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Well, since my colt is gone I have been wanting a new race/summer car. I've been looking for something that is almost as un-CSM as you can get. RWD.

I've been thinking Miata because they are light, RWD and can be made to handle VERY well. That is where i started my shopping.

I had some hard and fast rules for the new car this time around. I was not going to compromise and get something I didn't want.

• not front wheel drive (RWD or AWD only)
  manual transmission
  no rust
  had to be able to drive home under its own power

The ability to bring my son and daughter-to-be (yup, we are preggers) to daycare is a huge plus. This made the miata harder to swallow right off the bat, but it would still be good.

Well, as I looked around craigslist at local and some not-so-local miatas one thing jumped out at me. These little cars hold their value WAY too long (aka overpriced). That is why I ended up with a CSM in the first place.

There were a few other cars I took a glance at. MR2, 2000ish impreza, mullet-mobiles. Nothing really jumped out and said "buy me". Discussing this problem with one of my crazy-car-guy coworkers he said "I know exactly what car you want". Of course I asked him what. The reply:

Porsche 944.

I looked at him like he had two heads. "I can't afford a porsche"

"Trust me, go check the lists."

Well, I checked the lists and looked into the specs. Rear wheel drive, stick, rear seats built for midgets or 2 year olds (I have the latter) and best of all, well within my price range!

Holy crap, I can afford a Porsche. Now depending how much of a purist you are, the 944 isn't a Porsche. Water cooled and front engine. A "real" Porsche has a boxer engine that is air cooled. It would also be in the back of the car to boot (hah, get it?). The 944 is basically the car you get if a Porsche had a baby with a VW.

The first day searching I found a guy in Albany (4 hour drive) who was selling his car for a steal. I called him up and he recently got a new car. The dealer offered him $1.6k and he knew he could get more so it was posted for $2k. I was going to drive out the next night to look at it but he had someone coming by that night to look at it. Well that guy bought it. Poo.

I found a few others around. One in Buffalo, but the guy was half-hearted in selling it so after a few calls and emails he vanished. There was a really nice one in NJ that I was going to try to drive down and see. In the middle of this I found a beautiful example of a 1989 944S2 in Orlando. The S2 has the turbo front end (smoother) and a larger engine (3L* vs 2.5L). I kept looking back at the orlando car and drooling.

I had a particularly bad day at work so I was in a pissed off mood. Sitting there watching TV after the son went to bed I look at the wife and tell her "I just don't want to deal with this shit. I want the Orlando car"

"Ok, you make it work financially and you can have it"

::blank stare::

"I love you"

This car was actually at a Porsche dealer so I trust him way more then any of the other random guys out there. I called him and the car was still there. After lots of boring chatting and dealing we came to an agreement.

All that typing just to get to the pictures




So I fly down to Orlando on the July 11th and drive it back.

BooYah!

-paul

*3 liter 4 banger... its like 4 paint cans going up and down 208HP/280Lb-Ft stock

Congratulations man!
My brother used to have a 944 (non S), and it still kicked ass! Now he has a 928S and loves it. Looks like they built the damn thing around the engine it's in there so tight!
Hope you enjoy, and be careful driving it home!

That thing is butter! I love how the hand brake is next to the door. There is a shop by my house that only deals with porsches, they have a couple race porsches. But behind the shop is like 12 944's of all different years that might just be parts cars. I'll take pics. The place is called Fairwinds automotive. Just a short drive off of I-95 when you get up to Delaware . Congrats and good luck with the car.

Damn, it's a 3.0L inline-4? I didn't realize they did that. That thing looks really mint though, how much are you getting it for?

_________________
91 GSX - 511fwhp and 352 lb/ft 25psi 110 octane, 7.68 @ 95.9mph 1/8th 21psi 91 octane, 11.93 @ 112.9mph, 117.7mph best trap speed, 20psi 91 octane
98 Volvo S70 T5 - DD

http://www.facebook.com/captaintonus

I love those cars so much! Good find dude!

Wow. What a gem. Good find!

_________________
2003 Evo, 89 Mirage Turbo, 88 Conquest 4G64

i've always had a thing for those.

congrats paul!

_________________
I own a CSM.
I live my life 1 repair at a time.
Nothing matters...not my crew...my bills, nor my friends drama...
For those 10 months or less... I'm broke...

It's a beautiful car, I really like the color. That's a big 4 cylinder.

_________________
John
89 Colt GT(2)
88 d50 4g63t, crower 272's, dsmlink

The 944 has always been my favorite Porsche. I can definately agree with you there. I've always wanted a 944 turbo.

$6k
A few of my friends have worked on both NA and turbo flavors. The turbo ones are all sorts of strange to fix. That and being tweaked harder they tend to break in a much more spectacular (expensive) ways. Plus with what I want out of the car a nice linear power curve will be very helpful. I was shying away from the turbos for just that reason.

Plus, on a smaller track, the 944S2 can actually outperform a turbo 944 due to the torque. Of course all the turbo guys need to do is turn up the boost to go faster. NA isn't that easy.

That's sick. I almost got myself a 924S turbo a couple years back, but the guy backed out on selling it.

The tranny's are in the rear, correct? I would love to run one of those up the twisty roads around here

I definately wouldn't mind having a older 917 either. Something about the 4 cylinder Porsches that I like. The new ones are nice and all but give me an old school Porsche and I'm happy. I saw a 917 with a Porsche Boxster engine a couple of years ago here at Beaver Run and man was it sick. I may be wrong but wasn't it a 928S that was on Wierd Science? I REALLY wanted one of those when I was younger.

P.I.M.P.

Yup, rear transaxle. Keeps the balance in the car. This thing should be tossable.

Nice find Paul that thing is MINT. If I'm correct I believe the 944s2 is the most desirable since the turbos have so many troubles.

And what the heck does the 16 Ventiler mean on the side moldings?

16 valve?

Hope its fast enough for yah! I mean compared to you CSM.

(Yeah I did just compare a CSM to a Porsche!)