Porsche 911 996

‘All Good Things…’ was the title of a two-part Star Trek The Next Generation episode (referring to the phrase ‘all good things come to an end’). It was also coined by Chaucer. And as I write this month’s column my beloved Bluey is up for auction on PCARMARKET. That’s right! My 996 project car has reached the end of its journey with my ownership. It’s time for another Porsche enthusiast to enjoy it, in all its restored glory.

In mid-2020 during the pandemic, my friend Patrick and I decided we needed a project to keep us out of trouble. In many ways, trouble is exactly what we found, but it’s been one hell of a ride, figuratively and literally. When this 2002 996.2 arrived in Minnesota on a truck it was in a world of pain. Broken transmission, dead battery, cracked windscreen, a clutch on the way out, brake pads worn almost all the way down and its fair share of hail damage. Someone drove the hell out of this car over nearly 20 years at the time and 179,000 miles. It needed a lot of TLC. Over the next 18 months, Patrick and I met up with our friend Steve on most Friday evenings and got to work. The to-do list was almost endless: clutch, transmission, short-shift kit, clutch cylinders, spark plugs, brake pads, brake fluid, oil, new front suspension, new wheels and tyres, dozens of pieces of interior and exterior plastic trim, a new paint job with clear coat and front paint protection film, a new windscreen, replacement passenger headlight housing, wipers, floor mats, hand brake, lower centre console delete, Apple CarPlay and Bluetooth, new leather panels on both driver and passenger seats, a ducktail spoiler, Soul Performance sport cats, Fister/FD Motorsports mufflers and a new air box. We even replaced the engine (with an identical 3.6-litre flat six from a donor 996.2 that had 90k miles on the clock. Named Bluey after its new paint colour (and my kids loving the cartoon dog on Netflix with the same name), this 911 has been lovingly restored and in many ways is now a completely different car. It looks brand new, and drives like a car much younger in years and miles. I absolutely love this car. So why sell? Well, as my opening paragraph noted, it’s time for one chapter of my Porsche ownership experience to end and another to start. Having brought the 996 back to life, I’ve driven nearly 10,000 miles with a grin from ear to ear through places like the Rocky Mountains to Denver and Utah, the Great Plains of Oklahoma and Nebraska, the Badlands of South Dakota and the great Smoky Mountains of Tennessee and North Carolina where Bluey has slayed the famous stretch of US highland 129: the Tail of the Dragon. Short of doing a 4.0-litre engine swap and shipping it to Europe to drive some of the epic roads you read about in this magazine, it’s time for something new. As I write this, the 996 is reaching the end of a seven-day auction. Whatever it sells for, I just want it to go to someone who’ll appreciate it for what it is and give it another epic series of adventures.

I have to say, doing an auction with a reserve sale price on a car I’ve literally sweated and bled over for the past couple of years has me close to a fullon panic attack, but that’s part of the journey too. You never always know what’s coming around the corner. While this is true for my 996’s future, I do, however, know what’s next for my Porsche journey… but that’s for the next issue. For now, I’m going to revel in the adventures I’ve had with Bluey.

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

I’d like to share with you the nocturnal nightmare endured by myself and my neighbours from a couple of weeks ago. At 2:29am in the Sibley household, all was quiet. That changed at 2:30am. Myself and Her Ladyship woke to a very loud car alarm. “I think someone’s trying to steal your car,” my wife said. However, I knew it was much worse than that.

The story began around 10 days ago, when my parents visited, and I took them out for a drive in the 40th Anniversary 911. We got back to Chez Sibs and, in all the excitement, I forgot to hook the car up to its CTEK charger. And as the hours turned into days and the business of life took over, I forgot about the car entirely. That was until 2:30am when the car’s alarm went off. I knew what it meant: the battery was flat. I hurried outside with both keys, but neither one was talking to the car, so it wasn’t a case of unlocking the 911 to turn its alarm off. Manually unlocking the car and starting the engine would be pointless, as the flat battery meant the engine wouldn’t start. Furthermore, the car was parked nose first at the very back of my driveway and I didn’t possess any jump leads or cables long enough to reach the battery. Ah, and about the battery… that was nestled under the front hood of the 996, which was closed – and electrically operated. And so I stood there, panic-stricken, as the alarm preceded to go off every 10 minutes, keeping the neighbourhood awake. I realised my only hope was to access the battery in the frunk via the manual release cable. This is located behind the driver’s side front wheel arch, just to the side of the headlight. I removed enough of the wheel arch liner to be able to see the cable, but there was no way I could reach it by hand. I ran back indoors, fetched a metal coat hanger, fashioned it into a hook, fed it through the wheel arch and latched it on to the cable hoop. Makeshift hook latched on to hoop, I pulled… and the hook unfurled. Grrr. Prototype V2 of the hook was fashioned out of the coat hanger and again inserted into the arch. Eventually, I latched on to the hoop and pulled. A ‘thud’ from the nose of the car revealed the hood had released. Hallelujah. Only then did I realise the alarm hadn’t sounded for the last 30 minutes or so. Still, I decided I couldn’t just leave the car ‘as is’, having fought my way into the frunk. How would I sleep knowing the car alarm could go off again at any moment? I wasn’t sure why it had stopped. I decided to connect the CTEK charger. I did so, and within a few seconds, saw life once again grace the 996: the boot light came on, and the CD changer was making an erring sound after its enforced reset. And then the bastard alarm went off again. I had two options at this point: get a shovel, dig a hole in my garden and jump right in; or disconnect the CTEK charger, and hope the alarm ceased after its latest tantrum. I did the latter, and lo and behold, the alarm never went off again. Exhausted, I went indoors. It was 5:15am. I’ve since put new batteries in my keys, and have had the CTEK charger on AT ALL TIMES. I’ve also learned you can insert the key in the ignition, turn it to point one, then remove the battery, without upsetting the car. It’s also possible to disconnect the siren, so that the car merely flashes rather than awakens an entire postcode, though that does render a car alarm rather superfluous. Most importantly, I’ve also learned that my neighbours are a very forgiving bunch. At least to my face…

• 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

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!