A New to Me 996: the "Parade Car"

New to the forum and also new to Porsche. When I started a search for what I'm affectionately calling the "parade car" I had a couple of must haves. It had to be convertible since it will be driven in local parades (but it won't be a concourse car). It had to at least pretend to have a backseat. It had to have a manual transmission. It had to be simple enough to do some maintenance on and parts needed to be readily available. My first car was a 66 mustang with a sprint 200 under the hood and I loved that experience for what it taught it me and for the time it gave me with my dad. I want to share some of that with my kids too. I looked at mustangs again and other cars from the same period. When my neighbor @Kris Murphy , suggested looking at 996s I was surprised that any Porsche might be within budget. It does help to "know a guy". The convincing from there took care of itself. What boy growing up didn't wish for a Porsche at some point? So I did what I normally do and I started gathering as much information as I could and I started a search for my own. Learning new things is a passion and I've got a lot to learn here. Thank you all in advance. As mentioned in the early build registry thread, I would have loved to find a green one and considered a C4 in green but ending up passing on it for a few reasons. Based on the numbers, it was likely going to be a long wait to find one and then no guarantees on what I'd find in terms of options and condition. So the search went on and eventually led to the purchase of this 1999 (06/98) 996 cab, manual, with 87k miles, which was delivered this week. The car has had some preventative work as well as some other modifications done already. This included the IMS, a new exhaust, and new suspension, etc. at 80k miles. It came with a substantial stack of service records which painted a picture of a well cared for driver and then some. It has spent most of its life in California and was brought to Tennessee where it was listed for sale. Since the car was not local, a PPI was done and revealed what seemed like mostly typical and correctable findings. Again, "having a guy" who already knows what those issues are and how to address them added a tremendous amount of confidence to go ahead with a purchase. After some negotiation, the car went onto a truck for transport to PA. It arrived right on time, at the only point during the week that I wasn't home. A more thorough exam should come this weekend along with fresh oil and I'll start to add to the service records. More photos and updates to come. The kids are already looking forward to spring when "the lid can go down and we can take it to go get ice cream."

Such a timeless beauty! Congrats

Great ride ready for spring soon good luck

Welcome neighbor. There are a bunch of us in the area.

Im on the DE/PA line off i95 if u r eastern PA. Lots of support in this area.

Congrats, looks great.

Looks great! And yeah, a nice, spirited, top-down romp to get ice cream should leave the kiddos very happy indeed.

Hey, my house is in the background of those pictures... And sorry for pulling you into this slippery slope. @Porschetech3 found you another customer.

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Off topic, do you guys have garages or is it just street or outside parking?

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Lots of garages, I have a two car at the house. Rent another up the street that either the 911 or the vintage beetle is in (depending on time of the year), and another rental spot for the trailer. Also have access to a third spot that my buddy and I use to part out 996s. This car hobby has created a problem. My wife has a rule that her car must always have a garage spot, so I have had to get creative.

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Ha! I hear you, I have too many projects and I detail out of my home so space is at a premium. I always make sure my wife has a spot as well. I've been wanting to rent a spot to keep the Porsche but never had anyone to go in on it with me, friends use to have a spot in Fort Washington but two moved so they had to give it up.

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I broke this "wife needs a garage spot" rule immediately upon delivery of the car. It's saltier inside than on the roads right now. So I picked up some additional shelving and a work bench to hopefully make enough room to fit two cars in the garage...

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@Kris Murphy Thanks !! @GML77 Welcome to the Club !!!!

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Thanks! I actually received my club membership card today from my son. And it's true, we'll definitely be doing the UAOS. I think there may be a stopwatch involved as I understand Kris may be shooting for a new personal best on install time.

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Precious Membership Card Yes, Kris has the record time on installing the UAOS, even on the 99C2 which is the tightest fitment of all the UAOS kits.... A lot of folks make a week long project out of it and I usually recommend Professional installation..lol.... But it's really not that bad...

That membership card is AWESOME! Congrats! My kids grew up in the back seat of our 911, and loved it. They still love Porsches.

Congrats and welcome! Nice looking car!

Welcome to the circus! I purchased mine with very similar buying guidelines...convertible, back seat, manual. I will tell you after doing a parade or two, the 6 speed SUCKs for parades...way too tall first gear. Prepare for a lot of clutching and coasting

I remember getting lost in that neighborhood! Welcome to the club. How do I get one of those membership cards?

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I agree. Fortunately, I work from home so commuting in traffic isn't an issue. It will be a pain for those parade days to creep along but I had a "fun" car with paddle shifters once and lamented that choice the entire time I owned it.

Welcome to the 996 world, Lots of Porsches at Bucks County Exotics 1st and 3 rd Saturdays at Almshouse Rd and 611 in Doylestown, 8 am to 10 am when spring rolls around, in Wegmans parking lot, and if you need a Porsche Tech , There is a Ex Holbert Porsche Tech who can always help you out, he is in Warminster Pa, PM me if you need his number.

Nicely done. Nice car and a nice neighborhood to boot. Living next to another 996 enthusiast... PRICELESS!!

The Porsche owner card is the cutest thing I've seen in quite some time. He's probably as excited as you are. I hope you & family enjoy her in best of health.

He is definitely as excited as I am. He helped with the first oil change this weekend and loved going for a ride before and after. He had some short-lived disappointment because he was pretty certain that the car must be capable of super-sonic speeds... In the end he said it was still the most awesome ever, even if it isn't super-sonic.

Beautiful car. I grew up in Bethlehem, PA and we have a bunch of family in Downingtown so we make it up there a couple times a year.

Nice wheels!

Congratulations! Great car!

👍👍👍 very nice enjoy the ride. Rich

Fantastic car and welcome.

Nice Cab. Im in Fort Washington and basically have your car's twin.

Thanks guys. Just hit a year of ownership recently. I've put almost as many miles on this car as I did on the family truckster. Found a few things that the seller had to have known about but didn't disclose and certainly should have showed up on the PPI too but didn't. Working my way through them and enjoying the journey. I'm continuously amazed at all of the detailed and helpful information available here. I've been able to tackle jobs I would not have even thought to attempt with other cars I've owned.