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Since before I could drive, I always wanted a Porsche 911. But not just any 911 though, I wanted a Red Targa, as that always seemed the most aesthetically correct combination. I had this want long after Red Targas fell out of fashion. Heck, even after air-cooled Porsches fell out of fashion. I also wanted a Red Ferrari 308 Targa, but that is a different story.
Then one day in 1997 my better half and I were at a used car lot investigating a Mercedes 300TD to replace our dying commuter car. And there it was: a slightly rough looking but beautifully classic red 1974 Porsche 911 Targa. My childhood desire was for a later car, complete with obligatory whale tail, but this was better! I forgot they even used to have brushed stainless Targa bars! I had to have it! It was cheap (relatively) and I justified it by saying that I always wanted to have a project car to work on and that this was just a glorified Beetle. Right? Well that argument worked and both the Benz and Porsche came home with us.
It seemed like a good idea at the time. I accidentally planned a business meeting in Montreal at 9:00 AM on a Tuesday morning, followed by two days at Lime Rock on Wednesday and Thursday. Of course, with roughly four hundred miles each way between home in New Jersey and my client’s office in Montreal, it would be pretty tough to make the round trip in time to turn around and head back out for the two and a half hour ride to Lime Rock. So, I decided to do what any reasonable person would do; I packed up my twenty seven year old 911SC, threw in my clothes bag, briefcase, tools and helmet, and headed up the New York Thruway into the Great White North.
It all was working out beautifully. The three liter engine of my 911 settled into a beautiful, cacophonous mix - part mechanical, part whirring from the huge engine fan. I got into such a groove that I drove non-stop, past Albany, past Saratoga, through Lake George, all the way until the “sortie” signs clued me in that the US/Canadian border was approaching. I took the last exit in New York for a McDonald’s and gasoline break.