Here goes nothing! (Porsche inside)

[jstyer]

I'm wide awake at 2:45 in the morning... Can't sleep for anything in the hopes that tomorrow my lifelong dream will come true! My pretty cool (and ridiculously sentimental) Porsche story follows.

Anyone that knows me knows that I'm a Porsche fanatic. There's something about these cars that just make me go insane. More than guns, more than photography, more than anything else, Porsche's just make me lose it. I love them! And like all Porsche fanatics, there is a special place in my heart for the old air-cooled cars. The air cooled flat six just has a presence about it that will make you fall in love with the car in spite of the rear engine's shortcomings... and the 1995-98 993 series cars are the air cooled daddies of them all.

So lets roll back to March-May of 2008. One of our family friends has always had cool cars lying around, but he's the kind of guy that goes through cars like shoes. He buys one, neglects the hell out of it until its worthless, then sells it for pennies and repeats the cycle. Anyways, three years previously, this friend had got a pristine 1995 Aventurine Green Porsche 911 C2 (rear wheel drive model). He then proceeded to use it as a daily driver and put 30,000 miles on it. When he finally got around to changing the oil he let one of his tractor mechanics do the job. Well, this guy who was totally unfamiliar with Porsches, proceeded to totally wreck both oil filter flanges (the engine oil filter flange, and the oil tank flange) by using the wrong oil filters. In addition, both the interior and exterior were completely trashed. Cigar butts all over the inside, coffee stains down the sides (and somehow the backs) of the seats, the list goes on and on... It was horrendous. As apposed to fixing it, my friend just let the car sit in his backyard for three years. Totally untouched.

In April of 08, my junior prom was coming up and I just had to take that Porsche to prom. I told the friend that I would pay for all of the necessary parts, and fix the car, in exchange for him letting me take the car to prom, incidentally I was taking the girl who is now my fiance to the prom. He agreed, and after the first week of repairs and maintenance, I had a Porsche 993 for three whole months. They were some of the very best months of my life. (I actually mentioned this car and my repairs of it to Todd in the April AFHF course when we discussing his Porsche Driving School experience on the way to dinner) Below are some pictures of the car, and a high school era jstyer, when I was taking it to prom. You can see the discoloration on the bumper due to its years it spent outside.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8451/7892531534_36dbabb9cf_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7892531534/)
2008 Front (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7892531534/) by jstyer (http://www.flickr.com/people/77663382@N04/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8016/7892530278_ff49dcaa37_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7892530278/)
2008 Profile (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7892530278/) by jstyer (http://www.flickr.com/people/77663382@N04/), on Flickr

Needless to say, giving up the car was incredibly hard. After all the time and affection I'd put into this car, it was going right back to its life of abuse.

Fast forward to present day...

This car, and the memories surrounding it, have always held a very special place in my heart. There's not a month that goes by that I don't remember the old Porsche and wish that I had it. Especially knowing that my friend had either chopped up and parted the car out, crashed it, or let it rust into a useless hulk. However, the question was always nagging me as to whether this car was still around, maybe even still in one piece!!!

So this last weekend, before school started back up, I decided to make a two hour drive back to where the friend used to keep the car to see if it was still around... Just to put that little nagging bug to rest. I set out on the drive fully expecting the friend to have moved, and the car to be crashed, sold, or worse.

I arrived at his house way out in the middle of nowhere, literally 30 miles from the nearest paved road, and low and behold there was an open barn door I could see from the road. Through the door sat the old Porsche! My heart was in my throat! There was a minivan in the driveway, so I knocked on the door and while my friend wasn't home, his house sitter/cleaning lady was. After explaining while I was there, she let me walk over and take a look at the car. Believe it or not, the car has been sitting right where I left it for the last four years. The odometer shows that it was only driven for 26 miles since I parked it there many years ago. And by the looks of it, those 26 miles occurred shortly after I dropped it off. Below you can see the car in its 2012 state.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8437/7892531706_0eb3de7f88_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7892531706/)
2012 Front (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7892531706/) by jstyer (http://www.flickr.com/people/77663382@N04/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8030/7892529274_c8dd17f032_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7892529274/)
2012 Front 1/4 (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7892529274/) by jstyer (http://www.flickr.com/people/77663382@N04/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8435/7892532520_8e9e87a842_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7892532520/)
2012 Engine (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7892532520/) by jstyer (http://www.flickr.com/people/77663382@N04/), on Flickr

