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How did your love of Porsches begin?


Grinner

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13 hours ago, Asyd said:

Agree great topic.

For me it was reading sports car world in the 70’s, in my early teans.

i read Jeff Carter ‘s (australian photographer and writers chronicles about his many Porsche down around Fox Ground, south of Sydney.

his description of sliding his 356 around the bends of the Coast road just intrigued me. that someone could describe such joy at handling a car sold me on the spot. ........30 years later it was my joy (not that I slide ...much!) :)

Wow, that brings back memories - I loved Jeff Carters articles about picking up a new 911 in Europe then bringing it back here, always remember a photo of one of his 911's with a hay bale on the rear wing! My dad always loved (but never owned) Porsches so I did too. Then our new next door neighbour imported a 911 from Hong Kong and used to work on it in his driveway - I would wander over as a shy teenager and have a look and drool. My first car was a beetle and I wanted to put a whale tail on it - but never did. Finally after owning  a few nice cars and paying private school fees I was able to get a toy - it's not a 911 but like Niko said there's still time. Great topic BTW

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As  teenager watched Jim McEwen 911 nip at the heels of Norm Beechey in the Yellow Monaro, Bob Jane in Camero and Allan Moffat in the Coke Mustang.

In 1977 a friend of mine  Ross Mathersen said he was going motor racing and had bought Jim's old car and was putting a new factory engine in so I helped him put it together and race it. Won the Aust Sports Car Campionship 78 and 79.

I got to do track time bedding in brakes - HEAVEN !

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I grew up having no interest in Porsches - had a thing for Lotus.  A mate won first division lotto when we were about 21 & he purchased a newish 930, which, after a passenger stint, did nothing for me.  I thought 911's were not my cup of tea.  Fast forward ten years, purchased a new sti when they were released, loved it, lost my licence, then had a medium speed prang (another car doing a u turn on a blind crest so not my fault, however the speed I was travelling left me less time to react) and I realised that I should get a car that is just as much 'fun' but not as fast in a real sense as most other road users are just not at that pace.  Tried all sorts of vintage cars (didn't like any of them), was talked into sitting in a 911 & pretty much fell in love when the engine started.  Once I'd purchased one that ticked my boxes I thought 'that's it...all done' & just enjoyed driving it.  After a couple of years of driving it on weekends, up & down the coast, weekends away etc &. few club outings I started to build a real respect for the engineering, durability and pure fun that they offered.  It was then that a little germ of an idea started about turning it into a more substantial thing in life than just the occasional drive...and so it continues.  Interestingly this has now led me to discovering/enjoying vw's (which Id also shunned as a teenager when a few mates had the bug) so I feel this passion could continue for some time.  356, gt3, 912 still on the 'wishlist'....along with a kombi for one of my sons who is just mad about them.  

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A few things for me, Dad did the ADR homologation for Porsche in the late 80's, early 90's and I always had an interest in what dad did. He took me along to Hamiltons one day when I was really young and the service manager gave me a Porsche keyring "for when I have my own Porsche one day", that keyring is now proudly attached to the 964 keys.

Secondly, Dad also imported a 924 from California and had it converted to RHD with a colour change from black to red, he spent most weekends tinkering with it while I was a kid and i have a distinct memory of attaching the front crest because my hands were small enough to get into the front cavity to secure the clips (so the badge wouldn't get stolen). 

Lastly my love of the 964 came from the Melbourne motor show, I took a photo of the 964 sitting next to a 968 and fell in love, had a 964 poster on my wall through my childhood (next to the 959, Testarossa, C4 Corvette and Countach). 

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I'm glad this topic has created interest. Some wonderful responses.

The question was asked about how my interest started. Mine started from a 930 picture on my wall as a boy in the 80's.

My parents were battlers who saved hard to send me to a very nice private school on the Gold Coast in the early 90's, whilst mum drove an old Nissan. Almost all other kids parents had a Merc or BMW. One guy in my class mum had a white 80's 911 convertible. It made a real impression on me.

Always wanted a 911 from these times onwards but never thought I could afford one. Lucky enough to have one now. The wait was worth it, they are as awesome as I expected.   

