Luis de Prat

If you didn't own your car from new, don't you sometimes think about the life it led before it reached your hands?

Call me nostalgic, but I sometimes do. Maybe it puts the cars' overall value to me into perspective.

Here are my cars' stories (or what I know of them):

1983 944
KY car, 4th owner. First was a dermatologist. Had it for 2 years, sold it with 17K to another fellow who kept it for 7 and up to around 80K. Sold to an aftermarket shop and 4th owner had it for around 2 years, putting 8K on it. I got it with 88K. Car now has 202K on original engine.

Note: early NAs are tough as nails if properly maintained, however, maintenance can cost more than on later NAs like the S2.

1990 944S2 cabrio
KY car, 3rd owner. First owner was the pretty, socialite wife of a successful businessman who bought his beloved all $53K+ worth of Porsche cab, back in the summer of 1990. My mechanic knew the car when new and I can imagine her blonde likeness picking it up in summer of 1990... Lady drove it 70K until 1995 when she traded it in at the dealer and the second owner, an older architect, bought it. He kept 4 years and traded it in again at 118K when I bought it.

Note: the convertible top was expensive to replace, but the car is solid as a tank, still a ton of fun to drive and a real looker.

1991 951S cabriolet
Swiss car, 4th owner. Mysterious first owner owned it through 1995 and traded it in at dealer in Zürich. Second owner was an airline employee who did the belts on it and traded it in at around 50K miles. Third owner a computer engineer who only had it for a year. I bought it with 58K miles. Extremely well maintained.

Note: Since they made so few of these, I went back on my word to never own a black car. It's a blast to drive and delightful to look at.

Bring 'em on. I'm curious.

ahofam123

My dad bought my car brand new but sold it two years later to start up a business. I know that it has gone through three different dealerships and an auto auction within the last three years. I saw it at a dealership in Oct. of 2002. I went back the next week to make an offer but it was sold. I went back to the dealership again in Nov. of 2002 to try and get the name of the buyer but the dealership had already reposessed it. It is now parked inside my garage again talking to his good, the E-type, which it had met in '86.

85944na

My car was originally won in a contest for Domino's pizza I think, the winner couldn't afford to keep it after taxes so it was sold right away to a businessman who took great care of it from what I can tell until he traded it in at a ford dealership, might have been chevy...the guy I bought it from bought it there and had it for two years, he took amazing care of it, and not it's all mine!

85944na

Oh, I forgot, my dad managed the local Porsche dealership when my car was new, and he remembers a red 944 that they got in that was bought by Domino's for a contest, it's so my car!, he remembers it new!

SamGrant951

Father bought a brown 83 or 84 944 (only one I have ever seen, dark dark brown) then bought a guards red 85 944 n/a not long after. Ordered a Guards 951 when he first heard they were making a turbo and traded the brown 944 in to a Porsche dealer in Evansville and kept the guards n/a for a few good years. Sold it privately to someone in Illinois a few years after getting the 951. the 951 traveled 86,000 miles w/no mods when I got ahold of it and I started replacing everything as it was tired with some problems (the reason it was parked in the first place) -ole dad seemed to have last interest in p-cars along the way and had even mentioned selling it- now its had almost everything replaced/repainted and she currently sits at 121,000, a much happier and reliable car. Getting ready for her next round of turbo/wastegate/suspension mods Funny now though as he seems to really like it and the marque again and is looking around for a RS America or Boxster S w/in a year or so...

MichelleJD

1985.5 n/a - Original owner bought it at a dealership in Ft. Knox. I still have the original window sticker ($29,000 and change). Within months he put the turbo nose and rear on it. He was at Brumos Porsche in Jax, FL, in the early 90's looking to trade it in when a friend of mine (my divorce lawyer!) saw it. Offered to buy the car outright while standing in their parking lot. Car had 80K or so then. Car came with all receipts. Chris (2nd owner) put it up for sale in 1995 to buy a '69 Camaro ragtop (which he still owns). I've had it since then. Car had just shy of 150K when I got it. I even drove it (before I bought it) to take him to pick up the Camaro.

