Gina Purcell
Oxford, UK
Model 911 SC
Year 1982
Acquired April 2014 Model 964 Carrera 4 Year 1989 Acquired September 2004 The annual debate about winter usage of 911s has begun.
I’ve both used and stored my cars over winter before.
I used my first
911 3.2 hard, doing 50,000 miles in five years. I did lay it up for the first winter I owned it, but quickly became irritated that it wasn’t at my disposal at all times. The next 911, a then-15-year-old SC,
was already rusty and wound up as my only car, with unremitting use across all seasons and conditions forging a deep bond between us, even after some light renovation. The next 911, a Carrera 3.2 G50, only lasted one winter in my ownership. Then came the 964 C4, which really sucked up a ton of road salt in the first decade of driving and inclement weather fun. Bodywork repair cost a five-figure sum and was covered in Total 911 four years ago. As was my husband’s Carrera 3.2 three years ago, at similar cost, and now my current SC is about to undergo a deeper restoration still.
We can’t plead poverty but neither are we wealthy folk; these eye-watering costs were, and shall be, borne out of love for the cars, and are an investment in longevity. I’ve seen inside the bodies of two old 911s now, and know the damage road salt can do. Modern-porsche folk forget how old a design the air-cooled cars are, with their exposed seams and ledges; perfect traps awaiting corrosive salt and wet mud to lie hidden in for
decades. Dual 911 ownership only works for me by having one or the other in storage, as there’s not enough garaging at home. If Wolfi comes home for the duration of Steffi’s restoration, I’ll lose my storage facility space.
Work has just started on Steffi the SC at Riviera Autobody, so there’ll be news on that soon. Wolfi sits in storage for now, but has had a handful of small problems rectified. During the recent Irish trip the driver’s electric window was getting perilously sticky and the handbrake mechanism required attention, as did the rear handbrake shoes and brake pads.
While driving in France last year, the bottom of the front bumper got pranged on an outsized kerbstone, distorting the lower aero slot. I can’t stand to see a 964’s ‘face’ looking like it’s biting its bottom lip pensively! Ireland’s more rural single-track roads had recently heaped more pain on my bumper woes, but Wolfi now has his aero slot ‘smile’ back, and, thankfully, so do I.