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Zero early interest in P cars from me, Ducati`s and Alfa`s in my garage from the late 70`s. Plan was always to get a Ferrari ASAP. First drive of a Porsche was at Calder Park in a mates near new 89 wide body speedster, which convinced me that not only were these things are a bit of alright, but that everyone who said that you can`t slide them without ending up backwards into a tree, had either no idea what they were talking about, or couldn`t drive for shit.After years of the maintenance/unreliability/rust of the Italians,the siren song of a rust free, mechanically strong sports car really started to take hold, but the 964 didn`t do it for me and pre that they had no functioning  aircon, which is real deal breaker for me .About that time Porsche released the 993 which finally rocked my want world, but at around 200k was out of my league.Made a deal with myself that as soon as they dropped below 100 k,I was in and got my 993 in 2005  and haven`t looked back or been tempted by any other brand since.

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Genetic.  Handed down from the DE AT side of the family tree.  The old man is a non practising car nut, as a young child I learned to read with Car & Driver, Road & Track, Car, Wheels, etc each month, every month.  Old man's biz partner back in the day had a red 928 out of the first shipment to oz.  I remember being the recipient of a Porsche calendar every year as a kid.

I had absolutely no chance...

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Well I never loved Porsche. 

Growing up in a country town I saw very few. I always took a good look but thought they where for the wealthy. 

Around ten years ago I was in a position to afford a 'sports car' and looked for a chicane yellow 370z neesarn since I had ogled one on the showroom floor when they came out. I was impressed to own and drive it for about 12 months or so. I sold it thinking I could do better things with 40 odd grand.

After a while I found I still had the sports car bug and googled car sales for something else. 

I scrolled down to the P's and was surprised to see how affordable the Porsche world WAS att.

I like the mid engine concept so the Cayman was top of the list for me. I enquired about a few but my better half said, 'you can't spend that much at the moment eh.' True.

Then I realized the boxster was the same car at around half the money. I drove one that I was interested in but the owner had unrealistic expectations of it's real value. Farrrrrk it drove well. A real sports car, I'm hooked.  

Eventually I found a 3.2 S at the right money and it owes me so little it's a keeper.

Now my kids have been introduced to Porsche. Oops. ?

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Grew up dirt poor in Sydney's west and a Porsche was a "glorified volkswagen" and drivers of 911s were "wankers" according to most of my family. The old man was obsessed with bikes before I was born, at one time he had 3 ducatis but we fell on hard times when I was little ~5yrs old (early 80s) and by the time I was 6 they were all gone. I tried very hard to be into bikes for my old man at the time, but something about cars just appealed to me a lot more.

I could never understand why they didn't change the shape of the 911 as a kid, which was part of the reason I never lusted after one. It was the 80s after all and excess was in, so my wall had pictures of Testarossa, F40, and Countach - not a Porsche in sight. I dreamed of one day owning a Ferrari.

So my love of Porsche is a relatively recent thing.

I made a deal with myself when I turned 30 that I would buy a Ferrari by the time I was 40. My Bro-in-law was heavily into Porsche, I think it was around 2004/5 he got his 356 (the cheap old days). He had bought a 996.1 GT3 the same year we bought a 350Z, 2006. It was probably a couple of years before I drove the GT3, but that first drive was epic. I still remember it. I still owned the 350Z and I couldn't believe how wallowy, slow, and overweight the 350Z was in comparison.

I drove the GT3 a few more times over the years and a couple of years after that first drive I had to look after the GT3 for 6 weeks, which included stretching its legs every week. In the first week I knew I had to get one at some point. GT3s were out of my price range though so I started looking for a 911 Carrera straight away. It took a further 2 years to track down my 997S which I've now owned for 3 years. It was my 36th Birthday the week I bought the car.

40 was approaching and my goal of buying a Ferrari was always in the back of my mind, but by this point I was so in awe of 911s that I decided it was time to get a GT3 in place of it, a 997.1 to be exact. Whilst looking for one of those, rumours started getting around that the next GT3 would come with a manual. In a moment of madness I picked up the phone, called the dealer, and put down an 'expression of interest'. That was December 2016.

Kept shopping for a 997 but changed my target to the series 2, put 3 offers in on different cars, had a lot of back and forth about a particular car that I came very close to buying. Went away for a fortnight and the deal was if no-one had bought the car in the mean time, I'd fly up and take a look.

The day I got back from the holiday, the dealer rang with a build slot on the new GT3. Took the weekend to think it over and decided, 'what the hell, you only live once' and committed to buying it. I took delivery last Wednesday. I turn 40 in a few months time.

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9 hours ago, Grinner said:

I'm glad this topic has created interest. Some wonderful responses.

The question was asked about how my interest started. Mine started from a 930 picture on my wall as a boy in the 80's.

