The maintenance book of my 1999 Porsche 911 has a handful of stamps in it from various service facilities. One of the more notable ones was Road Scholars, which is one of the foremost Porsche restoration facilities in the country, if not the world. Since seeing this, I've been meaning to call them and ask if they can share any service records they may have on file.
I finally got a hold of the service manager, and he willingly shared the redacted records. There's nothing too exciting - a full brake job, an oil change - but the third record is the most helpful as it's the invoice for a pre-purchase inspection.
With that in hand, it tells me that this 911 has undergone a pre-purchase inspection for each of the last three buyers (myself included), and in each case, no evidence has been found that would seemingly scare a buyer away. The record from Road Scholars noted the buyer at that time wanted detailed info on frequency of over-rev conditions along with any signs of camshaft deviation. I'm assuming nothing was found, as the next two records indicate that owner followed through on the purchase.
The presence of a deep records file for vintage and sports cars (and any vehicle with a more demanding maintenance schedule than an Chevy Caprice) can add to the peace of mind of a recent purchase, or simply feel better about the grade of automobile you acquired years earlier. Next up? I'll be calling on Mercedes-Benz of Westwood to see what they're willing to turn over on my E55.