Luis de Prat

Every 944 I've owned has had a "waiting process" behind it.

The 83 I bought May 25, 1994 after having test driven it a month before and decided I really liked the car. I was 25 and the loan took some time to get, but I haggled the PO down $500 from the $6,500 asking price because it needed a few things, like tires, but in all it was a pretty good buy. After the PPI I had contacted the fellow who had it longest before the PO who had verified the belt change, etc., so I knew it was OK. Car now has over 216K miles and has "been through the wars" since I've owned it.

First thing I did when I bought it was go for a ride with my best friend. He couldn't believe I had just bought a Porsche.

The S2 Cabrio I bought June 29, 1999. My birthday. I had spotted it in April at a VW dealer, when the asking price was $17,800. After a PPI revealed that my mechanic had known the car since new, my patience was rewarded because it was a relatively high mile car, at 118K miles, but I knew more about it than the average buyer and ended up getting it for $14,750.

First thing I did was drive it with the top down nonstop for nearly 24 hours and have the fluids changed. Car now has 137K miles and is going strong.

The 951 Cabrio was meant to replace the S2 Cabrio when I moved back to Europe, but I couldn't manage to part with the S2. Long story short, a Rennlister found the Turbo Cab while searching for a replacement S2 Cab in Europe. When he sent the pictures I knew it was a unique opportunity to own a special car. I jumped on it and he put a down payment on the car for me in October, 2000.

Before picking it up, I had the cam tower gasket replaced, which leaked slightly from having been switched to full synthetic, had the brakes replaced, new rear tires and the oil changed. It had 58K miles and now has around 67K miles. Has been extremely trouble free, except for odds and ends like the auxiliary water pump, etc.

First thing I did after waiting 2 long months to pick up the car in Winterthur, Switzerland on December 20, 2000, was drive it 750 miles to Barcelona. I'll never forget that drive.

Friendan

Found out the car was for sale through the husband of my hairdresser. She said he finally wanted to sell it, because he never drove it. It sat in a heated garage for what could be up to 6 or more years, collecting dust. Naturally, all the fluids were shot, the fuel pump seized, the battery dead etc...but the car was imacculate inside and out. The PO took it to my mechanic to have everything changed that needed to to make it run. All fluids changed, battery, fuel pump...

I wanted that car so bad, and I would drive by it sitting on the garage's lot every other day, waiting to finally get my hands on it. I got it together to sell my 83 which had a long way to go to perfection, and I bought the car, with 73k km. Washed it, drove it around for hours, on the highway, visiting friends, noticing the the intricate differences between it and my 83...and simply being astonished that I owned something so perfect and so beautiful. Immediately I was on ebay getting little parts for it that it was missing; front bumper pad broken, hood crest ripped off...and some other little things to enhance the car.

But, mistake #1: I didn't know about the infamous 944 timing belt issue; I have records of the belts being changed in 1992! I thank the Porsche Gods for what happened next: My water pump started leaking, so I took it in to get it changed, because if it seized, the belts would've gone anyways. So I have all pump, belts, rollers and seals all done. Turns out MY BALANCE BELT WAS ALREADY SNAPPED and the teeth on the timing belt were starting to peel! I really, really got off lucky...

I then got my wheels and floormats through a former 944 owner. To make a long story short, this guy pulled up to me one day in my 83, said he had a totalled 944 with a bunch of parts, hands me his business card while we were in motion. Call him up, go down and buy his mint floormats and a box of misc. parts. Sell all the parts on ebay and make back more than what the floormats cost me.

I went down a few months later to pick up the mint wheels, my Cup 1's.
My mistake #2: At the time I assumed that the 85.5 update included the wheel offset change. His car was an 87, mine is an 86...OOPS!

So I have them on my car right now, no biggie, they just look kinda silly. I've been in school so I haven't been driving the car or making enough to get spacers or buy proper offset wheels.

It was only a few months later I found Rennlist through 944S2NUT, and I quickly learned alot more about these cars. It feels so much better to have so much more knowledge about my car now.

Car now has 92k km or 57k miles, and I love it more than ever. Would I research the car and look around more next time? Definitely. But I fell in love with this car, and true love makes you do crazy things.

Come May, I'm free as a bird when I graduate, and I'll be working and driving fulltime. Prepare to see some changes.

FRporscheman

Drove it home with 3 breakdowns on a clutch with no rubber center left. The very first thing I did was clean up the interior the best I could, then a month later I dove into the clutch/engine and voila 7 months later its ready to drive.

Tom R.

Hey Luis,
You bought one cab on your birthday, and the other on mine. That means the 951 should be mine

Luis de Prat

Come and get it!

Tom R.

I have a lot of United FF miles, don't tempt me!

I noticed that a lot of people took the car to a mechanic, or checked the car out mechanically shortly after picking it up. Those that drove the car home a long distance usually had a basic knowledge of 944s before they bought the car, or knew the seller so they could trust the drive would be uneventful.

The eventful trips were for the most part people new to the 944 world.

Dilberto

When I picked up my first 944- I immediately drove the hell out of it. The handling captivated my passion. The acceleration had me thirsty for much more. With 17" three-piece 3.6 Turbo Carerra alloys- my car looked much faster than it ever could be. Women of all ages loved it. Young boys gawked at it. SUV drivers did double-takes when noticing how low(3.5") my car was. After three months of ownership....I was ready for boost.

Rock

What did i do when i first got my 944?

Tried to get it to start.

Tom R.

Was that before or after you cleaned the cat **** out of the back?

Rock

The cats never crapped back there, they had babies back there but that must have already been cleaned before i got it.

danb4

I loaded up the family and went for a drive around the island with the top down. Wearing an Aloha shirt, driving a sweet convertible around Oahu...felt like I was Magnum PI (except I didn't have a dorky mustache)

My wife commented that the car interior reminded her of a datsun her parents had in the 70's.....it was all black vinyl. Heh...she's not really a car person.