A free Porsche

I used to ignore the 911 when I was a car-mad kid.

Jaguar always had better interior luxury, they were also more elegant and refined.

There were crazy things in those days like AM Lagondas that took your breath away.

The 928 had an appeal as a true transcontinental express, but the 911 had the engine in the wrong place and was kind of ugly from some angles and they called it the widow-maker - why bother ?

In 2011, I was looking for a modern classic and read a few articles that picked out the air-cooled 911 as a good buy.

So I bought a 1997 model - a derivative they call the 993. It was convertible and tiptronic - not so desirable, but worked for me 100%.

It was sitting uncomfortably in a main dealers showroom - it was too old and they just wanted rid of it.

So I offered 10% less than the asking price and I ended up with an iris blue 911 with 32,000 miles.

The 993 was a huge improvement over previous variants and better made than cars that followed.

It had Hydraulic tappets - so sounded less like a beetle, it had rear-wheel steering, so didnt try to kill you in a bend, had aircon, electric hood, mirrors, etc and it was just perfect.

It was a pure joy to own and I stupidly sold it 4 years later for 20% more than I paid for it - which covered 100% of its running costs on that time - so it was a free classic Porsche.

You can still pick one of these up for reasonable money but ensure it has a full service history, check that cam-covers have been replaced and that everything works.

Solid as a rock - great to drive, look at and own - few compromises really.

Best car I have owned - I will get another - I recommend that you try one for yourselves.