Natalie Stratos
London, UK
As mentioned before I have not spent serious money on my car for a while, so there are various issues that I have learnt to live with. One of them was a mystery for about four Porsche garages over five years! The car would literally just cut out dead, mid-drive! It presented me with so many embarrassing and dangerous situations. However I would try to restart the engine it would not start, eventually running the battery down. The Targa has cut out in junctions where I have had to try and push her to the side… normally getting help from passers by. I always had to drive prepared to be in an emergency situation.
I had her towed to various garages that came up with many interesting and different diagnostics. She went back and forth and caused me so much anxiety that I could not drive her for a while.
Finally a knowledgeable friend discovered that the air box pop-off valve was getting stuck open and showed me how to unhook the air box and release it. So now I know if this happens I’m out of the car, gloves on, air box unfastened, air pop-off valve released, air box refastened and back in the car in under a minute. It is like a pit-stop operation and feels empowering to be able to get her going again. Small joys.
I have taken her to almost every dealership and specialist in London and one who I have not fallen out of love with is Aldo Riti at RPS (Riti Performance Services), who is amazing. He is the only one who got her timing to run normally. He took the job on as a labour of love. I left it with him for around three months in 1999 where he would work on her in his spare time. He rebuilt so much of her original engine and since then I have had minimal work done to the car, and I believe that is down to his dedication. It was the best investment I made before my children came along and my attention changed. Since the babies took over my life it has been a constant juggle at what to prioritise when it came to my Targa’s upkeep. I have not had the luxury of repairing or investing in her fully since.
I had seat belts put into the back seats so I could put the children in the car for school drop-off, showing that the Targa was more than a beautiful thing to admire, she was extremely functional and perfect as a run-around car. Everyone knew the sound of her engine roaring around my local area and she was quite the celebrity, much to the embarrassment of my children, who would beg to go to school in the boring Volvo. They got older and realised that safe and functional is not as cool as their mother’s unpredictable Porsche Targa.