I joined Porsche Club of America, Orange Coast Region on April 1999, but I've been a Porsche enthusiast for some time now. It started when I was a freshman in high school. I was living in Northern California at the time. Every morning as I walked to school, there was a Guards Red Porsche 944 parked on the driveway near the back end of the school. I looked at the car and liked it a lot although I did not know what it was. I just knew that I liked the looks of it and was thinking that one day I will own one of these cars. Later on I moved down to Southern California in 1985, and still did not know anything about Porsche. I remembered I had about three posters hung in my room all with Porsche images. But I liked the posters for a different reason. There were sexy models on them. Hey, I was a teenager.

A few years went by and I was off to college. After I graduated and started working that when I was introduced to Porsche. I had just bought a 1994 Acura Integra GSR as a gift for myself after all the hard work in college and was very happy with it. One day as I was talking with a co-worker and he asked if I'd driven a Porsche before. I said "No, What is a Porsche?" He proceeded to tell me how he was racing 911s and 914s when he was younger and Porsche was a real sports car, and my Integra was not. I was really interested in the stories and ask for more information. He gave me three books on Porsche and that was how I started the love affair with this very special marque.

It was tough to think of Porsche all the time and was unable to afford one. I worked hard for the next three years and dreaming of owning a Porsche 911 almost every night. During this same period of time, I researched and read everything I could find. I had an idea of what I wanted. It had to be a wide body Porsche 911. In 1997 I started to look around the area for Porsches for sale, I found one in Pomona. It was a Guards Red 1978 911SC with a 1994 Turbo S wide body conversion. I fell in love with the car although I only test drove it in the confined of a parking lot while I was on two crutches. The car looked great, but it was a bomb. I made the most fundamental mistake of buying a Porsche. It was the only one I looked at. I did have a pre purchase inspection carried out, but it did not tell the whole story. Needless to say, I quickly got tired of the car mainly because of the clutch from an earlier car that did not have the clutch helper spring like in all 911SCs and newer cars. I could not drive it in heavy traffic, and the ventilation system was terrible.

Within a year of ownership of this car, I felt that Porsche was not what it was all cracked up to be. But then I saw a 993 Carrera. Wow! What a beautiful car. I wanted one immediately. As God had intended, luck was not on my side. I was hospitalized for the third time in two years. This time it was serious and life threatening. I was blessed and realized that life was short and I had to fulfill my dreams. The man above had giving me another chance to live. Thus the search for the 993 began. After many months of searching, I finally found a Black 1997 993 Carrera S with just 6757 miles in May 1999. Of course, it was a wide body Carrera. Just over a year of ownership of this wonderful car, an unfortunate accident happened that the car was declared totaled.

I was Porsche less for a while and I was not feeling well, physically, by this time. I was happy with my semi normal life style. In fact, I'd decided to give up the sports car world all together and buy a four-door vehicle with automatic transmission. I thought I was getting old and Porsche was too rough of a car for me to drive. Even though the Porsche was never my daily driver.

Another trip to the hospital, this time I was diagnosed with kidney failure due to many years of taking prescription medicines for my back pain. A condition that has no cured. Modern medicine is helpless with the disease that I have. I was depressed after two weeks in the hospital with two minor operations to start daily dialysis. While I was recovering at home, I ran through old Porsche magazines to relive the good times. It made me happy and I realized that I should look for another Porsche. The first order of business the next morning was to cancel the deposit for a 2001 Mercedes Benz C320. The second order of business was to look for Porsches for sale on the internet. After a few days of searching and looking around, I ran across a beautiful Zermatt Silver Porsche C2 Turbo for sale with low mileage and only fifteen minutes away from my home. I made a phone call to inquiry about the car and the rest as they say it was history.

I am now the proud owner of a 1992 911 Turbo. Do you see a trend here? It is my third Porsche with a wide body. The Turbo classic shape is what drawn me to Porsche. This model has been on my wish list for a long time and I still can't believe that I could drive it any time I want to. I named it "3rd Chance". Third time is a charm and I hope to keep this car forever. It is by far the most satisfying Porsche I've ever owned. Even though I've only owned it for just a few weeks. There is plenty of power to push you deep into the seat back once the turbo spooled up, but I intend to make more performance enhancements to it as I always do to all my cars. For me, the fun part of Porsche ownership is the history, the research, the people, the interaction, the club activities, and the planning for each modification or event. It takes a lot out of a person, but it's totally worth it.

Now you know why I like cars and Porsche in particular. I work as a computer programmer and I manage a small group of programmers. I need an outlet to relief stress of the daily grind and to keep myself active. Porsche has allowed me indefinite possibility to have fun and modifications. I haven't able to leave any car I've owned alone. I feel the need to make changes to my cars to make them mine. I want to add personal touches and enhance their performance to suit my driving. Porsche has helped keeping my mind sharp, my eyes focus, and my hands and feet active. That's what driving a Porsche is all about, and the unique sound of an air-cooled flat six as you exit a bend in a canyon is indescribable.