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8038/7892532900_3b31ce47f7_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7892532900/)
2012 Rear Quarter (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7892532900/) by jstyer (http://www.flickr.com/people/77663382@N04/), on Flickr

The funny thing is, that the passenger side floorboard still shows the vacuum marks (the little lines in the carpet that happen when you vacuum) from when I cleaned the interior back in 2008!

My friend arrived home yesterday, and today I drive back out to make him an offer on the car. I have no idea if he'll even entertain the idea of selling the car... But hopefully if I can appeal to both his heart and his wallet, I can make a deal.

Wish me luck!!! Later this afternoon I'll either be the saddest boy in Texas, or I'll have some great news to share... as well as having totally exhausted my new gun finances for a long, long, time! :):):)

[Pennzoil]

Good luck I hope he sells you the car. I'm a big Porsche fan also (never owned one) and love the engine they helped Harley design for the Vrods.

Your story brings back some of my own memories as my first car and the car I took to my proms was a frame off restoration i did with my pop's. My father and I spent a year and a half rebuilding my first car which is one of my fondest memories to date. I sold the car when I went in the military so it wouldn't be setting exposed to the elements in some military base parking lot for months on end while deployed. I regret selling it daily....

Luckily I sold it to my father and he still occasionally races it street class even 17 years after we restored it with it being his summer daily driver. Only when he wants a change from using his primary drag car. His memories are as fond as mine so I couldn't bear to ask for it back. Time to go look for the old photo album.

[VolGrad]

That's a great story. I hope it ends well. Good luck to you.

[Sheep Have Wool]

Great story, and good luck!

[LittleLebowski]

Great post and thank you for sharing! Good luck, man.

[JConn]

Good luck. That car deserves to be taken care of. I'm not the biggest porsche fan, but I love cars and hate to see a quality machine abused/neglected. Keep us posted.

[Vinh]

Very cool story, thanks for sharing. I'm a Porsche nut through and through, but my story is nowhere near as interesting. Good luck, man!

[Al T.]

Sending positive vibs for your success!

[Kimura]

That's a great story. I love fast cars. I like euros, ricers, american muscle; all of them. Hope you get the car. No reason why he shouldn't accept your offer. He obviously doesn't want or use the car and it needs to be driven on windy mountain roads at high speed. Good luck.

[NickA]

The suspense is killing me waiting to see how this turns out. Good luck, and great story.

Sent from my PC36100 using Tapatalk 2

[JM Campbell]

If you need some recon work done I have a lot of connections in the SA area or if your close I can always help you recon it too.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

[TGS]

A truly great car can bring a LOT of happiness. I used to own a WRX STi before they ruined the line. Every single time I drove that car, my happiness piqued to the point I could hardly contain myself. Even just to drive to the 7/11 or run errands, I'd get butterflies in my stomach. I sold it and bought the international lesbo mobile to feed my habits of driving cross country with hundreds of pounds of diving gear....ever since, I've missed that car so much.

Great story, man. I hope it works out for you.

[Slavex]

funny, Porche is one of the few cars I just hate. seriously. I hate that weird ass bubble ass end they have, they just look weird (the new ones though, hmmmmmmmmmmm). However, this story rocks and I think if your friend doesn't entertain your offer he's an idiot. You love the car, treated it better than he did, and obviously will give it a loving home. If has any brains he'll just give you the car in exchange for the work you did. Maybe, just maybe he's been saving it for you all these years??????? best of luck man.

[ToddG]

funny, Porche is one of the few cars I just hate.

Pro-CZ, anti-Porsche... how are we still friends?

[jstyer]

Thank you, thank you, thank you!!!! All of the support from you guys has made this day freaking amazing. You have no idea how much I appreciate it!

So, now for the update:

The good news is the friend has agreed to sell me the car!!!! And the terms are pretty damn good... I'm going to meet with him one more time tomorrow at 6pm to finalize all the details, and hopefully take delivery of the car.

