The MidShip Report©: 

Burning Desires (and the Need to go Topless)

[by john miller; John-M1@ML1media.com]

Goodbye, Rick called. He’s a good friend of mine. We go way back, and he’s a car guy. A few years back, I drove him to a dingy suburban warehouse and watched him collect his not-yet-available-in-the-USA Lotus Elise as it was driven out of a shipping container. He even let me drive it on a couple occasions. Before that, he once came by in a Louts Elan and we pounded that around for a day. Another time, Rick wanted to drive my Z3, so I tossed have him the keys. In fairness, he gave me the keys to his Audi TT and he took off running. Rick ‘forgot’ to tell me his lovely wife Monica was in the TT. I eventually caught up to him. Monica didn’t talk to me for a few months after that, as I recall.

It didn’t surprise me when Rick called to tell me he bought an old Jag –an XK-E coupe---I always liked that car. I was bit concerned that it was a ‘fleaBay’ purchase (yes, note the disdain in my voice), but Rick was OK with the odds. He figured the worst he could get ‘hurt’ was his 13 thousand purchase price----and indeed, that does seem reasonably low for a fair condition Jaguar XK-E.  Of course, the Seller lied. The car was not quite pristine, nor expected to be. But the sellers assessment: “a good 10 footer” (it looks good from 10 feet away) was accurate……if you were legally blind. It was more like a ’30 footer’ in terms of body and paint work. It also had various mechanical issues that the seller neglected to mention, including a cracked engine block, all which Rick weathered through as any good father would for his child. And for many, many, months, Rick would repeatedly tell me his greatest desire was to DRIVE his Jaguar. He said this with irony because it spent more time in repair shops than his own garage.

But now Rick was on the phone and sending me pictures of his Jaguar. Ordinarily the term ‘Burning Desires’ would be a single phrase---the words compliment each other. And surely, Rick did have ‘Burning Desires’ about his Jag….but the two words were independent thoughts at that moment. As you can see by photo 1, Rick’s XK-E successfully turned itself into the world’s largest s’more. Rick surmised that a fuel system leak came in contact with the starter motor. It caught fire and burned to a crisp. And yes, before you ask, Rick keeps fire extinguishers around the house. He even emptied two bottles onto the XK-E before realizing the flames were already over his head and the thing could just as well blow up in his face. The local fire department was able to put it out (photo 2), but the Jag was…uhhmm…toast. Take note here. I know quite of few PCA members with older or just plain OLD cars. I have a 39 year old Karmann Ghia in my garage. I have always kept a fire extinguisher in it and two others on the nearby garage walls. But a fire extinguisher is no substitute for regular, diligent inspections of the mechanicals—especially the fuel system….and the more I think about it…this probably applies to newer cars as well. Unfortunately for Rick, he enlisted others (mechanics) to do much of the work on the XK-E for him and trusted their work to the degree that he felt he didn’t have to double check every bit of the car.

I felt bad about this for Rick. I extended condolences, but I also felt there was a bright side. This was nature’s way (or divine intervention, if you like) of getting Rick OUT of the Jaguar. He had always wanted one. He bought one, he drove it….and now it was going away. The insurance money will put him almost at break-even (including the money he poured into it) so he can LITTERALLY walk way unscathed.  But now Rick seems to have Burning Desires, of the single phrase variety. He refers to the insurance money as the ‘new Jaguar Fund’. And by NEW, he isn’t referring to an XK coupe…..he’s looking for a better condition XK-E—one that has the brakes, the starter, and the fuel systems ALREADY sorted out. I mentioned that the ‘Jaguar Fund’ could buy him a very nice, not TOO old Boxster. The words fell on deaf ears.

The Need to go Topless
 
Opportunity knocked so I answered. I had the occasion to ride along in and drive two different Porsche Caymans recently. Debate all you like about whether the Cayman is really just a fixed-roof (coupe) edition of the Boxster or a separate car…I think it is the fixed-roof version…but why listen to me?(surely, there’s only two or three people that do.) The Cayman is under Porsche’s 987 model designation. Case closed. But that isn’t the discussion here. The Cayman is a terrific car. Its handling is phenomenal. Its acceleration is what I desire out of my Boxster. And it’s a fabulous looking car. And the only way you’d get me to buy one is if it came as a matched set with a Boxster or standard equipment included a Sawzall® with a carbon tipped blade.

Side by side, from any angle (photos 3 & 4), they are both striking cars….although, in fairness, the Boxster is at a slight disadvantage here as with it’s top in the up position. The Cayman offers an uncluttered, thoroughly modern looking dash/instrument panel (photo 5) and decent sight lines out the rear (photo 6). We even had a chance to flex its handling and braking muscle with an ‘emergency’ lane change when this appeared in front of us immediately after a blind left hand turn (photo 7).

If the Cayman has any real weakness, it’s the price. It would seem Porsche made a mistake in pricing the Cayman significantly higher than the Boxster, when many potential buyers did interpret it as a fixed-roof Boxster. Now that the initial ‘buzz’ of the new model has worn off, it would seem that this ‘error’ has become pronounced. Cayman inventories have ballooned at dealerships across the country. Cayman (and to a degree, Boxster) sales are down significantly. And dealers are getting ‘creative’ with pricing–PCNA doesn’t allow outright discounting (I’m told) but dealers are finding ways to offer ‘incentives’ that bring the Cayman well into the same (and sometime BELOW) price neighborhood as the Boxster. So, yes, I readily admit that if I were looking for a hard-top Porsche, I’d give serious consideration to a Cayman. But I’m a convertible person. The Boxster will always get first consideration over the Cayman. Now, if they start cranking out one of those clear-roof Targa versions of the Cayman………

Footnotes:

Elsewhere on the ML1 site [ WWW.ML1Media.com ] is coverage of Rennsport Reunion #3.  Those of you that know of the Rennsport events will want to take a glance at that. Those of you not familiar with the Rennsport Reunion will want to take and entire afternoon to browse the text and look at the hundreds of fabulous photos of this All-Porsche event…and by ‘All’, I mean ALL.

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