The Hunt

[JohnIreland]

Well I broke with my own logic about buying a local car that I really liked, and just made an offer on a car in Arlington Virginia...Zenith Blue, space grey interior, tip, 81k miles, and some very good recent service...axel seals, trans mount and trans seals, water pump and gaskets, thermostat housing gasket, drive belts, coolant reservoir replaced, spark plugs, exhaust repaired (no specifics)...all in the last 6k miles. I like the miles...I feel it puts me in the sweet spot to stay with the factory IMS bearing. It's nicely optioned. They're asking $17995, I offered $15550 with the explanation that I'm buying it based on just paper, no chance to actually drive, and it will about $1500 to ship it enclosed to LA. Oh yes, first sold in July 98, so I'm guessing maybe an April build date.

[gnat]

Well I broke with my own logic about buying a local car that I really liked, and just made an offer on a car in Arlington Virginia...Zenith Blue, space grey interior, tip, 81k miles, and some very good recent service...axel seals, trans mount and trans seals, water pump and gaskets, thermostat housing gasket, drive belts, coolant reservoir replaced, spark plugs, exhaust repaired (no specifics)...all in the last 6k miles. I like the miles...I feel it puts me in the sweet spot to stay with the factory IMS bearing. It's nicely optioned. They're asking $17995, I offered $15550 with the explanation that I'm buying it based on just paper, no chance to actually drive, and it will about $1500 to ship it enclosed to LA. Oh yes, first sold in July 98, so I'm guessing maybe an April build date.

Arlington is vaguely my neck of the woods. If you want me to put eyes on it this weekend I can do that. PM me if you want and the seller is willing.

The owner might not like the distance, but if you want to get a PPI I would highly suggest IMA in Chantilly. They know 996s (there were 5 there when I went by earlier this week) and Ivan used to have a MkII GT3.

IMA's info as well as some other options can be seen here: http://996outpost.com/viewtopic.php?p=301#p301

[FRUNKenstein]

That’s a nice looking car, best-selling author, occasional Gitmo AirBNB guest, and internationally-renowned automotive fashion consultant John Ireland. I love that color.

No need to swap the bearing on a ‘99 tippy with 81k miles. The replacement bearing might not be as good and/or the installation of the replacement bearing might not be perfect. I’d leave the original in there on that car.

[JohnIreland]

Well I broke with my own logic about buying a local car that I really liked, and just made an offer on a car in Arlington Virginia...Zenith Blue, space grey interior, tip, 81k miles, and some very good recent service...axel seals, trans mount and trans seals, water pump and gaskets, thermostat housing gasket, drive belts, coolant reservoir replaced, spark plugs, exhaust repaired (no specifics)...all in the last 6k miles. I like the miles...I feel it puts me in the sweet spot to stay with the factory IMS bearing. It's nicely optioned. They're asking $17995, I offered $15550 with the explanation that I'm buying it based on just paper, no chance to actually drive, and it will about $1500 to ship it enclosed to LA. Oh yes, first sold in July 98, so I'm guessing maybe an April build date.

Arlington is vaguely my neck of the woods. If you want me to put eyes on it this weekend I can do that. PM me if you want and the seller is willing.

The owner might not like the distance, but if you want to get a PPI I would highly suggest IMA in Chantilly. They know 996s (there were 5 there when I went by earlier this week) and Ivan used to have a MkII GT3.

IMA's info as well as some other options can be seen here: http://996outpost.com/viewtopic.php?p=301#p301

Thanks for the offer to look at it. Let's see what their response is. If they start to fight me on price, I may use the PPI to loosen them up. If they still won't budge, then I will have it looked at. And if the deal doesn't go through, there is always another one waiting down the road.

[Battery Guy]

Looks like a nice car. Hope it works out. Don’t ship it - easy drive from Virginia to California. You can stop in Columbus Ohio and I will buy you a beer or cocktail and your car can meet my ‘99.
Then stay on the same road and visit Mr. Frunk in KC. (I-70)
Daryll

[JohnIreland]

Well they didn't accept my offer. And in fact, they didn't answer my two emails, and when I called on Monday, the guy in sales hadn't even looked at his emails and it took him a while to find them. Then he gave me the old song about how they're getting a lot of calls on the car. I told him that now that he had my name and number, he can give me a call if nothing happens on the car. But based on this conversation with him, and remembering to "buy the seller and not the..."...I tend to not care if I hear from him or not. In the meantime the white car in LA...the seller is dreading looking into the "clunk" I told him he had. One mechanic told him there was no transmission mount on the tiptronics, you had to replace the whole case. I'm not a mechanic but I found a tiptronic manual and using the website for Warehouse 33, found the part and emailed that info to him. My uneducated guess based on driving the car, it is the mount support bushing. But its his car for now so I'll let him struggle with what this does to his price. My original offer was $14k and he was asking $17+k. I went up to 15, he came down to 16 and he's been holding there. I may go back to 14 and tell him I'll take it as is, clunk and all. Or I may go back to him and say if he fixes the problem I'll give him his 16. Anyone here have any thoughts on the matter. Again, it only has happened when I put my foot to the floor and engaged the kick down mode in the trans and it shifted into the lowest gear possible. It launched like a rocked and up shifted a full throttle seamlessly, without any noise or slipping. He just put ceramic pads on the brakes. Not sure I would do that on steel rotors but it brakes straight and smooth for now and that doesn't worry me. A friend who went with me for the second test drive, asked what the hot smell was, and I told him it was a 911. I remembered it with my first 03 996.

Just for the heck of it here is a picture of the white car I'm considering. The graphics were put on my the owner but so many people complained that he has since taken them off. Cosmetically its a 6 or a 7, with some scratches and dimples and a very small dent by the passenger door, plus it has some ageing clear bra on the front, the headlights, and the side mirrors. I'd try taking them off the mirrors and headlights as a test, and if that worked out, I'd do the front. It has the original 17" wheels, which I prefer over the 18s and 19s...etc., etc.

5a2a.jpg (206.2 KiB) Viewed 1959 times

[FRUNKenstein]

Looks like a nice car. Hope it works out. Don’t ship it - easy drive from Virginia to California. You can stop in Columbus Ohio and I will buy you a beer or cocktail and your car can meet my ‘99.
Then stay on the same road and visit Mr. Frunk in KC. (I-70)
Daryll

You have an open invitation.

[FRUNKenstein]

There is a nice looking, high mileage seal gray tippy coupe for sale on Facebook Marketplace for $13,999 asking.

[JohnIreland]

Thanks but I really what the early version.

[JohnIreland]

Going back through my 2000 Cab with tip notes...I am reminded that the 99 tip required putting the trans selector into manual mode before being able to use the buttons...while the 2000 model had an update that allowed you to directly employ manual shifting, even when in drive, by just hitting the buttons. It would then return to auto mode when it sensed no more shifting activity...maybe ten seconds or so. That said, my search is now limited to the 2000 model tips.