Thanks guys.... I've got a feeling this is "the real thing" They say that you never forget your first…, your first kiss, your first love and your first time... as a 911 owner. ! and so that time has come for me after years of front engine Porsche ownership I've finally gone and done it. All of my previous cars were quickly transformed in to track cars and with the ongoing commitment to racing the bug I decided that a road car was in order. So with the track cars on their way out the "only" car that could replace them was a 911, and it HAD to be air-cooled! Well it has to look right in the garage parked next to the beetle right? All of the online buyer guides and FAQ's were studied and digested, I owe a massive thanks to Jackal, his site had more information than anyone could ever need when they embark on the search for a 993. Weeks of looking, countless phone calls, dozens of viewings followed. And then just as I was about to give up and go and buy an M3 there it was… almost too good to be true, a car that ticked all but one of the boxes. So on a wet and windy Saturday a friend and I headed out to look at a varioram car with hard backed seats, it had some minor upgrades that were already on my planned todo list, the only thing 'wrong' with it was that it didn't have a black dash.. But I decided I'd give blue a chance! The deal was done and I was the owner of an iris blue 993. All I had to do was sort some paperwork out and arrange a day to pick it up. As luck would have it my brother was working close to the car so he offered to pick it up and drop it to me on Friday, which meant I'd get the car a week earlier than I could pick it up...JACKPOT!!! I was buzzing! Thursday night at my house was like those euro Disney adverts. "are you asleep?" - "no... I'm too excited" Friday came and I went from Disney to Direct Line and I was living a "shark attack!!" my brother was running late and he'd take the car straight home and I could pick it up on Sunday... Gutted!!! As I write this on Sunday night, the day is nearly over and it's been a couple of hours since I tucked the 993 away but I'm still smiling, no that’s not right... I'm still grinning! Rewind to earlier today.... Got to my brothers and spent some time just looking at the car, nothing else just standing and admiring the car, the iconic 911 profile, the seductive curves of the rear arches, the cheeky flick of the rear spoiler... Its Just Beautiful! Now there's two ways home from my brothers.... Mainly motorway or no motorway. I'd plotted my way across country.... The long way... The VERY long way!! And then it happened again.... "shark attack". One of the nurburgsingh-lings piped up "I'm going with daddy in the Porsche" So the long way home is out of the question and I decide to do the sensible thing, a mix and match route. Now I've only ever 'driven' 2 911's in my life( test drives don't count ) my brothers 964RS when I was 21 ( some :cough: years ago..), at a track day. And I did the UK leg of a return trip from the 'ring with a friend in his 964RS a couple of years ago. So I'm still what I'd class as a 911 virgin. That coupled with the Boy Wonder occupying the passenger seat I resigned myself to a ‘restrained’ drive home. Seats adjusted, belts on, doors closed, key in the ignition, I turn the key to light up the dash, listen to the pumps whirr into life somewhere behind me… take a deep breath and turn the key further…. The engine fires into life and settles quickly into that distinctive flat 6 thrum. Instantly the smile arrives on my face, this is MY 911…! I eased out of the drive and headed off up the road, nice and steady… no rush yet, let the car warm up, get used to the slightly cockeyed seating position, get a feel for the controls. The dashboard is very different to the 968 but still very familiar, instinct takes me to all of the buttons I need…. Central locking eluded me but my eagle eyed passenger clocked it straight away. By the time we arrived at the first set of twisties the temperature and pressures are all showing that the car is ready for some action, my feet have reverted to DDC like I’ve been doing it all my life. My hands are comfortable on the (ugly) steering wheel and I’m ready to… I knocked it down a couple of gears, feet working in perfect unison and with a clear road ahead of us, we’re off! Amazing is the only word that comes close to describing the sensation. Its like the car knows the road as well as I do. The steering is phenomenal, pick a point on the road and BANG! You’re on it… not near it, not past it… ON IT! Pick a line through a curve and it tracks it with no dramas. All the time you can here the engine behind you as it urges you on, it wants to rev and it wants you to rev it and its like the beautiful song of a mermaid, you cant resist it… you have to go closer and closer to the red line, and the smile gets bigger the closer you get to it. With the first twisty section dispensed with, we had a short run up the motorway before we could turn off again and get back on the A roads. Sitting quietly at about the 70 mark its still making me smile… The boy wonder on the other hand has fallen asleep in the time it’s taken me to drive down the slip road on to the Motorway! 30 mins away from home we turn off and it’s a short rumble through town before we’re back on the open road, this time we have some traffic to deal with. Well I say “deal withâ€, its hardly a big deal, an opportunity presents it self you exercise your right foot, and its over, meanwhile the orchestra in the back provides the soundtrack to another perfectly executed overtake. Every action is complemented by the car, take a bend perfectly poised and the car pats you on the back, gives you a “Well Done, now lets do it againâ€, make a crisp clean overtake and you can almost hear the “Nice One!, lets have some moreâ€. We arrived home via the short dual carriage and way and it dawns on me that I haven’t actually stopped grinning since I started the journey 90 miles ago I found more than just passion for a car today, today I rekindled my love for driving. There is a true sense of occasion when driving the 993, every action is rewarded exponentially. There is something to stimulate all of your senses, that distinctive 911 ‘smell’, the drop dead gorgeous lines that you could just look at all day long, the ‘feel’ through the wheel of exactly what the car is doing, the ‘sounds’, where do you stop when describing the sounds that an air-cooled 911 makes? Even the sound of the doors closing makes the hairs on the back of my next stand on end… and the taste? Well that’s the hunger to get back in the seat and drive!!