My 1994 Riviera Blue Porsche 968 Club Sport Diary
Discussion
Hello everyone.
This is my 968 Club Sport story...
In 2003 I had a 2.5 "oval dash" 944 Lux in Zermatt Silver...
I'll never forget buying it and that first drive home. That first glance in the door mirror, seeing those rear wheel arch "hips" and I was hooked...
For the originality aspect (a great passion of mine) I purchased this excellent book...
From that point forwards, I have looked at that yellow cover car in awe for 20 years.
I went to Porsche in the Park 2003 and remember crawling over my first 968CS on the "Specialist Cars of Malton" stand...
I came straight home and used this new thing called "the internet" to search this new site called "PistonHeads". I saved all the 968CS adverts at the time and found them all on my old HDD the other day...
Shame how many of those cars are now dead when using a registration checker.
Sadly I couldn't stretch to the £13,500 required at the time...
Hindsight a wonderful thing.
Still unable to afford a CS, I purchased my 3.0 S2 Cabriolet in Tahoe Blue in 2006...
I remember when ownership of the S2 was coming to an end (2009) looking at 968's (again) and just feeling a bit bored looking at the same dashboard for the third time in a row. That decision to deviate was now clearly a mistake. Again, hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I have danced with the devil ever since - BMW & TVR.
So here we are - it's 2022 and I have gone full circle. I need to do what I always promised myself. However, 19 years later, that's been kinda tough.
Kinda tough financially too, because prices have grown considerably more than my hair has in 19 years.
I actually started properly looking in 2020.
Had to be a CS and had to be a bonkers colour (Maritime Blue, Riviera Blue or Speed Yellow). It needed factory body colour wheels and the matching factory hard back bucket seats.
I also love Amaranth Violet, because that's suitably bonkers, so I looked at one in Northampton. Everyone regurgitates that the CS was only available in the five set colours - but that isn't so. Paint-to-sample was possible and that's how you got Amaranth...
Sadly, the special order colours lack body colour seat backs (they're black) and silver wheels are mandatory too. This made Amaranth a no. Still, always good to crawl over a local one and set as a benchmark.
I looked at a yellow CS at Steve Bull...
And a private sale Riviera in Essex...
Sadly, neither were the car for me.
Torture to walk away from cars that are so statistically rare.
179 new, 60 still taxed. 30 in your preferred colours and half of those are "comfort seat cars" without the hardbacks.
I was waking up in the morning and checking classifieds for what could be only 20 cars. It was driving me insane.
Hunting a genuine car is littered with pitfalls. Many are retro-converted Sports.
I tried to place feelers with Specialists to "tap-up" customers, but in some cases, I was literally laughed out the showroom with my ideal spec. Interesting how many Porsche Specialists told me they no longer service the transaxle cars as they are "the wrong type of customer".
Also, Porsche Cars GB and Porsche Club GB were both no help whatsoever. A VIN check would not be performed to confirm a CS without a V5, which is no help when trying to check a car. Porsche Club didn't even know what a "factory build sheet" was.
I was starting to give up hope.
Anyway, cut a long story short, after two years searching, I secured a car from the 968 forum.
I drove her home 26th July 2022...
She is my dream spec; it's a C16 car from Chariots (H.R. Owen) St. Albans. It's an original body colour wheeled car (silver wheel option 346 is missing) and has bucket seats (codes 384 & 385). These have their 944 part number stickers on the underside...
No radical plans I'm afraid, other than maintaining strict originality (as is my passion) and continued preservation.
I'll prepare myself for abuse as i'm a self confessed garage queen. Really looking forward to getting back into concours, as in my previous TVR circles, that's a dirty word
To be honest, I'm just breathing a huge sigh of relief. Simply becoming an owner is nine/tenths of the battle. I just go down to the garage of an evening and pinch myself that after 20 years, those seats are finally in my life...
I'll keep this as a diary, so updates to follow. She needs a few bits and bobs to raise the bar.
