James P Posted 18March, 2018 Report Share Posted 18March, 2018 A brief story on my 2004 996 GT3 Cup Car that no one wanted until i found it... Starting out as a brand new 1 of 5 Australian delivered 2004 996 Cup Cars for Jonathon Webb (Tekno Autosports) he successfully raced it in the Australian Carrera Cup placing 6th in 2004 & 3rd in 2005. During its 2 year racing life it was looked after with no expense spared receiving mechanical rebuilds several times over during the years just to get the last 1% out of it the head mechanic tells me, on one occasion after an incident at the Gold Coast Indy $180k was spent rebuilding absolutely everything to brand new spec.. when it finished racing & was sold off at the end of 2005 it was in literally brand new condition with very low hours. Now the interesting part after Carrera Cup. It was sold to a Qld guy that drove it twice on a club track day then as the story goes he either sold it or had it repossessed. The car then went to a guy in WA & was not driven & suffered the same fate, it was handed back to the finance company. The finance company couldn't sell it in WA as no one wanted it, after a few years in storage they sent it to VIC & auctioned it via Manheim Auctions in 2010. The Cup Car was bought by a Victorian car dealer & was used as a display car for several years then went into storage, they attempted to drive it once at Sandown but a fuel line failure didn't even allow them to get a lap in so the car went back to storage. After a few more years in storage the car dealer decided to sell it in 2016 via Manheim Auctions as they do with all the trade ins, it went to auction 3 times with no one wanting it... I was in Europe at the time & was watching the Manheim website with interest, after the 3rd auction & no sale i sent the auctioneer an email with a offer on the cup car subject to an onsite inspection by me & a mate who is an ex Porsche race mechanic, when i arrived back in Melbourne i went down to the auction yard with my mate & had a look, under the dirt & dust from sitting for so long we couldn't believe just how good it was, it looked like a new car. We took a battery & some fuel & attempted to start it.. it fired up for a second then died we did this a few times & knew something was wrong with fuel delivery but the engine sounded very crisp even for a brief second. I did a deal on it & picked it up the next day, all it needed to race it was new fluids, new tyres, a new fuel line & clutch master cylinder thats it! I had taken a huge risk as no one knew any history or anything about it at that stage. A few mates & i were part of several Porsche race teams so we did some digging around & asked a few people, the story just got better & better with the car. The short is, its in new condition with very very low hours & totally original as raced condition, i have driven it about 8 times & its just brilliant (I'm glad i found this car) Porsche have confirmed its the first customer delivered cup car built in 2004 with chassis number 002 Now the somewhat reason for this post apart from me being proud of it.. i was contacted by Porsche Cars Australia as they are looking for an original 996 cup car to put on display as part of Porsches 70 years celebrations at the Melbourne F1GP, they were after a 996 cup that raced in the early days of Carrera cup in Australia (yep I've got one just need to put the original stickers on it) So anyone going to the F1GP feel free to have a look at my car it will be on display in front of the Carrera cup paddock & Carrera cup lounge alongside other historically significant Porsche race cars that raced in Australia 1 from each decade. I even get to do 2 display laps on Sunday morning at about 10am at the F1GP as part of the historic display (100km/h max ) 2005 Carrera Cup as it was raced by Jonathon Webb2005 Melbourne F1GP2005 Bathurst 2016 loaded up for for the drive home 2018 Me driving at Phillip Island My car as it sits today after all the graphics were redone last week DT, Peter M, Fraz and 40 others 41 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deano Posted 18March, 2018 Report Share Posted 18March, 2018 Wow, cool story James. Congrat's on a seriously nice car. Will look out at GP if my tickets come through. James P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fraz Posted 18March, 2018 Report Share Posted 18March, 2018 Great story, thanks for sharing. James P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
D2000 Posted 18March, 2018 Report Share Posted 18March, 2018 Fuch yeh! James P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
9r Posted 18March, 2018 Report Share Posted 18March, 2018 Wonderful story, A modern day version of the dream barn find... hearing finds like this keeps me hunting for that next car ? James P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiller Posted 18March, 2018 Report Share Posted 18March, 2018 Great story James. Have enjoyed following this as more info has been uncovered James P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeM Posted 18March, 2018 Report Share Posted 18March, 2018 Nice one James I vaguely remember a cup car on a tralier at auction or 2 a few years ago that was always passed in James P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
