A Boxster Tale, Part 2

Part two of The Boxster Tale.

I told my wife about the car and the story that her father, Michael, told me. She really wanted him to get the car and instructed me to convince him of that. I told her that he may have some reservations regarding the price. While the car is priced well, dumping almost twenty large out of savings for something you don’t entirely need ain’t exactly fun.

All this had me thinking something like this:

• This here is a proper Porsche Boxster S.
• Damn it, why does it have to effing yellow?
• The price is good, condition is good.
• But it’s yellow.
• Gotta say, I would really like one.
• But would I like a yellow one?
• Hmm, Michael really wants it and I kind of want it…
• Hmm, what if we go in halfsies?
• After all he is not going to drive the car much,
• And I don’t have the time to drive it much,
• It’s just going to stand there most of the time. (at Michael’s house)
• What do I have to lose? I’d be getting a mint Boxster S for roughly $9000.
• It’s win-win for Michael and me.
• But it is yellow…

The Proposal

I proposed the idea to my wife, as we discuss those kinds of things with each other. To my surprise she liked the idea! I confirmed again that she was okay with the idea of me (kind of) buying a Porsche (kind of). Sweet, off to chat with Michael I go, while really getting angry at the damn car for being fucking yellow.

Michael thought of it and liked the idea too but I kept my cool as I did not want to pressure him into it. Frankly, I didn’t want to pressure myself into it either. After all, it is a ten year old Porsche and is not exactly known for its reliability and low ownership costs. And it’s yellow to boot. We parted ways agreeing to sleep on it.

The Research

I started doing research – first was reliability. The early Boxsters are known for a variety of minor issues due to premature wear (mostly cosmetic) and the big one, intermediate shaft bearing failure. This one is tricky as no one really knows the exact cause of the failure. The consensus seems to be that it comes from infrequent oil changes and usages of wrong oil weight – Porsche guys, feel free to chime in. Based on that, the car’s low mileage and the owner specifically mentioning that he changed the oil often and used the required oil it was not a huge issues for me. After all for every IMS failure there are hundreds of Porsches with hundred grand on the odometer.

My other problem was the color. Painting the car is obviously not an option but vinyl wrapping is. Commonly seen on promotional vehicles, vinyl wrapping had recently become popular among enthusiasts looking to give their ride that special look, often seen in flat or satin black. The upside is that I could pick any color I wanted but at a cost of $2000-$4000.

The Result

Experience comes with age and Michael seems to have a lot of it. Unbeknown to me he was conducting some research of his own, the only way an Italian guy knows how, over dinner. He called me on Monday morning saying that he spoke with a friend of his who happens to know a guy who owns an independent Porsche shop.

I saw this coming from a mile away and right away Michael went into it: “there is a huge recall on these cars, all the engines fail, it is $20,000 to fix it, and only one guy in the country can do it, and he is in California, so you’d need to ship the car there for repair and…” Yea. I sighed, acknowledged and then explained everything I knew about the IMS failure. Michael understood me but said that there is still a chance of complete engine failure and he was not willing to take that chance. This was the breaking point for Michael, he was out.

Epilogue

I never really liked the 986. It carried the stigma of being a cheap Porsche driven by hairstylists. I never thought it was a pretty car and frankly did not see the whole connection to the classic James Dean Speedster. Despite all that, this was the second time in my life where I found myself almost buying a Boxster. It’s not that I went looking for one, each time it found me. So what is it about this car that makes me overlook its cost, its reliability, its looks, and even its color? I could have avoided all this drama in the first minute of the original phone conversation I had with Michael, but no, curiosity killed the cat.

There is however something to be learned from this. Michael was looking to reverse a regrettable decision he made in the past. Had he purchased the car in the late 1950’s he would have never called me. Back then he probably would have enjoyed it much more and the $2700 price difference would have come to nil over the years.

There is one car that I have wanted from the first time I saw it at the ‘99 New York Auto Show. It doesn’t have the cachet of being a Porsche but perhaps that is part of its appeal. I tend to believe that its existence was at least partially responsible for the creation of Boxster S, M Roadster and the SLK55 as the German makers couldn’t possibly have a little four-banger make mockery of their performance numbers. I will have that car and it will be soon, before it becomes my own unfulfilled dream.

I would like to thank Corey G., Jack B., James Y., Kristian H., and Vince V. for their editorial and technical help with this story. Thanks guys!