Finally taken the plunge…
Discussion
Sorry it’s a bit of a long post but it’s been a long time coming!
2006 was an ‘interesting’ year for me with the plans for the future of my private life changed beyond all recognition but ended on a fantastic high. No longer needing something the size of an Audi estate to carry people about the new girlfriend (now fiancée) convinced me to spend some of my hard earned on a totally different car. Sadly the S2K I had planned to buy didn’t seem to fit me (or rather I it) and into the breach stepped a 2.5 Boxster that I owned since February 2007.
Many good times were had with the Boxster over the last 4 years but I always knew that there was something other than a couple of hundred horses missing. Writing about it on here and thinking about the different cars in our stable I realised that it was the lack of any sort of emotion. It was all too clinical, which is great in many ways but ultimately it was the drives in her Tiv or S2K (which seems to fit far better than the one I tried 4 years ago!) which stuck in the memory. It just wasn’t enough, yet nothing else appeared that grabbed me enough to prise me out of my comfort zone of a car I knew every nuance and quirk of and was 100% confident of the history of. Thinking about where I should look to go next I thought of every option from financing something don’t have all the folding for to bangernomics.
One day I read a short piece in a magazine about a car for sale, an article I hadn’t got round to in the weeks since the monthly had landed on the door mat. I recalled being a 16 year old with one eye on his license when one of the local motor traders (Mark Churchman RIP for those who knew and remember him) turned up at Mum and Dad’s in a brand new bright yellow sports car with that stunning blend of angles and curves of the era. Even better it looked like it had got lost on the way to a race track and I fell in love with it on sight, even trying to convince Dad to defect from a million years of BMW ownership without success. For years and years afterwards I would see similar cars crop up in magazines and on TV, written and spoken about with great fondness and appreciation, and every time I would think back to that early summer’s day so many years ago. Having seen the aforementioned ad I showed it to the fiancée and said the immortal line “I’ve always thought about buying one of those.”
Not being your run of the mill ‘I don’t care what it is, what colour is it?’ type girls she practically thrust the ‘phone into my hand and told me to call them to see if it was still there. The sales chap, Harvey, said it was and we went through a few of the usual questions. Truth told I was slightly surprised after our chat that it was still unsold, especially given the sensible asking price, but after promises to call if anyone bought it in the meantime I made my plans to travel over to see it the next time I would be able to.
Things nearly ground to a halt with a call from Harvey to apologise. The car had been taken to have some fuel put in it for my test drive and a whine from the gearbox had been detected. They were still happy for me to come and have a test drive but wondered if I would rather wait whilst they sent it off for TLC. Sadly there was no way I could work a further week’s delay into my schedule, and there was a big part of me that was concerned it might be sold in another week with Spring fast approaching. I also knew deep down that if I didn’t buy it I would be spending a few bob on the Boxster and keeping it until October, by which time would be faced at the wrong time of the year with the delights of trading it or selling privately with all the muppetry and so forth that I just don’t have time for either. To be fair his call reassured me that I was dealing with a person and business I could trust, after all they could have let me find out for myself.
A week later the fiancée and I found ourselves in a smart looking unit just down the road from a Waitrose in Northampton together with a good friend of ours, known as Zippee on here, crawling over the car and its history with all the dispassion we could muster. 18 years of reading everything I had ever seen written about the car, the brand in general and a week of assistance from Mr Google told me it was honest and straight. I was relieved I had resisted the urge to mention anything on here, had I done so I very much doubt the car would still have been there! Looking mint with a cosmetic spray 2 years ago on the right panels, bills to back up many of the stamps in the Service book, and the all the important stickers and signs to show that no panels had left the car since it left the factory
. There were a few signs of its age with a little wear and tear inside, and a cracked driving light, a few touched up stone chips, but nothing that you would worry about.
