When buying a car for an enthusiast, the usual advice is to “buy the best example you can afford.” It’s fine to do that if you have the money and the creative mind of a Wall Street trader. When I buy cars, I use an idea called “minimum viable product” because I don’t have any. The first half-done product that a company makes is called a minimum viable product (MVP), and its purpose is to test an idea in the market. It’s the same with cars: I want to spend as little money as possible on something that meets my needs. These are some of my ground rules: I usually stay away from junk titles and rusty cars. I care a lot more about the general condition and service records than the mileage. Even if a car had to be fixed for technical reasons, I could usually still drive it while I worked on it. Lastly, I know that I’m buying the upkeep that the former owner left behind. I want someone who will be open and honest with me about the car’s state, any problems they know about, and their experience owning it. That’s how I bought my 1999 Porsche 911 (model number 996) three years ago. It had 104,000 miles on it, a faded center cap, cloudy headlights, a torn seat, and a lot of dents in the front bumper. It also comes in the slightly less desired Carrera 4 all-wheel drive version, which is 100 pounds heavier and doesn’t have the cable throttle that the rear-drive version does. But what about bombing back roads and grand travel in the northeastern U.S. for four seasons? That’s what I would say. Importantly, it got rid of a big problem by sending proof that the clutch and IMS bearings had recently been replaced. Setting up Almost all old cars need to be fixed, but European sports cars with a lot of miles on them really need it. The 996 needed new tires, brake pads, and rotors, which I knew before I bought it. I also updated important safety parts and changed a lot of fluids and filters. After that, I drove it a lot—since April 2021, more than 22,000 kilometers to be exact. It has been all over the Northeastern United States, including three trips to North Carolina and one trip to Canada. When I moved to New York City, it was the only car I had. There were some minor problems, like a dead starter, a loud muffler, and an odd case where the serpentine belt tore itself apart on a pulley slot. These problems didn’t keep the car from running for more than a week, and I’ve built a relationship with a skilled local mechanic who can help me with problems I can’t fix at the shop I rent. Thanks a lot to Cheech and Rennwerke from Elmsford, New York. Most of my worries come up when I leave the car alone. I left it in a friend’s yard for four weeks, and when I came back, mice chewed through the electrical harness. I now keep it in a clean garage and do what Andrew Collins told me to do to keep mice away. Taking it as your own Last year, the 996’s mechanics were in great shape, so I chose to make some improvements to its performance and quality of life. First things first: instead of the original weak seats, buckets were to be used. For some reason, the 996 seats never felt right to me. However, stocking Porsche seats from the 1980s and 2010s has been fine. They were too padded, too empty, and sitting too high for a sports car. So, I used Facebook Marketplace to find out how big a pair of Recaro Pole Positions with plaid inserts were. It sounds like a lot of money to spend $3000 on seats for a $12,000 car, and it is. Let me explain. I have always believed that buying good safety gear was important, and I’ve always wanted plaid car seats. I felt good about replacing the original part with a good one because Recaro has a good safety record, and the 996’s side airbags are in the doors instead of the seats. On mountain runs, I no longer have to scramble for help to steer; I can do it with my fingertips instead. I also sit much more easily and lower. I also bought an IPD intake plenum to improve power at high RPM and throttle speed. The shape, called a “Y-plenum,” improves flow and speeds up the air coming in. It makes the car pull harder and makes the intake note sound better above 4,000 rpm. The most important, useful, and important update I wanted tires that were stiffer and lighter wheels. I bought a pair of almost-worn gunmetal gray O.Z. Allegeritas last fall. The 996 community likes these shoes because they look good and aren’t too heavy. Continental gave us a set of their brand-new ExtremeContact Summer 02 tires to test this spring, and they’ve done even better than we thought they would. Turn-in is faster than it was on my old Michelin PS4 all-season tires, and the front-end grip has gotten a lot better. It’s not fair to compare a summer tire to a performance all-season rubber. Still, the Contis have impressed me so far with how well they’ve talked to me, responded, and given me trust in temperatures from 50 to 85 degrees Fahrenheit and both sunny and rainy weather. Because the O.Z.s are made of softer tires and have less unsprung weight, the ride is even smoother. Performance summer tires like the ECS02s work best when it’s dry and damp outside but not when it’s very cold or snowy. The fact that they have a 340 treadwear rating and a Y speed rating means that they have been tried at speeds over 186 mph. I’m not going to check that, but it’s nice to know. Continental backs these tires with a 30,000-mile warranty or 15,000 miles if staggered widths are used, which is what I did. However, treadwear rates can be hard to understand. They also look great, thanks to Continental’s Tuned Performance Indicators. These are clever “D” and “W” symbols that are built into the tread blocks. As the tire ages, it loses its ability to provide the best dry or wet grip, and the symbols get lighter. One easy and cheap way to make your sports car handle better and feel better to drive is to switch out your all-season tires for summer tires. In four-season areas, you can usually use a summer tire from April to November, but this depends on the weather and the type of tire you have. Informally, Thanksgiving and Easter tell me when winter should start and when it should start summer. Temperatures above 45 to 50 degrees Fahrenheit are fine for a summer complex. These things can be used all year in places with mild weather, like Southern California. Along with the lighter wheels, this change has been the most satisfying one I’ve made. The project is always half done There are still many things I want to do. During the fall, I plan to update most of the original suspend. Even though it doesn’t leak and rides well, the shocks aren’t working right after 125,000 miles and a lot of bumps. With Porsche’s Euro M030 kit, which has bigger anti-roll bars and a sport suspension that is an inch lower than the rest of the world, I plan to leave it the way it came from the factory. Could there be a little tiredness after that? I like not being seen. Something I like most about this car is that I can mess with it however I please because it’s always going to be challenging. In three years, I’ve spent almost $20,000 on my $12,000 911, which includes the price I paid for it. While I could have bought a “nicer” one for $25,000 or $30,000, I didn’t have the cash to play with it or learn from my mistakes. Using this method has felt very freeing. As 996s become more famous, more and more people ask me when I’m going to paint the front bumper or take care of the outside decorations. I usually laugh and say, “Ask me again in 20 years.” While I don’t like the word “never,” I don’t see the car’s rock chips and scars the same way other people do. It is living the life it was made to live, keeping itself alive, and enjoying it. As long as I’m in charge, I plan to keep it that way.
