🏎️ Max Gets Saved On the Side of the Highway

Good morning & happy happy Friday.

Today is a bit of a special edition of MaxFindsCars for two reasons…

We are covering:

1. Our first Porsche 911 - the greatest sports car to ever exist.

2. & a car whose selling dealer once saved my ass on the side of the highway in North Carolina.

HERE IT IS: A 3.6L-Powered 1984 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe

What Makes This Porsche 911 So Cool?

• Firstly, and most obviously, ITS A 911

• Its been built from the ground up to absolutely RIP

• It’s everything I want my car to be… some day

Today’s Edition is brought to you by eBay Motors

But First, the Highlights…

This ‘84 911 was brought down to bare metal in 2021 and BUILT for a very specific purpose: “to rip wide open on mountain back roads and look good doing it.”

It accomplishes just that, and the fact that its only had 2600 miles driven since that build was completed means whoever buys this is getting what is effectively a near “new” vintage Porsche 911 GT3 Touring (if GT3 Tourings were a thing in the 80’s, this would be close).

• 🌏️ Driven around the world: 0.1x

• 📽️ Video to Get the Vibes Right: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ag5IaMbjQ2s

  • This is the first ever video of a car that makes me want to run through a brick wall. It is epic.

• 🏇 Can beat 340 horses in a fight

• 💰️ Predicted Price: $137,964

• 📆 Auction Ends: TODAY (Friday), June 22nd, 2023

It Is A 911

Maybe my most obvious ‘fun fact’ ever…

And yeah, admittedly we usually joke around in these newsletters, but I am not sure how much joking I am going to do today.

The Porsche 911 is the greatest sports car ever. The GOAT. Full stop.

This is my opinion, obviously. Maybe you disagree…

But in any case, the 911 has been my favorite car for a long long time. I’ve wanted one ever since I read in Motortrend in 2006 that the Turbo S could hit 60mph in nearly 3 seconds flat - a number that is still insanely quick today.

I wanted one even more when my great uncle took me for a drive in his Boxster the following year.

And as I’ve gotten older, my love for the great Porsche 911 has only grown.

But WHY are vintage 911’s so great? Why has the vintage 911 scene been growing more and more in recent years?

Honestly, I am intimidated by those questions. And yeah… I was the one to ask them, so I guess its my own fault.

But my love for these cars goes deep, so answering these questions is not so easy to put into words.

I think I can boil it down into a few broad reasons though (btw, in your head please use Jeremy Clarkson’s British accent for the following sections, this is a requirement to read on):

How They Feel

This is the big one. The way a vintage 911 feels when you get into it is unreal.

The door has a solid thunk when you shut it. And as you sit down, you’re immediately hit with the twin smells of leather and oil (because they all leak).

The cabin of the car is sparse, analog, and purposeful. There are no screens distracting you.

Then, there are the two very intentional messages Porsche gives you every time you sit down in the cockpit:

1. The speedometer is not the gauge that is the focal point in the cluster. Famously, Porsche put the tachometer front and center - a not-so subtle gesture that your engine’s revs matter far more than arbitrary things like sPeEd LiMiTs.

2. The key is on the left, not the right. Though that tradition is rooted in motorsport, to me its a quick reminder that once you start this car up, its not going to be a ‘normal’ driving experience.

Turning the key, you always feel anticipation bubbling… it’s nerve-wracking but never in a way that makes you hesitate. Its more that you’re feeling that what happens next is going to be special.

And once you’re driving the car the real magic begins.

A vintage 911 doesn’t have power steering, it doesn’t have traction control, there are no computer governors. The engine is in the back and its air-cooled rather than water cooled.

It’s small, low to the ground, and light (around 2700 pounds).

All of this combined leads to a visceral, yet intimate, driving experience.

You feel as if you are one with a vintage 911, like you’re connected to it, when you’re driving it.

And as you get higher in the rev range, the smile on your face growing, the car always feels like its goading you into driving faster and faster. It’s eager to accelerate, eager to take the next turn. These cars WANT to do anything you ask it to, and unlike with modern (and many other vintage) cars, you always feel confident it will be able to do whatever you ask.

It’s unlike anything I’ve ever experienced in the automotive world in my life thus far.

What They Symbolize

Owning and driving (bonus points if you daily it) a vintage 911 is a defiance of comfort.

That’s not to say they are not comfortable to ride in, they are, but they are lacking in many of the modern creature comforts cars of today provide. Mine, for example, doesn’t even have heat or air conditioning.

So, to own and drive one is to say “I probably could have cooled, massaging seats in a Mercedes E-Class, but fuck that. I want to experience this drive.”

And the experience of driving one cannot be overstated…

The closest analogy I can give you is that… it is as if you are riding a motorcycle in a glass bubble, and honestly… even that doesn’t describe it well.

Without airbags or crumple zones though, getting into an accident in a vintage 911 is comparable to doing the same in a motorcycle. And the connection and control you have over the vehicle is similar as well.