We had plenty of time to do all this as Harvey was handing over another car to its new owner who, whilst obviously pleased with his purchase, was obviously having a very detailed final check over and research as to the bells and whistles. We were plied with refreshments and passed keys to other cars to mooching at, having done our due diligence on mine, with only pleasantries and a test drive to go or so we thought. Once Harvey had waved off a very happy man in his 997 we were able to go for a drive. I didn’t push too hard, just enough to tell me that it was the real deal, and even after an all too brief 20 or so minutes at the wheel knew that it would get better with every mile I became more acquainted with it and with a few tweeks a deal could surely be reached.
On returning to the showroom we sat down. A few questions and Tony, the in house mechanic poached from the local main dealer for this brand, appeared to answer what Harvey could not (they were somewhat technical questions). We then went through what they thought needed doing to bring it up to the point I was happy to do a deal at. Remember that Gearbox thing? Well there were a few other things they were 100% open about that we had not spotted such as the rust on the rear of the front discs meaning that it would have new pads and discs and a blocked washer jet. A shame in some ways as the pads that would be going in the bin had a fair bit of meat left. I give the fiancée the nod and passed poor Harvey over to accounts (who had been briefed and could talk without the school boy inside me missing out). The price to change was right, a deal struck and over the following week calls were made to keep my up to date on progress with the bits and bobs which included an alarm chap appearing a day earlier than expected and a gearbox returning with a full new set of bearings. Even more impressive was the call from Tony about something which required him spending a few hours to research which was informative and extended to trying to source the obscure parts.
After a week of waiting it was finally 100% on for the collection last Saturday and the fiancée and I headed over to Northampton to Dove House to pay over the folding and say goodbye to the Boxster.
M030 Anti roll bars, K&N, Braded brake hoses.
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2314132.htm
Just as I expected the Custard Tart and I are gelling more with every drive as we get to know each other’s ways. So far I have decided that I need to get the driver’s side door seal replaced as age and use have nicked a few small bits out of the leading edge of the lip causing an unnecessary noise above a certain speed. I suspect that I’ll be putting the o/s driving light high on the hint list leading up to my birthday and I have a few other things in mind over the next few months to place my mark on it. All in all though I’m feeling rather
Edited by Rude-boy for spelling and missing letters
2006 was an ‘interesting’ year for me with the plans for the future of my private life changed beyond all recognition but ended on a fantastic high. No longer needing something the size of an Audi estate to carry people about the new girlfriend (now fiancée) convinced me to spend some of my hard earned on a totally different car. Sadly the S2K I had planned to buy didn’t seem to fit me (or rather I it) and into the breach stepped a 2.5 Boxster that I owned since February 2007.
Many good times were had with the Boxster over the last 4 years but I always knew that there was something other than a couple of hundred horses missing. Writing about it on here and thinking about the different cars in our stable I realised that it was the lack of any sort of emotion. It was all too clinical, which is great in many ways but ultimately it was the drives in her Tiv or S2K (which seems to fit far better than the one I tried 4 years ago!) which stuck in the memory. It just wasn’t enough, yet nothing else appeared that grabbed me enough to prise me out of my comfort zone of a car I knew every nuance and quirk of and was 100% confident of the history of. Thinking about where I should look to go next I thought of every option from financing something don’t have all the folding for to bangernomics.
One day I read a short piece in a magazine about a car for sale, an article I hadn’t got round to in the weeks since the monthly had landed on the door mat. I recalled being a 16 year old with one eye on his license when one of the local motor traders (Mark Churchman RIP for those who knew and remember him) turned up at Mum and Dad’s in a brand new bright yellow sports car with that stunning blend of angles and curves of the era. Even better it looked like it had got lost on the way to a race track and I fell in love with it on sight, even trying to convince Dad to defect from a million years of BMW ownership without success. For years and years afterwards I would see similar cars crop up in magazines and on TV, written and spoken about with great fondness and appreciation, and every time I would think back to that early summer’s day so many years ago. Having seen the aforementioned ad I showed it to the fiancée and said the immortal line “I’ve always thought about buying one of those.”
