[Z06] Odyssey: Life with the Z06 and 997TT
10-15-2006, 01:10 PM
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Burning Brakes
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Odyssey: Life with the Z06 and 997TT
Many of you have asked me to share this story or should I say “adventure” with owning and driving the Z06 and 997TT. It is a long story and I can only tell a little at a time, so if it’s okay with all of you (and MAJ the moderator) I will add to the thread every few days or so.
I am not much of a writer, so I hope you will bear with my writing style. Since the 2007 Porsche 997TT it is my first born having arrived in the garage the week after July 4, 2006, I’ll start with telling you about this car. Then I’ll give you the details about the 2007 Z06. Finally, I’ll discuss how the two cars are to own, drive and service.
You won’t hear much from me about the track, drag racing or ¼ mile times. You all know about those statistics. Although that sounds like fun, I’ll leave that category to you other guys on the forum. Lots of guys offer modifications for both cars. While I respect their desire to modify the cars, I tend to leave them as they came from the factory, so both are bone stock.
Cars are a hobby and passion for me. Actually, life is a passion. It seems so many folks, at least on the forums, want to stereotype or categorize the type of person who would buy either car. While I don’t attend tractor pulls, drink Bud or wear gold chains, I also don’t shop at Ralph Lauren or Polo in Beverly Hills, CA. And I can enjoy country and western music, and at the same time I can also enjoy an evening of smooth jazz. Each genre is a slice of life and that is what makes life so much fun. I want to get it all in as much as I can, enjoy the ride (rides?), because one day it all comes to an end. So, it’s okay to like both and I find that most Corvette owners and Porsche owners are just regular people. They have more in common than you might think.
These cars are weekend drivers for me on our local streets and highways. Street racing is plain stupid and proves nothing, besides it can shorten your life. That goes against everything I stand for, so I just don’t do it. Here in “sunny” Karlifornia, or more fondly referred to as the “Peoples Republic of California” our climate is our greatest asset when it comes to car enthusiasts. And our roads and destinations are fabulous. I can take off on most weekends in any direction and see some amazing sites and visit some wonderful eateries – after all, isn’t that one of the reasons we drive?
When you love both cars, you start to cringe and wince a bit after reading thread after thread of the two cars being compared. The Z06 versus 997TT debate has made headlines on virtually every enthusiast forum on the internet and car magazine. For 2006 and maybe a little of 2007 it is a hot subject. I think once the year has past and the latest and greatest enters into the market, i.e. the Corvette Blue Devil, Porsche GT2 and GT3, this topic and it’s endless rhetoric and drama shall come to an end. Lately, I have been ignoring the threads on the comparisons. And if I do chime in, it’s usually with a click on one of those “smilie” emoticons thingies – you know, the guy standing there beating a horse with a bat.
So life is pretty darn good with these two garage queens. And garage queens they are, at least in our garage. I am a car nut just like most of you on the forum. I just love the darn things, especially the new cars. Before I had kids, I tried the classic cars and did the shows back in the early 1980’s. It was fun, but nothing like owning and driving some of the super cars of today. So it’s in my blood, if it has a motor and wheels, I’m hooked.
I sold my last Turbo Porsche in 2001, so I have had a yen for a new one. When I heard about the 997TT, and read about the car I was excited. I locked on to the idea of getting one and never let go. I started my search and research back in April 2006. I went out locally to a few dealers and did the routine stuff. I placed a few deposits around town and tortured the dealers with lots of questions. Yet after I placed the deposits, I knew that I would never be able to wait for an ordered car at MSRP, I just couldn’t let that much time pass by. In Socal, if you want something hot now, you pay over MSRP or 99% of the time you won’t get it. So this was a real dilemma for me. So I went to work contacting just about every Porsche dealer in North America to find a suitable car with the options that I wanted, or at least very close. I was told by many dealers: right, dream on. I refused to give up the challenge. And I know what you are thinking right now - the “thrill of the chase”? Was I right? It is true - half of the fun is tracking that mother down.
