Upper Falls, MD
I have wanted a Porsche since I was a teenager. Just before my 55th birthday I bought my 1969 Porsche 912 off of eBay, sight unseen. I was told during the ebay auction that the car ran decent and the body was solid, but it needed paint. The car was in Burlingame, CA and I live on the east coast. Bought the car the evening of July 5th '01. The car left the dealer's lot (West Coast Autosport) on the 9th and was delivered to me on the 23rd of July.
The car would not start when trying to get it off the car carrier. (Dealer did advise me that it may need a battery). We jump-started it and it was missing and smoking like it was on fire. It was about that moment that the sick feeling came over me. We pushed the car off the truck and the driver did tell me it was not smoking when he drove it onto the truck. Turns out, not only was there oil in places it didn't belong (causing the smoking), but because the car was shipped on such an incline (front up, back down), the crankcase had at least a half gallon of gas in it. Had we run the car for any length of time we probably would have wiped the main bearings.
After an oil change and new plugs the next day, and since the car had a valid set of CA black plate tags, I took the car out for several short backroad drives. By the end of the day the smoking was gone and, other than a high idle, the car was running fairly well. The odometer (which was broke) read 52,010 miles. I later found a service ticket in the car from 11 years earlier with the mileage on it... 52,010. So much for having any clue about total mileage.
The car was checked out and tuned up and left home on it's first road trip the week-end after Labor Day — its first of what has been an annual trip to Watkins Glen Vintage Race Weekend. After the first few years at this event I decided to try to sneak into the vintage race re-enactment held on Friday. I dress my car up like a race car and actually pulled this off for four straight years. Keep in mind that this is not an actual race. I would never sneak into something I was not qualified for.
They would bring many of the race cars into town from the track, they would line them up on main street for and hour or so, then send them out to do 2 laps around the original 6.6 miles road course that they ran from about 1947-1952. I have to admit, it was a blast coming around the corner with the hay bales (imagine those hay bales providing any protection for drivers or spectators), and up main street with the cheering crowds. Things went horribly wrong the 5th year. I got busted right before we were ready to go. Oh well, all good things come to an end, eventually.
I worked on the mechanicals trying to do small upgrades that I could handle myself. The flywheel seal was bad. Leaked a quart of oil every 100-200 miles. After replacing this I could go oil change to oil change (3K miles) without adding oil. I found out from the previous owner that the pistons and cylinders were replaced and a valve job done about 5K miles before I got the car, so that was a big plus. However, I had no clue whether the cases had ever been split or the main bearings ever replaced. I did brakes and suspension bushings and, altough the car was always a joy to drive, it was getting better and better as improvements were made (and I got more seat time in my new toy).
In the spring of 2003, a 912 rendezvous was organized for early April in Asheville, NC. I had just put a Pertronix in the distributor to eliminate the points. My wife and I left early on a Friday morning and entered onto Skyline drive at Front Royal, VA at about 9 a.m. This being a week day and early in the vacation season, the road was practically deserted. For 65 miles we blasted around the endless twists and turns with our main obstacles being the wildlife on the roads.
I realized that if I stayed on this road, as fun as it was, we would not get to Asheville till the rendezvous was over. We headed out to I-81 and, unfortunately, within an hour the car was missing and running rough. Ended up missing the drive that Sterling planned but did meet everyone at mealtimes. Ended up limping home but, hey, at least I wasn't on the hook.
I enter my car in shows wherever I go. Most of the time it's because the money goes to a charity or I get premier parking. I don't expect to be "Best Of Show". If it is a people's choice show I sometimes have a chance. I have won a 2nd and 3rd in class at the Hershey Porsche Swap meet and a 1st and a 2nd at a show in Richmond, VA. My first choice of activities though is getting on the track. I've been on three tracks: Watkins Glen, Leguna Seca, and Summit Point. Mostly just lunchtime charity laps but one High Performance Driving School which was a blast. I've done some AutoX also which I would recommend to everyone.
Since these early days my car has travelled over 90K miles and been though 38 states and still never on the hook... maybe I should stop saying that, huh? Six coast-to-coast trips to "The West Coast 912 Rendezvous," sometimes travelling with other 912s, sometimes travelling alone. While any road trip is great to me, that first trip with Dave L. and Harry H. has to be the most memorable. Wondering whether my car would make it, wondering whether Harry's car would make it, never any doubt about Dave's car; he was our fearless leader, altough he probably was thinking, 'How did I get myself into this, anyway?"
In my 912 travels I have met and have been hosted by so many great people. It will be 10 years since I became the caretaker of this great little car. They (912s) didn't get much respect years ago, but because the 912 community is upgrading the breed and putting them out there and getting them 'noticed', more and more people are coming to appreciate Porsche's entry level car of the late sixtes.
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