But seriously guys, it seems like this today was incredibly drama filled day for me, and the support and comradery in this forum never ceases to amaze me. I'll post some success pics after I get the car on the trailer!

[Joe in PNG]

I'm a bit envious- I'm rather fond of that body style, more so than the Boxter based series that followed it.

Way to go!

[Al T.]

the good news is the friend has agreed to sell me the car!!!!

Victory dance! :D

[Jason F]

I've been a Porsche 911 fan since I was probably 7 - or at least, that's the earliest time in my nearly 34 years that I can remember being in love with that iconic shape.

You're vintage choice - 993, absolutely fantastic!!! Definitely my favorite as well. Simply stunning cars.


So glad you got your friend to agree to sell! woohoo! You have to update this thread with pictures in a couple days once you take possession and clean it up - I can't wait to see it.

Congratulations!!!

[BaiHu]

Awesome story, awesome car-can't wait to hear the final details. Can't wait to see the "after" pics once you get your hands on it!

Congrats!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

[ToddG]

Congratulations, dude! Color me jealous...

[JDM]

A fine accomplishment.

Congrats!!

[LOKNLOD]

Congrats! Cool story.... I'd kill to get ahold of my "first love" vehicle but since I kept up with it, I know it was totaled :(

[MEH]

Great story, great ending. Congrats!

[BigT]

Great stuff dude. Epic motor.

[VolGrad]

I told you the good Karma you threw at me would make it happen. :p

Congrats man. I can only imagine how excited you are. Well done.

[Gary1911A1]

Glad to hear you're getting your dream car. I have a thing for nice sports cars too. ;)

[EMC]

Cool car, thanks for sharing. Post some pics after the car gets some love and attention.

[Zhurdan]

SCOOOOOOOOOORE!

Congrats.

[Slavex]

nicely done dude!

Todd- I'm more of an Aston Martin kind of guy. I do like driving Porche though. Just don't like the look of them.

[jstyer]

Quick update: As of 3:00 today I have the title in hand and she's officially mine! :) More important, the fiance gave the final go ahead... I'll post some pics when I get it on the trailer tomorrow.


And Slavex, someone saying they're more of an Aston Martin guy is like saying they're more of a Latin Super Model guy... It just kinda goes without saying.

[Default.mp3]

More important, the fiance gave the final go ahead...

I didn't know gay marriage was legal in TX.

But seriously, it's pretty damn rare for someone's dream to come true like this. You're a lucky SOB. Gartz, and may she serve you well.

[texag]

Blah blah blah congrats on the fiance blah blah blah...YOU HAVE A PORSCHE! AWESOME!

There's something about driving a car you really like. People that don't get it make me sad...then I hoon around in my tuned GTI and the sadness is replaced by a ear to ear smile. I can only imagine how sore my face muscles would be if I got to drive that car.

[orionz06]

Blah blah blah congrats on the fiance blah blah blah...YOU HAVE A PORSCHE! AWESOME!

There's something about driving a car you really like. People that don't get it make me sad...then I hoon around in my tuned GTI and the sadness is replaced by a ear to ear smile. I can only imagine how sore my face muscles would be if I got to drive that car.

911 >>> your lame ass hatchenwagen.

[texag]

911 >>> your lame ass hatchenwagen.

"If I go stage 2 and get sticky tires mine will probably be faster in a straight line." he said as he completely missed the point.

Duh, dude. One's a VW, the other is what many consider the best iteration of the most timeless sports car ever.

[orionz06]

Ribbing... How does it work?

[texag]

Is that some bizarre sex move?

If so, I don't want to know the answer to your question.

[TGS]

Duh, dude. One's a VW, the other is what many consider the worst designed, over-hyped sports car ever.

Fixed.

[EMC]

It's funny seeing a picture of you, even if it was from the highschool days (2008 wasn't that long ago). For some reason I pictured you as a big texas middle aged gun shop employee guy. Must have been the thread where you got slide bite from the G19 showing you with Sasquatch sized hands.

[texag]

Fixed.

