H2

No car purchase is without event. When the '88S4 5-speed I recently bought was delivered to my daughter's house, it was missing the owners manuals, tool kit, AND THE SPARE KEY. The PO does not know what happened to them except that he thinks the spare key is stowed around his house somewhere and he is looking for it. Obviously, the manuals/tools were removed on purpose from this pristine car by someone looking at the car while it was briefly on a garage's lot in Phoenix. Perhaps to be sold on eBay or something.

My question...should I take pre-emptive measures to keep this car from mysteriously disappearing from my driveway someday if a jerk has the key? How difficult/expensive would this changeover be?

I'm not interested in paying collector prices for the manuals or tools but would at least like a photocopy of the '88S4's owner's manual if I can buy one for $25 or so (or, maybe it's posted somewhere on the web?). Wonder what a toolset sells for?

The "misplaced" extra key is my major concern. Maybe the PO has really misplaced it or perhaps it's in the hands of whoever ripped off the manuals.

I can get a spare key made but I'm not comfortable if the wrong person also has a copy. Then again, if keys can be made from photographs...what's to stop some shop worker from taking a photo of your key and having a copy made that fits your car?

Thanks for your advice,

Harvey

Pfunde

Buy new lock's ( used one's, new ones would be $1000 in Denmark )or have them re-made/done. Do a search, someone posted about where to buy those little lockparts + how to do it manual.......better than the empty driveway option

AO

Get agreed value insurance and don't worry about it. I seriously doubt anyone is that smart to take the spare key to come back and steal it - but then I've never had a car stolen from me either and I live in the car theft capital of the US (I think). Most criminals want cars they can part out quickly and cheaply - like a Camary or an Accord.

AO

Duh! Of course, you can manually change the tumblers yourself and get Stewart from Keys4classics.com make you a key based on the new tumbler code. Still a lot of work, though. I probably wouldn't bother.

ROG100

Harvey,
It will be a lot of trouble and $$$ to change out all your locks with a new setup.
No disrespect but we are talking about a $20kish car here not some $100k car worth someones effort to steal. If it were stolen don't you think the cops would knock on his (PO) door first.
Send a pic to Stuart in Australia and get a copy made - he even sells the exact key so you can put the lighted key head on.
Stuart has 4000 positive feedbacks and is known WorldWide for his key operation. Do you think he would put that in jeopardy to steal your very nice car not to mention the airfare from Australia.
Order a spare and just keep pestering the PO for his.

JWise

Harvey,

I agree with Andrew and Roger. The vast majority of people in the world don't have a clue what a 928 is, pristine or otherwise. I wouldn't worry too much about any conspiracy to steal it. Just get an agreed value policy and sleep well at night. You need an agreed value policy anyway, as you don't want to have to fight the insurance company to get what a pristine car is worth if you ever have a claim.

As to the owner's manual and tools, the 928 International store is showing used '88 manuals for $25 and new ones for $38. They also show used tool kits for $100. Assuming they have these in stock, of course. I'm still looking for a spare tire compressor myself.

Enjoy the new car!

danglerb

What they said, I got one key with my car, like I suspect 99% of everybody else did as well. People put the spare key in a safe place and then forget where that is.

Second to the top item on my do list for this week is to stop at 928intl and get a couple keys cut, so I have my own spare to lose.

H2

Jarrod,

Good advice. I order tomorrow.

Harvey