Cars We Drive!

[NakedYoga]

I think he has streamlined his Porsche collection down to about 8 cars.

Man, times are tough.

I think this the only pic i took of the thing that I’ve actually liked:

View attachment 2277455

What a great color for that car.

 

[Dino944]

Just how often does this guy get in accidents?

This guy has had the worst luck with cars. People have run stop lights and hit him, pulled out of parking spaces without their turn signals on and it the passenger side of his car as he was driving down the street. When he lived in NYC years ago, there was a garage with lifts, and they parked his Acura too close to one of the lifts and lowered part of another car onto the hood of his car. He has had several Audis that have also been hit. More recently, now that he lives in NJ, the cars that don't fit in his garage a Mini Cooper (whatever the highest performance version is), and a Lexus SUV were infested by mice. They did all sorts of damage to the cars and there is a dead mouse that they can't find, but can smell in the Mini. So, I believe the Mini went off to a Carmax in NJ, and the Lexus has been repaired and traded towards a new BMW SUV. Bottom line, if my buddy is selling or trading it, you don't want it.

 

[Dino944]

I think this the only pic i took of the thing that I’ve actually liked:

View attachment 2277455

For some reason, I thought your car was Brewster Green or a darker shade, but it looks great in Viper Green!

 

[Texasmade]

For some reason, I thought your car was Brewster Green or a darker shade, but it looks great in Viper Green!

I was talking to my gf about eventually getting a green Porsche. She is deadset against it basically saying we're done if I do. She's Chinese and has to do with wearing a green hat which means my spouse cheated on me.

 

[Dino944]

I was talking to my gf about eventually getting a green Porsche. She is deadset against it basically saying we're done if I do. She's Chinese and has to do with wearing a green hat which means my spouse cheated on me.

I have a few Chinese friends and I learned from them red is lucky and traditional Chinese wedding dresses are usually red, white is a funeral color, but I've never heard anything about green having any meaning.

However, a quick internet search brought up this....
"When it comes to the color green, there are a few differences between Western and Chinese symbolism. Green stands for wealth, harmony, growth, and eco-friendliness in the West, whereas it stands for “clean and contamination free” in China. Green is also used to describe organic things. For example, green milk means organic or toxin-free milk, and green vegetables mean without pesticides. A “man said to wear a green hat” means he has an unfaithful wife. So use the color green carefully as it could symbolize different things depending on who sees it."

I guess I view a car and a hat as completely different, even if they are the same color. I'll have to ask my Chinese friends who are women if they would ever buy a car that is some shade of green, or if they would have an issue with a husband or boyfriend buying one.

 

[Texasmade]

I have a few Chinese friends and I learned from them red is lucky and traditional Chinese wedding dresses are usually red, white is a funeral color, but I've never heard anything about green having any meaning.

However, a quick internet search brought up this....
"When it comes to the color green, there are a few differences between Western and Chinese symbolism. Green stands for wealth, harmony, growth, and eco-friendliness in the West, whereas it stands for “clean and contamination free” in China. Green is also used to describe organic things. For example, green milk means organic or toxin-free milk, and green vegetables mean without pesticides. A “man said to wear a green hat” means he has an unfaithful wife. So use the color green carefully as it could symbolize different things depending on who sees it."

I guess I view a car and a hat as completely different, even if they are the same color. I'll have to ask my Chinese friends who are women if they would ever buy a car that is some shade of green, or if they would have an issue with a husband or boyfriend buying one.

I'm not 100% sure but I think the green hat thing is more of a mainland China. My parents are Cantonese (Hong Kong) and this was never a thing with them.

 

[Dino944]

I'm not 100% sure but I think the green hat thing is more of a mainland China. My parents are Cantonese (Hong Kong) and this was never a thing with them.

One of my friend's is from Hong Kong, but my other friend's family is from Fukien. If either has an issue with a green car I'll let you know.

 

[HRoi]

Does this mean I can call my bedroom chair the “green hat chair”?

 

[patrick_b]

Carfax saga continued. Watched a car Youtuber who advertised CarVertical so I said, what the hell, I'll spend the $30 to check out the car compared to Carfax as maybe something is different. No accidents on CarVertical so I will work to figure out how to remove them from Carfax. A little Googling has shown you can contest the accident history and it does work. I feel a little better now but also find it funny the car gets comped as a standard Cayman vs. a higher level trim.

This really is disconcerting, especially w/so much emphasis on the carfax by buyers and sellers. Glad you seem to be finding a positive outcome.

I came across this video recently. Specialty indy Porsche shop detailing all the "mistakes" made to a 911 GTS by the previous Porsche specialty shop.

Items of note:

• Over-torqued center locks to some 1500 ft lbs requiring use of a Torque Multiplier, replacement center lock wheel nuts and a broken center lock tool.
• Incorrect PS4S tires installed (right size but not the correct "N" spec for Porsche so slightly narrower causing the ESC to malfunction).
• And worst of all, selling the owner "new" OEM wheels at $4K each that were actually used and previously repaired. One wheel had ebay written on the outside of the barrel under the tire.

So it's not enough that the dealer shafts potential new buyers with ADM and crazy labor costs, shady indy shops prey on owners with used parts but now I have to beware of carfax itself! What's this world coming to? I am hopeful that the new administration will solve all these problems in the coming 4 years...whew! #MakeSportscarOwnershipGreatAgain

 

[jbarwick]

I've heard you can get around Carfax reporting if you fix on your own but given the history of my car, all owners were not DIY individuals from what I can see. Submitted a dispute with Carfax so we will see.

