It's about damn time - Al's 964

2016 begins normally, and in March Porsche Aberdeen invite me to their 718 Boxster launch. I figure I should make an effort, so drag the 964 out and give it a clean.



I invite a pal along for the ride, but don't tell him the occasion, just that he has to be at mine for 1800. Another pal's been invited so he takes his 986 along. When I arrive the parking concierge is insanely chuffed to see a 964 but gutted that he's given the last spot away to a Cayman of all things. They've got parking along the way, and shuttle Cayennes. Fine.












There's a presentation, canapes, a DJ. Tours of the workshop. It's cool. Porsche may be a 'prestige' brand, but they're also ridiculously unpretentious - I've never felt unwelcome at any Porsche dealer. The same can't be said for BMW. Or Mercedes. Or sodding Volkswagen, tbh. Left with some free posters and stickers. Still have, etc...

We got to play with a properly-gearboxed 718 later in the week.















We really liked it. I didn't - and still don't - get the hate for them. The first Porsche had four cylinders. The first mid-engined Porsche had four cylinders. The first transaxle Porsche had four cylinders. Get over yourself. Hell, even the Macan has, actually, no, I'm not finishing that sentence. I can't do it with conviction.

This is important, honest. Or at least it is later on. We spent the summer worrying whether or not it was going to happen, thanks to the xenophobes. In September we got confirmation everything was going to be fine, and can we be there mid-November? Wow. Possibly. So it's just a secondment, it's not permanent. We're not selling up. This makes things easier and difficulter. We're not selling the house, but we're not leaving it empty because that ruins houses. Okay, we're renting it out. But we're not renting the field, because my big garage is in there. We've got two months to sort out our house to get it 'rentable', we've got to get our nice but not really worth shipping there and back stuff stored safely, we've got to empty the wee garage so any potential tenants can use it. We've got to find a house to rent in NL, schools for the boys, learn about importing vehicles, decide what's staying, find out what the deal with our livestock is... and we've got a week in the October holidays in Malta because we really didn't think this was happening. Oh, and I need to weld up all the holes in the 914. Because I am *definitely* going to get that finished over there, because an orange LHD '70s open-topped Porsche is perfect for the Netherlands. Perfect.































We even managed to get to Budel on a house-hunting trip. I'm exhausted just writing this - I have no idea where I got the energy from.

Sometime in mid-November the 914 got shipped away. The 964, after an evening's blast, got tucked up in the big garage along with most of our possessions, and the next morning we took the T4 and the GTI - plus a few things we couldn't do without - down to North Shields. We left our keys with someone we trusted. Past tense...

2017. We're back for a wedding. Old old stomping ground rather than old stomping ground, but we head north afterwards for a few days. I get the 964 out, and a few of us convoy around the Highlands for a bit. It's ace.


















My trusted pal brings the 964 over a couple of months later and we do a mini Skandi road trip. Fairly sure he's taken it into Porsche for an oil change the week or month beforehand as well. I could check the book, but I can't be bothered and it's unimportant anyway. We've got a ferry booked, and it's leaving Kiel at 1700.
NRW and Holstein disappear very quickly at 140 - it's midweek and the roads are quiet. We arrive in Kiel ridiculously early and realise neither of us have brought towels. IKEA is literally right off the road to the docks. We manage to only buy two towels, then sit in the cafe feeling smug whilst scoffing our first meatballs of the trip.

How to make a potential oil change suspenseful.

I found a solution for the passenger's window last year, btw. It's probably not the solution you're thinking of.

You'll have to wait, I'm afraid. I'm in a dingy German town for the weekend. I'll do a post about that on Monday.

You've surely escaped Deutschland by now