symsy Posted 18March, 2018 Report Share Posted 18March, 2018 Good on you mate ... As Delboy would have said - he who dares wins I can imagine you rolling the Dealer.. with your mate, did you wear your green jacket James P and Arnage 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MARTY Posted 18March, 2018 Report Share Posted 18March, 2018 Great story I clearly need to go on the Manheim website more often. James P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James P Posted 18March, 2018 Author Report Share Posted 18March, 2018 4 hours ago, spiller said: Great story James. Have enjoyed following this as more info has been uncovered Thanks mate now i await your 996 cup story... spiller 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James P Posted 18March, 2018 Author Report Share Posted 18March, 2018 1 hour ago, symsy said: Good on you mate ... As Delboy would have said - he who dares wins I can imagine you rolling the Dealer.. with your mate, did you wear your green jacket No green jacket mate just 2 old racers that have been around these cars for a long time.. ill let you know I've had this good luck twice with cup cars, i purchased a white 996 cup car from a NSW dealer that traded it in (who trades in a 996 cup car?) low balled him & got it. The dealer told me he lost $15k on the trade but it was more important to sell a new car (not sure if i believe that) I wanted the second cup car for all the spare parts it came with, I drove it once at the PFA Sandown track day that you were at then sold it to a collector hugh, edgy, Taffy and 1 other 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
symsy Posted 18March, 2018 Report Share Posted 18March, 2018 10 minutes ago, James P said: No green jacket mate just 2 old racers that have been around these cars for a long time.. ill let you know I've had this good luck twice with cup cars, i purchased a white 996 cup car from a NSW dealer that traded it in (who trades in a 996 cup car?) low balled him & got it. The dealer told me he lost $15k on the trade but it was more important to sell a new car (not sure if i believe that) I wanted the second cup car for all the spare parts it came with, I drove it once at the PFA Sandown track day that you were at then sold it to a collector Love it ! I remember that car , made the 997.1 look slow ..very slow James P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
micknine01 Posted 18March, 2018 Report Share Posted 18March, 2018 Great story, thanks for sharing James James P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TrevMcRev Posted 18March, 2018 Report Share Posted 18March, 2018 Love the story. I remember it at the auctions at around the time I did my license for 12 months and sold the 996 Carrera. I were very tempted as it seemed like a great way of staying sane while not being able to drive on the road - but I know bugger all about running these cars so let it go - glad it went to someone who does! James P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeM Posted 19March, 2018 Report Share Posted 19March, 2018 https://www.carreracup.com.au/porsche-celebrates-70-years-australian-grand-prix/ MFX and James P 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James P Posted 19March, 2018 Author Report Share Posted 19March, 2018 1 hour ago, LeeM said: https://www.carreracup.com.au/porsche-celebrates-70-years-australian-grand-prix/ Thanks for the link.. Looks like I'm in good company LeeM 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LeeM Posted 19March, 2018 Report Share Posted 19March, 2018 ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spiller Posted 19March, 2018 Report Share Posted 19March, 2018 Get a pic with Webbo! Russ, LeeM and James P 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JB Posted 19March, 2018 Report Share Posted 19March, 2018 Awesome story love hearing about people’s experience. congrats James another great life experience! James P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
911 Snake Posted 20March, 2018 Report Share Posted 20March, 2018 fantastic story! - now has me on Manheim seeing if can find a hidden treasure of my own I'll be at the F1 Practice Friday and will look out for it on display!! James P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James P Posted 20March, 2018 Author Report Share Posted 20March, 2018 20 hours ago, spiller said: Get a pic with Webbo! Probably will as we will be hanging out in the Porsche Pavilion all weekend spiller 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike737 Posted 21March, 2018 Report Share Posted 21March, 2018 Glad to see you ended up getting the livery sorted in the end. I'm also headed to the F1 on Friday so I'll be admiring your car as well. James P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
James P Posted 21March, 2018 Author Report Share Posted 21March, 2018 All set & on display in the Carrera cup paddock.. Thanks to Porsche Cars Australia micknine01, LeeM, spiller and 6 others 9 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike-S Posted 21March, 2018 Report Share Posted 21March, 2018 I’m there on Sat/Sun with friends visiting from the UK, look forward to seeing it on display James. Love the story ?? James P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Harsh Posted 21March, 2018 Report Share Posted 21March, 2018 4 hours ago, James P said: All set & on display in the Carrera cup paddock.. Thanks to Porsche Cars Australia Great story,would love to view the car,but currently driving down the Carreras Panamericana Hwy in Panama.......... James P 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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