1986 951 - Just bought it last week. Purchased it from a Rennlister who bought it from a man in Iowa. That's all I know about it. <img border="0" title="" alt="[Frown]" src="frown.gif" />

944S2NUT

My 1990 944S2 guards red was purchased NEW at MCL by a dentist. By the year 2001 he sold it with about 99,000km to a girl who could not afford to maintain it properly, so she sold it to me a year later with 120,000km. When I received the car the interior was mint as well as the exterior and rims. Altho I sunk about 8k into it including NEW RIMS! which were 2k and sold quickly after I bought them. About 6,000k in things like clutch timing belt new suspension oil leaks, bushings, brakes, and electrical tune up, etc.. NOW she is showroom condition and very very happy. The car currently has 133,000kms on it and nearly all the records, including the sales mans business card, lease forms, 28page full colour tech manual. OH YAH the first owner purchased the sport seat option with heated seats! <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />

PeteL

I don't know my car's original history, other than it originated in Texas. Somehow it ended up in the hands of an Air Force E-5 in Honolulu. I bought the car in Hawaii when I was promoted to LCDR. Had about 102K and I learned it was not in the best of condition. I then moved to Washington State. The car rode across on the USS BRIDGE (AOE-10). It was with me in Washington, where it was treated to Garage Queen status. I then shipped it to Texas. I think its kind of funny how the car ended up back in it's state of origin. I have done all major repairs to the car. It is finally up to date on maintenance (almost ready to begin the cycle again).

Matt Ritenour

My 1987 944S spent it's life in a showroom in Las Vegas as eye candy from birth until May 9, 2002 where it was bought by a dealership in Ohama, Nebraska. Four months later it was bought by the third owner who, lucky for me had performed some major maintance on the car before I bought it in the first week of January. Unfortunatly there are no records available other than proof of title from each owner, until the car was bought by itssecond owner. However, the car is in showroom condition both inside and out and i attribute this to the fact that she stayed in the hands of the origional owner for so long. Needless to say I LOVE MY CAR and i have no plans to ever sell it. I will keep it till the day either it dies or I do. Needless to say that will be a sad day indeed <img border="0" alt="[crying]" title="" src="graemlins/crying.gif" /> The car is currently getting a rebuild and should be out of the shop soon. I can't wait because it looks like the snow might finally melt around here and there are some great local roads to play on! Come on spring.

Matt

MadMax

My 1991 S2 cabriolet was a $52k graduation present for a University of Florida Law student. It was purchased from Brumos Porsche. She drove the car until 1998, when she traded it in at Brumos for a Mercedes. She put about 60k on it. Brumos re-certifed the car (bumper to bumper 12 month unlimited mileage warranty through Porsche)and it was sold to a retired Army officer in Souther Georgia. He had the car until March of 2001 when I bought it from him. I have records on it going back to about 40k miles. The car now has 98k miles.

Max

deni durrell

i honestly don't know much about my car except from what a mechanic told me since the car had benn serviced there since 1997.. i can tell you about how i got the car though. a friend of mine had asked some other friends of his for advice on some type type of fun, cheap car he should get. my friend then invited me to go out with him to test drive a couple of 944s. thinking that these cars were rather rich, i thought nothing of them after that point. my friend finally settled on one car and drove it for 8-10 months. he then decided to move to new york and asked me if i wanted to buy it (after he had promised to sell it to another friend beforehand). i told him "sure, i'll take it". but my friend is all about drama and was waffling and said that it wasn't fair of him to say one thing and do another- needless to say that i convinced him that i was a more of an avid enthusiast and that i would take better care of the car. within the first month (apr-01), my knowledge had surpassed his with the help of google and rennlist. by the way, i never even looked at the car nor even knew what color it was before putting the money in his bank account, i had thought it was one of the cars i had test driven with him, but i still can't remember if i did or not. in this case, the gain far exceeded the risk. wish i knew about these things a long time ago... I have the exact car as Luis (83 LZ7Z).

