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Marky''s 996.2 GT3 thread.

Marky911

Well-known member
Joined
4 Jun 2009
Messages
4,351
Hi gents, new car = new thread.
More mundane ramblings basically, but as ever I feel the need to log it. :D

As always feel free to ignore/berate/encourage.
I always value your input and I know from my time on here that I've gleaned a lot of valuable info off you lot, so thanks. :thumb:

For this first post I'm basically going to borrow the first post from my C2 thread. It's the quickest way of listing my previous Porsche's and everyone loves a 911 pic.. or 6.

I'll cover my search and GT3 stuff in the next post but even then the thread won't get going properly until I collect it this weekend.

Anyway, a quick run down on my previous Porsche's. Most of you already know all of this.

Horrible old bitsa -




Lovely 964 C2 manual coupe -




My favourite I think. 964 Turbo -




Maybe joint favourite then. 996 Mk1 GT3 Clubsport -




So after having to sell the Mk1 GT3 back in 2014 to fund our house project, I had a year or so without a 911. I was mega busy so it wasn't a massive deal.
However after a pretty crap 2015 I decided I wanted another and thanks to a wife that understands my 911 addiction I was able to start looking for 911 number 5.

Enter the 996 C2.
A manual coupe that I then added the genuine Aerokit to and GT3 wheels etc.

Thread here -

http://911uk.com/viewtopic.php?t=118164&start=0

Pic when I bought it -




Pic when I finished it -




Now to be honest when I bought the C2 I was that chuffed at owning a 911 again I honestly thought that would be it and I'd keep it for good, hence I spent a fortune on it.
However, as much as I liked the car and I still do think they're unbeatable for the money for the experience they offer, there was always something missing. Hard to quantify but it was that little zingy 'excitement of ownership" bit. I think that however good a car drives and looks I also like to know it's a bit rare or special, or what have you.
So long story short I had a rush of blood to the head and sold it to a good mate of mine, Ralf. Of course he let me spend about 3 hours writing an eBay listing out first and answering dozens of calls on it. :grin:

Anyway I'm glad it's gone to a good home and this meant the search for my next one was on. A search that I presumed would be an easy one. Silly mistake that. :grin:

Anyway onto the GT3 stuff in the next post.

Cheers. :thumb:
 
The search.

Ok so I had this post all written out and it was just stupidly long and boring, covering my search and why I discounted the other contenders.
None of that really matters though and it's covered in the last few pages of my C2 thread, so I've scrapped most of it.

One thing I would like to fess up about and apologise for was when I was asked after my viewing trip what the cars were like, I simply said on here 'Rough!".
Well that wasn't the whole story but I was playing my cards a bit close to my chest until I looked into things a bit more.
The RPM silver GT3 certainly wouldn't have been rough but it sold on my way down so that was frustrating.

That left the Supercar Rooms GT3 and the black GT3 at Autostore.
(I also viewed 2 993s but they were rough).

We had started our route at Autostore on the Saturday morning.

Linky

https://www.autostoresales.co.uk/porsche996gt32


Upon arriving at the facility near Cambridge we were greeted by Pav one of the lads there as Jonathan the salesman had told me he unfortunately wasn't around that weekend.
Impressive setup on a large site. Storage, showroom, workshops etc.
The GT3 was definitely one of the cheaper cars there with some Ferrari's and other Porsche's nudging £300k.
Craig and I had a good look around the car inspecting everything we could.
It was a good car. Original panels, stickers where they should be etc, etc.
The other attraction with this one, even compared to the now sold RPM car, was that whilst the RPM car was a lovely standard car, this black one had a lot of expensive parts that I'd probably end up fitting to any car I bought. It had the buckets, Tequipment cage, Alcons etc.

Negatives were, I hadn't yet seen any Rev range info, there was no paperwork with the car as it was on sale or return so the owner still had the history file and finally it had had the front end resprayed at some point for stonechips etc. It's a decent enough job but it's fairly chipped again now anyway so it will require a tidy up in due course.
Mechanically there's a couple of minor issues. The mot history showed advisories for both front shocks misting. It has KWs so they'll need rebuilding at some point. That'll be £500.
The front tyres are 5 years old but the rears are ok at 3 years old. They're PS2s with decent tread.
After that it was just a case of the usual gravel rash to the front of the side skirts and radial scratches in the rear of the front wheels where stones have jammed between those big 6 pot calipers and the wheel barrels.
The wheels are currently grey but I'll be returning them to silver anyway, so again the scratches are nothing and will be sorted in due course.

