for it being what I expected? Very much so. I had spent many hours on the phone to James in the 10 month lead up to me going over to pick it up. He'd been very open and honest about the car and had also provided me with many photos of it, including shots of it on a lift where I could see all the undersides.

It needs new floors, new sills and a new front suspension pan, but Restoration Design is only 30 mins from where the 912 was kept and only 20 mins from where I was staying, so I paid a visit and bought all the panels I needed. Alex & Mike were awesome and really helpful, even giving me a good discount! I'll post up some photos of my visit to the factory soon.

Overall, I love the car and can't wait to get stuck into working on it. I know it's going to be a very long term project for me because I have to save for every stage (I don't earn a lot of money, I don't have much to spend so I have to be very careful how and were I spend it) but the excitement of this will not stop me from doing my absolute best for the car.

[Mystery Machine]

A sneaky peek from my visit to Restoration Design:

[Bootsy]

Really looking forward to following your restoration especially given the project you run - guess that will pay a key role in bringing the car back to life?

[Gary71]

I get the feeling from these first photos we may be getting some superb future calendar shots! Love the processing on the milling machine photo.

[Mystery Machine]

Pretty much zero progress today.

I pulled the Restoration Design repair panels out of the car and stored them in the garage after wiping them down/drying them off (the car leaks and they were starting to get wet in places)

The car itself is still outside because I'm waiting to get the Land Rover over to my unit and then it can go into the garage. Hopefully at the weekend....

While making some stuff in the garage this evening I kept popping out to look at the car. Even though it's dark outside, the light from the garage spilling onto the front wing had me standing there, staring at it. I'm in love with this car already. Just such a lovely, lovely thing to look at.



Of course, it's going to be pulled apart fairly soon and will not look anything like this again for a good few years, but while it's still in once piece, I can't resist but keep looking at it and get a warm fuzzy feeling in my stomach. It's still sinking in that I actually own a Porsche!

[Tosh]

Really looking forwards to seeing the progress on this one. Particularly as you take a mean photo!

[Mystery Machine]

Swapsies:

Land Rover comes out of garage storage and will now be down at my lock-up about 40mins away while I do some major surgery on it over the next 6 months.

912 will be going in the garage and the strip down will start.

It's the last time the LR will see the light of day until summer at the earliest. It's the last time the 912 will see the light of day for a good few years.

It's the first, and last, time these two will be together for quite some time.

Let winter work commence......

[993anorak]

It reminds me when I bought my first Porsche...
I could have slept in the garage, during weekends, apart driving it, I used to pop in to look at her every hour...
Porsche Anorak

[Nick Short]

Car looks great,well done. Landrover super cool too

[912uk]

have you started on it yet and what you found anything interesting?

[Mystery Machine]

have you started on it yet and what you found anything interesting?

Unfortunately not, I've been flat out with work since it went into the garage and there's also the little annoyance of zero space to move in there at the moment. I've got a shed I need to build, when I get chance, which will enable me to clear enough stuff from the garage, have a shuffle around and then I can get started.

I'm away all over Christmas so I'm being realistic in knowing that I won't get a minute to think about this until at least mid-January.

I really do want to get started, but this has probably been the busiest November & December I've ever known!

Soon....

[Seven]

Its a great shame to see you selling Bruce. I was looking forward to your write up of this renovation!

Have your other projects overtaken this as a priority?