2006 997.1 Carrera S

My 2006 911 Carrera S had one prior owner. It was originally sold in Ohio and spent a few years in Oklahoma. I spent several months searching for a 997 Carrera S. I’ve been a Porsche fan going back to childhood in the late seventies. Did all of my research on the 996/997.1 issues. The 997 is my favorite 911 for numerous reasons. I had no requirements for my 997 as far as color, but it needed to be two wheel drive and manual transmission. I did a PPI on two other cars, in addition to the one I ultimately purchased. All three were black somehow. Drove five hours to Cleveland and spent the night at a hotel across the street from Beachwood Porsche. I had a great time and looked at several other 991s they had in stock. Turned down a test drive of a purple GT3RS. Used their facility to put the 997 on a lift and went through it as thoroughly as possible. It had 23,700 ish miles. The car had been a gift/award to one of the senior people in the Penske organization, from Porsche at the end of the launch year. I have no proof of the story but no reason to doubt it. Service was up to date and had newish Pilot Sport rubber. No sports chrono, base seats, base leather. Has PASM, Bose stereo, and a sunroof (that I didn’t want). $48k asking price and got it for $43k. It was a fair price at the time. Not a huge bargain. They agreed to deliver it closed carrier for the price paid. I did a few small things right away. Numeric shifter and function first shift knob. Had the entire car done with XPEL ppf after a full paint correction. Found a set of Carrera Sport wheels on pca.org from N. Carolina. They’re a ten spoke wheel painted GT silver with a polished lip. They’re a half inch wider in the rear but offset is for the narrow body 997. A bit more rare than the lobster fork (which I also like). Fitted 305 width PS4s to them and kept the original and put Pirelli sottozero snows on them. Which have never been on the car. That was an expensive mistake. Replaced the rear lights with the full red lens European lights. Clear side markers. I love the 997. I’ve driven it sparingly since as I’ve had a plan for it since 2021 to do something special to own it as my forever car. Contacted Flat Six Innovations, after a couple years of research. Right at the time that they were wrapping up the R series engine program. Over the course of six months I convinced Jake Raby (he was kind enough to listen and eventually relented). Basically explained what I wanted and he took it from there. A 997 that I could drive and enjoy on terrible, but twisting and amazing country roads throughout the Finger Lakes around Syracuse and Rochester, New York. No track aspirations but I didn’t want a garage queen or something I’d be afraid to drive. Bullet proof, unique, as fast as possible, but not a torture chamber. We talked about Porsche history and hallmark/milestone engines. A lot of what if type convos. “Wouldn’t it be amazing to build something that links back to the air cooled metzger or the hybrid motor in the 959?” It took some time and I won’t even try to describe the development, but synchronicity and serendipity conspired with karma and genius. A few years and a bunch of patents later, we’re getting close. I am blown away by the amount of work and thought and just brute force development required to break new ground in engine building/design. Many oh dark thirty text messages describing a new inspiration or tweak. It was an education (ongoing) for me. While I conceptually understand the oily bits, I have no experience with my own hands. What I do understand is when I see genius and inspiration and someone functioning in true “flow state”. I won’t go into specific details because it is not my design. I’m grateful to be part of the inspiration and to witness the process. I’ll update when the time comes but remain patient, excited, and doing my homework in the meantime.