My Porsche Carrera 2

It’s the Saturday before Christmas 1992. I’m on a train from London down to Gatwick airport to meet a close family friend. He has just bought this spectacular Porsche 911 Carrera 2 coupe.

This particular 1990 Carrera 2, metallic silver with blue leather interior, was of extra special interest to me.

Why? Because this 911 was actually for me. Oh yes. Nick, my family friend, had bought the 911 on my behalf and now here I was, about to see it for the very first time and pick it up. Quite a moment.

To explain, 30 years ago, I was living and working in Tokyo. Every day I was being tormented by the sight and sound of this guy in a red Carrera 2 as he came down the narrow road by my place.

The sound of that naturally-aspirated 3.6-litre flat-six as he downshifted, then accelerated past my apartment was doing my head in.

I absolutely adored that sound. And that fantastic compact 911 shape…thus I began to formulate a plan to buy a 911 of my own. I began by looking at classic 911S models from the sixties, as you do….

Or more realistically perhaps, what about a later 911 SC, actually the first 911 I ever drove? More modern, more useable everyday. Hmmm, tempting.

Then I remembered the curious clutch action of that 911 SC and reckoned it might not be all that great in heavy Tokyo traffic, of which I was very familiar.

I then decided to try and buy the best, latest, most absorbing 911 I could afford. This turned out to be the then current 964 edition and in particular, one with semi-auto Tiptronic box.

A year earlier, Porsche GB had decently arranged to lend me a Carrera 2 Tiptronic while I was over in the UK and I was sold. So two pedal Tiptronic it was going to be.

With long experience of sourcing cars, Nick spent some time looking at different 911s. Faxes buzzed between the UK and Japan.

Eventually, this silver 911 Carrera 2 Tiptronic came up. The spec, price, colour were good.

It had just had a Porsche main dealer service, Nick said it drove really well. Two years old, one previous owner. Like new. So OK deep breath, let’s do it…

Result! The 911 turned out to be all I hoped it would be. It looked and felt amazing. I was elated it had all come together so well. My slightly hairbrained long distance purchase plan had actually worked out fine.

My original idea had been to keep the car in the UK for a while, have some fun with it, then eventually put it on a boat to Japan.

But after driving the 911 extensively in the UK, taking it to Scotland and across to France, Italy and Germany a number of times (including the Nurburgring), that boat trip to Tokyo somehow never came about.

Tokyo is a brilliant place, don’t get me wrong. But I’d never owned my own car there. The whole business of shipping, registering it and finding somewhere to keep it in the end spooked me, I have to confess.

So in the UK it remained, year after year, waiting for liberation on my next trip over.

So much of that car was just brilliant. I couldn’t get enough of that classic 911 shape or the deep, basso rumble of that gorgeous 3600 cc flat-six. The car was intoxicating and fast, but in true Porsche tradition, only really got into its stride once you’re committed, past 4000 rpm.

The narrowness of the 964 body made it super manoeuvrable and wieldy on the road. It felt so good, solid and  machine like, absolutely built to last, with superb quality throughout.

I loved the classic 911 interior and despite all the rubbish written about poorly designed controls and switchgear, all that never bothered me at all.

Practical too with its +2 rear seats which could fold flat to take suitcases and bags, plus front luggage bay.

Now with power steering and coil sprung suspension, the 911 was miles more stable at speed than before. That was good. Yes, I know the impact bumpers continue to divide opinion, but I was fine with them.

The four-speed Tiptronic box regularly gets a pasting by “experts” but again, I really got into it and the solid, high quality shift action, to me, was intensely satisfying. I never once regretted going for it.

Problems? Road noise. The ride was also super hard and resilient and rear end grip could be tenuous on slippery roads. I remember visiting the Donington Museum in winter, pulling out of the car park and suddenly, the C2 was sideways right across the road. It had got away just like that. Luckily, it stopped in time…

Biggest issue by far was engine oil leaking. A year or so after I bought the car, the crankcase began weeping oil. Porsche GB fixed that, albeit with bill to match, but eventually it came back again.

On holiday near Tarbes, in the South of France, we came out one morning to find a massive pool of oil underneath the car.

Very fortunately, a friendly local Porsche dealer in Tarbes managed to fix that and within a couple of days we were on our way again but the whole thing was a real downer, especially as the 911 had just been through a main dealer service…

Early C2s however were plagued with this engine issue, later fixed so I understand.

Much, much better was the time I drove down to the Monaco GP, then up to Germany where I visited Porsche HQ in Stuttgart and saw the museum.

At that time, in summer 1993, the 993 was still secret and the 996/Boxster revolution that saved the company was still some way off. Hard to imagine that era now. So much has changed.

But taking the Porsche ‘home’ to Stuttgart where it was made felt really good.

Later, up in the mountains, the Mount Cenis pass in between Italy and France in particular was pure joy in the C2. It’s since become one of my favourite roads.

Same for the the Julier Pass which we did back in 1996 as part of a super drive through Austria.

On the autobahn, the C2 was terrific. Yes, outside lane, lights on, flat out, at times that was me and I seem to remember an indicated 160 mph on one derestricted section.

Turn around, do it again going the other way. OMG that was good. And it was all so effortless. Again the 911 was rock solid. That was impressive.

At this point, I had to remind myself that this was my own car, not a press car I’d have to give back. That sense of wonder and fulfillment was something else, I can tell you.

Ah yes, the Nurburgring in the C2. It was a dream. This was my first time on the circuit and I was truly in awe of the place.

This was one of the open days when anybody could turn up and drive. When anything can happen. Or as my late great friend from Auto Motor Und Sport, Hans Peter Leicht, perfectly described it, “Mad Sunday.”

We drove up together, ahem, at speed and yes the Nurburgring lived up to all expectations.

The track was pretty busy, the Porsche was in its element and I thought I was doing pretty well…

Then two bikes overtook me, one each side, zapping past, almost as if I was standing still.  In the end, I did five laps before we ran out of  time but would dearly have loved to have done some more.

The Ring remains an absolute drug. To lap the circuit in my own 911 felt very, very special.

I kept the 911 for 11 years, from 1992 to 2003. Towards the end, the oil leak problems came back big time.

With a baby on the way in Tokyo, the Porsche 6000 miles away in the UK and looking like a sizeable engine rebuild might be upcoming, I asked Nick to have a think about selling the 911 on my behalf.

A local specialist checked it out and luckily found that just a few pipes needed replacing. Then it was clear and leak free again. Phew, so I could move the car on with a clear conscience.

Eventually, Nick sold the car to a chap from Bristol and I see from the Vehicle Smart app that it’s since been exported, but to where?

At the time, my thinking was I’d had the C2 for 11 years, had many, many great driving miles in the car and could easily buy another one, perhaps. Like this one, above, recently offered for sale.

This was the time before the 964 was “discovered” by the Porsche mags who said it was undervalued and unappreciated. Now prices are many multiples of what I sold the car for, as the air-cooled 911 becomes ever more collectable, as a genre.

Today, of course, I wish I still had my 911 Carrera 2 – H848 DCD. I was never tempted or interested in the later 993 or big winged Turbos, and the like.

For me, the purity of the Carrera 2 series, with clean narrow 911 body shape, naturally-aspirated flat-six, rear-wheel-drive (with the C2) was a kind of peak.

I know other 911s are more collectable, faster, more exotic but as an all-rounder, to me, the C2 is a hugely desirable package. Plus it brings back so many great memories. And it sounds fantastic.

Thirty years on, as you might understand, the 964 flame still burns bright. I really treasure my times with that car.