Missing the 986S! My big mistake sale and what I learned from it

 

In 2016 I decided it was time to own a Porsche.  Now everyone knows that you have 2 choices as a entry level Porsche buyer: weird 70s or 80s cars (924/944/968) or a Boxster.  Having owned many a BMW at this point, I figured I knew my way around the cars these Krauts build, and it shouldn't be too much more involved than my 3 series had been.  So I set sail on the Craigslist seas, found the perfect example of my "poor man's Porsche", and after a quick brief to the then-wife about what my plans were, she dropped me at SEATAC where I jumped on a plane to Portland, OR.

 

Here are the photos I still have from the Craigslist ad:

 

 

The car was in absolutely great condition, a Black-on-Black 2003 Porsche Boxster S 6-speed manual with 19k miles on the clock.  I gladly paid the previous owner the $19,500 he was asking, and within 30 minutes and a Starbucks, I was on my way north.  Of course, it immediately started raining.  And gremlins began to show up.  Minor, but they were there.  Odd behaviors from the wipers, like the intermittent dial not working at all.  Headlights seemed to work at their own whim, not mine.  Key fob worked, sometimes, but not always...

 

I fixed all of these things, tuned it up, and drove the heck out of it for 2 years.  I began to wonder if I'd made a mistake bringing a 2 door car into my family's life.  Many little "situations" with the kids where I wasn't in a great position to get them both, etc.  As the mileage climbed, and I looked at prices falling on Craigslist for similar examples, I began to worry that it was time to get out and maybe I would not make my money back.  So I listed it and waited.

 

I got a bite shortly afterwards from a man I'll describe as an internet Porsche aficionado; the kind who knows everything there is to know, but has never owned one and wants to pay you half of what it's worth.  This man taught me that I will never again allow someone to drive my car without first showing me that he intends to buy it and has money available.  After his joyride ended, I left him crying in a coffee shop when I informed him that he was wasting my time with his IMS bearing lowballer approach.  No, I hadn't done the IMS bearing, and no, I had no intention of lowering my price from where it was set because of it.  I advertised this and he tried to talk me out of it.  No dice.  I walked.

 

Then I decided that I knew what the sale really needed.  It need inspiration.  It needed photos showing what the feeling is like to own the car.  I didn't really feel like dealing with action photos while driving, so I went ahead and took one last drive to Seabeck.  I pulled off to the side, and took the below 3 photos.  The car sold within 3 days of posting it for my asking price, to someone who had never owned a Porsche and could barely remember the last time he drove a manual.  Perfect. 

I've owned 2 since this one, a 1999 911 Carerra 4, and a 2008 Cayenne GTS.  Each one has had it's German idiosyncrasies, but all have been outstanding vehicles to drive.  But of all the cars I've owned to date (over 35 at last count), the 986 Boxster S was the best driver's car.  In fact, although it was very cheaply produced at a time when Porsche needed the car to succeed in order to stay alive, and the interior looked cheap for a Porsche, and the headlights are frowned upon by the tut-tut Porsche crowd, (and so on and so forth...) I think it looks better than most roadsters made since.

Where does this leave me today?  Had I held on to this car I'd have been a much happier resident of San Diego, for starters.  However, I learned to buy the right car for the right time of your life, and when you find that sweet spot hold on to it.  Also, watch out for those lowballer joyride types!