I had just bought my first 911!

Hello blog. Sorry for the radio silence. This year has been crazy-busy! My beautiful daughter was born 23rd Jan (our first), we moved to Windsor (my hometown), fully renovated an 1870 Victorian house, and I officially started a new job at Google. So Porsche hunting didn't feature high on my ToDo List nor would it make much sense financially. Also I just sold my Mini Cooper S to make way for a practical family car, which came in the form of a VW Tiguan. That said, it's the 50th Anniversary of 911 and if there was any year to buy my first Porsche it would have to be this year. So every once in a while I'd get my fix perusing PistonHead Classifieds. Then late one Friday night I saw this shiny black 993 C2 being sold privately in Reading, and since I was passing by the following day on my way to Wiltshire, I decided to pop by and take a little look...and the rest, as they say, is history! It wasn't an S, it wasn't a Turbo (simply didn't have the money for either!), nor was it a low mileage garage queen with an impeccable service history, but it was black, 2 wheel drive, great condition, and money-wise I could make it work, just.

Within a few minutes of seeing it and hearing the engine note, something just came over me, and I turned to my other half Harriet, who was holding the Aurelia at the time, and said 'I really want this car' - and strangely enough she seems okay with that! So after a few phone calls - needed Jamie's and Fraser's blessing, Tom at 911Virgin (thanks for the wise words that day), my sister (who kindly lent me some of the cash - thanks Lin) I went swiftly to a hole-in-the-wall down the road and withdrew 500 pounds, shook the guy's hand, agreed a price (subject to PPI) and that's was it. I had just bought my first 911! It all happened so quickly. I kind of felt numb. I hadn't driven it. I hadn't really check it over. The amount of buyer's guides I read over the years and all that wisdom seemed to escape me that morning. But it just felt right and I knew that anything untoward would come up in the PPI so I followed my instincts. And that's how we left it. I didn't sleep for a week thinking about it and the car went to Ray Northway for a thorough inspection. Days later, when Ray gave me the nod (who by the way is an absolute gentleman), I transferred the funds and jumped into a Taxi to collect the car. I'll never forget the drive home, straight down the M4 from Reading to Windsor, driving my very own 911. I was living my dream and the car, by no means perfect on paper (had a fair few niggles - not surprising for the age / mileage though), felt absolutely perfect to me. I was finally a super proud Porsche owner and you should have seen the smile on my face! Happy days and may they continue...also, gives me a very good reason to keep posting.

Photo taken by my sister and that's my brother-in-law Chris. I'm on the phone to Ray Northway as the starter motor was playing up. No surprise as it came up on the PPI report. Shortly after I went for a long drive through Windsor Great Park. Bliss.