Targa 993 Owner Awarded $152K from Mechanic Who Kept Car for 11 Years
A 993 Targa was eventually returned to the owner, but not only was it not repaired, the car had been stripped of its parts.
The 993 Targa is a special car. It was not only the final air-cooled 911 but the first Targa to do away with the traditional Targa bar and use a sliding glass roof in its place. A feature that would remain until the 991 generation Targa returned with the beloved Targa bar. So, when Dr. Penelope Horlick damaged hers in an accident back in 2010, she wanted to make sure it was repaired properly. According to a report from the Daily Mail, she took it to Jagjiwan Jhally of JJ Engineering to have the work completed. That was in August of 2010. In March of 2022 the car which was stripped of its engine, transmission and other valuable parts was dumped in front of Horlick’s home. Horlick sued Jhally and a court awarded her £114,000 — around $152,000 — in damages.
We are glad that Horlick was compensated. But she dropped off her car over 14 years ago now. And the world now has one less beautiful 993 Targa in it thanks the Jhally. How the heck does this sort of thing happen? Jhally agreed to do the work and even sent Horlick invoices totaling roughly $12,000 for it. But nothing was ever done.
Well, nothing except removing the 3.6-liter flat six engine and four-speed Tiptronic S transmission from the car. Porsche repairs can take a long time, but how can you let a shop hold onto your car for over a decade? I could build a 993 from scratch with my bare hands in that amount of time. Well, maybe not me, but someone who knows how to build a car could. Seriously though, how does this happen?
Doctor vs Shop Owner
Horlick is a doctor that specializes in Neanderthals and the mid-Paleolithic period as a researcher at Oxford University. She is clearly an intelligent woman, and it is not like she just dropped her car off at the shop and never picked up the phone again for a decade. She would follow up with Jhally on occasion and ask for updates.
Each time he would tell her that the repairs were almost done, but he would not provide a definitive end date. As time went on and Horlick pressed harder, Jhally would become aggressive. He began to send her abusive messages. Horlick eventually filed a court claim in March 2022 and after that Jhally dumped the stripped out 993 Targa in front of her home.
Buy a Porsche to Have a Porsche
Everyone reading this knows that a Porsche is not simply a car used to get from point A to point B. A Porsche is bought because you want a Porsche, and you love driving. Court recorder John Halford summed it up best when he was reading the judgement when he said, “nobody buys a Porsche to have a car – they buy a Porsche to have a Porsche.” He explained how the car was Horlick’s pride and joy, and that this ordeal deprived her of the value of being a Porsche owner.
That is in part what led to the $152,000 judgement. Although if it were me, I would rather have an intact 993 Targa and 14 years of memories with it than the money. You can’t buy memories.
Lessons Learned
Obviously, Horlick will never go back to Jhally for any car repairs. And hopefully no one else ever does either. But this does remind us all of a valuable lesson. Don’t trust your pride and joy to just anyone. We know that Horlick is a researcher at Oxford, but we don’t know how much research she did on this shop before entrusting her car to it. Perhaps there was nothing that she could have done to prevent this unfortunate event.
But for others out there, we urge you to thoroughly vet any shop before using them to repair your Porsche. The members we have here on Rennlist are some of the most knowledgeable that you will find anywhere in the world. If you have questions and are looking for advice, reach out to your fellow Rennlisters.
Photos: Porsche
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