Porsche 911 996

This month, I’m thrilled to declare an addition to the Sibley stable! Please say hello to my new (to me) ‘40 Jahre’ Anniversary 911. How did we get here? I’ve basically spent everybody else’s money over the past 11 years of working as a journalist in the Porsche industry, advising on which cars to buy, the best options to plump for, opining on whether owners should stick or twist (if they ask) and so on. At the start of the year, I felt it was time to dust my wallet off again, this time to buy a car that I hoped will look after me in the future. But with a budget of up to £50k, which Porsche would be the most collectible, I wondered?

Living the Legend – 911 owner reports

• Lee Sibley
• Poole, UK @9werks_lee
• 9WERKS TV
• 9WERKS Radio
• Model 996.1 CARRERA
• Year 1998
• Acquired JANUARY 2019
• Model 996 40 JAHRE
• Year 2003
• Acquired APRIL 2023

Naturally, I dived head-first into the 9WERKS Marketplace, the home of quality – and warrantied – used Porsche for sale only from reputable specialists. Having set this initiative up back in 2021 alongside some of the most renowned names in the industry, I was excited by the prospect of putting my money where my mouth is, because I’d seen the calibre of Porsche uploaded and sold via the Marketplace in the 18 months since. At this point I must confess I did look at a Cayman R and 987 Spyder (sorry, readers!) but, as one industry expert advised, these cars will always have a glass ceiling in terms of how far their values will rise, which is largely dictated by the 911 market. With a 911 purchase, however, the sky’s the limit!

So, with my £50k budget, which 911 is the most collectible? I believe the resounding answer is the ‘40 Jahre’ 911. It’s a genuine special edition with a numbered production run – crucial for the purposes of collectibility. The spec is unique, too: it’s manual, RWD, with a Powerkit, M030 Sports suspension and a mechanical limited slip differential. The driver’s spec 911, then, preceding the era of Porsche GTS models. Oh, and its GT Silver paintwork was, at the time of its launch, otherwise reserved for the mighty Carrera GT.

Our contributing enthusiasts from around the world share their real-life experiences with their Porsche 911s The example I bought, number 0743 of 1,963 produced (to mark 40 years of 911 production, no less), came from Paragon Porsche, which was special for two reasons. The first is that, in my opinion, Paragon is unrivalled for its car preparation – the team really is the best of the best. Such is my faith in Paragon, I bought the car blind – and there’s a fantastic video on my 9WERKS TV YouTube channel showing the hours of prep that went into the ‘40 Jahre’ prior to collection, which underlines why I had such confidence to make that purchase in such a manner. Do check it out.

The second reason is that I’ve genuinely aspired to buy a car from Paragon for 10 years, and have constantly reminded Mark, Jamie and Jason of that fact. The day arrived in early spring 2023 – and, seeing as a pleasure shared is a pleasure doubled, I invited members of the 9WERKS Driven (not Hidden) Collective along to take part in this special collection.

I’ll report next month on the car itself and my first impressions, but wanted to say a massive thank you to Mark, Jamie and Jason for the most special day collecting my new 911. I’m astounded by the quality and condition of the car, and really revelled in the updates from the team via WhatsApp of the car going through the workshop and detailing bay, prior to pick-up day. It made the process so exciting, which is all it should be. The car looked so good, sitting in that showroom, that I almost didn’t want to drive it away!

Collection day really was worth the 10-year wait, and Mrs Sibley was equally chuffed with the bouquet of flowers from Paragon too. Everybody went home happy in our house that day!

A big thanks also to Chris and the team at Sussex Asset Finance, who were brilliant in setting up the deal and a real pleasure to work with. You guys made the big numbers seem less scary!

In regards to the car itself… as I say, I’ve put my money where my mouth is. I’m excited to start the adventure.

Only several months after the majority of the rest of the United States, the snow and ice has finally left Minnesota. This means it’s driving season! I get a lot of replies to social media posts when I talk about winter ending and driving season starting. Friends in Florida and southern California can’t imagine life as a car enthusiast where the weather prevents you from enjoying your prized ride year round. I’m forever being told to move further south, east or west. Just anywhere but the frigid north that I now call home.