Nope.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy138/TexAg10/GIFs/123.gif

[MD7305]

Jstyer, congrats! This is an awesome turn of events. Enjoy and post lots of pics and vids for us poor dopes driving around in economy boxes.

[jstyer]

Got the car loaded up Saturday evening right before the sun went down... Unfortunately, once I got the car out into the sun I was able to assess the damage. Right now I could straight up murder a cat on the spot... There is cat scratches all over the clear coat from them climbing on the car during its internment. I see many sleepless nights of buffing in my future... Here's the some of the loading fun for your viewing enjoyment, as well as a closeup of the busted front bumper. I cringe every time I see it.

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8319/7926869900_ba77c887f3_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7926869900/)
IMGP3564.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7926869900/) by jstyer (http://www.flickr.com/people/77663382@N04/)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8181/7926872190_b3699cd10a_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7926872190/)
IMGP3567.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7926872190/) by jstyer (http://www.flickr.com/people/77663382@N04/)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8451/7926876790_0e12e05c94_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7926876790/)
IMGP3569.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7926876790/) by jstyer (http://www.flickr.com/people/77663382@N04/)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8182/7926874882_a442dd00d3_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7926874882/)
IMGP3568.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7926874882/) by jstyer (http://www.flickr.com/people/77663382@N04/)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8313/7926879596_675e6acd87_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7926879596/)
IMGP3570.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7926879596/) by jstyer (http://www.flickr.com/people/77663382@N04/)

I was able to get the car washed and all the fluids changed on Sunday. Today I picked up a new battery and was able to finally get the car running! After a truly shocking amount of white-smoke billowing from the exhaust (air cooled engine sitting for years=smoke grenade), the car settled in nicely and I was able to take it for a drive before the sun went down.

There's still a lot of work to go, but I wasn't able to wipe the smile off of my face :)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8171/7926883648_7e4bb581a1_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7926883648/)
IMGP3578.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7926883648/) by jstyer (http://www.flickr.com/people/77663382@N04/)

http://farm9.staticflickr.com/8295/7926881652_2772cae853_b.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7926881652/)
IMGP3572.jpg (http://www.flickr.com/photos/77663382@N04/7926881652/) by jstyer (http://www.flickr.com/people/77663382@N04/)

[JDM]

Incredibly cool!

[Jason F]

drool.

[BaiHu]

Rockin'!

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

[Dave J]

Cat scratches on clear coat come out easily enough with a random orbital buffer and some swirl remover. In my experience, they've always looked a lot worse than they actually were. FWIW

[Pennzoil]

Congratulations, car looks awesome!

[Vinh]

Damn that's beautiful.

[LittleLebowski]

Those pics make me hate the East coast and all of these damned trees. I miss the plains.....

[orionz06]

There is cat scratches all over the clear coat from them climbing on the car during its internment. I see many sleepless nights of buffing in my future...

Don't forget that the CC on those guys is hard as a rock. I snagged a Flex DA machine (http://www.autoality.com/store/pc/viewPrd.asp?idproduct=6256&idcategory=171) and it seems to make quick(er) work of hard CC's, worth looking into.

[JM Campbell]

+1 on the DA. Very handy tool to have in the toolbox.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

[orionz06]

On a detailing note I was looking at going rotary and the local detailing supply store had some interesting tidbits, both owner and other customer. Most of the "pros" who are making any bank doing this on their own or are doing high end cars for magazines and the like are all going to DA. Rotary is approaching lost art. I was looking at going rotary as the next step in skill more than anything and it seems like it might be a waste.

[jstyer]

The Flex is definitely a nice machine. I'm gonna see if I can get ahold of someone in the area who already has one and give it a go. What kind of compound do you guys use when you're polishing with an orbital polisher? My neighbor really likes Poorboys... Thought's? Opinions?

[orionz06]

I know Skyline does this for a living and should be able to chime in as well.

My thoughts on detailing are as follows: the hobbyist/enthusiast market has vastly superior products. The dealer and volume products are adequate in the right hands but nowhere near as nice as what you buy at an enthusiast store.

Poorboys has a few great products but their compounds are not what they are known for. They make a decent glaze and their Natty's past wax rivals waxes approaching $100 a tub and is insanely easy to work with.

