Who says you can’t go home?

I had a great time in my 911. What a car, it was fast and the ride was compliant (something to do with high profile tyres) and looked so good that I turned back every time I parked, and smiled.

Having said that, it wasn’t without problems.

During the first week of ownership I drove it over to see some friends and it started to misfire and then stopped… Shit, I thought to myself, did I buy a lemon!! A quick phone call to my friend (JD) who built motorbikes for fun and he was on his way to rescue me. On arrival he established very quickly that it was just closed points (I hadn’t ever owned a car with them – oops!) and then proceeded to give me a quick lesson in setting them to roughly the right gap using cardboard from a cigarette pack. A neat trick.

Another memorable problem was with the aircon. As I mentioned in my previous post the 911 is famous for having weak air conditioning but mine had been upgraded and was perfect, supplying plenty of ice cold air. It worked beautifully until a weekend trip to Williamsburg. On this trip it decided that it would only work while accelerating away from tollbooths, so I decided to shut it off rather than risk breaking it and was subjected to a long hot sweaty drive (I did get 35 US MPG on this trip so I shouldn’t really complain). Luckily it turned out to be a loose cap. I’d had the AC topped up before leaving and they hadn’t fastened it properly. Phew.

My drive to work that year was fantastic, even in the New Jersey snow (much to the disgust of a shopper when I stopped to get coffee, who felt it should be safely tucked away) and I arrived at work smiling everyday.

After four years in New Jersey the ex decided that it was time to move to the UK. The Jeep was sold to a friend, the house was packed and loaded into a forty foot crate. There was twenty foot for the house hold goods; a false wall separated them and my beautiful 911 (you didn’t think I would leave it did you?). The dogs were put in crates and we headed home (we did let my Mum out before we left).

Sooo back in the UK, jobless and living in my Grandmother’s old house, good times! Okay it wasn’t that bad, it was nice to be near family and the dogs were loving running free in the new forest:

and getting muddy:

and Barney really liked to get very muddy:

The first thing we needed was a dog car. Trying to find something big enough and cheap was a challenge, but after some searching I found a nice one owner Audi Avant. I took a look at it and it was pristine apart from a missing hubcap. The kind of car with all of the original toolkit in place, unused, and with a wad of service receipts. Now Avants aren’t famous for their boot space, but I figured with the seats down it would be a good dog car and that was all I needed right now. Besides, my Porsche would be arriving soon…

After a few months I fitted uprated shocks and springs to the Audi. Combined with that good old VAG four cylinder it became a great little sleeper. Good enough for its daily dog moving duty and still a blast to drive down those old twisty roads that I had loved as a seventeen year old.

It was good to be home…