Not being your run of the mill ‘I don’t care what it is, what colour is it?’ type girls she practically thrust the ‘phone into my hand and told me to call them to see if it was still there. The sales chap, Harvey, said it was and we went through a few of the usual questions. Truth told I was slightly surprised after our chat that it was still unsold, especially given the sensible asking price, but after promises to call if anyone bought it in the meantime I made my plans to travel over to see it the next time I would be able to.
Things nearly ground to a halt with a call from Harvey to apologise. The car had been taken to have some fuel put in it for my test drive and a whine from the gearbox had been detected. They were still happy for me to come and have a test drive but wondered if I would rather wait whilst they sent it off for TLC. Sadly there was no way I could work a further week’s delay into my schedule, and there was a big part of me that was concerned it might be sold in another week with Spring fast approaching. I also knew deep down that if I didn’t buy it I would be spending a few bob on the Boxster and keeping it until October, by which time would be faced at the wrong time of the year with the delights of trading it or selling privately with all the muppetry and so forth that I just don’t have time for either. To be fair his call reassured me that I was dealing with a person and business I could trust, after all they could have let me find out for myself.
A week later the fiancée and I found ourselves in a smart looking unit just down the road from a Waitrose in Northampton together with a good friend of ours, known as Zippee on here, crawling over the car and its history with all the dispassion we could muster. 18 years of reading everything I had ever seen written about the car, the brand in general and a week of assistance from Mr Google told me it was honest and straight. I was relieved I had resisted the urge to mention anything on here, had I done so I very much doubt the car would still have been there! Looking mint with a cosmetic spray 2 years ago on the right panels, bills to back up many of the stamps in the Service book, and the all the important stickers and signs to show that no panels had left the car since it left the factory
. There were a few signs of its age with a little wear and tear inside, and a cracked driving light, a few touched up stone chips, but nothing that you would worry about.We had plenty of time to do all this as Harvey was handing over another car to its new owner who, whilst obviously pleased with his purchase, was obviously having a very detailed final check over and research as to the bells and whistles. We were plied with refreshments and passed keys to other cars to mooching at, having done our due diligence on mine, with only pleasantries and a test drive to go or so we thought. Once Harvey had waved off a very happy man in his 997 we were able to go for a drive. I didn’t push too hard, just enough to tell me that it was the real deal, and even after an all too brief 20 or so minutes at the wheel knew that it would get better with every mile I became more acquainted with it and with a few tweeks a deal could surely be reached.
On returning to the showroom we sat down. A few questions and Tony, the in house mechanic poached from the local main dealer for this brand, appeared to answer what Harvey could not (they were somewhat technical questions). We then went through what they thought needed doing to bring it up to the point I was happy to do a deal at. Remember that Gearbox thing? Well there were a few other things they were 100% open about that we had not spotted such as the rust on the rear of the front discs meaning that it would have new pads and discs and a blocked washer jet. A shame in some ways as the pads that would be going in the bin had a fair bit of meat left. I give the fiancée the nod and passed poor Harvey over to accounts (who had been briefed and could talk without the school boy inside me missing out). The price to change was right, a deal struck and over the following week calls were made to keep my up to date on progress with the bits and bobs which included an alarm chap appearing a day earlier than expected and a gearbox returning with a full new set of bearings. Even more impressive was the call from Tony about something which required him spending a few hours to research which was informative and extended to trying to source the obscure parts.
After a week of waiting it was finally 100% on for the collection last Saturday and the fiancée and I headed over to Northampton to Dove House to pay over the folding and say goodbye to the Boxster.