So, it was like magic on one early June weekday morning, out of nowhere, a recently opened Porsche dealership opened in Huntsville, Alabama. At around 6:30 AM PDT, I call Alabama; “Uh, hello, my name is Joel and I am from California, do you have any of those new Turbos available? “Yessss sir, we got three of them comin’ in, and two are available, would y’all like a fax of the options on ‘em? I replied, “Sure, here’s the fax number…”
A Californian trying to buy something in Alabama? Go figure. What was going through everyone’s mind? Talk about stereotyping – guilty as charged. Can a Yankee and Confederate do business together? How about commie and a redneck? This was just the beginning of the fun. I dealt with two great and honest people at the dealership. The salesman, Ray and his manager Ron throughout the whole transaction were excellent to work with. By the time it was all over, we were exchanging family photos and they were sending me hilarious jokes and pictures showing redneck style weddings. We developed a great relationship and I would recommend this honest and humble dealership to anyone of you. They had a car available that turned out to be my number two choice of exterior color and interior. The car was buried in options, some I didn’t originally want, but looking back, I am glad that I got it with all the extra goodies.
The guys in Alabama worked with me to have the car shipped in to California by Intercity Lines out of Massachusetts. They did a great job too, so if you will be shipping a car, give these guys a call – I’d say they’re the best in the business. It turns out that the P-dealer is owned by a large GM dealer, Century Motors in Huntsville. They sold me the car at straight MSRP – no games. I had requested that they ship it crisp “in wrapper” so that I could detail it myself. "No swirl marks pleezze by the wash guys, thank you very much." And Ray confirmed that “ole Billy Bob at the wash rack won’t be messin’ with her, we got ‘er locked up in the back until the truckers come to pick her up”. And the car lived up to it expectations. The car came in virtually flawless and the quality of the paint job was simply incredible.
Here are some photos from over this past summer's delivery:
To be continued if you want me too …
I am not much of a writer, so I hope you will bear with my writing style. Since the 2007 Porsche 997TT it is my first born having arrived in the garage the week after July 4, 2006, I’ll start with telling you about this car. Then I’ll give you the details about the 2007 Z06. Finally, I’ll discuss how the two cars are to own, drive and service.
You won’t hear much from me about the track, drag racing or ¼ mile times. You all know about those statistics. Although that sounds like fun, I’ll leave that category to you other guys on the forum. Lots of guys offer modifications for both cars. While I respect their desire to modify the cars, I tend to leave them as they came from the factory, so both are bone stock.
Cars are a hobby and passion for me. Actually, life is a passion. It seems so many folks, at least on the forums, want to stereotype or categorize the type of person who would buy either car. While I don’t attend tractor pulls, drink Bud or wear gold chains, I also don’t shop at Ralph Lauren or Polo in Beverly Hills, CA. And I can enjoy country and western music, and at the same time I can also enjoy an evening of smooth jazz. Each genre is a slice of life and that is what makes life so much fun. I want to get it all in as much as I can, enjoy the ride (rides?), because one day it all comes to an end. So, it’s okay to like both and I find that most Corvette owners and Porsche owners are just regular people. They have more in common than you might think.
These cars are weekend drivers for me on our local streets and highways. Street racing is plain stupid and proves nothing, besides it can shorten your life. That goes against everything I stand for, so I just don’t do it. Here in “sunny” Karlifornia, or more fondly referred to as the “Peoples Republic of California” our climate is our greatest asset when it comes to car enthusiasts. And our roads and destinations are fabulous. I can take off on most weekends in any direction and see some amazing sites and visit some wonderful eateries – after all, isn’t that one of the reasons we drive?
When you love both cars, you start to cringe and wince a bit after reading thread after thread of the two cars being compared. The Z06 versus 997TT debate has made headlines on virtually every enthusiast forum on the internet and car magazine. For 2006 and maybe a little of 2007 it is a hot subject. I think once the year has past and the latest and greatest enters into the market, i.e. the Corvette Blue Devil, Porsche GT2 and GT3, this topic and it’s endless rhetoric and drama shall come to an end. Lately, I have been ignoring the threads on the comparisons. And if I do chime in, it’s usually with a click on one of those “smilie” emoticons thingies – you know, the guy standing there beating a horse with a bat.
So life is pretty darn good with these two garage queens. And garage queens they are, at least in our garage. I am a car nut just like most of you on the forum. I just love the darn things, especially the new cars. Before I had kids, I tried the classic cars and did the shows back in the early 1980’s. It was fun, but nothing like owning and driving some of the super cars of today. So it’s in my blood, if it has a motor and wheels, I’m hooked.