With all that in mind though, I really liked this car.
As I've said it was a bit stone-chipped compared to how most of us would imagine a 42k mile car, but these are track cars at the end of the day and they get used. My old Mk1 was low owners and 60k miles and the front of that looked like it had been shot blasted.
On top of some stone chipping the black one was also quite swirly as well, losing a lot of clarity in the paint, so a good detail was going to be required.

I liked it though. So much so that I said to Craig 'Should we even bother continuing on to see the rest of the cars on my list?".
We knew we should though as we'd put the day aside and didn't want to have to trail down again. Plus you can't buy the first one you see... can you? :wink:

I put an offer in with Jonathan anyway, but he said he couldn't get hold of the owner until Monday more than likely. Another reason to go and view the others as my offer may not even be accepted.
So we left to continue our search.
As I've mentioned the 2x 993s (at Ashgood and Portiacraft) were quickly discounted. Mainly due to oil leaks and poor quality resprays. They made the black GT3 look like a Pebble Beach entrant. :grin:

That left the Supercar Rooms GT3.
Now I'd already made an offer on this car previously and they'd said no. A bit arrogant but I thought 'Fair enough it must be a nice one so they won't reduce it".
Well it isn't. I won't go into it here as I'm trying to cut this post down a bit and also I'm not going to rip a car to bits on a public forum. Happy to discuss it via PM though, if anyone is considering going to view it.

So I came home with only the black one on my mind.
Now some other things came to light that weekend. One of which was there were a few people possibly chasing or at least considering the same few cars. There was someone viewing the same GT3s but in a different order so when I was at Supercar Rooms and mentioned the Autostore car, the salesman told me the last guy who'd been to view his was now on his way to Autostore.
Not wanting to get fished in though and panic buy something, I just headed home to weigh things up.
I think I know who that guy was anyway and he's since bought something else. :wink:

When I was at Ashgood viewing their 993, they confirmed their GT3 had just sold, so that was as well as the RPM car selling. So things weren't as dead as I'd thought, especially now the sun was coming out and spring was in the air. That's why I played all the cars down on here the following week. I didn't want to lose the black one. Bit naughty but that was the last nice car in my budget so there. :p

Anyway, Jonathan from Autostore got back to me a day or two later and said if I could go another £1k higher the car was mine. I said I'd need some more info on the history file and over revs first, then I might do a deal.
So he collected the history file from the owner and sent me some pics. He also dug out the Rev range info from when they'd taken the car in.
Both were better than I'd expected to be honest. I'll cover them more with pics later.
So I agreed their counter offer on the condition that the paintwork be corrected by a detailer ready for collection. So I'm paying £1k more but saving £500 on not having to have it detailed when I get it home. Plus it'll be nice to collect a shiny car, rather than a swirly mess. :wink:

So that's it I've bought it. Collection on Saturday. Jonathan has kept me up-to date with everything this week.
The car has been through their workshops where they found an inoperative fan resistor and the auxiliary belt was showing signs of age. Resistor was ordered from Porsche and is now fitted and there's a new auxiliary belt on too. Car is tip top now and also comes with 6 months warranty.

As of last night the car was half way through its paint correction and Jonathan says it has made all the difference.

I'm getting excited now. It's not perfect as I've said but it's very nice and for the money I think it's great, especially compared to some of the other stuff out there. :D
I just love GT3s and I have unfinished business with them due to having to sell my last one.
For my uses they are the perfect car. Modern enough to stick with my mates' faster cars, but special/raw enough to keep me interested long term.
Time will tell what prices do but I'm not in it for the investment. I'd hope not to lose the lot but if I do I'll have had fun in the process.
All I know is I had to get back into one while the prices have stalled a bit.
When I sold my last one I never thought I'd ever be able to get back into one, so it feels pretty special to be honest and I hope to keep this car for good.
In fact I'd go as far to say as I think it could be the last 911 I ever buy.
They're bloody awesome cars. :D

Here's the only pic I have of it so far, from when I viewed it.




Cheers to Craig for trailing all over viewing cars with me, although we both generally enjoy it and also YK off of here who also made the switch from an aerokitted 996.1 to a 996.2 GT3 last year. Thanks to him knowing every car on the market, it helped me avoid any story cars or lemons. Cheers buddy.
He also kindly let me drive his stunning red one when we met up last month for Anglesey. That just fuelled the fire even more.
:thumb:

As ever apologies for the long and boring post. I'm just getting things up to date. Next post should have more pics, car details, etc.

Cheers. :thumb:
 
Looking forward to this :popcorn:

And :congrats: again.

