My adventures picking up my new 996TTS

I'd been on the fence for 6 months or so debating on replacing my E46 M3 vert with either a 996TT vert or a Panamera Turbo. I preferred the first, my family preferred the 2nd. I had been doing my research on both and searching on and off of CL, autotrader, carsguru, eBay etc. I had my M3 on and off the market over the winter and was just getting lowball offers so I took it off. A few weeks ago I put the M3 up again and got slammed with about 15 serious people in 3 days that were interested. So I started looking for Porsches again, still undecided which way I wanted to go when I saw IT. THE CAR. As I had been looking for so long, I knew everything out there. THIS one was FAR better than all of them. It was on eBay and then I saw the name of the seller and realized it was someone I had 'known' for 20 years from the NSX forum back when we both owned an NSX. I knew this guys reputation for taking amazing care of his cars and the car he was selling was SO much better than everything else I was seeing. If I could get THIS one, forget the Panamera idea. That's what the family SUV is for . I reached out and asked him how much to take it off eBay and sell it to me. We agreed to a price and the car was mine. He had a thorough PPI already done and addressed every single thing on it to the tune of $2000+. He also had already done a bunch of very tasty mods such as PSS10 coil overs and a 997 short throw shifter. The next two weeks seemed to move in slow motion. I sent him the $$, he sent me the title, I sold the M3, I got the 911 registered and got the plates. I wanted to just fly out and pick up the car but the kids were slammed with end of year school activities I needed to be here for, then I had a business trip the following week. Instead of flying home from that trip, I flew to pick up the car. The seller picked me up at the airport and said to watch for the dirty white audi. I said sure, what model? R8. I couldn't stop myself from LOLing... I was not expecting that answer at all. Then he asks me if I would do him a *FAVOR*. He had to pick up his wife's Alfa 4C from the shop and asked if I would drive the R8 back to his house!! I wish people asked me for favors like this all the time. HA! The collection of cars he had in his garage was for me better than visiting most car museums. He then pulls his 458 out of the garage and suggests we go for a spirited drive, I take out the 911 and follow him, then we switch cars!!! This was my first time seeing and driving my new 911, and it was gorgeous, but I was a bit distracted after having just driven the V10 R8 and knowing I would be driving the 458. After getting a bit of a feel for the 911, I stepped on it and as it got into boost, the check engine light came on and I could hear a cylinder misfire. I backed off and the CEL went out, I tried again, same thing. We got back to his house and switched cars, at this point I cared more about that screaming banshee of the 458 than I was about the CEL. The 458. It haunts me. The noise. I couldn't figure out how to turn the radio off fast enough (it took a while, the controls are in a very odd spot). I was following the 911 through some amazing roads past fields and farms. Some great straights and twists. It was the greatest car experience of my life. What a car, if I owned that car I would want to drive it everywhere all the time. It was pure crack. I'm still sitting here trying to figure out what I can possibly do to ever be able to afford one. I'm 50 in a few months so I don't have a lot of time left to figure out a way to exponentially increase my income but I cannot stop thinking about it. Anyway, we got back to his house and he hooked up his durametric and saw the misfires and guessed it was the coil packs. He graciously offered to have me drive it home, stay off the boost, take it to my shop and he'd pick up the tab for getting it fixed. It was way too late to undo the deal as I'd always paid MA thousands in taxes and they had his title. And I REALLY wanted the car!!! So thank you seller. I left his house (about an hour west of Detroit) at 10pm Wednesday night and decided cutting through Canada would save me a couple of hours vs going south around Erie. That was a mistake. Single guy, at night, in a fancy car, going across the border intending to only spend a couple of hours in Canada gets me flagged by customs. The car and all my luggage is completely searched. The spare tire is x-rayed and then they send me in for the interview. I got tied up there for 2 hours, but they ultimately let me into Canada. I was kept entertained by the muslim they were also questioning on the holy night of Ramadan. He had been fasting and the fast was over but he had no food and was VERY irritable. He was giving them nothing but attitude. They wanted to search through his phone and see emails proving who he was visiting. I took the exact opposite approach and was incredibly nice and understanding. They were very nice to me in return, but I wasn't allowed to just leave and return to the US without completing their process. I should have just gone south around the lake. Once I got out of Canada and into NY, there were cops everywhere on I-90. It was a slow 75mph 15 hour trip all the way home. My very first stop before I even got home was my mechanic. He pulled the CEL codes off the car (cylinders 3 and 5) and is going to try to squeeze me in next week. I went to my storage area and stored away the hardtop and spare parts. Now I need a good detail. The car is covered in bugs from 15 hours of driving.

Killer car(s)!! Awesome story! enjoy it.

That is an absolutely gorgeous car. Congrats on the acquisition and the adventure. Cheers, D.

Great story. Hope it is just plugs/coils. So basically, his R8 was his trash/errand car. Gotta love that.

Nice cars......not a fan of the plate.

I debated on getting that plate. I'm a tiny bit afraid of the level of hate that some people carry for New England and it's something I will be a little paranoid of if I'm travelling outside of the area. When driving home I ran into a Giants fan at Denny's who made sure I knew she was a fan by laughing about Tom only having 5 rings instead of 7 (she didn't see the car, I was wearing a pats shirt)

Cool story. I always like to fly out-drive home. Usually take a family member as it makes for a great memory and adventure. Anyhow, you might also want to post up an intro thread over in the 996 Turbo forum as this is the regular 996 forum. There are plenty of turbo guys that hang out here and there is a lot of overlap in the cars, but there is an actual forum for the 996TT.

Thanks for the tip about the other forum, I didn't realize there was a dedicated forum. I was going to take my 12yo son who is a huge car nut, but because I had the business trip, I was flying out from Dallas rather than home so it wasn't practical. Perhaps if a moderator sees this, they could move this over to the 996TT forum?

Nice ride. Don't be scared to hang out in the 996 NA forum. It's a good bunch and very active.

Great story and congrats on your 911. It is a gorgeous car. Your comment on MA taxes makes me glad I left the fine state of Mass. When I bought my Cayman in 2014 (from a private seller), I paid zero sales tax. So long MA and hello AZ! And I like your plate and to hell with the Pats haters. There is no team in any sport that has been under the microscope like the Pats since the Kangaroo court known as Deflate Gate, yet the Pats have won two Super Bowls in that time. Eddie