Johnny G Pipe

I don't think I am an odd guy, but for the past 20 years or so I have thought about, planned to buy, bought, fixed, driven, (and I even sold one), Porsches. I have done other stuff too of course, like a job, had kids, raced bicycles..but Porsche has been a consistent daily escape. Luckily for me, here, you all know why this is.

In doing so I have accumulated five Porsches, always bought cheap, always bought as the first example of each that I have ever driven - and got away with it. I quite like them to be a little scruffy, as they are all I drive and I have kids, I carry bikes in them, put my SUP on the roof etc. I have also learned how to fix old cars, by financial necessity, and much of that learning has come from Rennlist since I joined in 2001.

And you know what is coming - you can't love Porsches without being lured to experiencing the 928. So, a quiet interest over the years became noticing, became researching, became searching. I live in Scotland but was also looking at the mainland European vendors -there were a few candidates, but I was in danger of settling for cars that I had a crush on but werent right. However I have a great Belgian friend, Bert, who cajoled, teased and directed me to less well known sources, including what I guess might be the French Craigslist, Le Bon Coin...the err, 'Good corner'. I'm sure it works better in French.

Alors, in the Good Corner we found, a 1978, not rusty but dusty, badly repainted, non sunroof 5 speed, with the de rigeur later spoilers 'n strips, but still on teledials, original wheel but a very bad wooden gearknob, possibly optioned with a single door mirror, a little jaded looking but registered with the correct Carte Gris, allegedly driven regularly and in possession of a recent French road safety test, Controle Technique. A Pascha interior that wasnt perfect but at the same time wasn't the fetid pit of mouldy velour foam rubber and small mammal habitat that pervades the OB resto project market. It called out to me, and it was cheap. Well relatively so, given the jump in OB values. Lets say potentially cheap enough after a little bartering, despite the vendor admitting to the car requiring beaucoup de travail a faire.

The vendor (Boris) said he did not speak English, but was friendly enough in that semi interested way that only the French can carry off. But Bert helped me extract additional information. No major issues, some things work, some don't, comme ci comme ca. The dash has a crack. The rear muffler has a hole. The gearbox report translated as 'showing its age', cryptically. The VIN, 9289100057. So, a Euro 79, but the 46th Euro 79, which was OK I guess. Boris said the original colour was a pale metallic blue or green. I had fingers crossed for the marvellous madness that is Lindgrun, but I noticed from a photo that scratched by hand into the VIN plate was 'Color 35Y', which internets to lagoon green metallic. Which is of course as the name suggests, blue.

The car as all Porsche of this era was Sonauto supplied, which again was mildy nice, as the name has historical Porsche context. Similar to my SC which was supplied to the Otto Glockler dealership in Frankfurt, before ending up in Manteca

So. Brexit notwithstanding, Scotland is still in Europe, as is France. The immediate problem however was that we were at opposite corners - I am in North East Scotland by the North Sea, and the car was in South East France by the Meditteranean - Aix en provence, to be exact. 2000km away from home. But, entirely by coincidence of course, we were due to go on holiday/vacation to the South of France, near Toulouse - a mere 400km from Aix. The seeds of a plan were thus sown; wouldnt it be crazy to go and pick it up and attempt to drive it home? Yes it was a project, but the Boris said he drove it regularly. So what could go wrong? This is a Porsche, of course, and I had already pulled off a slightly smaller similar journey in my SC, which was bought firmly as a project from dutch vendors, who then looked on in bafflement as other customers loaded an old Merc SL on to a trailer, we chugged off their forecourt out in to traffic and off on to the road to Scotland. That car got progressively happier the closer to home we got, but it did end up having broken head studs and a dead chipmunk on the transmission. Anyway, I digress.

So here I was, now on holiday with the family, in the heat of the South of France, with very little internet, a 928 that I wanted which was 6 hours train ride away, and a garrulous, uncommunicative and potentially villainous Frenchman to aquire it from. Would it be worth it? Would he do a deal? How would I pay him if the car checked out? How would I get it home? What would I do if it didnt make it? And why could I not just sit by the pool with a Leffe and John Steinbeck like a normal person?

hlee96

Nice score! Congratulations-Hoi

j.kenzie@sbcglobal.net

Looks beautiful. Great project.
Good luck,
Dave

linderpat

Wow, that looks like it is in very nice shape. That pascha looks great, as does the dash. Great color combination. did you actually get it? Need lots more pictures!

SeanR

That car looks awesome. Keep us updated.

hwyrnr

that is sweet.

Wisconsin Joe

'Cuz 'normal' is boring. Duh.

And you better finish the story.

GT6ixer

^ This please!

docmirror

Looks like a keeper. But - trip for trip. I got ya beat. I drove the 1985 version of Wreck of the Edmund Fitzgerald 1883 miles from Barstable MA to Fort Worth TX. With no right rear window. No fuel gauge. Howling wheel bearing. Yes, I did need duct tape and tools.

Wisconsin Joe

Very true. I remember that car and that trip.

But you had a pretty good idea of what you were getting into.

