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Tony's Porsche Page |
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Welcome to my newest page! |
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Welcome to my Porsche 944 page! I am guessing you clicked over here from either my Lancia or Lotus page.
The car you see in the pictures here is a 1985.5 944 model. If you are familiar with 944s, you will know that the ".5" model year designation means that this car is the first of the 944s with the revised interior, flush-mounted windshield, and aluminum control arms (among many other changes).
I purchased this car in the summer of 2003 (June or July . . . I don't remember!) from a well-known 944 enthusiast. He kept the car impeccably clean and maintained it just as attentively. The result for me was a nice 944 that has served me very well and reliably, with only maintenance costs to go with the miles I have driven it. I purchased it with 108k miles; less than two years later, it turned over 150k! I have and continue to enjoy it, needless to say! |
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At Left: Summer 2004 in Cleveland, Ohio. I'm trying to find interesting backdrops for pictures. Not every day you see a Porsche in an alley! |
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Four Nine Four Fours Minus Three |
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My first 944 was a 1983, "Montego Black" with a brown/beige leather interior. I learned a great deal about 944s in the six years and 92k miles that I owned it. My second 944 was a 1984 that I bought as a project car but ended up as a parts car. My third was an "India Red" (guards red) 1985.5 with full leather interior and sport seats. This car looked as if it had never seen a day outside of the garage and clearly had never been exposed to winter conditions, so I felt it more appropriate to sell it to someone who would keep it as such. Finally, I purchased the car in these pictures. I first met the previous owner at an autocross, and asked him that very day if he wanted to sell it. He said he wasn't ready to, but maybe later in the year. I badgered him for a few months before finally giving up and buying the red one, deciding not to wait for him to sell it. Two weeks after I bought the red car, he found a 944S2 that he wanted, and called me to see if I still wanted the car! Of course I bought it, and for a brief time I actually owned all four of the above 944s at once! ...Plus the Lotus! Too many cars! I was thinking of getting one of those bumper stickers that says "My other car is a Porsche". . .
To make a long story short, I sold the red car to a friend, eventually fixed the head gasket on the black car and traded it for the Lancia, and parted the project car and cut it up with a sawzall. And that's how went from four 944s back to one! |
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Taken on a recent trip from Toledo, Ohio to Miami, Florida. Ran great, as always! |
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If I Had My Choice... |
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As far as 944s go, this white/burgundy car was love at first sight. I have always liked the Fuchs wheels (forged 911-style wheels as seen on this car), and having gained experience with 944s, decided that my next purchase had to have them. The truth is, white was my first choice of color, and burgundy was my first choice of interior. If I could have ordered a 944 new from the factory, it would have been white with matching white Fuchs and burgundy interior; i.e., this exact car! This car was also in the kind of condition I was looking for, both cosmetically and mechanically, and the price was appropriate, so I was very happy to make it my own. |
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The beautiful green mountains of West Virginia! I will crop this and the other pictures on this page soon to make them more appealing, as well as reformat them to load faster. Picture taken by fellow
TrackAddict Neil Claasen, owner of the Alfa Romeo pictured on this page. |
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The Light Cannons of Death! |
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I have averaged 20k-25k miles per year with my 944s alone, before factoring in the Lotus and Lancia. Inevitably, this includes a good amount of driving at night, and a fair share of long trips. I often find myself on deserted highways in the middle of the night in the middle of nowhere, as well as plenty of other instances where high beams are appropriate. Over the years (including those prior to 944 ownership), I have hit three deer and numerous rocks, branches, tire shards, etc. in the road. Anything I can do to improve visibility and safety, I will do.
I spent a great deal of time studying the different styles of driving lights available, and decided that the "Airport/35" style by Cibie would be my best bet. The axial filament 55-watt H2 lamp used by these lights is more efficient (read: puts out more light) than a 55-watt H3 (radial filament) lamp (the more common style for fog and driving lights). I used 10- and 12-gauge wire and a heavy-duty relay to install these lights, and the result is that they are incredibly bright. The lens and reflector are of a high quality and cast the light where it is very useful. This picture really does not do them justice; consider that the high beams are on in this photograph, and that I am at a contrasting angle to the direction of the beams. You have a good idea of how bright high-beams are; look at how much more flare the driving lights create in the picture. Looking forward on a dark road, if you could turn off the high beams, you would hardly notice they are gone because the driving lights cast so much light.
The result is that I see objects in the road and deer off to the side of the road much sooner than without the driving lights. They have paid for themselves many times over in avoiding accidents and damage. |
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The Cibie model 35 "Airport" lights are not cheap, but quality doesn't usually come cheap. They seemed to be the best compact driving lights I could find. Larger models that throw even more light are available, but I did not want something that looked out of place on the car.
If you stand a foot or two in front of the beam, you can quickly and easily feel the heat - it is as focused as the beam!
I am not sure where the nickname "light cannons of death" started, but it is meant with humor, although an appropriate descriptor for the intensity! |
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Rivals! |
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The aforementioned trip to Miami was taken in part to help a friend retrieve a 1985 Alfa Romeo GTV6 he had just purchased. We both thought this an especially interesting trip, as the 944 and GTV6 are such comparable cars. Consider that both of these cars:
- are by respected makers who are big names in racing
- have a front-engine, rear-transaxle layout with 5 forward gears
- make 150-something horsepower from a 2.5 liter engine
- are hatchback coupes with 2+2 seating
- are the same model year(!) and were priced similarly when new
- are evolutions of 2-liter 4-cylinder models from the 1970s
- . . . . can you think of any more similarities? Email me!
Two notable fundamental differences between these cars are that the Alfa is a V6 and the Porsche is an inline four, and the Alfa has inboard disc brakes while the Porsche's are out at the wheels. Looking further, the central driveshaft/torque tube design is different between the two cars, as the Porsche's drivetrain is a rigid structure, while the Alfa's hasf flexible portions. The Alfa makes more torque, while the Porsche has a lower center of gravity. All in all, two very interesting cars to compare. I'm looking forward to when Neil gets the Alfa back into prime condition! |
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More Pictures! |
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For those of you are weary of all of my writing (and probably skipped most of it) and just want to see pictures, here you go!
I just threw this page together quickly. As I said before, I will reformat these pictures so they have less wasted space and are smaller file sizes. But considering that the Lotus and Lancia pages have been around for a while, it's about time I constructed a page for the car that I actually drive the most!
Stay tuned for improvements . . .
Cheers,
Tony |
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This and the two pictures below were taken by Dan "944 Fest" Pierson in 2004 at an impromptu gathering of 944 owners in Columbus, Ohio. He was going for the "artsy" look, he joked, in reference to this picture. Blurry, yes; ill-composed, yes; nonetheless, it is an accurate capture and interesting for the lights and reflections. :) |
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In an unusual meeting, the white car is paired with the blue 944S2 owned by the previous owner. Wait, does that sentence make sense? What I mean is that the previous owner of my car had the uncommon opportunity to have a photograph of his former and current cars together. He has since parted with the S2 . . . I wonder what is next?
Water spots on the lens ruin the picture in terms of composition, but show what a rainy, dismal night that was! |
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To other 944 owners: Have you wever wondered what kind of a stream of drizzle your car leaves behind you in the rain? Here you go! I have noticed how much of a cloud of rain some cars throw back behind them on the freeway and how little some other cars do. I figure that the body design and tires are the two biggest factors. I wonder if car designers take this into account, as so many German cars leave neat, suppressed trails, while many GM cars spray a huge mess behind them like a tractor-trailer . . . . |
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