Time for an Engine Switcharoo

Aaron Miller

For those regular readers of The Patter, you may recall in October 2020 we sold our 944S to a close friend in Arizona and delivered the car to him. Since then, we’ve had a few small life upheavals. In January, we received transfer orders to report to Stuttgart, Germany in August 2021. Unfortunately, this means I’ll be forced to leave the Vice President position and Minta will be leaving the Membership and Chesapeake Challenge committees. While it’s bittersweet because we’ve loved our time in Chesapeake Region, orders to Germany would present all kinds of interesting options. We knew we would bring a Porsche, but which one? Our classic 944 Turbo and 968 Cabriolet were far too old and fragile to be pressed into daily service in a foreign country, so they would stay here in the able care of Randy Moss’ Collectors Car Corral. The Cayenne was an obvious choice, but thoughts of driving the Nurburgring or Stelvio Pass in a heavy SUV left us disappointed.

A by-product of the “Dieselgate” scandal was the German government’s hard-pivot away from Diesel engines in favor of electrification. That means our beloved 2014 Volkswagen Sportwagen TDi was now “verboten” and would not be allowed to transit around Europe. So we decided to sell the VW, and opt to bring something else instead.

With the Cayenne identified as a must-send vehicle, we decided to buy a second Porsche to bring with us to Europe. Before I receive the inevitable “Why not buy something there?” emails, our logic was thus; a Porsche purchased in the U.S. is one we could bring back to the U.S. and a European delivered car did not promise the same reciprocity. So, the question became, “Which U.S. Porsche do we buy?” As Chesapeake’s unofficial Chief Transaxle Proponents, the answer may surprise you; we needed a 911.

Time for an Engine Switcharoo (cont’d)

A quick chat with the bank said they wouldn’t approve moving a car with a lien against it overseas, and a review of the bank account said we were looking at nice 996s, early 997s, or stripped 997.2s. Early 997s scared us off with the IMS “fix” and potential of spending enough to buy the car again if the IMS let go. The 997.2 appealed to our interior tastes, but with virtually zero options available on most cars in our price range became a non-starter. By process of elimination, we were left with 996s. But even something as simple as “we need a 996,” doesn’t necessarily mean we had a quick or easy answer. Knowing the weather in Stuttgart from November through April could best be described as gray, cold, and rainy, meant cabriolets were out of the question. And with the real possibility of commuting in snow, we knew traction would be a primary requirement. Again by elimination, we came to the realization we needed an All-Wheel Drive 911. The 996.1 Carrera 4s were plentiful, but like many 996s required dedicated research to determine whether it had already lived a hard life. Conversely, we discovered the 996.2 Carrera 4S appeared to be generally spared from the owners who wantonly modified them, or did as little maintenance as possible before moving them on. Our target vehicle decided, we started the hunt in earnest. BringaTrailer.com became my go-to website to establish conditions and values, and the standard Autotrader/Cars/CarGurus websites became my cannon fodder for dealer-offered cars. However, to my surprise the PCA Mart website became my favored option. I appreciated that each car on The Mart was owned by a PCA owner, and many owners shared my approach with Porsche ownership. Even better, there were two to three 996.2 C4S on The Mart every month. Reaching out to the sellers, we identified two strong candidates, a Basalt Black Metallic 2003 C4S and a Lapis Blue Metallic (great color-editor) 2003 C4S. Both cars were located in the Northeast, no preference there. The black C4S featured records going back 15 years and the original window sticker, both incredible pluses. The blue C4S had five owners, and the seller drove it year -round, increasing the chances of deferred maintenance and under body corrosion. Both owners were older, and selling their cars to make room for newer cars. The final detail became the critical one; the owner of the black C4S had the car in Upstate New York, but had transitioned to Florida with no plans to return before May. With our vehicle shipment date already set for the end of May, that meant a very aggressive schedule to get the vehicle moved, titled, registered, and shipped in less than 30 days, all while coordinating an overseas household move and selling our home. Too much stress for us.

Time for an Engine Switcharoo (cont’d)

Having settled on the 2003 Lapis Blue Carrera 4S, we coordinated with the seller for what ordinarily would have been an easy sale. COVID created unforeseen challenges we didn’t expect in the form of required COVID testing prior to departure, reporting our travel to Massachusetts including our hotel information, and a 14 day “restriction of movement” clause from our employers post-travel. The seller informed us he had work travel scheduled to Philadelphia and initially offered to bring the car to Philly before backing off of his offer because, “5 hours in that car is brutal compared to my new S-Class.” While he might be correct, we were disappointed our easy collection opportunity vanished. We also had an issue of getting a Pre-Purchase Inspection, even though Porsche Westwood was less than 10 minutes from the seller’s home they inexplicably ceased conducting Pre-Purchase Inspections. At this point, we were at a decision point on how to proceed; prudence said to walk away, or at least insist the seller take the car to get a PPI at our expense. We talked to the seller about our concerns, and he provided all of the receipts for maintenance during the last two owners’ tenures which included new brakes, new summer tires, the 80k mile service and the LN IMS upgrade. While we couldn’t be sure we were getting a diamond, I was satisfied we weren’t angling to buy a dud. After a marathon car ride to Boston, MA in our VW (which still got 47 mpg!) on a Friday, we met the seller early on Saturday morning. He guided me on a 30 minute test drive, and after verifying there were no untoward clunks, squeaks, or gauge fluctuations, we returned to close the deal. After a brief paperwork period, we were the proud owners of our first 911! As we were preparing to leave, the seller asked if we wanted the snow tires to go with it. Of course we did, they are a requirement in Germany! The seller then produced a set of nearly new Pirelli snow tires already mounted to a set of correct 996.2 C4S wheels! Any qualms we might have had about the purchase price evaporated in an instant when we recognized the seller just gave us $2,500 in wheels and tires.

The drive home wasn’t pure bliss because the seller was correct, the drive from Boston to Philadelphia was brutal due to the roads and drivers. But the view was perfect, and so was our new car.