theclaw

Since there are alot of negative stories out there about buying from a
dealer I thought I would share my experiences with Midwest Performance
Cars in Chicago. It will renew your faith in the benefit of dealing
with the right guy.

I had been shopping on and off for about 5 months when I casually
walked into Tom Simmons shop on Belmont in Chicago. The building
needed some work, the sign was pealing off on the front, and inside it was a bit dark but you could see 20 or so Porsche's parked side by side to each other. A photographer was shooting a very cool black NSX when I walked in.

I went to look at an '84 911 that, honestly, didn't show well on his
website. It had the cheezy gold BBS wheels mounted and the pictures on
the net really didn't do it justice. I was interested since it had
only 43k miles on it and looked to be in very good shape.

Tom and I talked about the car. He had come across it from a Honda dealer
he knows and since the car was not really the dealer's cup of tea, Tom took it
off his hands. He didn't have any of the paper work himself and knew only a
little about its history. The car drove very well, was a little dusty
since Tom was driving it himself now and then. As we talked, Tom
mentioned a regular customer of his, Jim Shrager by remarking, "You
know that guy who wrote one of the Porsche books and is at the Univ of
Chicago". I then replied, "Wait, that Jim Shrager of 356 fame is the
same guy at the UofC....I took his class!" Even though it was 10 years since I was a student of his, I called Jim Shrager to get the rap on Tom Simmons and he spoke very highly of him. If Tom was good enough for Jim Shrager, he was good enough for me.

So I committed the cardinal sin and bought the car without a PPI. Tom
had already done a lot of work on the car. The kind of stuff you would
have to do if you bought it from a private seller.

60k mi service
Valve adj, caps, plugs, belts, ignition wires, etc.
New Front Struts,
New Tires
new Alpine Cd player and antenna
Invoiced service and small repairs (ie: seatbelt warning switches,
sunroof clips, headlight dipper switch, hatch struts) to the tune of about
$4 large ones.

Now here's the really cool part of this story. Later, before a track day, I got the car tech'd by another shop and they said it had a noisy valve. They asked if I had a recent valve adjustment. I said yeah, the dealer did it before I bought
the car. I had another independent mechanic check it out and you
could really notice something. Now realize this is 1100 miles and 6 months
after I bought the car.

I called Tom, told him the situation and he said "Bring it in, we'll
take care of it" I about dropped the phone. I was all prepared for
some kind of discussion. I brought the car in a couple of weeks later
and not only did he re-adjust the valve that was ticking but he re-did
the entire valve job. No paperwork, no debate, he just took care of it.

If you are looking for a low mileage, or vintage Porsche, I would highly recommend Tom Simmons of Midwest Performance Cars in Chicago. http://www.midwestperformancecars.com

He is straightforward about his cars, knowledgeable, and delivers on his promises.

Disclaimer: I've got no economic interest in his business. I'm just relaying my experience.

Regards,
Jeff