• James McGrath
• Minneapolis, USA @auto.amateur
• Auto Amateur
• Curb and Canyon
• Model Porsche 911 Carrera 996.2
• Year 2002
• Acquired 2020

Yet I actually enjoy the four distinct seasons we have here in the American Midwest and in many respects, I get more excited about this time of year than I do for the traditional holidays like Thanksgiving or Christmas. When winter recedes and spring arrives, it’s really exciting here. Friends start flooding social media with shots of their first drives of the new season. Some friends surprise their peers by revealing new cars they purchased during the winter months. Meanwhile, Facebook starts exploding with dozens of car events, for every kind of enthusiast’s taste – Cars & Coffee, Caffeine and Octane, Supercar Saturday, Nord Stern Socials, to name but a few. Naturally, all Porsche car owners are welcome to our little but rapidly growing Porsches and Pancakes group from the Twin Cities metro area.

For the next six months, every Saturday and Sunday morning we have the pick of half a dozen different car shows and meets. Every couple of weeks there’s a craft brewery or other socially magnetic venue that hosts a cars and brews evening to break up the monotony of the nine to five (just one pint per Porsche driver though, no more!). Suffice to say, it’s a pretty exciting time of year. So with this in mind, I’ve been busy getting Bluey ready over the past couple of weeks for its first day out on the road. Interior mods fully dialled in and the cabin detailed, exterior cleaned and coated. Even my rims are spotless at the moment which, as those locals who know me can attest, is a very rare event. Where some of my friends clean and fully detail their P-cars after every drive, I probably get around to a semi-solid clean maybe once every hundred miles.

Let’s not dwell on that, though. As I hope you can tell from the photo, Bluey was looking might fine on her maiden spin of 2023. Over the next six months she’s going to need more than her fair share of cleaning with the sequence of events I’ve got lined up. Tail of the Dragon and the Smoky Mountains in July. Check23 (Checked It Out Chicago) in August and then Rennsport Reunion at Leguna Seca CA in late September. That’s roughly 5,000 healthy touring miles right there, before thinking about all of the local car meets and drives with friends. Bring it on!

• Lee Sibley Poole, UK
• @9werks_lee
• 9WERKS TV
• 9WERKS Radio
• Model 996.1 CARRERA
• Year 1998
• Acquired JANUARY 2019

1998 Porsche 911 Carrera 996.1

A cracked oil filler neck tube. That was the culprit behind my 996 being recovered to Wrightune after cutting out on me at every junction on a frightful Friday morning. It’s a problem that’s not unheard of among 996 owners. Ultimately, it’s a plastic part in a part of the car that’s subject to all manner of heat cycles and, having sat there for 25 years, had become brittle and thus cracked, causing a vacuum issue that led to the car not being able to idle. Relieved it was nothing more serious, I pondered my next steps. The correct procedure is to fit a new part, but this is fiddly and comes with excessive Porsche tax for the part. However, a decent and thoroughly wallet-friendly solution was to simply fit heat-shrink tape to the existing tube, stopping the vacuum issue and enabling me to continue on my merry way. The guys at Wrightune assure me this solution will last for years, but the reality is I’ll get the oil filler neck tube replaced at some point, possibly at the same time as an airbox upgrade that I’m considering. While the 996 was at Wrightune I asked the guys to carry out a major service, duly receiving the car back fully fixed and refreshed, ready for another summer of mesmerising miles at the wheel of my trusty Carrera. There are several 9WERKS road trips planned for this year, and Little Irish will be doing all of them. First up we’ve a three-day tour through Wales (which we’ll be embarking on by the time you’re reading this), and then in May we’ve got our 9WERKS Summer Spectacular road trip to Norway. Regular readers will know I’ve driven from London to the Arctic Circle before, and while I’m not driving as high up the country this time, it’ll be a spectacular experience driving my own 911 from the UK to beautiful Norway and back again. Catch you next month – the roads are waiting!