Busy, busy, busy

Just still saving hard for the 993 and have been distracted by work (damn it) and my Ferrari Dino springing a few leaks. So I'm in the garage over the next few weeks working on that one. My target is to be able to buy a 993 by the end of summer.

First 993 viewed

Went to view a local 993 because it was a) local, b) reasonable price and c) it was a targa like this one (picture copyright its owner)



My preference at this moment is for a Targa as I like the idea and miss having a big hole in the roof with my Ferrari 308.

The car was nice and well cared for with just two owners and 90K miles. We went for a ride and all was good, but I didn't feel the colour was right for me as it was silver with a light grey interior - all a bit tool light and in some way ordinary. Proper advice is to buy the car which is in the best condition and don't worry about the colour - but you still have to live with it so I bid the owner good luck and walked away.

Having said that it was a good exercise in testing my knowledge of 993's and on reflection I did realise that I didn't know enough - back to the Streather book.

Save, save, save

911's aren't cheap so for the past 6 months I've been saving real hard looking at loans. I figure I want a 911 now so credit is ok, but I'll put in as much as I can.

Just been reading the Streather book on 993's

See 5th November post, I've been casually reading the Streather book and I think I know lots about 993's now - at least enough to spot the usual problems when I start looking at cars. It's winter now and I won't really be looking until the summer. I do keep an eye on the usual dealers to see what's available and what they are asking. Carrera S (RWD) seem expensive and on a par with Turbos approaching and into the £30K mark. Carrera (just rwd), Targa and Carrera 4 models are about the same, ranging from high £10K's to mid £20K's depending on condition and mileage. Cabrios soom to be a few thousand less then the others too coming in sometimes at the mid teens.

Porsche 911 993 dealers in the UK

Discovered the list of usual dealers for 993's include:

http://www.911virgin.com/
http://www.eporsch.co.uk/
http://www.camtune.com/
http://www.paragon.gb.com/
http://www.911box.co.uk/
http://www.specialistcarsltd.co.uk/
http://www.autobahn.co.uk/
http://www.strasse.co.uk/
http://www.cameronsportscars.co.uk/

There are of course many more if you look through www.autotrader.co.uk and I made a Google map which shows you the locations of dealers of older Porsche - this is very useful.

Bought the book: Porsche 993 - King of Porsche

Discovered that this book it well cited by many as being very useful, particularly when looking at 993's for the first time so I bought it on Amazon:

"Porsche 993 - King of Porsche: The Essential Companion"




It's a very useful book packed with identification data and what to look for as well as being useful for routine maintenance. It's probably as close to a Haynes style manual that you will get for the 993 and in many ways better. Lots of pictures to go with the text that's in there too.

Internet forums and help sites

Whilst trawling around on the net I found several important DIY support sites for the 911, namely:

P-car - http://p-car.com/diy/diy.html

Rennlist - http://forums.rennlist.com/

and

911uk - http://www.911uk.com

These are clearly important places to know about and worth lurking on for a while to get the feel of the car and the kinds of problems which occur. I will be browsing these sites over the coming months.