The Search

Started to watch Auto Trader, Exchange and Mart, Top Marques, Pistonheads and the 911uk forum classifieds for cars that matched what I wanted.

From what I can tell if you want a Silver car with a tiptronic box then you're in luck, there's loads of them.

Black Manuals, not so many, or not that many with under 100k miles on them.

After a few weeks I decided to go have a look at a few cars. There was a nice car in Guards Red over in Cambridge and a Black example over in Harlow.

The Guards Red car looked great from 20ft away, but once I got close it was stone chipped to hell.

The Black car was the opposite. Paintwork was pretty tidy, but the interior was all banged up.

But it gave me a good idea what was what.

After another week of keeping my eye on the adds another 2 possibilities came up. A Seal Grey car with the GT3 aero kit on it down in Reading and a black one at an independent Porsche Specialist (Mr911) in Kent.

Went and saw the Grey car first. Looked straight and tidy and took it out for a spin. nice to drive, a little rattley. Liked the GT3 kit on it but wasn't 100% on the colour.

Then headed round the M25 to take a look at the black car.

Looked good. Body was in great condition and the interior looked almost new. Took it out for a spin as well and it all felt slightly tighter, more together, than the Grey car. The dealer told me it had had a brand new engine fitted last year.

I decided to go away and have a think about it. I really liked the GT3 look, but I'm a big fan of black cars.

By the time I got home at about 7pm my mind was already made up. The black car it was. I think what swayed it was it was a dealer, I'd get a years Warranty and it looked in better condition, plus was about £1k cheaper.

So rung up Mr911, or Clive as he's actually known, and tried to get him down on price. He wasn't having it so I agreed on the list price of £15,900.

So the spec

2001 996 C2 Manual in Basalt Black and Black Leather Interior. (Facelift Model) 73k Miles.
PCM1 + Hands Free Phone
HK analogue Audio Upgrade
CD Changer
PSM
Sunroof (Quite rare I'm told)
18" Sport Design 2 Wheels
Sports Seats

Plus he'd Service, MOT it and refurb the wheels as they were a bit crappy.

It was Tuesday and he said he should be able to get it ready for Saturday to pick up.

The search was short and sweet.