Best Regards,
JKM
This is my 968 Club Sport story...
In 2003 I had a 2.5 "oval dash" 944 Lux in Zermatt Silver...
I'll never forget buying it and that first drive home. That first glance in the door mirror, seeing those rear wheel arch "hips" and I was hooked...
For the originality aspect (a great passion of mine) I purchased this excellent book...
From that point forwards, I have looked at that yellow cover car in awe for 20 years.
I went to Porsche in the Park 2003 and remember crawling over my first 968CS on the "Specialist Cars of Malton" stand...
I came straight home and used this new thing called "the internet" to search this new site called "PistonHeads". I saved all the 968CS adverts at the time and found them all on my old HDD the other day...
Shame how many of those cars are now dead when using a registration checker.
Sadly I couldn't stretch to the £13,500 required at the time...
Hindsight a wonderful thing.
Still unable to afford a CS, I purchased my 3.0 S2 Cabriolet in Tahoe Blue in 2006...
I remember when ownership of the S2 was coming to an end (2009) looking at 968's (again) and just feeling a bit bored looking at the same dashboard for the third time in a row. That decision to deviate was now clearly a mistake. Again, hindsight is a wonderful thing.
I have danced with the devil ever since - BMW & TVR.
So here we are - it's 2022 and I have gone full circle. I need to do what I always promised myself. However, 19 years later, that's been kinda tough.
Kinda tough financially too, because prices have grown considerably more than my hair has in 19 years.
I actually started properly looking in 2020.
Had to be a CS and had to be a bonkers colour (Maritime Blue, Riviera Blue or Speed Yellow). It needed factory body colour wheels and the matching factory hard back bucket seats.
I also love Amaranth Violet, because that's suitably bonkers, so I looked at one in Northampton. Everyone regurgitates that the CS was only available in the five set colours - but that isn't so. Paint-to-sample was possible and that's how you got Amaranth...
Sadly, the special order colours lack body colour seat backs (they're black) and silver wheels are mandatory too. This made Amaranth a no. Still, always good to crawl over a local one and set as a benchmark.
I looked at a yellow CS at Steve Bull...
And a private sale Riviera in Essex...
Sadly, neither were the car for me.
Torture to walk away from cars that are so statistically rare.
179 new, 60 still taxed. 30 in your preferred colours and half of those are "comfort seat cars" without the hardbacks.
I was waking up in the morning and checking classifieds for what could be only 20 cars. It was driving me insane.
Hunting a genuine car is littered with pitfalls. Many are retro-converted Sports.
I tried to place feelers with Specialists to "tap-up" customers, but in some cases, I was literally laughed out the showroom with my ideal spec. Interesting how many Porsche Specialists told me they no longer service the transaxle cars as they are "the wrong type of customer".
Also, Porsche Cars GB and Porsche Club GB were both no help whatsoever. A VIN check would not be performed to confirm a CS without a V5, which is no help when trying to check a car. Porsche Club didn't even know what a "factory build sheet" was.
I was starting to give up hope.
Anyway, cut a long story short, after two years searching, I secured a car from the 968 forum.
I drove her home 26th July 2022...
She is my dream spec; it's a C16 car from Chariots (H.R. Owen) St. Albans. It's an original body colour wheeled car (silver wheel option 346 is missing) and has bucket seats (codes 384 & 385). These have their 944 part number stickers on the underside...
No radical plans I'm afraid, other than maintaining strict originality (as is my passion) and continued preservation.
I'll prepare myself for abuse as i'm a self confessed garage queen. Really looking forward to getting back into concours, as in my previous TVR circles, that's a dirty word
To be honest, I'm just breathing a huge sigh of relief. Simply becoming an owner is nine/tenths of the battle. I just go down to the garage of an evening and pinch myself that after 20 years, those seats are finally in my life...
I'll keep this as a diary, so updates to follow. She needs a few bits and bobs to raise the bar.