 

[Dino944]

I've heard you can get around Carfax reporting if you fix on your own but given the history of my car, all owners were not DIY individuals from what I can see. Submitted a dispute with Carfax so we will see.

With what accident repairs cost on a lot of modern cars, I doubt most people with nice cars are prepared to pay for repairs out of pocket to avoid it being reported to carfax by insurance. Not long ago I saw a 981 Boxster S, that had part of a re-tread get kicked up by the car car ahead of it. It hit the black plastic blanking plate (what goes where the center air intake and radiator would go if it were a GTS), breaking a few clips that hold it in place in the bumper cap. No structural damage, no damage to the lights, or the suspension, and nothing noticeable to the bumper. It really didn't look like much damage. I'd have guessed replace the blanking plate and maybe they could fix the clips. Nope...braking the clips in the bumper cap necessitated replacing the bumper cap about $1,800, the black plastic blanking plate was I think $300, but the total cost of painting the bumper cap, installing it, plus hooking up head light washers, and other miscalleneous things, plus Xpell clear bra on bumper (which I think was about $2K) ran a total of something like $7,300 from what I recall. I can only imagine what a repair would cost if that car had sustained damage that actually looked significant.

 

[otc]

With what accident repairs cost on a lot of modern cars, I doubt most people with nice cars are prepared to pay for repairs out of pocket to avoid it being reported to carfax by insurance. Not long ago I saw a 981 Boxster S, that had part of a re-tread get kicked up by the car car ahead of it. It hit the black plastic blanking plate (what goes where the center air intake and radiator would go if it were a GTS), breaking a few clips that hold it in place in the bumper cap. No structural damage, no damage to the lights, or the suspension, and nothing noticeable to the bumper. It really didn't look like much damage. I'd have guessed replace the blanking plate and maybe they could fix the clips. Nope...braking the clips in the bumper cap necessitated replacing the bumper cap about $1,800, the black plastic blanking plate was I think $300, but the total cost of painting the bumper cap, installing it, plus hooking up head light washers, and other miscalleneous things, plus Xpell clear bra on bumper (which I think was about $2K) ran a total of something like $7,300 from what I recall. I can only imagine what a repair would cost if that car had sustained damage that actually looked significant.

To be fair, I'm sure someone *could* have fixed it with some combination of 3m adhesive, zip ties, some scrap plastic plus a bit of plastic welding, whatever. People work around broken clips all the time on cheaper cars or older cars where plastic has gotten more brittle and replacement bits are hard to find.

But it was a porsche so they took the $$$.

Edit: it is like my buddy who is looking at a huge bill on his Model Y for a crunched liftgate. You could totally fix it for 1/4 of the cost using traditional bodywork in a way that would look totally fine on the outside and not be noticed by most observers. The panel is steel, there's no magic tesla/EV wizardry there (there is a camera on that panel, but not near the damage). It might be the single most normal piece on a Tesla. Bondo, maybe a bit of welding, blend some paint, you've got a passable fix that's almost invisible from outside (and come on, it is a silly looking crossover kid hauler that's already been repaired once from a parking lot hit and run...)

But he's at a nice body shop driving a tesla...so $$$$

 

[UnFacconable]

With what accident repairs cost on a lot of modern cars, I doubt most people with nice cars are prepared to pay for repairs out of pocket to avoid it being reported to carfax by insurance. Not long ago I saw a 981 Boxster S, that had part of a re-tread get kicked up by the car car ahead of it. It hit the black plastic blanking plate (what goes where the center air intake and radiator would go if it were a GTS), breaking a few clips that hold it in place in the bumper cap. No structural damage, no damage to the lights, or the suspension, and nothing noticeable to the bumper. It really didn't look like much damage. I'd have guessed replace the blanking plate and maybe they could fix the clips. Nope...braking the clips in the bumper cap necessitated replacing the bumper cap about $1,800, the black plastic blanking plate was I think $300, but the total cost of painting the bumper cap, installing it, plus hooking up head light washers, and other miscalleneous things, plus Xpell clear bra on bumper (which I think was about $2K) ran a total of something like $7,300 from what I recall. I can only imagine what a repair would cost if that car had sustained damage that actually looked significant.

I continue to be amazed by your eidetic recall for this sort of minutiae.

I feel like I should be giving you these sorts of details about every sort of car or watch incident or service I have because you have a more detailed grasp of every service anyone you've ever met has had than I do of my own vehicles and devices!

Do you write this stuff down or are you really just a savant? It's really impressive.

One of my kids is the same way with written info. Kid is basically like a walking talking wikipedia for so many things but has a normal memory for information received verbally. Will really help if the kid goes into certain fields that require a lot of information retention but not sure careers like that will exist in 20 years.

 

[Texasmade]

I continue to be amazed by your eidetic recall for this sort of minutiae.

I feel like I should be giving you these sorts of details about every sort of car or watch incident or service I have because you have a more detailed grasp of every service anyone you've ever met has had than I do of my own vehicles and devices!

Do you write this stuff down or are you really just a savant? It's really impressive.

Frfr. I had my 3 year service in June and was recommended to replace my spark plugs. The Porsche Service Center told me the cost and I don't remember what the cost was. I just know it was a couple $1000. And this is my OWN CAR!!!

Meanwhile @Dino944 is remembering all these details about everyone else's cars.

 

[Texasmade]

Heading stateside, the Morgan Plus Four is now available in the United States - Morgan Motor Company

The Morgan Plus Four is now on sale in the United States following a successful homologation program spanning more than five years. Available to order through Morgan’s network of official dealers across the country, the first examples are expected to arrive in early 2025.

morgan-motor-usa.com

I can finally make my avatar true!!! If only Morgan had a dealership in Texas...