One of my mantras is “cars are for driving”
I think I came to that conclusion one afternoon standing in the parking lot of our local import repair shop. I know it’s not rocket science but hey a man has to have some rules to live by doesn’t he?
So the story goes something like this. My friend Kent had a tad bit of bad luck a good number of years ago. He got a great looking sight unseen (except for pictures) 912 from ebay. After driving it a bit it was time to get some new plugs and such since it had been sitting for 20 years. We were both pretty new to the aircooled scene at that time. I had my 66 912 and relied heavily on my good buddy Ted for keeping it on the road. Kent went online to what I still consider to be a good source of parts and selected from their little online tool plugs->Porsche->1968 912 picked quantity 4 and ordered.
The plugs arrive and it’s time to play shade tree mechanic. Swap the plugs fire up the motor and “KaChunk!” the piston in #2 hit the plug. Ooops I guess the aforementioned parts supplier had the wrong plugs in its parts database. After some head scratching Kent took the car to our import place and left it for them to “evaluate”.
A couple days latter Kent got a call and we went by to talk to Fred at the shop about the car. We both stood there in the parking lot as he explained the scoring on the piston and some debris in the cylinder from the plug getting smashed. Kent asked how much it would be to fix it.
At this point Freds eyes glazed over and he started asking where do you wanna go with this car? “Uh down the road?” said Kent. “Would you like allot of performance out of it?” asked Fred. “I just want to drive it?” replied Kent.
They went back and forth quite a while like this Fred asking what he wanted to “get out” of his car and “where do you want to go with it”. Kent replying that he just wanted to get it fixed and how much would it cost.
It didn’t seem that any amount of asking would result in any kind of quote for repair that day. Kent packed up the 912 and towed it home. Fred went back to helping people “get what they wanted” out of their cars and Kent ordered parts himself including a nice big bore kit for his motor.
I came to the conclusion that day that cars are for driving really. I’m not interested in having a trailer queen or the highest performance car out there. I just like to drive aircooled cars and as time goes on i appreciate more being able to maintain my own vehicle. I think I get allot of personal satisfaction out of working on my own vehicles. I also think that Kent’s better off redoing his own motor so he can get “what he wants” out of it and more. I think he would agree that working on your own stuff is more satisfying. He has a nice little thing going over at rescue912.com and has all kinds of rides that i drool over every time i visit his barn.
So i try to live by my mantra that “cars are for driving” not for sitting or polishing with a diaper or storing in a box in 1000 pieces. If I have a car thats not working I’m going to get out there and wrench on it till it does. No time? booo ill make time. I don’t need sleep….. I just wanna drive.