Best Regards,
JKM
One of my realistic dream cars.
I owned a 924S and simply couldn’t believe the build quality, and also did a lot of instructing in a 944 Turbo.
Personally, I’d *ideally* have a Sport (ideally in Amaranth Violet) rather than a Clubsport, but would change the seats to the Clubsport ones.
Do you have a link to the Violet CS you show above?
This one looks tempting… https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210200...
Looking forward to updates.
I owned a 924S and simply couldn’t believe the build quality, and also did a lot of instructing in a 944 Turbo.
Personally, I’d *ideally* have a Sport (ideally in Amaranth Violet) rather than a Clubsport, but would change the seats to the Clubsport ones.
Do you have a link to the Violet CS you show above?
This one looks tempting… https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210200...
Looking forward to updates.
Edited by ChevronB19 on Monday 28th November 08:58
Congrats, looks great, but don’t give up on Griffs. In summer 2010 I went to a Porsche meet @ Headingham Castle in my then Griff, they were not amused and made us park @ the back.
That Amaranth one looks absolutely gorgeous and is the car I would have gone for.
Have you a link to it and any idea how many Amaranth ones in “ Sport and Club Sport were built ?
I had what is possibly the earliest surviving U.K. supplied 944 a couple of years back, it was a Guards Red / Red leather ( never seen another one ) non sunroof car, but sadly didn’t have time to do the body work it needed.
That Amaranth one looks absolutely gorgeous and is the car I would have gone for.
Have you a link to it and any idea how many Amaranth ones in “ Sport and Club Sport were built ?
I had what is possibly the earliest surviving U.K. supplied 944 a couple of years back, it was a Guards Red / Red leather ( never seen another one ) non sunroof car, but sadly didn’t have time to do the body work it needed.
Edited by SS427 Camaro on Monday 28th November 09:30
ChevronB19 said:
One of my realistic dream cars.
I owned a 924S and simply couldn’t believe the build quality, and also did a lot of instructing in a 944 Turbo.
Personally, I’d *ideally* have a Sport (ideally in Amaranth Violet) rather than a Clubsport, but would change the seats to the Clubsport ones.
Do you have a link to the Violet CS you show above?
This one looks tempting… https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210200...
Looking forward to updates.
That Amaranth one would look so much better if the wheels were body colour. 11 owners, the mileage and £22 grand seems steep though. Sunroof isn’t something I would want. I owned a 924S and simply couldn’t believe the build quality, and also did a lot of instructing in a 944 Turbo.
Personally, I’d *ideally* have a Sport (ideally in Amaranth Violet) rather than a Clubsport, but would change the seats to the Clubsport ones.
Do you have a link to the Violet CS you show above?
This one looks tempting… https://www.autotrader.co.uk/car-details/202210200...
Looking forward to updates.
Edited by ChevronB19 on Monday 28th November 08:58
Was the electric sunroof standard on the Sport ?
Is it possible to use these cars as a daily driver? And do they suffer from rust? I ask as I've always wanted one of these but have no space for a second car.
Absolutely stunning car you have their. Was it true that certain UK police forces had these as their pursuit vehicles back in the day or was it an urban myth?
Absolutely stunning car you have their. Was it true that certain UK police forces had these as their pursuit vehicles back in the day or was it an urban myth?
CarlosSainz100 said:
Is it possible to use these cars as a daily driver? And do they suffer from rust? I ask as I've always wanted one of these but have no space for a second car.
Absolutely stunning car you have their. Was it true that certain UK police forces had these as their pursuit vehicles back in the day or was it an urban myth?
My understanding is that while the 924 and 944, whilst galvanised, suffered badly in later years from rot in the sills, but the 968 was much better, albeit a bit prone to rot in the rear arches. Still suffer from delaminating rear screen though, which can be expensive.Absolutely stunning car you have their. Was it true that certain UK police forces had these as their pursuit vehicles back in the day or was it an urban myth?
