Lee Sibley

Poole, UK @lee_sibs 9WERKS TV 9WERKS Radio

Model 996.1 CARRERA Year 1998 Acquired JAN 2019

Call me old fashioned, but when it comes to spending money on my 911, I prefer to spend that money on exciting things like modifications, track days or road trips. I can even tolerate a spend on safeguarding exercises such as servicing, which keeps the car in primed condition for the rigours I’ll put it through thereafter. What I begrudge entirely though, is spending out on incidents of fixing and repairing – they are pot holes in the road of the ownership experience that I’m sure no-one enjoys encountering. They make ownership less ‘fun’, which is a crucial aspect of having a 911, because nobody ‘needs’ a 911, after all.

While I accept my 996 is nearly 25 years old, and that most other vehicles created in 1998 have long since been cubed, I can’t help but feel an overriding sense of bad luck has come my way with the car this year. Simply put, it has had thousands of pounds chucked at it, to remedy various failings this year, and disappointingly the splurge has shown no sign of stopping.

The latest failing, just weeks after having a replacement steering rack, was the alternator. It left me high and dry at the side of the road during an evening drive. The car had started well, but the dashboard was lit up like a Christmas tree, telling me ABS and traction control were off. The car was working fine, so on I went, thinking if the battery was low, the alternator would at least charge it on a drive. Alas this was not the case, and the car gave up gracefully as I sailed into a roadside lay-by.

The alternator is getting replaced as we speak. Then in four weeks’ time the 996 is due a major service, where I’ll chuck more money at a car I’ve barely driven this year. Fingers crossed for a return to some sort of pleasure from owning an old 911 very soon.