For a compound it is hard to beat Meg's 105/205. I would look into a forum like Live2Detail a bit and see what they might suggest based on your damage, 205 might be enough. I used 205 on a white pad with a Flex and was able to hit what my Porter Cable could do with an orange pad and faster. The Flex is the real deal. Chemical Guys also has some decent compounds that have come out recently. Menzerna is always good too but they are becoming dated.

I have been out since 2008 and just recently started getting more stuff. I would suggest that forum and talking with people. Be careful though, most of the major forums are now brand supported and talk of non-supporting brands is a no-go. That is not really advertised anywhere so it is kind of tough. Live2Detail is pure and should remain that way for a while.

I know the owner of this store, Autoality (http://www.autoality.com/store/pc/viewContent.asp?idpage=1). Dude is no BS and straightforward. Has told me more than once to go with things he doesn't stock and is pretty good to tell people where to get what they need if he doesn't have it. Give him a call and see what he has to suggest, bounce that off of some forum suggestions and go from there.

[JM Campbell]

Great resources Tom.

Like Tom said I'm on the dealer end and have quite the bit of experience with dealer chemicals, not a lot on the consumer side. I do like the 3M Trizact products but the will be little use for you, designed for the new clearcoats that are thinner and water based (which your hot rod does not have).

DA machines are easier and less prone to create swirling and just easier to control. Your standard buff (rotating) if not used by skilled hands will create a lot of issues from the wrong pad material vs paint and product your using and can become a huge problem real quick on hard lines and curvatures.

If you have questions feel free to PM me and I'll help you out any way I can.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

[orionz06]

The 3M stuff is good but often times sold in quantities that are meant for people doing 50 cars a week, not 5 cars a year.

[JM Campbell]

Cheapest and smallest I've seen is in quart squeeze bottles and around $36 a step...3 step process.
Cheap it is not. I do trust it when working on high line cars.

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I727 using Tapatalk 2

[orionz06]

Here is a good log to follow: 1992 Porsche Carrera 2 (http://www.live2detail.com/showthread.php?3074-1992-Porsche-Carrera-2&highlight=porsche)

Really is a basic product selection and uses a PC. I would probably use a Flex and 205 with two different pads, should be able to get you where you need to be easily. More products will do the same, perhaps a little easier, but the 205 is a versatile product that will yield a desirable end result.

[Josh Runkle]

Nope.

http://i785.photobucket.com/albums/yy138/TexAg10/GIFs/123.gif

I laughed for like 4 minutes at this!

[Mjolnir]

Congratulations on the 993 grab.

I've been a fan of the 911 since 1973/74. The GT3 is the iteration that drives me into lunacy but the 997 Carrera S would suit me just fine.

[TCinVA]

For a compound it is hard to beat Meg's 105/205. I would look into a forum like Live2Detail a bit and see what they might suggest based on your damage, 205 might be enough. I used 205 on a white pad with a Flex and was able to hit what my Porter Cable could do with an orange pad and faster.


I've done a lot of good work with the PC and 105/205. My only beef was that I have a hard time getting vehicles in the shade and the 105/205 tends to dry out fast. Adam's makes a pretty good product that can be worked well even in direct sunlight, so I switched to that.

I've not done much in the way of detailing lately because I've been far too busy with other stuff...but my car needs some attention. I may have to look into getting a Flex.

[orionz06]

I've done a lot of good work with the PC and 105/205. My only beef was that I have a hard time getting vehicles in the shade and the 105/205 tends to dry out fast. Adam's makes a pretty good product that can be worked well even in direct sunlight, so I switched to that.

I've not done much in the way of detailing lately because I've been far too busy with other stuff...but my car needs some attention. I may have to look into getting a Flex.

The Flex will save time for sure. I borrowed the one I had but am gonna score one from Autoality, they have free pads and what not. For the PC I was using 4" pads and they work well but being able to go 6" and with forced rotation the Flex is just too good to pass up. I fully expect with a red pad and a liquid wax I could do an entire car in around a minute.

Maybe wax with a par time....

Seriously though, it will be money well spent.