Peter J, many thanks for taking the time to read through my ramble and for taking the time within the forum to let me know you did. I am also pleased you might have found something of interest therein.
I suspect there were quite a few reasons as to why during the air cooled years at Porsche and other German vehicle manufacturers, that the quality of their engineering was prioritised..?
It seems to me that by the time water cooled 911 derivatives appeared, Porsche may have gone through a bit of a financial crisis which may have altered their priorities to the extent that it seems engines could display expensive issues on occasion...? I suspect that Porsche may have introduced the insurance scheme (Porsche extended Warranty) which could cover manufacturing defects on Porsche maintained vehicles, provided they were maintained using only official Porsche parts and officially recognised Porsche main dealers technicians to do so.. The policy can be applied to Porsches up to 15 years old and I think circa 150k miles, provided they precisely fit within Porsches guidelines for acceptance on to the scheme, all of which which customers could take out at cost to themselves when their initial warranty ran out. I guess a cynic could perhaps perceive that the extended warranty scheme could have been conceived to support second-hand market values...?
Like many one time quality brands, in the passage of time and financial/political turmoil cutting costs seems to have been prioritised over actual end product quality. On occasion one has to look hard to find where costs seem to have been cut in terms of material choices. Unfortunately for other owners they can find out totally unexpectedly and very expensively, all despite the many years it took the combination of real world accomplishment and marketing departments waxing lyrical, to build a brand name into an automotive legend, and one so strong to carry the faithful on through seemingly problematic times...?
Logic would seem to determine that rarely if ever used machines should perhaps be turned back into cash, unless they have proven to be a wise investment addition to one`s portfolio... ? Of course one`s personal financial situation and future planning will ever take priority in that regard...and in the case of my Morgan it has reached the stage where I feel it owes me nothing. If I tried to sell my C4S now I suspect I might loose 10-20 K.
In my case it took many years of saving to buy my Morgan and circa 20 years on to buy my C4S, thus other than the sense of achievement that they represent to me while sitting in my garage, looking like two of the best examples of automotive art, either of which I can jump in and fire up should I care to do so, or not, currently justifies their existence to ME, also for reasons that I typed earlier in the thread...they were both enjoyed while creating memories for me, which now can never be replicated, thus the idea of converting them to on-screen digits in a bank or other account, holds no appeal at this time... As for next week, month or year.. who knows...? not I.
Howard, I was down at a local marina a week or so back, helping my octogenarian friend Winterise his Nicholson ketch by fitting the equivalent of two boom tents, which totally cover the vessel`s deck area from bow to stern. The tenting and associated fittings designed by my friend to hold the "tent" in place to protect the wooden decking which he over-laid on the original fibreglass some years back. His design has been well tested and proven to survive the worst of winter gales over a number of years. It took a few hours for five of us to fit and tie the tent down securely, my friend dosed up with paracetamol to numb the obvious pain while crawling about under the tent tying it down to the the fittings. All this effort, a week prior to his visit to hospital to have hip surgery... ! Both he and his good lady have sailed their ketch as a two "man" crew over many decades, and it would seem they fully intend to continue on doing so...
Another of my friends has in the last two months had open chest heart surgery, a day or so after release from hospital he suffered great chest pains, diagnosed as pneumonia. In the last week or so he has just purchased another corroded classic car on-line for him to restore, which had delivered, to add to the two he already has in bits and part way through restoration in his garage...! When I phoned to enquire on his recovery process, he was outside in the driveway, checking for a misfire on the recently acquired vehicle`s K-Jetronic system ...!!!!!
My guess is that as we evolve, if that which once provided great pleasure might now not fit as well as it once did, or worse still has no place in our current,or future lifestyle ....the answer seems to lie with the individual concerned....? Snap decisions are perhaps best avoided..?
As ever, each to their own works for me.
