Lost my mind and did a thing

"Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney" (braddelaparker)
03/19/2018 at 13:06 • Filed to: None

At home at daybreak in its new resting place.

At the office on a floor several up from where I used to park the Miata. I’m now that guy. Frunk is popped here, not mis-alinged (no more drinking coffee on the drive in, goes in a thermos in the frunk to be consumed at my desk)

’04 996 40th anniversary car with the X51 package. I’m now the moron who bought a 113k mile 996, albeit a very clean example with a long service history and all of the appropriate recent services (clutch, IMS, water pump, coolant hoses, oil separator, etc). I’ll now begin holding my breath.

DISCUSSION (41)

WilliamsSW > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 13:13

I don’t see the issue here as long as the price reflects the mileage. Congratulations!

Thomas Donohue > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 13:13

Nothing wrong with that. A fine automobile....breath, and put another 80k miles on it. Congrats.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > Thomas Donohue
03/19/2018 at 13:15

Oh, you’d enjoy the conclusion on the PPI I got: “This is a really clean car, not a thing wrong with it. But don’t buy one, just pony up and buy a Turbo instead, way more reliable.”

Thanks, guy.

Jake - Has Bad Luck So You Don't Have To > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 13:15

I’ve made worse decisions. Congrats.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > WilliamsSW
03/19/2018 at 13:16

Paid 10k more than I would have for a comparable-mileage ‘99, which is what I was looking at before, but between the 3.6L, the X51 package and other options, and (more than anything) the detailed service history and the reputation of the shop who had done the work and consigned it for their customer, figured it made sense to spend the money up front.

We’ll see how I feel about that if it blows up.

Thomas Donohue > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 13:17

Advice like that is why you (hopefully) got a good deal on a 996.2

Chariotoflove > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 13:18

Be proud. You are fulfilling the highest, best destiny of any Opponaut: doing the stuff I can’t so I can live vicariously through you. Full shakedown review when you can, pls.

404 - User No Longer Available > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 13:18

all of the appropriate recent services (clutch, IMS , water pump, coolant hoses, oil separator, etc)

I think you should be fine mechanically. Aesthetically though...

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > Chariotoflove
03/19/2018 at 13:20

Totally owe you an apology for ghosting on the Integra test drive. Lost track of things that week and then avoided issuing a mea culpa afterwards because I’m a neurotic nutbag. Glad to see you worked out a deal for your sister though, RSX looked really nice!

And a shakedown review is absolutely coming, getting more comfortable by the mile.

WilliamsSW > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 13:21

I hear you, and I have the same philosophy. Some nice upgrades, but that service history is critical on a car like this.

Besides, it’s the low mileage cars that were babied and kept under 3k rpm that are most susceptible to the IMS bugaboo anyways.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > 404 - User No Longer Available
03/19/2018 at 13:22

Biggest issue outstanding mechanically would be a D-chunk/cylinder wall failure and there’s nothing I could do about that, so I’ll try not to think of it.

They’ve grown on me. Initially was looking cheap and early because I didn’t like the look but could justify the driving dynamics if I bought it cheap. 40th anniversary car helps a lot with the Turbo-look front fascia. We’ll see where I end up on the looks after living with it daily. Interior is miles ahead of the early 966s, though, and very nice on the 40th anniversary cars.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > WilliamsSW
03/19/2018 at 13:23

Yup. The only real bugaboo that will be left is a d-chunk/cylinder wall failure, or just the gradual ovalling of the cylinders, and there’s not much you can do to predict/prevent that, so I’ll just have to learn to forget about the possibility and love the drive.

Gerry197 > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 13:24

IMS done, that should be a big relief.

WilliamsSW > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 13:24

LOL sounds like you had the right guy do the PPI too.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > Thomas Donohue
03/19/2018 at 13:26

Time will tell on how good a deal it was, but I’m comfortable with the price. Good news is, if it turns out to be a bad deal, I’ll just keep and love the thing forever.

Chariotoflove > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 13:27

Don’t worry about it. I figured life got really busy or something when you didn’t answer the email. We ended up getting a better car that we didn’t have to road trip in to deliver. So, things have a way of working out.

Eury - AFRICA TWIN!!!!!!! > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 13:28

Very nice. Congrats. I wouldn’t worry too much about the car, it’s had the stuff done that these need to have done, you had a PPI, it should be good. 40AE are awfully nice cars. Paying 10k more than the 99s you were looking at just means you spent it up front rather than dumping it into the 99 to do the stuff you wanted done. I went the opposite way, I was looking at 2000s and 2001s that were in great shape and 22-24k, and ended up buying an 01 for $14.5 and immediately dropping another $7k into it to get it where I wanted. Your path is a lot easier and quicker.

BeaterGT > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 13:46

Congrats! Is this your first 911? Over/under 20k?

arl > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 13:46

Congrats! Updates please as you get driving time.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > BeaterGT
03/19/2018 at 13:50

First of hopefully many. Over, but not unreasonably so. Ponied up a bit more for what was absolutely the nicest car at any level of mileage I had seen in my 12 months of shopping.

