The Call

Back in 1990, I was minding my own business working away when my brother gives me a call.

"Hey Dan, I've found a perfect car for you - a Porsche 928.  It's a 1978, with a 5-speed, low miles, great paint, decent interior, Doctor's car and it's priced below Blue Book.  And a New Mexico car to boot (us Chevy guys worry about rust).

Priced below Blue Book, above Blue Book?  Who cares?  All I can think of is a 928 my brother and I came across parked outside a Talking Heads concert back in our college days.  It must have been 1983, and what a thing to see - more of a spaceship than car.

So, sight unseen, knowing absolutely nothing about 928's, I find myself wiring $13,000 to my brother's account in New Mexico so he can do the deal.

Delivery

My brother drove my new 928 from his home in Las Cruces, New Mexico to my parent's home in Boyd, Texas, about 12 hours.  I bought a cheap round trip from Toronto to DFW Airport and tossed the return leg.  I don't need no stinking airplane, I have a Porsche!

Well, I must admit that I was pretty damned impressed when I drove up and saw that beauty sitting in the driveway.  Black paint that looked great and the body was as straight as can be.  The interior wasn't bad either.  But the New Mexico sun did do a hell of a number on the dash.  It was covered with one of those carpet covers that was sun faded and destined for the bin.  Underneath was a generously cracked dash and pod. Well, no big deal, I grew up in the Texas heat and I know the damage that can be done.

I immediately fired her up and took her for spin.  Hum, what's that noise?  The rear muffler is in pretty bad shape, rusted with holes. What the heck, let's go.  Drove fine, handled great.  Good acceleration. Air conditioner blew ice cubes.  Hey this isn't bad at all.  But my brother did warn me that my new 928 had a nasty hot start problem. Unknown to me, this was classic vapor lock, a common problem with Bosch K Jet fuel injected cars.  Oh yeah, and don't top off the gas tank, it leaks.

So, what is the first item on the agenda after the new car spin around the block?  That would be a thorough washing inside and out of course, followed by a nice layer of carnauba wax.   Wow, what a great looking car!

Next on the agenda is the tune up.  Dear old Dad had already secured supplies at Pep Boys.  He actually found oil and fuel filters on the self.  New plugs, 10W-40 and an oil filter were quickly installed.  I took a look at the plug wires as well as the distributor cap and rotor and all this looked just fine.  It took a while, but we found the fuel filter in front of the rear passenger side tire.  Looked like a pain to replace, so I left it for later.  (Can anyone say blatant foreshadowing?)

By the way, the first look at an old bugger's engine compartment is a memorable experience.  That big overhead cam V8 with the spider induction system sitting on top is indeed impressive.  Even if the hood had to be held open with a cut off broomstick (but that was okay, it worked great on the hatch, too).

With the tune up done, I fired her up and she idled like silk.  But sounded a bit like a Chevy truck because of the muffler.  Hey, I'm ready to go.

The Trip Home

My mother volunteered to co-pilot on the trip from Texas to Canada.  And we would drop off my dad and my brother in Oklahoma City along the way (Dad was teaching and brother was attending the FAA academy).  So we loaded up the 928 with a gang of four and luggage (we travel light), and made a very quick trip to OKC.

I must say it was nice to get rid of all that ballast.  We left her running, did a drop and run (hot start problem remember).

And off we went to Detroit.

The Problem

Pulling into Ann Arbor, we started losing power.  She wouldn't accelerate past 40 mph.  She revved freely unloaded, so I start thinking that I should have replaced that fuel filter.

I found a parking lot real quick.  Pulled out my tool box and started to work away.  Well, the facts that I have never worked on a fuel injected car and that fuel started leaking out of the pressurised system scared me good.

So I buttoned everything back up, found a public phone and looked up the nearest Porsche Dealership.  Gave them a call, service was open, but it was Sunday I think and they were backed up with "regular" customers. Fortunately, they said come on by and they'll see what they can do.  We limped over as fast as possible.

We waited, and waited and a mechanic waived us in.  I explained the circumstance.  He pulled out an official Porsche hood prop and went to work.  After looking under the hood for while, listening to the engine for a while, hooking up some gauges and reading them for a while, the mechanic replaced the fuel filter.  Closed the hood, and absolutely flogged her around the block.  I was genuinely impressed.  He drove her back in, tossed me the keys and said, "She still has good power for an old '28."  That was exactly what I wanted to hear.  I flashed a big smile and asked, "How much do I owe you?"

I paid up, Mom and I jumped in the car and took off for Toronto.  No more drama.

Not Bad at All, Huh?

One bad fuel filter on an exotic bought with no pre-purchase inspection. I got off lightly based on how I bought this car.  But what else was wrong with the car?  The car was 12 years old, so you expect things to be wrong.  But I paid a price for the car to be in top shape.  So here's what wasn't in top shape:

         1.      The rear muffler needed replacing and the intermediate muffler was cut out.  Since replaced with an ANSA, still sounds like a truck.
         2.      Paint was a quickie job covering up lots of body work, but nothing serious.  And the paint's clearcoat "sheeted" off a few years down the road.  New paint, $3,000.
         3.      Vapor lock was a pain to correct.  I ended up repairing this myself after giving up thousands of dollars to mechanics.
         4.      The dash and pod were cracked all to hell.  Since repaired by me.
         5.      Gas tank vent hose leaked.  Repaired by me.
         6.      Water pump let go a few months after purchase.  Total belt and pump maintenance done at Porsche.
         7.      Shifter cup was completely gone.  Replaced by me.

Actually, not bad, well the paint was.  So I figured I should have just negotiated the price down.  But I didn't.

And yes I am very happy to have this car.  Or is that a hobby?