What does a car that is stated to be 95% restored with ground-up, bare metal repaint, new rubber on all windows and openings, new tires, brakes, shocks, shock mounts plus completely redone interior from dash, seats, headliner, doors and carpet actually need to be completed?  Plenty. 

Description in the ad, really? The spelling and punctuation or lack thereof...

First of all let me just say that Joe, who sold me the car is solid.  What a great guy.  He is not native to the US which explains a lot about the way the ad was written.  After we talked for a while, I came to realize that a bit of fate stepped in to make this deal happen.  It is not quite as storied as buying my first Ferrari but it does bear some telling.

I had been shopping for a 912 and started fine tuning my knowledge on the guys from the 912 Registry.  One Saturday, Jeff Trask (co-founder of the 912 Registry) was a wealth of information at Coffee and Cars which was perfect timing for that Monday when I saw the Craiglist ad above.  I called immediately and waited patiently until Joe called me back.  Was it already sold?  Did someone put down a deposit?  Was I going to actually have the money to buy this thing?

Joe called an hour later, he told me about the ground up restoration, bare metal repait with the use of German Diamond paint on top of high end primers.  He bought all new seals for the doors, windows, deck lid plus new turn lens, H4 headlights... oh and the interior was redone top to bottom.  Creme de la creme?  The original Blaubunpkt was still in the dash.  Nice. 

I had to see the car and asked him when was good for him.  He said Wednesday was his day off.  Well that didn't work for me.  I hymned and hawed and said what about tonight?  He obliged but didn't get off work until 9:30PM.  That would mean a Monday night trip two hours away, to see a guy I've never met, about a car I didn't have the money for, in the pitch black... my wife was thrilled.  I assured her the guy sounded "really nice" and at this point, he had more to lose than me.  I had his address and gate code.

9:30PM he gets off work?  What does this guy do?  Half falling asleep in the car on the way there, I reminded myself what a nice guy he sounded like as we called eachother with status reports of arrival times.  To ease his concerns, I told him what car I was driving and when I got there early, didn't wait outside his house but went to a WalMart close by.  Man, those things are huge.  I guess they have to be to fit the people that shop there. Shouldn't your two year old be in bed lady? 

Anyway, we met outside his brand new house by the garage.  He opened the door and his five year old daughter ran out, a family man to boot.  The car reflected in the overhead garage light and looked beautiful.  Boxes catching the leaking oil, a door ding from the wife's car but all in all, "restored".  We continued to talk for about 20 minutes until I realized his shirt had a Mercedes-Benz logo on it.  

"Oh, do you work for Mercedes?"  I asked.

"Yes, I work at the dealership downtown," Joe replied. 

"Do you know Robert and Viz?" 

"Why yes, I do."  He looked at me with that, are you kidding me look.  "I just had a dealer meeting with them. Viz is pregnant."

The connection was undeniable.  I asked him how much of a deposit he wanted to hold the car.