M030 Anti roll bars, K&N, Braded brake hoses.
http://www.pistonheads.com/sales/2314132.htm
Just as I expected the Custard Tart and I are gelling more with every drive as we get to know each other’s ways. So far I have decided that I need to get the driver’s side door seal replaced as age and use have nicked a few small bits out of the leading edge of the lip causing an unnecessary noise above a certain speed. I suspect that I’ll be putting the o/s driving light high on the hint list leading up to my birthday and I have a few other things in mind over the next few months to place my mark on it. All in all though I’m feeling rather
Edited by Rude-boy for spelling and missing letters
Edited by Rude-boy on Thursday 3rd March 09:39
Fat Audi 80 said:
CaptainSensib1e said:
Really enjoyed reading that and congrats on the new purchase. I'm glad I avoided the temptation to scroll to the bottom before I'd finished reading!
Ditto. Fat Audi 80 said:
Does it get a lot of attention being finished in "birds" yellow?
It does turn a few heads and there were a lot of mutterings in the office on Monday where it sticks out like a sore thumb surrounded by black, grey and blue.Most people who I have noticed noticing it seem to like it though judging by the smiles
Best so far was over hearing a family in front walking past it all murmuring words of approval to each other.
Thanks again all.
Starting to work out the optimum way to get my fat 'arris in and out of the buckets
Would be good to have another inch or so of leg room as I am a smidge too tall at the minute and have spotted another hole on the runner so might have a go at taking the seat out over the weekend if the weather is kind and move it back a little.
Starting to work out the optimum way to get my fat 'arris in and out of the buckets
Would be good to have another inch or so of leg room as I am a smidge too tall at the minute and have spotted another hole on the runner so might have a go at taking the seat out over the weekend if the weather is kind and move it back a little.
Podie said:
Delighted for you chap
If your missus is who I think she is, pass on my regards too. I assume she still has the red Chim?
If your missus is who I think she is, pass on my regards too. I assume she still has the red Chim?
That's one car that isn't ever going to be sold. We'll live in him with rags on our backs (polishing ones of course) before it would enter our heads.She sends hers to you and yours too!
Zippee said:
Hiya John 
Nice little write up and I bet the grin is permanently plastered on your face now. It was an awesome and very honest looking car and I'm really pleased you bought her.
I struggled with my fat arisse in those seats though so god knows how you're getting on
Nice little write up and I bet the grin is permanently plastered on your face now. It was an awesome and very honest looking car and I'm really pleased you bought her.
I struggled with my fat arisse in those seats though so god knows how you're getting on
mate, Massive grin from ear to ear.
Will be spending the weekend cleaning and ShinEtsu greasing the seals. Going to let the Mrs have her first go in it at the weekend as well
Was thinking of having a drive out but there is so much to do before the first meet on the 26th with every w/e thereafter filled until October!
zcacogp said:
With the right geo set-up (it has been geo'd recently, hasn't it?)
Looks like the last geo was done about 5k miles ago and it certainly tracks dead on. Will be getting a full geo done in a month or so though anyway. Not bothered just yet as it doesn't 'feel' out and there are a few bits and bobs in the pipeline that would negate the results.Once I have a few more miles under my belt I’ll post up a comparison with the Boxster. Initial impressions are that it is obviously much quicker in a straight line and that cornering speeds are largely unchanged. I think that the tyre profile is different to the Boxster but the footprint is the same.
zcacogp said:
How old is the suspension? They can hide worn shocks startlingly well...
The car had a full report on it at the end of 2008 when the previous owner bought it and as a result only required bushes for the anti-roll bars (owner replaced both with M030 ones) There was nothing concerning at that time and it has had a full check over by Dove, which given their openness I am inclined to believe are 100% straight when they say they saw nothing wrong. Can't recall exactly when it was all changed though. It might be an upgrade in the future but I have other plans right now.On the road it is 100% and when I take it on track I will be doing so to stretch it's legs rather than for lap records
zcacogp said:
(I'm impressed that Dove House fixed the gearbox whine before you bought it. It's a pretty common trait on a lot of 968's, and I don't think it is damaging, let alone terminal.)
Oli.
Famous last words and all that but I have to say that for me it has been the perfect buying experience. No one has been anything less than straight and they have done everything that they said they would.Oli.
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