"The 911 Cab Project" (Continued)

Written: Summer '99

Finding out exactly what I got myself into.

When I got the 911 project back from the shop, with the suspension dialed in, I couldn't believe the diference in the car's ride and feel. I was starting to feel a little better about my purchase again.

Before I could figure out what I wanted to do next, my brother notified me that a set of factory cup wheels with Michellin Pilots from a 1995 993 (911) were in the local Porsche club magazine for sale by a privat party for only $1,200 for the set. It took me about 1 or 2 minutes to make my decision on that one. I called the guy, and the deal was done in less than a day. Later I sold the chrome Antera wheels that belonged on a Turbo 911 to someone who actually owned a Turbo 911 for $600.

Now it was time to start noticing all the little things that needed to be fixed. Remember, the bra was the only thing holding the front bumper on, and the bumper's mounting holes were shot, so I had been leaving the bumper covered with the bra just to keep the damn thing on the car. I decided that I would use winter as the time to go over the body and paint. I talked to a friend of a friend who did body work and he said he would give me a great deal on a complete job for around $3K. I figured that would be perfect since the going rate on bodywork and a color change paint job was being quoted by others in my area for around $7-$8K. The problem was that he was booked up until spring. Being the impatient fool that I am, I found another friend of a friend that lived down in LA that promised me the same thing. He had an opening in his schedule of vehicles, so I jumped at the chance.

Enter the road trip from hell....

I decided to combine a work trip with my transport of my car down to LA as well as the purchase of various body panels that I found on the Net from Rennspeed motorsports (great source for Porsche stuff by the way). My idea was to leave at 3:00am for LA from San Jose (about a 400 mile drive), drop by Rennspeed in inland LA to pick up the body parts (about 50 miles out of the way from my appointment), go to my appointment at the coast, then after the appointment, drive down to the shop and drop my car off and get a ride from them to the airport where I could fly home by the evening. At least it seamed like a good plan at the time....

I left at 3:00am and by 3:15am, the largest, most violent storm of the year had kicked in. I spent my morning in the convertable praying for the top to do its job to keep the rain out. As I drove down the interstate at freeway speeds (I don't want to devulge any deviation from speed laws in print here), I was pleased to find that the top was sealing nicely, the car was handling great, even during the solid 4 hours of downpour. By the time I actually reached the outskirts of LA, however, the freeway speeds slowed to a crawl. Suddenly, I began to feel drops of water in my lap and on my shoulders. I looked up to find a literal waterfall of rain coming in to the cockpit. With no towels, there was no escape. So I sat there in my business suit and got soaked. Due to the newly introduced moisture in the vehicle, all of the widows began to fog up. The notoriously weak climate control system of the 911 had no chance against the visciousness of this fog attack. I spent the next hour only being able to see the small area in front of my car that was visible through the part of the windshield that I could reach to wipe every 15 seconds.

After finally picking up a factory front bumper, factory rocker panels, an aftermarket fiberglass rear bumper, and an aftermarket motorized rear tail assembly, I was off again to my appointment. The rain was now comming down harder than ever and after writing the check for all of those parts, I was seriously reconsidering the soundness of my decision to buy this vehicle. I showed up at my appointment looking like I just took a shower in my suit, everyone had a good laugh, I completed the appointment, and two hours later, with the sun shining, I was on my way to drop off the car at the body shop.

I dropped off the car, stated all that I wished to have done (with my pre-chosen midnight metallic blue color swatch in hand), and was dropped off at the airport for a late trip home.

After an agonizing 2 months of waiting, I was told the car was done. I flew back down to LA, took a cab to the shop, and finally got to see the thing first hand. I then realized that the old saying "you get what you pay for" really does ring true. The bodywork was great, but the clear coat had not been buffed out. When the sun hit the paint, swirl marks were abound. Also, when I had new door handles put on, they also re-keyed the entire car to match the ignition. The problem was that they lost my master, and the keys that were made didn't quite work right in the ignition. Allot of jiggling, and I could finally start the car. Another thing was that when they unhooked all of my lights and power window switches, they never labeled any of the wiring connections so when they were putting it back together, they didn't know where all the wires went. This mistake left me with nothing but operational headlights and a handfull of window switches. One more thing was that they couldn't figure out how to put the new rear decklid on with the motorized rear tail, so it didn't fit correctly as well as didn't close. But the worst part was that the factory rocker panels I purchased had been drilled through and studs were put in to hold them on the car. Unfortunately, I felt like it would be ungreatful of me to complain since I did get quite a bargain on the whole job. Either way, I had no means of getting back home other than to take the car and do what I could when I got it back to Northern California.

-Picture of the project after a few minor adjustments

To be continued.....