As for daily driver, I don’t see why not, they were daily drivers in their day, and more than capable of keeping up today, but regular oil changes are critical.
|https://thumbsnap.com/wyuBM1ab[/url]Thank you all for the kind comments.
There's some questions asked of me;
Andy665
The Metropolitan Police had a publicity stunt CS in white which is what you might be thinkng of?
I have no information that there were any "fleets" so just an urban myth on that front. There are many publicity stunt police cars; Lotus Esprit for example and even an RS200 if I recall. Don't think the CS was anything different.
ChevronB19 & SS427 Camaro
I looked at the Amaranth CS in 2021 so it's long gone now. I remember it needed work and it was missing its rear seat blanking shelf. It hung around at Dove House Cars (Northampton) for ages and then went on Collecting Cars in January here.
Yes, the build quality is like nothing else. The noise the doors make when they close is divine...... especially when coming from a Griff in the interim years
The Griff had lots of flaws but holds a special place in my heart. Much more drama when pressing on!
You can really see how Porsche were hitting near bankruptcy with these still largely hand built cars. And, to say its a lightweight is also tongue in cheek with the solidness of it. My boot carpet alone weighs as much as the whole interior of a 306 rallye!
You can daily them and many people do on the 968 forum. Whether you'd daily a CS is open for debate due to their cost and rarity but that's your call. Of all the M-reg cars you can daily in 2022, then arguably this is one of the more durable, but there's no escaping the maintenance and running costs of (any) thirty year old car now.
I summer-daily my Mk2 Golf GTi and that is hard work to keep on top of things. Again, that was the more durable option when compared to its Ford or Vauxhall peers.
I am restoring an M-reg Volvo 480 Turbo (also an M-reg) at the moment and most of that has been swept up in a dustpan and brush, so a 968 is extremely good corrosion wise. However, the used-all-year-round ones do have their problems in the rearmost sill area.
seawise
Gorgeous car. I think Riviera, Maritime and Rubystone are all iconic colours. It wasn't just Porsche though, VW had the "Colour Concept" range in the mk3 Golf and it was an era that spawned the Harlequin after all! The Lupo and Arosa were available in some awesome primary colours too.
Phil2NL
No road trips i'm afraid. Just local drives and polishing, sorry! I immediately SORN'd the car and i'm slowly taking it apart in places, making a growing list of tasks. I'll document all my work here. Porsche Club concours is my goal. The event hasn't happened for a few years (because COVID) and i'm looking forward to the national event at (I think) Ragley Hall.
I have a good selection of parts down the powder coaters already, but more on that in another update!
Thanks again,
JKM
There's some questions asked of me;
Andy665
The Metropolitan Police had a publicity stunt CS in white which is what you might be thinkng of?
I have no information that there were any "fleets" so just an urban myth on that front. There are many publicity stunt police cars; Lotus Esprit for example and even an RS200 if I recall. Don't think the CS was anything different.
ChevronB19 & SS427 Camaro
I looked at the Amaranth CS in 2021 so it's long gone now. I remember it needed work and it was missing its rear seat blanking shelf. It hung around at Dove House Cars (Northampton) for ages and then went on Collecting Cars in January here.
Yes, the build quality is like nothing else. The noise the doors make when they close is divine...... especially when coming from a Griff in the interim years
The Griff had lots of flaws but holds a special place in my heart. Much more drama when pressing on!
You can really see how Porsche were hitting near bankruptcy with these still largely hand built cars. And, to say its a lightweight is also tongue in cheek with the solidness of it. My boot carpet alone weighs as much as the whole interior of a 306 rallye!
You can daily them and many people do on the 968 forum. Whether you'd daily a CS is open for debate due to their cost and rarity but that's your call. Of all the M-reg cars you can daily in 2022, then arguably this is one of the more durable, but there's no escaping the maintenance and running costs of (any) thirty year old car now.
I summer-daily my Mk2 Golf GTi and that is hard work to keep on top of things. Again, that was the more durable option when compared to its Ford or Vauxhall peers.