Saracen > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 13:50

Ovalling of the cylinders = rebuild with LN nickies, enjoy the thing and never sell it.

Saracen > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 13:51

Congrats! Nice looking car, and it’s good that it got all that recent service done. Those are very expensive bills on our cars.

996 X51 is 345bhp, right?

OmerCarrothers333 > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 13:52

I kind of feel like buying a second-hand GTI as a weird stepping-stone to owning a second-hand Porsche. I’m terrified for both my marriage and my finances if I decide to get a Porsche.

But I really like the Cayenne and I kinda like the Boxster...

BeaterGT > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 13:55

Wow, twelve months. I admire your patience!

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > Saracen
03/19/2018 at 14:06

That’s the plan and I’ll be perfectly fine with that sequence of events so long as it’s not within the first couple of years of ownership, imagine that will leave me with a lot of remorse about having $40k into a car that I could have spent on a different 911.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > BeaterGT
03/19/2018 at 14:07

Equal parts me being a cheapass, buying a home in the middle of that stretch, and then being picky when it got down to brass tacks. There was zero patience involved once I removed all of my mental barriers, ha!

Neil drives a beetle and a fancy beetle > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 14:08

Very nice; I’d say you should get plenty of life out of it given the good service history; but if it does go boom I know a guy who can give you intel on swapping a 3.2 boxster engine in at about 1/3 the price of a 3.4 swap.

Looks great!

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > Saracen
03/19/2018 at 14:09

Thank you. That work is what really made me say yes to this thing (sight unseen, might I add). Most major services I could think of had been done in the prior 12 months by the prominent north bay area shop that was consigning it, and it got a clean bill of health from their competitor down the street. Hard to stare that down.

345hp indeed, another one of those things that made the deal a no-brainer.

Dasupersprint - base trim is enough > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 14:09

Living the dream, congrats! I learned today that there’s a 40th edition that combines the Turbo/4S front with the Carrera rear

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > OmerCarrothers333
03/19/2018 at 14:10

I bought an NA Miata as my stepping stone to 911 ownership, so yours makes a lot more sense than mine!

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > Dasupersprint - base trim is enough
03/19/2018 at 14:11

Goes a long way to improving the front aesthetics, only problem is that now it leaves me wanting the Turbo/4S rear too, especially given that I was considering some Turbos throughout my shopping process.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > Eury - AFRICA TWIN!!!!!!!
03/19/2018 at 14:13

Glad to hear that, I started looking down the path that you followed and really did mean to just go that way, this car just popped up out of nowhere and I happened to be the first to call on it before the bay area enthusiasts pounced on it. Not sure you can go wrong either way, definitely happy with where I ended up.

Saracen > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 14:20

Yep, I mostly focused on finding a well maintained car rather than which type of 997 it was. Everything from base 3.6 C2's to C4S’s and even a couple of Turbos (still sad I didn’t get that one). I just got lucky in finding a meticulously maintained car that also happened to be a C4S X51 with PCCB’s. And lots of other goodies.

415s30 W123TSXWaggoIIIIIIo ( •_•))°) > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 14:23

My friend has one, he doesn’t drive it a lot, the tires are expensive too he says.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > Saracen
03/19/2018 at 14:24

I found a really great Turbo (996) about 6 months back that I almost pulled the trigger on, could be a twin of this C2 I bought, but it had only been driven 5,000 miles in the last 4 years (guy had taken care of it but not being driven led me to believe that putting miles on it was going to reveal needs) and it had a weird spot of rust/flakey paint that just didn’t make any sense and the seller couldn’t account for.

Still think I could have worked it out, was disappointed I didn’t buy it until I wound up with this gem.

Saracen > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 14:32

I found a clean 997 Turbo 6MT with 50,000 miles on it for $60k at a SoCal Porsche dealer last january. They decided to just auction it because they were too cheap to service the car before retailing it. I was like omg, I don’t care, for that price I’ll do it all myself! But they didn’t care.

But I love my car. And it is so well equipped its MSRP is higher than that Turbo.

OmerCarrothers333 > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 15:08

I was leasing an Accord before I got the GTI, so I’d say we’re on a strangely similar path.

Duck Duck Grey Duck FTMFW! > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
03/19/2018 at 16:08

Very nice! Congrats!

TAZ40JAHRE > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
05/22/2018 at 17:26

Congrats on the 40th! By now you’ve had it a few months so I hope you’re loving it. I love mine. In case you haven’t seen it we have a Registry owners group for our cars, which I manage. Our website is www.40jahre911.com and we’re on FB at www.facebook.com/40jahre911. Check them out when you have time. I’d appreciate it if we could connect so that I could get a few details for the Registry records. My email is 40jahre911@gmail.com. Thanks and, again, congrats on the car.

Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney > TAZ40JAHRE
05/23/2018 at 09:50

E-mail forthcoming!

TAZ40JAHRE > Bob Loblaw Made Me Make a Phoney Phone Call to Edward Rooney
06/04/2018 at 17:02

Thanks. I was out of town and just got back. I don’t see it in my inbox or spam. Do you mind sending it again? Thanks. 40jahre911@gmail.com