Deposit paid on a 15yr old Porsche: unseen

[Niall]

Hi all, absolutely over the moon to say that today I’ve reserved my Porsche Cayman 987 2.7! An absolute dream come true and I cannot wait to collect it and actually see it in the metal… oh, yes - I haven’t actually seen it yet.

 

I began searching in earnest about 6 months ago but have been set on getting a Porsche for years now, flittering between 996’s and Caymans, all the while knowing that the latter was the more suitable bet for my needs. Previous cars have been fun: a few fast hatchbacks and convertibles, but nothing like a Porsche. As many people have, I also honed in on the 2.7 variant of the Gen 1 987 due to the lower risk associated with it over the 3.2 S model. I was also keeping an eye out for gen 2 2.9 cars but for my budget, I was pushing it. 
 

Having viewed a few very average cars that seemed to fit the bill I was a little bit underwhelmed; high mileages, shabby paint, mechanical bits and pieces that needed sorting… But I carried on searching and the promise of spring over the last month seems to be bringing out some much nicer cars and more to choose from. I was excited to find a car crop up from a reputable Porsche specialist which had a remarkable history, very low mileage and only 2 owners from new! The specialist were selling on behalf of the owner and have looked after it for the past 8 years of its life. It was also said to be finished in dark metallic blue - a rare colour and one which I was really hoping to get but had low expectations. No images had been taken and details/spec in the listing were scarce. The car was a long way from me, but luckily only a quick trip down the road from my Dad who promptly went to take a look at it on my behalf. I soon got a handful of shaky, thumb-over-the-lens photos and some details about a comprehensive service history and recent invoices for all of the known bits and pieces (coolant crossover pipes, AC condensers etc). It was all adding up! But then I got some clearer pictures… uh oh.

 

The one owner who’d owned it for 14 years of its 15 year life had made a number of “embellishments” from the get-go - silver painted grills, rear vents and splitter were just the start… he’d had additional Porsche emblems added to the boot lid and front wings - prancing horse style - as well as placing the Cayman logo on the rear bumper. Sadly, he’d taken a professional approach to this and had holes drilled and fitted as per the frunk badge with nuts.

 

I put my vanity aside though and decided I couldn’t let the opportunity for such a well-looked after, 38k mile, 2 owner car in a great colour pass me by… this thing was otherwise ideal, so I came to an agreement with the seller to have a body shop return the painted parts to factory spec and remove the Cayman badge as part of the preparation. For now, the extra badges are going to have to stay put; unfortunately to have them properly gone, holes filled and panels painted, plus nearby panels blended, it’ll be a good £1,500 and just not something I can stomach immediately.

 

So, here we have it, my new Porsche that I’ve yet to see for myself, let alone test drive! Not long now…

 

A quick question for anyone in the know: spec sheets I saw from the first sales advertisement mentioned “18” Turbo S polished alloys” - is there any easy way of telling if these are original or not? I’m more of a fan of a slightly more subtle wheel choice and would happily sell them if there was any value to be had from them. Any ideas on this?

 

thanks for reading and look forward to sharing more upon collection!

 

 

 

Edited March 15, 2022 by Niall
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