I am restoring an M-reg Volvo 480 Turbo (also an M-reg) at the moment and most of that has been swept up in a dustpan and brush, so a 968 is extremely good corrosion wise. However, the used-all-year-round ones do have their problems in the rearmost sill area.
seawise
Gorgeous car. I think Riviera, Maritime and Rubystone are all iconic colours. It wasn't just Porsche though, VW had the "Colour Concept" range in the mk3 Golf and it was an era that spawned the Harlequin after all! The Lupo and Arosa were available in some awesome primary colours too.
Phil2NL
No road trips i'm afraid. Just local drives and polishing, sorry! I immediately SORN'd the car and i'm slowly taking it apart in places, making a growing list of tasks. I'll document all my work here. Porsche Club concours is my goal. The event hasn't happened for a few years (because COVID) and i'm looking forward to the national event at (I think) Ragley Hall.
I have a good selection of parts down the powder coaters already, but more on that in another update!
Thanks again,
JKM
Edited by jay-kay-em on Monday 28th November 18:46
jay-kay-em said:
Thank you all for the kind comments.
There's some questions asked of me;
Andy665
The Metropolitan Police had a publicity stunt CS in white which is what you might be thinkng of?
I have no information that there were any "fleets" so just an urban myth on that front. There are many publicity stunt police cars; Lotus Esprit for example and even an RS200 if I recall. Don't think the CS was anything different.
ChevronB19 & SS427 Camaro
I looked at the Amaranth CS in 2021 so it's long gone now. I remember it needed work and it was missing its rear seat blanking shelf. It hung around at Dove House Cars (Northampton) for ages and then went on Collecting Cars in January here.
Yes, the build quality is like nothing else. The noise the doors make when they close is divine...... especially when coming from a Griff in the interim years
The Griff had lots of flaws but holds a special place in my heart. Much more drama when pressing on!
You can really see how Porsche were hitting near bankruptcy with these still largely hand built cars. And, to say its a lightweight is also tongue in cheek with the solidness of it. My boot carpet alone weighs as much as the whole interior of a 306 rallye!
You can daily them and many people do on the 968 forum. Whether you'd daily a CS is open for debate due to their cost and rarity but that's your call. Of all the M-reg cars you can daily in 2022, then arguably this is one of the more durable, but there's no escaping the maintenance and running costs of (any) thirty year old car now.
I summer-daily my Mk2 Golf GTi and that is hard work to keep on top of things. Again, that was the more durable option when compared to its Ford or Vauxhall peers.
I am restoring an M-reg Volvo 480 Turbo (also an M-reg) at the moment and most of that has been swept up in a dustpan and brush, so a 968 is extremely good corrosion wise. However, the used-all-year-round ones do have their problems in the rearmost sill area.
seawise
Gorgeous car. I think Riviera, Maritime and Rubystone are all iconic colours. It wasn't just Porsche though, VW had the "Colour Concept" range in the mk3 Golf and it was an era that spawned the Harlequin after all! The Lupo and Arosa were available in some awesome primary colours too.
Phil2NL
No road trips i'm afraid. Just local drives and polishing, sorry! I immediately SORN'd the car and i'm slowly taking it apart in places, making a growing list of tasks. I'll document all my work here. Porsche Club concours is my goal. The event hasn't happened for a few years (because COVID) and i'm looking forward to the national event at (I think) Ragley Hall.
I have a good selection of parts down the powder coaters already, but more on that in another update!
Thanks again,
JKM
That Plod car is fascinating ! Reminds me of the E Type that a certain police force ran, probably as a publicity stunt, it caused outrage lol.There's some questions asked of me;
Andy665
The Metropolitan Police had a publicity stunt CS in white which is what you might be thinkng of?
I have no information that there were any "fleets" so just an urban myth on that front. There are many publicity stunt police cars; Lotus Esprit for example and even an RS200 if I recall. Don't think the CS was anything different.
