My new to me 997.1 Cobalt
 

Hey all,

First I'd like to thank all of the contributors on this forum subcategory. It really helped me decide which one would be "thee one" I would steward for "a time".
Ended up with a 37k mile, three owner 7.1 in Cobalt. I've been looking on and off for about 5 years now, and I felt it was time. I've had a 7.2S since December of 15', my first Pcar. I've been wanting to buy a 911 my whole life, and being from a lower middle class family, that purchase had to wait. A wonderful marriage, three beautiful children (followed by three college funds) and buying and building a business at 30 years young, alot of "life" took priority.
The last five years of my life haven't been exactly "my favorite", alot of not so good things happened along the way, postponing this purchase time and time again.

A huge shoutout to @switchcars for a large part of making this happen. They graciously took my 11 C2S on trade, and really facilitated the whole deal and made three people happy (seller of cobalt, and buyer of mine, plus moi).

The car, a 2007 GT3 Cobalt Blue with 37k miles on it. In very good condition. A couple scratches and a few quirks that need to be ironed out. A few aftermarket goodies, such as: an RS flywheel & clutch. Aftermarket speakers and amp. The Rennline pedals...

On October 17th, I saw the car link somewhere (here or a text) to an incoming Cobalt Blue to Doug's dealership. I waited a day or two and decided to email him, just to "throw it out there", and it worked out. While I was in the middle of emailing him the "is the car available still? and are you still willing to take my Silver 7.2 on trade", my phone rang with some very disturbing news, a very close friend just died in a motorcycle accident. So while I was in literal shock of loosing a friend, I realized that life is sometimes too short, so sh!t or get off the pot. JT, your spirit pushed me over the top in committing to this "toy".....So, November the 8th I flew back to Twinsburg OH from northern CA to pick it up and drive it home. Yep. Drive it. Get to know it, cherish it, and do what it was designed to do....

4 travel days. Thursday, 5 hours to Hammond IL from Twinsburg. Friday, Hammond IL to Chicago to meet the previous owner, pick up records and a front lip and a car cover and just BS for about a 1/2 hour before leaving his place at 7 am to drive 10.5 hours to North Platte NE. Rested there on Friday nite, woke up Saturday to simply drive, drive, drive. Wasn't sure were I was going to end up, the goal kinda being Wendover NV. Well Saturday was a very nice day for driving, got off to a cold start, got down to 19º, but the rest of the day was just Nebraska, Wyoming, Utah, Nevada. All highway 80. Saturday ended up being 13.5 hours of driving, only stopping to stretch and gas up. 1100 miles on Saturday. Ate very little, basically just a little protein, water, and the open road with the glorious sound of a Mezger power plant moving me thru time and space....The only "detour" I made was to the Bonneville salt Flats hoping for some late afternoon "magic" pictures, the lighting wasn't very good so I just did the best I could. Couldn't get the parking spot I wanted as there were quite a few vehicles there checking it out (and to my surprise, no real enthusiast type of cars). Ended up making it to Winnemuca NV a few hours later and the goal of an easy morning Sunday drive came true. Left Winnemuca at 6:15, stopped in Reno to stretch, relieve, gas up and GO. Made it home to Livermore at 11:30. Whew. 3900 miles. Never drove a GT car before that. One he!! of a test drive LOL.

The car was and is everything I desired as a driver. ITs a combination of the rawness of my Camaro (its a fairly high end build, think C5 on roid's) and the precision one comes to expect and experience in a fine tuned 911/997 Chassis. The Steering feel, brakes, shifiting, seats, and of course the power plant were all very very different than my 7.2s. Way Way Way worth the wait.

https://cimg5.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...5cfc06981.jpeg

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https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...4b89020fa.jpeg
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https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/rennlis...3ab8f7a58.jpeg
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And home. Safe and sound. Three blue cars rooming together. Selling the pro-touring Camaro in a moment or two....

Sorry to hear about your friend. Glad you had a great experience and are happy with your beautiful new car. I tried to get my brother to buy this car but he is still on the fence waiting for prices to come down, as he has been for the last 12 years. :icon501:

Congrats for joining the best color club!

Sorry to hear about the loss of your friend. It’s always a sad reminder tomorrow isn’t guaranteed so take a risk once in a while if the pay off is making today a little better. Congratulations on your new acquirement from a former 94550 resident myself.

Mike - first of all, condolences to you regarding your friend.

Second, good on you for putting all of the other people in your life first. Shows a lot about your character.

Third and what this post is all about, huge congrats on the jump into the 7.1 GT3. I know you've been searching for a long time and watching members get into a GT3, especially when they're searching for a while is so cool. You seem to have gotten a very nice example. Having also had a 7.2 C2S prior, I really think the two cars (GT3 and C2S) couldn't be more different. The C2S felt so usable to me (probably somewhat due to the PDK in mine) whereas the GT3 feels like a true experience each time I take it out, which is what I was looking for. Keep us posted or reach out as you keep playing with it.

Beautiful car and great "first" road trip, congratulations!!

Congrats again Mike! Thanks so much for the business. I have a feeling that Cobalt car won't get "switched" again anytime soon.

Condolences about your friend, but absolutely epic trip and great pictures. Thanks for sharing!

My condolence on the sudden loss of your friend.

Glad you made the jump to this beauty, and thanks for sharing the trip and pictures!

I love reading these stories, except the part about your friend, of course. Reminds me of the joy I felt picking up my first GT3 and nice to hear others share that same experience. Good luck with your beautiful cobalt 7.1.

Huge congrats! Cobalt is just stunning.

Congrats Mike! I'm sure will see each other soon...

Congrats man! Love the blue. Enjoy in good health!

surprised you didn’t photograph it and then store it….lol…. looks great, enjoy the drives!

Hi Mike I recognize you and your Carrera S from the 997 board. What an upgrade; not only a GT3 but a unique color as well. Congrats