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I was lucky enough to buy my first 911, a '95 993 C2, in November of last year. I very quickly learned to love every minute I spent in the car!
In March of this year I was unlucky enough to have some fairly serious front-end damage occur, through no fault of my own. Between wrangling with the party which caused the damage, their insurance, my insurance, and the repair process, I finally got the car back and on the road just last week.
I have a (very) long-term plan to make the car over into an RS tribute, so decided to pay for some "upgrades" as part of the repairs. To this end, the front bumper was replaced with the Euro spec part, RS front splitters were added, and modifications were made under the front hood to install the RS washer fluid tank and tubing and the RS hood strut (as the existing shocks were failing anyway). The existing headlight washer nozzles were also removed. (A big thanks to Gert Carnewal for all his help with many of the bits and pieces installed!)
As I had a business conference to attend in Asheville, NC last week, I decided it would be the perfect opportunity to take the refreshed car for a long drive and get reacquainted. The Blue Ridge Parkway offers a nearly perfect place for just such a drive.
On my way to Asheville, I took Route 226A from Marion up to Little Switzerland (and wonderful driving road, if you ever have the chance) and then followed the Parkway all the way south to Asheville with a few stops for scenery including a trip up Mt. Mitchell, the tallest peak east of the Mississippi:
After the conference wrapped up mid-day on Friday, I got back on the Parkway and headed down to Mt. Pisgah for lunch at the great restaurant in the Pisgah Inn before lacing up my boots and taking a nearly 7 mile round-trip hike up Mt. Pisgah and back. In the process, I got caught out in the open in a driving rain storm with lightening crashing all around. Not something which has happened to me in a long time, and not fun! The picture below shows the weather, of course, on the mountain after I had returned to the car and changed into dry clothes:
From there I drove north back to Little Switzerland to spend the night, though I did take a short drive up to the town of Spruce Pine for a very tasty dinner.
I got up early on Saturday to watch the sunrise from the deck off my room, and then hit the road after a quick breakfast. You can just make out Table Rock in the distance here:
The drive was beautiful with the early morning light coming through the trees and the fog hanging in the valleys.
My next stop was Blowing Rock, for a short stroll through town and a bit of shopping looking for a gift for my wife's upcoming birthday. Upon returning to the car, I found it had been spending time with some good company. What a pretty car!
A few more stops were made along the way to see the always beautiful sights and scenes of the Parkway. One quick stop was to see Flat Top Manor, the home of Moses Cone, now located within Moses H Cone Memorial Park. Though in need of considerable maintenance and repair, it is still a very impressive house!
From there I continued to follow the Parkway north all the way to Fancy Gap, VA before finally heading south and ultimately back to Raleigh. I had to make one last stop, however, at Pilot Mountain for a final hike to top off the trip:
In all I drove approximately 1000 miles and the car's performance was nearly flawless. The 993 is a true joy to drive, and now it looks even better IMO. I hope I will be able to have many more years and miles of fun drives with this car!
Wow! Thanks for posting this as I did your Little Switzerland and Blue Ridge Parkway run just two years back. Stunning and so much fun with so few cars on the road.
Wow! Thanks for posting this as I did your Little Switzerland and Blue Ridge Parkway run just two years back. Stunning and so much fun with so few cars on the road.
Your car looks great!
Thank you!
Originally Posted by nine9six
While you were in there, what about new, upgraded suspension, and bushings?
The plans are there. The money, currently, is not!
Originally Posted by Holytin
Blowing Rock - that's 20 minutes away from me. Next time let me know and we do it together.
08-09-2016, 10:07 AM
Time to get reacquainted with my 993