ChevronB19 & SS427 Camaro
I looked at the Amaranth CS in 2021 so it's long gone now. I remember it needed work and it was missing its rear seat blanking shelf. It hung around at Dove House Cars (Northampton) for ages and then went on Collecting Cars in January here.
Yes, the build quality is like nothing else. The noise the doors make when they close is divine...... especially when coming from a Griff in the interim years
The Griff had lots of flaws but holds a special place in my heart. Much more drama when pressing on!
You can really see how Porsche were hitting near bankruptcy with these still largely hand built cars. And, to say its a lightweight is also tongue in cheek with the solidness of it. My boot carpet alone weighs as much as the whole interior of a 306 rallye!
You can daily them and many people do on the 968 forum. Whether you'd daily a CS is open for debate due to their cost and rarity but that's your call. Of all the M-reg cars you can daily in 2022, then arguably this is one of the more durable, but there's no escaping the maintenance and running costs of (any) thirty year old car now.
I summer-daily my Mk2 Golf GTi and that is hard work to keep on top of things. Again, that was the more durable option when compared to its Ford or Vauxhall peers.
I am restoring an M-reg Volvo 480 Turbo (also an M-reg) at the moment and most of that has been swept up in a dustpan and brush, so a 968 is extremely good corrosion wise. However, the used-all-year-round ones do have their problems in the rearmost sill area.
seawise
Gorgeous car. I think Riviera, Maritime and Rubystone are all iconic colours. It wasn't just Porsche though, VW had the "Colour Concept" range in the mk3 Golf and it was an era that spawned the Harlequin after all! The Lupo and Arosa were available in some awesome primary colours too.
Phil2NL
No road trips i'm afraid. Just local drives and polishing, sorry! I immediately SORN'd the car and i'm slowly taking it apart in places, making a growing list of tasks. I'll document all my work here. Porsche Club concours is my goal. The event hasn't happened for a few years (because COVID) and i'm looking forward to the national event at (I think) Ragley Hall.
I have a good selection of parts down the powder coaters already, but more on that in another update!
Thanks again,
JKM
Edited by jay-kay-em on Monday 28th November 18:46
Shame re that Aramanth one, hoping it’s new owner will see this and tell more about it !
Judging by the alloys, your Griff was an early 400 ?
SS427 Camaro said:
Judging by the alloys, your Griff was an early 400 ?
Yes, she was a pre-cat 1992 on a "K" with the factory option O.Z. wheels.I did a walkaround video before I sold it and it had a diary here also.
I will never own a car with a soundtrack like that again. Docile enough for a Sunday burble, but brutal enough to scare you when you wanted. Tunnels will never be the same again
Your story on this is fairly similar to mine except of course I’ve not secured a 968 CS yet…
Back in 2000 as a graduate I was mooching around a local dealership looking for something. There was a white CS complete with bucket seats. 52k under it’s belt, full history.
I hadn’t a clue what I was looking at, but a test drive revealed it was a nice thing. However despite its low ish price I bailed when I saw the insurance cost. The car itself was just £13.5k
Admittedly I retrospectively regretted not buying that car. Wind on to 2015 I ended up in PTS/PCS(sp?) in Coventry and looked at a nice red CS.
For reasons unknown in bought a Cerbera which in itself is great, but I’m still thinking the 968 is an itch to be scratched.
Back in 2000 as a graduate I was mooching around a local dealership looking for something. There was a white CS complete with bucket seats. 52k under it’s belt, full history.
I hadn’t a clue what I was looking at, but a test drive revealed it was a nice thing. However despite its low ish price I bailed when I saw the insurance cost. The car itself was just £13.5k
Admittedly I retrospectively regretted not buying that car. Wind on to 2015 I ended up in PTS/PCS(sp?) in Coventry and looked at a nice red CS.
For reasons unknown in bought a Cerbera which in itself is great, but I’m still thinking the 968 is an itch to be scratched.
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