But knowing that you don’t have those safety features forces you to be fully present. You have to embrace the moment of driving a vintage 911.

Most cars get you from point A to point B, once you arrive your brain ejects everything from that experience quite quickly. Corolla drivers (no shade intended, Corollas are great in their own way) have forgotten their Tuesday commute by now.

But they wouldn’t have forgotten it if they had made that commute in this 911.

Its been built from the ground up to absolutely RIP

For once, a car’s seller actually has a driving video worth watching.

But yeah, this car has been COMPLETELY built from bare metal within the last 3 years. The seller and description have much more detailed notes on everything that has been done, but here are the highlights:

It Has the Engine From a Porsche 964

What does this mean? Basically its got MORE POWER. 340 horses in fact. Nearly 50% more than the stock car would have had.

It Has Been Resprayed in Beautiful Aetna Blue

A color that, according to the seller, was originally offered on the Porsche 356 in the early 60’s but never on this era of 911.

I, for one, think it looks absolutely drop-dead gorgeous. I am usually a sucker for weirder colors on vintage 911’s…

Like Bamboo Beige, Tobacco Metallic (my unabashed favorite), or Cassis Red Metallic.

But this blue works great with this car, especially with the refinished Fuchs (the stock brand of wheel these cars came with).

The Interior Has Been Refreshed And Looks PERFECT

The design philosophy behind the revamped interior appears to be ‘sport-comfort-minimalism’, though the splash of color with those seat inserts and wood shift knob add just enough fun to bring everything together.

It’s everything I want my car to become...

So, yeah, I’ve alluded to my car before. I will certainly write more posts about it in the future (perhaps one documenting everything wrong with it), but the high level overview is this:

It’s a 1982 Porsche 911 Super Carrera. I paid $40k for the car, a bunch of spare parts, and the 3(ish) mice residing within the car at the time.

It, like the car we are covering in this post, has a 3.6 liter engine from a Porsche 964. It has upgraded front brakes from a Porsche Boxster like today’s car too… But that’s where the similarities end.

My car has many modifications, but its not ‘built’ with purpose like the ‘84 Carrera. A lot of things have been cobbled together - namely ALL of the wiring in the car.

What this cobbling has meant over the course of my ownership is, in short, reliability issues.

One such issue happened when I was on my way to Virginia, an overly optimistic 6 hour road trip I was taking in my 911. The first time I would have driven it more than 2 hours in one go.

I was about an hour down the road, on I-77. It was drizzling a bit, so I had my wipers on and was cruising reasonably slowly in the right lane.

The car was leaking water into the cabin, but not so much that I had to worry about drowning.

Anyways, as I was driving, I noticed that my wipers seemed to be slowing down.

This was weird, and probably bad. BUT I thought maybe the motor driving them was just dying or overheating or something - they hadn’t run for that long as long as I’d owned the car.

It wasn’t raining that bad, so I figured I’d just turn the wipers off and keep going for the time being. I’d stop somewhere if it got too heavy and wait it out.

A minute or two later though, I noticed that my stereo displayed had all of a sudden gone dark. Definitely bad. Something was up.

The car was still driving though, so I figured I’d just accelerate up this hill and get off at the next exit to figure out what was up.

I hit the gas pedal and….

Nothing happens. The engine is idling, basically, and hitting the accelerator does nada.

I’m going uphill so I am pretty quickly losing momentum and need to find a spot to pull over. The best spot, since it was raining, was under an overpass just up ahead.

When I pulled over, 3 things became quickly apparent:

1. How fast everyone was ripping past me now that I was stopped

2. How skinny the shoulder was (maybe 1 foot tops between my car and the white line)

3. How absolutely fucked and terrified I was

I found a gap in the traffic and got out of my car. Immediately trying to call my wife, trying to explain the situation while yelling over traffic.

But then… Out of nowhere an F-150 pulls up on the shoulder in front of me and reverses to get closer to my car.

Out hops a dude wearing a hoodie with a logo that HAD A PORSCHE on it.

Long story long, that guy was Patrick: the man behind The Patina Group (the company selling today’s 911).

He very quickly diagnosed the issue was at least partly battery/power related, drove up the road to get jumper cables, and 10 mins later was back on the side of the highway in the (now pouring) rain helping to jump start my car.

We got it running and he referred me to a shop he trusts down the road.

So, yeah. Needless to say I owe Patrick a bunch of beers, and if you buy this car from him you can do it knowing its sold by a trustworthy & knowledgeable dude who doesn’t hesitate to go out of his way to help a fellow car guy.

That's a wrap for today. New Editions come out every Monday & Friday! While you wait, go out and drive! And if you want more, be sure to follow Max’s Twitter (@maxjzin)

• 🏎️💨 Contact for advertising

• 🏷️💲 Contact to promote a car sale

IF YOU’RE FUNNY, MEAN, OR NICE ENOUGH, YOUR REVIEW MIGHT GET FEATURED IN A FUTURE NEWSLETTER…

LIKE THIS ONE