:thumb:
 
Great write up Mark.
I'm excited for you ! :thumb:
 
lovely car and great spec. you will love it and enjoy.

you have had some great cars and another to add to the folly !!
 
Congrats, as (I think) you allude to it was I who was going to view it after the supercar rooms car :) :thumbs:

Logistics determined that I never actually went and instead went to see the Cayman R at Ashgoods on the way back from Birmingham

Hopefully we'll both be very happy with our new wheels

:thumb:
 
Nice one Mark looking forward to the next installment :thumb:
 
Went through similar when buying my GT3 - missed out on a nice car at Ashgood's because I couldn't get down there until the weekend and it sold on the Friday afternoon - so I know how all that goes.

Buying the right car is IMHO far, far more important than the price. It's hard to say what the right 'deal' for shady history and compromised spec is, but it's not somewhere I'd want to go, full stop.

In terms of the detail it's really costly (when you add up all the prices, let alone time and hassle) to up-spec a car to have all the right bits, so I think the OP has definitely gone the right route. Enjoy!
 
Great post and beautiful car Mark - well done :thumbs:
 
gt3

Congrats on the new purchase! I am glad I am happy and settled with my old 993 as after your buying car hunting experiences I don't fancy looking for another!
 
Good job Marky!

Look forward to getting ours together and have a play in the near future. (and no police this time 🚗🚓 :lol: )
 
There are a few people on here whose posts are a delight to read & you are up there with the best, always informative & interesting leaving the reader waiting on the next installment. I wish you the best with your new car & hope its what you want it to be :worship:
 
Thanks for the comments lads.

Cheers Ady, yep I'm buzzing now. There were a few points where I almost done the same as you and left cars for a while but my roadtrip was a big driver in me taking the plunge. :thumb:

Thanks NLW and yes I'm looking forward to this chapter. :)

Hi 917. Yes I did think you may become my car buying nemesis. :grin:
It wasn't just you though. Obviously when there's a smallish pool of cars there are always a few interested parties.
Everywhere I went though the same few people had been. For instance the guy that bought the RPM one had also been to Ashgood etc.
Anyway I'm glad we are both sorted. Have you collected the Cayman yet?
I'm looking forward to an update on your thread and to hear your impressions. :thumb:

Hi Gaz, thanks for that and many thanks for the emails and help regarding some of my other options. Much appreciated. :thumb:

Thanks Digger and yes this car fell perfectly into budget with all the things I'd do anyway. Some people are put off by mods but personally if I can have one of 2 cars and one is on 15 year old stock dampers and the other has £3k worth of KWs and suspension work then I'll choose the latter.
It's funny you mentioning the other cars as one of my mates was suggesting the red Cat D car for a saving of £10k over mine but whilst not many of us know for sure that our cars have had zero incidents it trauma, I still don't want to know for sure that one has. Hence I'd never be happy with a known story car.
As a car to use that red one could be great. I'm not knocking it but it wasn't for me.

Hi Adam and Stich. Thank for the comments and yes Stich if you have a good one then enjoy it and be happy you have a nice one as it's a bit of a joke some of what's out there now for strong money. I'm glad I wasn't hell bent on a 993. It meant I could leave that search behind when I realised how far my budget got me (or didn't, as the case may be). :wink:

Cheers YK.
We'll hopefully sort something next month. If not then that September thing sounds good.







I would just like to end this post by saying that YK above has almost and I mean very nearly spoilt my weekend :hand: :D , by sending me a link to a GT3 that has just come on at the very same dealers that I'm buying mine from.
To make matters worse it's in budget and is the gorgeous one of one, blue Mk1. I have wanted that car ever since I knew what GT3s were.

https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/porsche/911-gt3-996/porsche-911-996-gt3/9661959

Unbelievable luck. I've just come off the phone from speaking to Jonathan at Autostore and telling him he's almost ruined my weekend. :grin:
Talk about Sod's law. But I've bought mine and it's paid for so it's a done deal I think.
I can't decide if I should be really pee'd off and try and change something or just get my car and forget about it.

:frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated: :frustrated:


What would everyone do?
I haven't seen the blue one and I did actually want a Mk2 this time.
I might not like the blue one when I see it.
The money is paid for the black one.
If I pull out on the black one will I huff the dealer so much that they won't even sell me the blue one?

Typical eh!
 
Difficulty will be the fact that the one you have bought was SOR & they have just time and money into it for the sale?.

Unless you cover the cost of that then I can see why they would be peed off TBH but it might be worth considering offering to do that if the blue one is really that much better for you?
 

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