My Porsche Story

Many late nights to get it to look like this

My First Porsche - 911SC 1982

Beware owning Porsches can be very addictive!!

It started many years ago in the early 90s, having had a succession of Austins including a Cooper S, P5 3 Ltr and SD1 3.5 Ltr SE, several Fords, including a 525E and a 6 series. Over the years I always (since the late 70s) hankered for a 911. Don’t ask me why, I fell in love with the shape and vowed to get one eventually!

Someone once said to me that if you want it bad enough and you sacrifice then you can have whatever you want. With that being the case eventually I had enough money put together (by including the sale of my 6 series BMW) to look for a modest . How difficult could that be? I had joined the Porsche Club GB a year earlier and there were, before the days of eBay and online car sales, plenty of adverts in the Porsche Club magazine to look through for 911’s so the search begun.

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My budget was around £10K UKP (approx. A$30K AU) and for that price one could get a not so perfect 911SC which is what I ended up looking for. I am a mechanical engineer by trade, so I had bought and sold many over the years and rebuilt/restored some of them as well, so I knew my way round a car and what to look for. The question of looking at 911s was not my forte so I got in touch with the then technical director at the Porsche Club GB for advice. He returned my call but suggested it was easier if there was a car available to go around and point out the necessary checks and pitfalls. He lived in Bristol some 150 miles away from me but being a Southern UK sales manager, I could be anywhere any day and he had his own Porsche Garage business at his house, so we arranged to meet up at his house.

I arrived at his house to find a number of 911s on the drive and he had a fully equipped garage on the side of his house, and we spent a few hours walking round various cars discussing what I needed to look for when buying a 911. Well worth the trip.

So, the hunt began, not so easy as I thought, looking at some 85 cars over a period of some months with a lot of bad cars cited as pristine condition, and some good cars but out of my reach financially. A new mag came out rang a seller there was a reply but sorry the car has been sold but leave your name and number you never know. Disappointed the search went on finding nothing worth the risk but after 3 weeks a phone call changed my life forever as the guy rang me back and asked if I was still interested in his car as I was the next on the list (there were several after me). I Said I could not get there until the weekend, but he said that was OK so long as I turned up. The weekend arrived and off I set pulling up outside his house to be met by an MGB in bits in his garage with the 911 next to it.

He was restoring the MGB which explained why it was in bits and wanted to sell the 911SC so he could buy a dismantled 964. Why dismantle you may ask? Well it transpires that Andy was a Detective Constable in the car theft division of the Chelmsford Police and had negotiated a deal to buy the car from the police which had been stolen some time ago. One piece leading to another until they had all the parts of the car in a container at the pound and it could be put back together.

The 911 was jacked up for me to inspect and he left me to it. After an hour he came over slid under the car with me and explained the clutch had just been replaced, the front seats have been redone in leather, 7” and 6” X 16” diameter Fuchs alloys were added and a whale tail.

I changed the Fuchs to 8” & 7” later, plus a 3.2 Carrera front lower panel.

The car generally was in good condition with service history although there was a very small amount of bubbling on the front wings below the headlights and some other minor marks and dimples but appeared to an honest car, so a test drive ensued with Andy driving as I had no insurance. We were on the ring road doing some 100mph when a roundabout came up quickly, but it stopped well, oil

Issue 1 2018 – My First Porsche – 911SC 1982 Page 2 of 4 pressure was 4 bar, and all seemed good! The car had to be mine. It was not perfect but as we say had good bones to start with. So, after an hour of negotiating I had a car at £10150 with MOT and a service being done plus delivery to my house. The car arrived a week later looking clean and tidy. A Pacific Blue 1982 204BHP 911SC it had taken every penny I had but I had got it!

However, I had a massive surprise when I went to insure it as they said the car did not exist at all and was probably stolen!!! A call to Andy uncovered the reason as he worked undercover for the stolen vehicle recovery squad all their personal cars were taken off the UK register so no threats could be made against them or family. Therefore, I could not drive it for 24hrs after which the car magically appeared back on through DOT register and I could get insurance.

I spent many hours cleaning the car underneath, inside and outside and for 6 months enjoyed it with the regions in the club including attending the Clubs main Concours event at Thruxston Race track. I met Tony (Bunn to his friends, - don’t ask) at his and I first club night and he actually lived only 4 miles from me, and we struck up an instant friendship will still lasts today. He has a 1974 911 Carrera Targa with the 2.7 RS engine all of which he spent 13 years restoring to original condition himself. It was Tony who set me on the road to Concours.

That autumn it came off the road from Oct to April so that I could work on it as the sight of the very good cars started my Concours efforts. Firstly, I got the front wings repaired (plated) and managed to get a reasonable respray done to hide the rest of the faults for £1050! ($AU2,500). It made the car look better and I attended my first Regional Concours with the car looking as good as I could get it, with a mention but nothing else as reward. I had my score sheet and Tony went though it with me suggesting for little cost I could move up, so the journey began. After over 10 years the car was restored, the gearbox rebuilt, proper respray detailing and much midnight oil spent and money, and I was on first name terms at my local Porsche Dealership so got some good discounts. Over this period, I entered our regional Concours getting best new entrant and 4th place, 3rd place, 2nd place and at last I won! I had probably spent over another £10KUKP on it the labour being free.

The addition of a Momo steering wheel and genuine RUF 17 “alloys came after.

Just got the car a week before XUB on the drive some years later Clean and detailed engine bay

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Good interior Complete with BRA at Rheims old Fitted with RUF Wheels circuit

Lovely rear end

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