Peter K.

My wife and I were shopping for a sports car while she was pregnant. We looked at everything we could, we had set a price range and went all over Richmond looking at different models. I drove all sorts of sport coupes.
We were driving down Broad one Wednesday( we always seemed to go shopping together on Wednesdays)and she told me to pull into a lot. There was a black 300ZX and a few other cars there, I chose the 300 as it had always been one fo my favorite cars. I didn't even see my wife looking at the 944S tucked away in the corner. She knew I had an affinity for Porsches in general. I drove the 300, it was a POS.
I didn't even want to look at the Porsche because I figured we couln't afford it and didn't want to tease myself.
Well, we talked to the dealer for a few, and he told us the price. It was more than we wanted to spend, but we decided to go out for a test drive anyway.
I almost made my wife ( who was a week away from giving birth to our son) puke when I took it in a u turn and let out the clutch too quickly!!! Man that car slid out and fishtailed but then it righted itself so quickly and easuly that I could only smile at my green faced and very unhappy wife. I grinned like a little kid on xmas day when he sees the tree full of gifts.
Well we went back and put a deposit ont he car and then went for the inspection etc and a week later I was the proud owner of my little "Wednesday" as we have taken to calling her. And now after typing all of this sentimental crap i find myself with a little tear in my eye for even considering selling her to buy a turbo. BAD PETE!!
I will never part with this car. A week after we bought it my wonderful beautiful unbelievable son was born. Lucas Kristian Kelly. We celebrate two birthdays in one when it is his birthday, his and the car's.
Lucas LOVES the Porsche, and I am pretty sure he would cry for days if I sold it anyway, hell, I would too.
I am rambling now. I ain't sellin' the car. I'll buy the turbo outright when I can afford it.

Oh yeah, it had two owners before me, I knew neither, but the records show the car was regularly serviced for the first 10 years then for two it had no records. The engine let go after 1.5 years nad has since been rebuilt. The rebuild is a whole other post.

Travis - sflraver

wow, here we go...

I was away with my girlfriend to WV to visit her dad. I had never been to her dads house before and it was a little disturbing at first to tell you the truth. He lives way up in the mountians down a one way road. Next to the road is about a 100 ft. drop straight down with no guard rail. The road is at least 10 miles long. When someone comes from the other direction one of you has to back up untill the road gets big enough for the two of you to pass. Also, everyone does like 50mph.
Ok, so we arrive at night and that makes it that much more disturbing for me. Anyway, the next morning I look outside and under a shed in the back is a run down 84 944. From what her dad said it had not been dirven in like 10 years. We stayed for 4 days.. and every day that car haunted me. I found myself going over to look at it every chance I got.
Well, needless to say after I got back home it ate at me more and more untill I just had to have my own.
One month later I got my 86.
One month after that I got my 84 944
Two days later I got a 80 924

Man, these things grow on you quick.

Silverbullet951

I'm the third owner of my car. The first owner treated it like GOLD. It was very taken care of. Then the second owner bought it and treated it like crap. It was left outside for 3 years and the paint and many other parts of the car were destroyed. The interior was in shambles. The engine was leaking everywhere. The exhaust manifold was leaking. Electronic problems. right window motor was ceased. Wheels were worn down, and the tires had no tread left. I felt SO bad for it. I couldn't stand seeing the car in that condition. I bought it for practically nothing and restored it to mint condition. She's a beauty and she runs like a champ now. She has a whole new interior, new upgraded 17 wheels. Engine is rebuilt, electrical problems are fixed. Paint is brand new. Everything is in great shape. She is garage kept and treated like GOLD once again.
WOW, I love that story....

Rich Sandor

Man, I'm not even gonna get into this one.. I still have pcitures of the car from when it was at the used car lot, looking all nasty and ****. I even have pics of the OTHER 951 I was thinkin' of buying, but just barely couldn't afford.