You also weren't doing this as a 'side venture' while on a family vacation with the wife & munchkins.

How exactly does one tell the 'significant other' something along the lines of:

Oh, by the way, I'm going to go look at a 40 year old car. And if it's nice I'm going to buy it and we'll drive it home.

And what reaction does that sort of comment generate?

Tom in Austin

Great adventure and a nice-looking shark ... congrats

F18Rep

ExPat lesson #1: Any two people in Europe can communicate if at least one is willing to look foolish (for some reason, this works best on trains)....B

Adk46

Huh. What happened to Johnny?

I'm reminded of a situation during my brief motorcycle period. My goal was to work up to a week-long tour. I consulted the trip planning section of a forum, and found a guy who was planning a trip up towards Labrador - nice. I realized that he was probably on the trip just then, so I skipped to the last page. The first post was "What happened to Joe? Why did he stop posting?" The next post was "I'm afraid there's bad news". Something to do with a dusty road and a big truck.

Not long afterwards, I sold the motorcycle.

I hope the news is not as bad for Johnny, that's he's merely been forced onto a tour bus visiting art museums for three days.

Bedfordman

Great story. Lovely car. I think that if you have a feel for cars you can get away with 'see it once, love it, & just buy it'. It's time efficient too. I have bought: 1991 928 S4, 1997 Mazda MX5 Mk1, 1999 Saab Viggen on this basis over the past few yrs.
This assumes you have Obsolescence Management Qualified Practioner status. And you are Risk Management Certified ! Peter

Johnny G Pipe

So, we were in the Tarn et Garonne region, around an hour North of Toulouse. Its very rural, hot but not crazy hot, and famous for fields and fields of sunflowers. We flew there and had a hire car, so me, my wife and kids (11, 14) were mobile. We went to markets, drank wine, swam in the pool, wandered among the tourne a soleil....and I emailed Boris, my bank and breakdown recovery companies, from the 3G available in the 3 square feet at one corner of the pool.





It was complicated. Boris seemed genuine, selling as although he liked the idea of being a Porsche 928 driver, feared the potential cost and complexity of the task. At first he said that he would not take offers, but I then managed to agree a 1000 euro reduction. Next he refused to accept a foreign bank transfer, as he had so many interested French parties - but then having spoken to his bank, agreed. I then emailed him a plea, regarding my situation, to be honest, specifically about terrible secrets the car may be harbouring. In response to this he acknowledged that on one occasion, having left the car running in the heat, he experienced large amounts of oil smoke on first acceleration.

On this last acknowledgement, I had decided to let this one go. It was too risky, the rest of the plan was rickety at best - I still hadnt resolved what I would do if it broke down, UK break down insurance would not cover a non UK car.

But I couldnt sleep, and as a last gasp I offered him the price minus 3000 euro, describing the basic work I would need to get the car into reliable health, timing belt etc., and considering the smoke. In reality, the scenario he described would feasibly encourage a little smoke in a 40 year old car, all the same I feared for the piston rings. But, what the heck.

Boris was surprisingly mild mannered in his response, saying he was en fete, and would get back to me in a few days. Profitez vous bien de votre fete Boris, says I, I'll just sit here in anguish. But it must have been a bon fete, as he agreed to the deal. Oh bloody hell. Right, time to speak to my bank and plan my route to Aix.



Which leads to the next dilemma: The bank said that the payment could take 24 hours to clear. I didnt really want to go an see the car and travel all the way back and then return to pick it up, nor did I want to spend 2 days with Boris, so as not to impact our family holiday. So, I resolved to send the payment in advance, in the expectation that it would clear the same day. There was of course some risk in this decision, but these types of pursuits sometimes require you to just trust your fellow human being. (Yes, I was so into this car, I was now delusional). So I authorised the transfer on the phone to my bank, from the grounds of Parc Walibi funfair, answering security questions and giving details phonetically with intermittent screaming from a roller coaster in the background, on a dying blackberry. That was pretty surreal. But now I was committed.

I was still being holiday Dad, and so had to make my arrangements in stolen moments. The last one was breakdown cover - because I probably would break down. The evening before travel this still wasnt resolved, but I understood from research that ADAC would cover me, and planned to call them from the train. The next day my marvellous wife dropped me at the local train station, and I was off. I spoke to the awesomely German people at ADAC, who would of course cover me, but that my application would take... around a week. As James May would say... ****.

I am a psychiatrist, and as I approached Marseille, now many hours away from my wonderful family, the holiday home and pool, at this point that I wondered, quite seriously, whether this was what it was like to have a manic episode. What the hell was I doing? But, as I took my connection to Aix en Provence, I noticed that the funds had left my account. And so, onwards was now the only way. I messaged Boris to say that I was approaching. Tres bien, he says, I'll meet you at the station. 10 minutes prior to arrival, he messaged to say that he was waiting in the station car park. So far so good.

And so I arrived at Aix, and found my way to the small car park. All the hussle and bussle of the departed train settled down, and it was just me and the cicadas.

Boris wasnt there.