| I'd been thinking of sports cars for awhile. My bother has a turbo supra that I never got to drive, but I wanted my own. One of my employees was telling me stories of all the cars he had sold over the years, and then he told me about this one car, the 300ZX. He said that people would come in to test drive and he would say, "No. I'll sell you one if you want to buy it, but I won't go for a test drive. My life is worth more than the commission." and went on to tell me about the Z's power, describing it as "SPOOKY". I was hooked. That is when I first discovered TT.net. I started reading about the problems, solutions and joy of ownership and honestly believed that all sports cars had followings like this. Along came the summer of '04. My wife was 7 months pregnant and I was driving to work when I saw a red TT beside me during my commute. I immediately turned off the radio and rolled down the window to hear it roar as the light turned green. I carefully let my clutch out at low throttle... and PULLED AWAY FROM THE Z!!! I looked at the driver and saw myself in 20 years. Finally with the car I want and not able or willing to drive it as it was intended. I made my decision then and there that if I was ever to get a sports car it had to be now. If I waited until after the baby it would never happen, and if I did it now I would find a way to afford it. As though divine providence, that day a gentleman walked in trying to trade on a trailer that I was dieing to get rid of. His trade: 87 Porsche 944 Turbo. Short version, great deal for me. Fast forward a year. After countless hours at Rennlist trying to diagnose erratic idle, temperature, vacumm and boost, I had reached my wits end. As I got into the car one May morning, I looked around at the vehicle and said to myself " I'm going to fix up the little cosmetic stuff that I can and sell this money pit. I know I'll only get a portion of what most of these cars go for, but its time for me to get out." With a renewed sense of purpose I set off to work. I only made it half way there before being rear-ended by a (Nissan) pickup and writing off the Porsche. Insurance paid me more than double what I could have expected on the open market. With only very minor injury, I went to work and booted up my computer to look for a new vehicle. Lo and behold, a Z I had seen for sale a few years early when I first started looking was back on the market. Under 60K miles, Black on Black, pristine. I drove a riced out blue one (not my style), negotiated on a white 96 (sold on my way over to view it), and finally arrived in front of THE Z I had been looking for. The test drive was a dream. An orgasm. A cosmic ballet. I went back covinced that this was the car I had been born to own... and said "Its pretty good. I'll call you and let you know if I'm interested." We negotiated. I had it inspected and negotiated some more. All the time sweating about the chance that car could be sold at any minute. And finally, we settled on a price, more then it was worth but less than I would have been willing to pay. The dream was realized, but only really begun. The love affair is real. Exceeded only by love for wife daughter and dog, my new love was for the joy I call "Black95". Thank god none of the others drive standard. :)
"Never argue with an idiot. First they bring you down to their level and then beat you with experience."
unknown
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21:43:09 01/19/07
