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Thirty Four. Yep. 34!

You read that right. TheHoff is now 34 years old and going strong. And dare I say looking more handsome as ever as time proves good design is timeless. I’ve spent a fair deal of time thinking about the life and times that this particular car has enjoyed. I say enjoyed because clearly this Porsche 944 has been well loved during its lifetime. There’s no sign of misuse or neglect like many older “poor mans Porsche’s” have suffered. No, TheHoff has been loved for certain.  Is it concours, of course not. This has never been a car that has not stood still for long. It’s owners have seen to it that it had all it needed mechanically while they smiled putting on the miles. This is no garage queen. This is a driven Porsche. You can tell if a car has been loved. Simply by looking at its interior. At thirty four this interior looks almost like it left the showroom last Christmas - TheHoff was built in December. People have looked at the interior and marvelled - it’s a love
Recent posts

Bank holiday backroad blasting

It’s fair to say that I’ve put on more miles today that I did last year in TheHoff... and it was darn good fun. I decided today would be a good day to head south east in search of backcountry lanes and rack up some mileage. This car is way too good to sit my garage with other project cars getting attention.  Thankfully, I can pull the 944 out, fire it up and hit the tarmac. That exhaust note...  Anyway, TheHoff eventually found the coastline and having forgotten to take my passport (haha), I followed the signs to the Battle of Britain memorial - a place I’ve passed many times heading to the continent.  If you’ve not been here, it’s worth stopping by. It’s rather moving and on a clear day you can see France - which is rather poignant as that’s the direction from which our hero’s foes approached. All in all about 125 miles today which really cleared out any remaining cobwebs. Happy days.

33!

Built in December 1985 in Zuffenhausen, Germany and registered in the UK on this day in January 1986. TheHoff944 is now 33! This cars been in my possession for going on ten years and during that time undergone some major upgrades - including a 16v conversion, lightened & balanced flywheel and clutch, custom S2 intake, custom exhaust and adjustable SPAX poly bushed suspension now rolling on rare early offset 16” 944 Turbo Teledial alloys - amongst other upgrades. Don’t mistake this standard looking Porsche 944 for a lethargic cruiser. It’s a whippet having had some mild lightweight treatment to compliment the increase in performance. The unmarked burgundy pinstripe and half leather interior is completely original, and features the later oval dash style and an early 90’s period CD player - that honestly is hardly used due to the burbling exhaust soundtrack.  Long live #TheHoff944

Country drive & passenger window fix

I can’t complain really. I’ve had very little maintenance wise to do on TheHoff besides free the brakes every spring... Before the passenger window decided to go into rest mode - all the way down - I did actually manage to get in some backroad mileage on a lovely autumnal day.  I didn’t want to spoil the experience so I returned TheHoff to his quarters and enjoyed a good craft beer. The window could wait for another day. That day was today. I slipped TheHoff out of the garage - that burble is just intoxicating, ever time I fire up the 944 I smile ear to ear - and set to work removing the passenger door panel. It’s an easy task, just a series of screws and a few poppers and it’s off. With the door card off the innards are reasonably exposed. My plan was to lubricate the mechanism and sliders as I wasn’t certain yet the motor was blown. When I pressed the switch it sounded like a faint groaning was coming from the motor so I figured this was a case of being stuck

Amost a Decade of TheHoff

This week I celebrated nine years of owning TheHoff. I had figured it was ten... not just TheHoff whose getting on... It’s been one interesting journey. When I read back on my own posts I surprise myself but I’m glad they’ve been useful  & entertaining for others too. Sometimes I need reminding of just how much I’ve actually done to this car over the ten years in my care. And it all brings a smile to my face. The Porsche 944 is such a great car. It’s good that finally they’re starting to get the kudos they deserve. What some guys are doing to theirs is truly inspiring. This summer TheHoff passed another MOT uneventfully and I even got some good drives in, reminding myself that if I didn’t drive it, it should go to someone who would. i just need to take more and better pics... The one thing that did go ‘wromg’ recently was the odometer gear stopped working. It’s a common fault - the one toothed gear shreds itself or as in my case just disintegrates. I

Hanging loose pulley!

On Friday of the long bank holiday weekend I decided to drive TheHoff to work - it appears as if Friday is the day to do such things with classic cars, as I see all manner of retro & classics out and about on dress down day, and I wanted to join in the fun & games. Sadly my enthusiasm was curbed rather too soon into my drive...about 200 yards from my driveway when the low oil pressure warning light came on; the steering lost all powered assistance and my heart sank a little while I quickly did a u-turn and headed back for the garage and trusty Preston Tucker. The cause of my short lived Friday expedition & distress, it turns out, was the crank pulley in rather unusual position - hanging loose. Upon closer inspection I discovered that the 24mm crank pulley bolt had become undone and had fallen out completely but only as far as the engine undertray thankfully. Which I only thought of while retracing my route to search for the missing bolt... I ordered up a fresh tub

Bathed in burgundy again

It's funny how project cars evolve. A couple of years ago I stripped out the carpet and rubber sound deadening inspired by what Singer are doing to 911s. I must admit I loved the exposed tunnel but I've never got round to finishing off the floor and when I started to think about it, I felt like I wanted to put the burgundy back in... After two seasons of trying to find a good second burgundy carpet set to modify so that I could keep the lovely white tunnel exposed, I've relented and dug my own set out from storage. They're obviously now extremely hard to come by and I figure I don't want my mint original carpets rotting away out of the car. So with a rare 2017 sunny spring Saturday and a few hours to spare I removed the seats from TheHoff. Then after giving the carpets a good vacuum, I started to place them in situ starting with the rear section. Thankfully I didn't need to remove the console, just remove the screws holding it in place. Then the