My parents were battlers who saved hard to send me to a very nice private school on the Gold Coast in the early 90's, whilst mum drove an old Nissan. Almost all other kids parents had a Merc or BMW. One guy in my class mum had a white 80's 911 convertible. It made a real impression on me.

Always wanted a 911 from these times onwards but never thought I could afford one. Lucky enough to have one now. The wait was worth it, they are as awesome as I expected.   

Grinner, was it the convertible or the mum ? :rolleyes:  

Started with the Lotus Espirt magazine centre fold picture on the wall, which had a Carerra RS on back i think...I swapped them around to mix up my bedroom decor from time to time.  

Reignited more strongly when the 991 gt3 come out and there was an evo video of a drive up a hill floating around and at similar time the 50th debut at Frankfurt .. which was my first Porsche. 

 

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Summer of 1977 in the UK, we lived in what’s now the land of the premiership footballer, Wilmslow in Cheshire. Seeing fast cars was a common thing for me, but as a family we raced and rallied old Mini Cooper’s and Ford Escorts so cars were always a thing for me from very young.

My best mate at school, his Dad always had daft cars and just before summer he’d bought a massive Lincoln Continental, blue with a white vinyl roof. Used to block the road every morning when he dropped him off at school outside our house, my Dad always took the piss out of him with it. They were both pretty successful businessmen so cars were always changing, but this Lincoln was just comedy.

Anyway, roll on the end of summer and my mate says “Dad’s getting a new car, he’ll pick us up in it later and we’re all going for a drive, apparently only us 2 can fit in the back because the seats are small”. We were 6 years old, it was a Saturday morning the week before we went back to school and the sun was out (that one day a year when the sun shines).

He turned up in a brand new black 911 Turbo. It just looked insane, fat and bewinged thing.

Dad & I piled in and we all spent the rest of the day ripping round town in this thing. Speed limits were ignored back then as was any form of running the thing in, he drove it like he’d stolen it. That day lived with me, the big thump in the back as the turbo kicked in and us kids feeling we were important because we were the only ones who could fit in the back ?

I couldn’t ever justify or afford having one as an everyday car, my cars were always workhorses. Promised myself a Sierra Cosworth by my 25th birthday and got that. An E46 M3 by the time I was 30 (didn’t quite get that, took me another couple of years) but the 911 was always there at the back of my mind. Drove a C4S when I had the M3, but doing 30,000 miles a year in the construction game I couldn’t justify the running costs, but it set me off again. Then the GFC came about and I went through 2-3 years of uncertainty with work and travelling massive distances, so a 2nd car was definitely off the cards. I was running the Range Rover Sport I still have now, working on cross country pipelines so I needed the 4WD.

Then we moved here and I started looking again in 2012. Prices hadn’t gone nuts, but we were saving to buy a house here. Got the cash together for a 911, then we found this house in 2015 and that needed the Porsche fund. Rented a 911 for a weekend just to see if I still liked them, that was fatal. Then 6 months later we found what’s now my 911 in the warehouse it had been sat in for 20 years. Luckily it took me a few months to persuade him to sell, which gave me time to save up a bit and we bought it. So it took me nearly 40 years to get my 911. Don’t intend ever being without a 911 now, they’re just great.

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The passion for cars has been there from my earliest years  - I remember (at the tender age of 4) a night time drive out of Wollongong sitting in the back seat of a (then) relatively new Mercedes 220SE fintail and recall the vertical speedo changing colour as speed increased.

 
And there was the neighbours growing up in Templestowe - one worked for Bryson’s which was the Jaguar agent in Melbourne so he was always in the latest E-type and next door another guy (Jim Shepherd) who often had a Porsche in the driveway - later learned he was the only authorised body shop for Porsche in Melbourne.

Long before I was old enough to drive, I had figured out that European cars handled better than anything from the US or Japan, and later, that German cars in particular were well engineered.

But the Porsche thing crept up on me over the years ... the Jeff Carter articles in Modern Motor, a series of glossy full colour lift-out ads in the AFR in the mid 1990s and, later, a friend who was a PCA executive and would arrive driving the latest 968, 928 or 911 (I would be all over it).

First P car I drove was a Guards Red 993 C4S - stalled it 3 times reversing out of my driveway before heading out to St.Andrews on a Saturday morning - remarkably, I did not get pinged by the cop with a speed camera in the 60kph section through Kangaroo Ground.

