Story and photography provided by Tarek Salah
When you find a special car—the right year, a desirable color, nicely spec’d, taken care of, you know what I mean—everyone will be quick to tell you how lucky you are. They don’t care how long it took to find nor how many dead-end phone calls were required before you could convince the owner to sell, and they don’t care what price you paid either: deals are “steals,” a fair price is a “bargain,” too much is “what the good ones are worth these days,” and however much it cost you you are most certainly “lucky.”
If enough people tell you that you simply must keep something you’re already fond of, that you’re obligated to hold onto it ’til the end because of some trait that it possesses or inspires in its drivers, you can begin to convince yourself it’s true. And really, it’s mostly true; when you find yourself the owner of a notable car (or even just something rather mundane that you happen to be especially fond of), it can be a painful experience to pass it on to someone else, and it’s common, to me at least, to maintain a type of wistfulness for a few weeks after selling a car along with some pangs of guilt that strike the hardest whilst you’re clicking away searching for a replacement.
I have no bone to pick with the kinds of people I mentioned earlier, and I clearly understand where they’re coming from (relationships, even with inanimate things like front-engined Porsches, can evolve and flourish in ways that only long periods of time can allow). I just want to make my case for moving on. It’s basically summed up with this car, a white 1995 Porsche 968.
#146 of 258 imported to the ‘States in that model year, it’s a pretty rare car all things relative, and to boot, it also came from the factory with a bunch of desirable options like a paint-matched rear spoiler, limited-slip diff, and power seats. Yeah, I hear you, good old light and simple manual seats are better (for those reasons), but it’s a four-cylinder Porsche remember, it’s not like some additional poundage in the way of a luxury really holds it back.
It also had low mileage, a rowable six-speed, the iconic turbo twist wheels, and a TechArt front lip. In short, I’m saying I was pretty taken by this car, and though it’s not a high-dollar early 911 or something like that, it was the kind of thing I’d keep if I was the person who did that kind of thing. My mindset when it comes to owning vintage cars and modern classics is that you should sell them and buy other things with the money. Cars being the things. If you’re patient and seek out the right cars you can experience all sorts of machines if you’re willing to let go of them like I recently did with this 968.
Think of it like this: you get to have own another (hopefully) fun car in the garage, and in selling your old one you give someone else the chance to enjoy it. Everyone wins. Of course, that’s just my opinion though—what do you think? Regret the one that you let get away, or are you happy to have enjoyed a long chain of fun cars?
