So I wasn't sure where exactly this should go but I made an offer for a 997 shift **** a couple months ago to another member on the forum, and after quite sometime he accepted my lowball offer (as I would have had to reupholster the **** as it was).

A little background, I wanted to swap my 996 **** for a 997, but between me messaging the other member, and his response, I crashed my 996... Believe it or not, one of the few times I wasn't speeding through the canyons. I wasn't paying attention for a just long enough (on a straightaway), and I had been veering right, when I put my eyes back on the road where they belonged I had just hit the embankment on the side of the road and flipped the car. The aftermath:


Hard as it is for me to say (after having killed my first Porsche ever), I'm lucky as can be. I literally landed, got up and out of the car, and said "Where's my phone... I need to call somebody." I ended up with no real injuries, just a little rib pain from where the side airbag went off and I imagine jammed my elbow into my ribs. Phone ended up 50 feet away cracked up the wazoo, but functional! Wish I had a picture of that. Anyway, to replace the 996... I bought a 1991 Mazda Miata (probably one of my second favorite driver's cars behind he 911!). Thought it would be a good idea to get out of payments and save up for what I really wanted, which was a 997. And like I said, I LOVE my miata!

Well... since I got the sweet deal on the shifter, and it matched the interior of my Miata, I thought, hey, why not retrofit it? A little splash of Porsche to keep me motivated . The pic of it on the car is just a picture of it pushed on, not properly mounted, the second pic is the work in progress of getting the proper threads and what not to make it fit! Thought y'all might find it interesting, so I just thought I'd share .





-Max

 

Wow you pulled a number on that thing! Glad to hear you're okay. I hope you don't give the car to a negligent valet

 

Glad your OK ... it is really hard to look at that photo. Very scary.

 

Yeah, it was pretty intense. But on the brighter side of things, clearly the engineering that went into the safety of this vehicle is spectacular (as if we didn't know Porsche always goes the extra mile [and faster than the rest too! ]). There was not a single panel left undamaged on the vehicle, and the insurance adjuster stopped the quote at $44k because it was clearly a total loss... and he still had more to go.

-Max

 

And... you were NOT not the phone I hope?? How did that get ejected from the car??? Good you had a steel roof. Your Miata would not have been so gentle for you!! Lesson... one can only do ONE thing at ONE time WELL. Best thing... you're OK.. that why we pay all these big bucks for car development.... just in case!

 

Legitimately, I was not on the phone, the phone was actually on the seat kind of under my legs because there wasn't much other place to put it while I was driving the car, and that way I could feel it vibrate in case I couldn't hear it. The windows all shattered, I don't think it got "ejected" from the car, I went a pretty far distance during the accident and I believe it fell out of the window towards the beginning of the accident.

But like I said, believe it or not, this was just a stupid accident where I was not paying attention for just long enough to cause it. That is what bothers me most, is that it wasn't even as if I was doing something specific to distract myself to cause this. Wasn't the radio, nor the phone, nothing along those lines. To be completely honest, I can't even tell you where my attention was when it happened, though I can tell you it wasn't on anything in particular, other than perhaps something on the other side of the road, that you would relate to an accident like this.

-Max

 

Another note: First purchase for the miata before I bought any other modification was a rollbar, believe you me . I've had a miata before and always feared going OFF the cliff and rolling. Never once had the thought crossed my mind that I would flip a car on the road like that. Also have a hardtop for the miata for a wee bit of added protection in that featherweight vehicle .

-Max

 

Hi Max.. good that you are using this event to make sure it does not happen again. I know the canyons there ( I used to live in the Beach Cities / LA ) and man... it does not take a lot to get out of the groove. Definitely, a steel roof or a pop-up roll bar has it's place there.
Good news is that the 997's are getting cheaper, maybe a nice Boxter S may be worth looking at too .... Cheers!

 

If you're curious, that happened on Encincal Canyon. Very close in proximity to Decker Canyon Rd, actually it leads to Decker if you don't turn right to continue on Encinal.

I considered getting a Boxster as a temp replacement... but for me a Boxster could only be bought if I had that much disposable income and probably a few different 911 variations in my garage , for me owning a Porsche is owning a 911. Boxsters gotten pretty cheap, but not Miata cheap :P, it's insane the amount of car you can buy for the money when buying a Miata! Plus, the aftermarket is HUGE and for the most part, just as inexpensive .

But when I bought that 911, I swore to myself there would always be a 911 in my garage... even if it had to be that one right there! I messed that up a little bit... but my next car purchase will have to be a 997. Like the air-cooled's are to the older generation, I believe the 997 will be for me, the last of the raw 911's . Of course, I'm gonna need to have a GT3 RS (hopefully 4.0 ) for that! Granted, I've never driven a 991 so I can't say I don't like it better. Of course Porsche needs to keep up with technology to keep making money, so the 911 will of course continue to change (even if very slightly) in ways that a lot of purists don't like, and I wouldn't even call myself a purist of that kind, but I'd definitely prefer a more raw driving experience. I didn't drive a Porsche because of it's name or it's glamour, I drove one because it is one of the most incredible driver's experiences available IMHO . Same goes for the Miata. I'm sure a Boxster would have a similar effect, but again, wanted to go as cheap as possible to save up!

-Max

 

Good way of looking at the 911.... I am with you on what a 911 should represent to the owner. I switched from 996C2 to 996 Turbo to grab a car with the GT1 derived engine... did not want to bet against the factory on the Spaghetti-letters soup problems. Suffices to say that I am weary and leery of the new DFI engine too in the later 997's and 991's too. Waiting to see what the991 GT or Turbo is going to look like before being remotely interested in giving Porsche some more of my money. I think they got the play book from Apple with setting and managing a closed infrastructure (and part sales) to maintain their profit margins of almost 20 percent. In the meantime, I am tearing the streets up with my 996T and have great fun doing so.

 

omg, thats scary scene. Glad ur ok!

 

I think most of that will buff out! Great news it protected you, pity it had to die in the process.

MX5's are cheap fun, about to buy one and restore it to visually perfect with my daughter in preparation for her first license. They paint them with the most UV sensitive paint in creation, so a red one with stuffed paint is exceptionally cheap. They are easy to paint, so 50 hrs with wet and dry paper will be good for her soul...

 

Wowww you've got an angel watching over you my friend..
That and being lucky that Porsche build these things so incredibly solid.
Be careful with that Miata... if this happened in that I think the outcome would be VERY different.

Glad you're OK man!

 

The insurance actually started writing an estimate?? It looks like a no brainier that the car is a total! Perhaps it is a formality that they have to provide some written basis for the write off of the vehicle. Heck there is not that much left for a wrecker to sell off the car.

Glad to hear you are OK!