John, Andy, Many thanks for sharing your Porsche related thinking, much appreciated... Though betrayal of the tradition and heritage....? I wonder if identifying with fundamentalist ideals has quite the draw that it once held, though traders creating markets will ever capitalise on such natural tendencies..?
It seems there can be too many down sides to being of faith when it comes to cars, and I have ever admitted to being a bit of a CARsonova. As one of the hands-on practical type, I guess logic has been my guide to some extent in terms of my automotive choices.
Porsche were the simplest and yet best engineered sports car I came across, having spent years nailing my old Brit Iron machines back together. Prior to Porsche, I thought I had reached the pinnacle when immersed in Lotus culture, even when my old Lotus cars failed due to what seemed like a ha`p`orth worth of tar.
T`was not until I came across a badly corroded 912 that I thought to explore this quirky souped up VW.... I must have spent the best part of a year in my spare time nailing this rot box back together, and over that time I began to tune into the design concept and qualities built in to this sad old Porsche... History and Heritage..? There were some less than attractive aspects to that, but in terms of engineering and automotive achievements, it seemed the mix of selecting high quality materials and building them into good quality engineering practices, outweighed building in lightness, and perhaps more so for a road car..? If looking to history of the marque in sporting terms, the record of Porsche progress in competition is hard to beat given their success in events as varied as the LM 24 hrs or the Paris Dakar Rally..?
Once on the road the old rot box continued to impress, and in a very tactile way, so much so that I sought to improve on that which my 912 provided. A 911 the obvious next logical step, which provided performance gains built on the same well proven foundation, and following that onother 911 with more performance came better fuel economy..!!! Who ever heard of that..? Now having owned air cooled Porsches of 60`s, 70`s and 80`s vintage, equating to a decade or more of Porsche involvement, I had become pretty well immersed in Porsche.....until other of life`s priorities intervened.
I guess that ramble completes the reduced circle back to my day driving the new 993 at it`s UK press launch, and the impressions thereof gained on the day.. Lovely car, but more a GT than a real sports car.
Some years later I was back in the market for a fun car, the 993 was now circa a decade old, and in those intervening years my automotive desires had perhaps a bit like myself, matured somewhat, and my appreciation of older ladies, along with older cars seemed to be increasing exponentially, Bentley, Bugatti, Riley, and so many other pre war sports cars began to be of more interest than GT motoring of any sort.
Motoring fun for me had become the early morning drives on mostly deserted local B roads, GT comfort options were no consideration whatsoever, I wanted to be out there and feeling very much involved in everything, just as those Bentley drivers were in times past, and I found that at a price that I could afford thanks to Lorne Goldman and the guys who inhabited the MSCC DG when it first appeared in cyberspace...when I typed up a short resume of my experience and desires followed by the question "WHICH MORGAN." Now circa 20 years later that Morgan still sits in my garage, being the longest length of time I have owned any machine... Kinda says it all..?
I thought my bones were seizing up and unlikely to improve, feeling the cold ever more caused me to contemplate that my Morganeering days were fast coming to an end. Looking to extend my sports car driving enjoyment for a while longer if possible, it seems logic determined a tin top would be the next target, and that being the case, Porsche quickly came top of a very small pile.
£60k for a REAL 911 of the air cooled variety, and of the type of which could and did rot requiring me to nail them back together thirty years ago, they had potential to be patchwork Porsches back then... Today...Hmmm..?
As for Porsches of the kettle variety, as forced upon the marque by ever increasing emission regulation..? It seems the priority engineers once enjoyed at Porsche may have been taken over by the bean counters, and to the extent that it is commonly reported that perhaps as many of 3% of their new water cooled engines could destroy themselves without any warning, with rather expensive consequences, and at rather low speeds and mileages....! Sure the www as gospel on anything is to be questioned, but that it seems Porsche around that time created an "extended guarantee" system at cost to the customer, and which required only original Porsche parts to be used in the maintenance and repair of the car.. Hmm..? I suspect the guarantee system may have paid for it`s self for Porsche, which was by then part of VAG and no doubt holding tight to the brand that Porsche had painstakingly built over many a year..? For motoring enthusiasts, at least Brand Porsche was still competing and winning enough to maintain a degree of interest despite the negatives associated with that rather large series of steps in their evolution..?
Porsche aside, it seemed my ever ageing body was becoming less suited to Morganeering as time passed, and I harboured no great desire for a watered down continuance of that which once enthralled me so, thus on an all to rare balmy day I can gird my loins and take to the road in my Morgan once again it feels somewhat of a privilege to be able to sample a few miles of roaring popping and banging my way around the countryside fully immersed in the experience.... even if I might suffer a bit later on....
Given the rarity of balmy days hereabouts, and with all the driver aids an old Luddite might resent, yet very much feel the benefit thereof, a degree of tin top modernity might in reality better suit..? An OLD 964, or even a 993 at today`s market value and likely condition, just does not sit well for the practical type I imagine myself to be..Hmm..?
So there you have it a couple of decisions made. Keep the old Mog, and buy into a degree of digital modernity that might better fit the automotive needs of an ageing auto-enthusiast, who while remembering and greatly valuing times when maximum involvement was not only desired but required in terms of automotive acquisition and enjoyment processes, today a PDK C4S is hoped to perform well enough as a more practical option for the old duffer I have become ... Time will tell.
There is NO SUBSTITUTE for a Morgan..... which in truth has performed admirably for me as a...err... substitute for the Vintage Bentley my Morgan was purchased as all those years ago.
Good luck in your choices Peter, it seems there can be rather too much to contemplate...