I had always liked the mid-engined cars but it was with the arrival of the 981 series that Porsche ownership became inevitable - my sons gave me a set of Euro plates with 981 numerals a couple of years before a 2014 Cayman S came to live in my garage.
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19 minutes ago, nytelfer said:



I had always liked the mid-engined cars but it was with the arrival of the 981 series that Porsche ownership became inevitable - my sons gave me a set of Euro plates with 981 numerals a couple of years before a 2014 Cayman S came to live in my garage.

I might get my daughter to get me a set of Euro plates with the 930 numerals, and see if the same magic happens here....:D 

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I'm another one who was very influenced by Jeff Carter's articles many years ago. I never actually had a Porsche poster on my wall as a kid, but I did have a Porsche "thru the years" poster I framed when I started work, and for 8 or 10 years I got the Porsche calendar every year, and attached the medallion to a blank space on the poster with blutack.  I also started collecting Porsche books, and have the 2nd edition Porsche 911 story by Paul Frere amongst a number of others.   My first sports car as such was a Fiat 124 coupe, and joined a club that was called the Classic and Collectors Motor Club of Tas, which was a non-marque specific club, run by a bunch of enthusiasts, including a guy who was an expert restorer, and had been a F1 mechanic.  Through this club I met a number of people, many of whom became life-long friends.  I figured I couldn't afford a 911 (as the option would have been then), so I got distracted by MGs, and we were heavily involved with them for many years until kids came along and we drifted away from the club.  I guess my interest in Porsches percolated away in the background, and I would always check out any one I came across.  When our youngest daughter was about to get her licence, my wife said she'd like to get another 2 seater soft top, so she had an NB MX5 as a daily drive for 3-4 years.  We then explored Salary Packaging through the hospital she worked at, and then found her 987 Boxster S at Autohaus Hamilton, and this became (and still is) her daily drive.

After I had been working a few years, and became a partner in my own accountancy practice very early (I was about 26 I think), I became friends with a local solicitor of the same age who had just become a partner in his law firm.  We did a fair bit of work together, and discovered we both had a love of cars.  I had my Fiat, but aspired to a Porsche, he was an Alfa guy who aspired to a Ferrari.  We both decided we would have our wishes by 50.  Well, neither of us got there by 50, but I did by 54 with the Boxster, and got my 996.2 just a couple of months ago.  Ross, he ended up going down the BMW route, and ended up with a Z4.  Now he's gone into politics and is our local federal rep (wrong colour unfortunately), and I suspect he won't get his Fezza while he's in politics, as I don't think a Ferrari driving Labor member would be quite the right look.  And to put a little more connection, his father had been a prior owner of my 124 coupe...

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A true story. I was about 19 years of age driving my Alfa Romeo 105, when I pulled up behind a Porsche at a set of lights.

I remember looking at this beautiful wide body and admiring the duck tail and then reading the word, Carrera.

In that split second, the rear of the car squatted down and took off! I floored my Alfa and for God all might could not keep up with it.

From that moment onwards, getting a Porsche 911 Carrera is a memory that stuck with me all my life.

 

Fast forward 35 years later, here I am driving out of Canberra in my very own Porsche 911 Carrera. This is where it gets better.

As I’m driving on the Hume Highway out of Canberra, I notice in the distance a “Alfa Romeo 105” I accelerate and catched up to it and drive by its side.

I blow my horn and noticed that I knew the person driving the car who happened to be the father of a good friend of mine.

At that moment my memory went back 35 years ago. And with a big smile on my face, I put my foot down and took off! and I watched the Alfa Romeo disappear from my rear vision mirror. :) 

I truly believe that God has a sense of humor too...Life is beautiful! 

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Well if you want a trippy Alfa story that relates to Porsche I have one. Back in the 80’s a film was made in South Australia. Somebody help me, I can’t recall the name. But a young guys steels a 930 turbo and fangs it around Adelaide hills.

Before he stole that car he was sitting in the CES commonwealth employment service, takes the keys to a red Alfa GTV, opens the car and sits in it - but doesn’t take it. A few days later he steels the Turbo. 

I have the Alfa GTV he didn’t steel - owned it for 25+ years SZP 712 is the rego.

Would love to get a copy of that movie, oh and remember the name of the movie, lol.

My first real sports car - I was 23yo at the time. It was a great car, but after 3 - 4 decent braking applications- no brakes. 

Memories

I just did a quick google- the movie is called - freedom ? ? 

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