I sold my last Turbo Porsche in 2001, so I have had a yen for a new one. When I heard about the 997TT, and read about the car I was excited. I locked on to the idea of getting one and never let go. I started my search and research back in April 2006. I went out locally to a few dealers and did the routine stuff. I placed a few deposits around town and tortured the dealers with lots of questions. Yet after I placed the deposits, I knew that I would never be able to wait for an ordered car at MSRP, I just couldn’t let that much time pass by. In Socal, if you want something hot now, you pay over MSRP or 99% of the time you won’t get it. So this was a real dilemma for me. So I went to work contacting just about every Porsche dealer in North America to find a suitable car with the options that I wanted, or at least very close. I was told by many dealers: right, dream on. I refused to give up the challenge. And I know what you are thinking right now - the “thrill of the chase”? Was I right? It is true - half of the fun is tracking that mother down.
So, it was like magic on one early June weekday morning, out of nowhere, a recently opened Porsche dealership opened in Huntsville, Alabama. At around 6:30 AM PDT, I call Alabama; “Uh, hello, my name is Joel and I am from California, do you have any of those new Turbos available? “Yessss sir, we got three of them comin’ in, and two are available, would y’all like a fax of the options on ‘em? I replied, “Sure, here’s the fax number…”
A Californian trying to buy something in Alabama? Go figure. What was going through everyone’s mind? Talk about stereotyping – guilty as charged. Can a Yankee and Confederate do business together? How about commie and a redneck? This was just the beginning of the fun. I dealt with two great and honest people at the dealership. The salesman, Ray and his manager Ron throughout the whole transaction were excellent to work with. By the time it was all over, we were exchanging family photos and they were sending me hilarious jokes and pictures showing redneck style weddings. We developed a great relationship and I would recommend this honest and humble dealership to anyone of you. They had a car available that turned out to be my number two choice of exterior color and interior. The car was buried in options, some I didn’t originally want, but looking back, I am glad that I got it with all the extra goodies.
The guys in Alabama worked with me to have the car shipped in to California by Intercity Lines out of Massachusetts. They did a great job too, so if you will be shipping a car, give these guys a call – I’d say they’re the best in the business. It turns out that the P-dealer is owned by a large GM dealer, Century Motors in Huntsville. They sold me the car at straight MSRP – no games. I had requested that they ship it crisp “in wrapper” so that I could detail it myself. "No swirl marks pleezze by the wash guys, thank you very much." And Ray confirmed that “ole Billy Bob at the wash rack won’t be messin’ with her, we got ‘er locked up in the back until the truckers come to pick her up”. And the car lived up to it expectations. The car came in virtually flawless and the quality of the paint job was simply incredible.
Here are some photos from over this past summer's delivery:
To be continued if you want me too …
Last edited by mastiffdog; 10-17-2006 at 01:56 AM.
10-15-2006, 01:47 PM
#5
Instructor
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Keep it coming Bro! By the way, I know exactly what you are referring to when you mentioned the "Tractor pull, Drinking Bud, gold chains, etc. comments". I visit that particular forum where those comments where made and was pretty shocked!
That thread got pretty nasty! Oh well...Looking forward to your write up.
10-15-2006, 03:59 PM
#13
I have heard nothing but Great Things from 997 TT owners. I have a December build for a Tiptronic TT. The Tips are extremely hard to get. My dealer is only getting one TT every 2 months.
10-15-2006, 07:08 PM
#18
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Very nice writ up about two great cars. I'd love to have the same combo as you
I also know were the Budweiser, gold chain comments are coming from....I hope we can be more civilised and open minded than some of the members on the other forum....
I also know were the Budweiser, gold chain comments are coming from....I hope we can be more civilised and open minded than some of the members on the other forum....
10-15-2006, 07:40 PM
#19
Melting Slicks
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So far so good! Waiting for the comparison though!
That's a dog, you know. As in "beating a dead dog".
(And the duck in the old Atari game "Adventure" is reallly a dragon.)
Originally Posted by mastiffdog
And if I do chime in, it’s usually with a click on one of those “smilie” emoticons thingies – you know, the guy standing there beating a horse with a bat.
(And the duck in the old Atari game "Adventure" is reallly a dragon.)
10-15-2006, 09:42 PM
#20
Burning Brakes
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It would only be natural for me to say horse, I just couldn't bring myself to beating a dog 
Also, my next segment in in the works and will be posted probably tomorrow night...thanks for staying tuned!
And many thanks to all the kind words so far!
Also, my next segment in in the works and will be posted probably tomorrow night...thanks for staying tuned!
And many thanks to all the kind words so far!