uicnick

That's exactly what happened to me yesterday in Chicago. I don't want to mention specifics for the owner's sake but I was driving my car and turned into a neighborhood close to the Edens expressway to come across a gorgeous Porsche 550 Spyder sitting in a driveway. I immediately parked my car and pulled off since the owner was standing in his driveway. First thing he mentioned was that it was a replica car, I didn't recall the type but he explained that the he had just completed building the car in the spring and that the manufacturer had purchased the original tooling so that the body panels are all technically correct. The dash headlights, all details were genuine Porsche pieces, the car looked outstanding. He flipped the engine open and explained the power plant was from a WRX, quite a potent combination for a ?sub? 1 ton car! Replica or not, this car looked absolutely gorgeous with perfect silver paint and a perfect red interior. I told him the story of my car purchase and we were talking general car talk, grumbling about not having enough garage space in Chicago. His wife and kids were out and it looked like he was catching up on some house work so after about 20 minutes I started to head back.

As I was walking back to my car, he asked if I would like to drive the car. I instinctively refused such a generous offer. The responsibility seemed too great to drive such a small, classic vehicle which I’m totally unfamiliar with in the busy Chicago streets. The owner convinced me that I should accept by questioning "when else will you get the opportunity to drive such a car?" It was Saturday 2PM, about 50 degrees, totally sunny and the first really nice day since the fall in Chicago. I said YES! He then hands me the keys, shows me some basic interior functions, explains the gear shift and says fire it up. I turn the key, press the start button and wait..... nothing I asked if the car had a carb he said yes so then I pressed the throttle and gave it another shot.... still nothing. I said maybe it's a sign? He insisted that he give it another shot, I moved over and he got in and got it to start on the third attempt and the car roared to life. I said that he should join me but he said just take it out and have fun. I put the car in gear, and found that the seating position and pedal layout made the car very difficult to drive. I had a pair of steel-toe Doc Martens on (freebies from when I worked as a janitor, the most durable and highest quality shoes I’ve owned BTW) which were really fat and kept catching on the frame above the throttle, making things more difficult. Once I let out the clutch I went forward and stalled it! I started it up again remembering to push the gear lever in and back for reverse and I slowly let the clutch out, never stalling it after that. I backed the beast out, adjusted the tiny mirror, waved goodbye to the owner and headed west on Irving Park boulevard for the ride of my life.

I felt like a freaking rock star driving this car (James Dean?). Imagine seeing a 550 Spyder driving in Chicago on such a perfect day! I found the gearshift to be very truck like (I have driven 10 speed non-syncro tractor trailers before and have my CDL) so I decided I was going to stick to neighborhood roads and get off of Irving Park since it was 2PM and the traffic was no fun. I didn't want to get in a situation where I picked the wrong gear and stalled the car out in the middle of traffic. I tried my hardest to keep my cool as everyone was checking out the car. I pulled into another neighborhood west of the Edens to find a group of little kids pointing at the car and smiling. What an awesome experience. I never got such a positive reaction driving a car before. I felt a much greater sense of occasion and felt that people respected the car much more than my 993 turbo. After about 30 minutes the car had warmed up and I learned to manage the gearshift so I decided to head back to Irving Park and give it some real throttle. This silver sensation revved like a freaking motorcycle and gave a raspy bark out of the tail pipes, volume increasing the deeper I pressed the accelerator pedal! I reveled at the sound of backfires as the car coasts back down in gear. What a sense of occasion! I drove the car back to the owner's street, slowly managing the speed bumps and carefully creeping at an angle over the curb onto his driveway where I park the car and he comes out from his house. I told him my camera phone went missing and that I would love to have a picture of the two cars together. He went inside and busted out his camera and I got a shot of me posing in between the two cars. He gave me his card afterward and told me he'd send the pictures. I said my thanks and drove away.

I can't stop thinking about the experience. This guy totally trusted a stranger after 20 minutes to take his recently completed pride and joy alone on the city streets. Considering the difficulty level of driving the car and the congested location makes me even more amazed that you really have to trust a guy. It wasn't like handing keys to a newer, more conventional vehicle in the suburbs. I hope that all reading can share my valuable lesson of trust that this man taught me, but I find myself wondering if I could be so trusting in the same situation. What do you guys think? All of my friends that I’ve talked to agree that this guy is pretty much the coolest guy ever. I’m attaching the single photograph taken which happened to have me in between the two cars.

It's not just the cars it's the people.

No HTwo O

Great story!

Yesterday was very nice weather. Today, not so nice.

Quadcammer

thats freaking NUTS.

and god damn I want one of those 550s

SeanR

Awesome story. Simply amazing and congrats.

budge96

Pleasant story ,it is refreshing to hear mankind still has trust in his brethren, but then in the off chance
you didn't return...he always has your TT to make up for it ,right?

Bergamasco

That's a great story ...... simply amazing but would I do that with my car? hmmmm I think I have to work on it a bit to get myself in that frame of mind.

TurboLaal

very cool story...i have always wanted to build a 550

Mother

Sounds like you had a great talk and earned trust quickly. I would have no problem of doing that as long as his car is there as collateral. Funny some of my friends love my car but when I ask if they want to give it a spin they decline like there just to scared.

993MAN

In a world full of wars, recessions, earthquakes and general crap every day, this storey just reiterates that not everyone has a secret agenda.
I would drop that guy off a bottle of good quality New Zealand wine and have a glass with him.
That's an incredible storey.
The worlds not such a bad place....or it wasn't yesterday anyway.

DM993tt

Beck makes a great repro. 550, 356 speedsters, & 904's. Turnkey 550 speedsters for 30G, you can find em used for low 20's. http://www.beckspeedster.com/

Shaun Leahy

Hope your car was still there upon return?!?!??!

Only kidding: sometimes you build up a rapport with someone and you trust your gut feeling.

Sounds like that guy with the 550 replica is in the wrong job and should be either:
teaching kids/students or
mentoring Middle East Kinfs/Emirs/Leaders (the last is a word that Gadafffi likes),
to them grow up.

hal m

Having spend whatever he did on a fakey-do with a ricer motor, he was probably have buyers remorse and was hoping you would steal it so he could at least collect on insurance to recoup some of his wasted investment.

That's the New Yorker's version anyway.

Sounds like big fun and people never stop surprising us, good and bad!

Yomi

Ricer motor? They're quite nice flat 4's, and quite different than the Honda/Nissan etc. things you're thinking of. I do find it strange that he made it use carbs.

hal m

If it were me and I was building a repro German classic, at least I would stuff a Porsche engine in the thing. Or at least an air-cooled VW four banger.

I think those Porschev 914's are really nasty. So this makes no sense to me.

pstoppani

I let a guy drive my 993TT at the track for a session once. His Lotus Elise's transmission gave up the ghost and we got to talking about Loti, I have one myself, and later I felt sorry for him that he lost a whole day and a half of driving so I handed the keys to him and told him to have some fun!

I did get a chance to preview his driving skills earlier before the Elise transmission broke, so, maybe not a complete "stranger"...