Hi to everyone,
As I’m new to this forum and everyone seems friendly I thought I’d take the time to introduce myself and my car a 1993 968 Coupe. Like a number of people on this board I seem to have reached that age where I want to relive part of my youth, so having thought about it for 18 months I decided to buy myself a 968. I was looking for a 968 Sport, having previously owned a Tiptronic (L52 HAN) and Manual (K750 PLK) Coupe, and thought a change would be good. After about five months one came up that caught my eye, now it wasn’t a Sport but it did have an uncanny resemblance to my old car which I’d sold eight years prior, when my wife and I decided to start a family.
I would like to point out in my defence that under normal circumstances I would have got the car thoroughly checked over before buying it without first having seen it, but there were a number of factors working against me:
1. I was stuck abroad due to the ash cloud.
2. The car looked good.
3. The price seemed reasonable so it probably wasn’t going to hang around long.
4. It was my old car (L52 HAN) and was still owned by the person I sold it to.
5. I really really wanted it back.
You’ve probably guessed by now that this wasn’t the smartest move, but as I said there were extenuating circumstances and one sunny Saturday morning at the end of April I caught a train up north to collect her. She wasn’t perfect but at first glance seemed to be running okay and the drive back was uneventful, having said that I didn’t push her hard which in hindsight was really lucky.
Things got a little more interesting when I booked her into GT-One (in Chertsey) for an inspection and that’s when the fun really started. I don’t think I’ll forget the conversation I had with Peter as it was like being called into the headmaster’s room for a telling off. As Peter brought out the two sheets of A4 a cold chill went down my spine as he started to read out their assessment. It was at this point I realised that the car hadn’t been that well maintained over the past eight years, though from an originality point of view, it had a lot going for it, such as the tyres which appeared to have last been changed by me shortly before I sold it (based on the year of manufacture stamped on the side), but that was the least of my worries. The tyres were easily rectified, but it had to go back to GT-One for a further 3-4 weeks to fix such things as:
1. Front discs and pads.
2. Both CAM shafts (I’m still feeling the pain of that
).
3. Cam belts.
4. Balance belts.
5. Ignition lead set (the last set I bought for a car cost about £25, not these ones though, LOL)
6. Distributer cap.
7. Loads of gaskets, etc.
Just in case they missed anything I got them to do a 24,000 miles service on her too. The parts list covered two pages which was a bit scary but GT-One did their best to keep the labour charges down and now she’s running like a dream, though there’ll be more to do next year as the suspension and exhaust are also original and the rear brakes will be ready for some work by then.
With the most critical of the mechanical work behind me I decided the aesthetics needed some attention so I booked the car into Drive ‘n’ Shine, a company that I’d come across in my search for a 968 when I stumbled across Richard Morris’s website (
http://www.jackals-forge.com/lotus/ worth a look if you have a 968 or a 911). I’ll be getting the car back tomorrow just in time for the summer and have been told I won’t recognize her. I hope they didn’t paint her pink! Actually I know they didn't but that's another story.
At 131,000 miles she’s quite a high mileage car, but since I’m responsible for putting on over half of those miles the first time I owned her it doesn’t really bother me, especially as I used to get her serviced at OPC garages and the engine has been sorted by GT-One.
Some people would think me a little daft, but for my wife and I this car is like a member of the family and we wanted her back, so although it’s been a costly experience we haven’t regretted it yet. We’re in this for the long haul, the car is running well and over the next couple of years I’ll slowly get everything sorted.
Like one of the club’s other members I too have the mechanical aptitude of a turnip, but it never stops me from trying to fix things, so any help or advice you can give will be gratefully appreciated.
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that list sounds a little scary & this on a "well maintained car" !
