Project Chronicle

I recently had an engine oil analysis done by Blackstone Laboratories on my 1999 911. As you may know, Blackstone has earned a name for itself as being a sort of fortune teller with Porsche engines, especially as it relates to helping to understand potential IMS failures and other issues that can lead to material deposits of the unwanted kind in the first water-cooled engine.

I held my breath deciding to do this, as in some ways, ignorance is bliss. After all, what do you do with the "bad news" should you receive it? Not drive the car? Park it out of fear of doing more damage? There's no good answer, and you can go down a total rabbit hole of then trying to sort out problems that may not rear their heads for years to come.

Fortunately, my first report with Blackstone returned with good news all around. Based on the mileage of my engine, their findings indicated all was within spec without any significant concerns resulting from excess deposits of materials like silicon, magnesium, or aluminum, among other unwanted substances. 

The smart thing to do (and also why Blackstone continues to make money) is to perform these analysis over a given time period to form a baseline and see if anything changes significantly. I may do this going forward, but for now, I am just thrilled to see these initial results on what is a high-mileage 996 engine. 

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.

I finally had the chance to flip through the service booklet that came with the 911. Now, the bulk of the records came in the form of invoices from specialist shops in North Carolina and Georgia, and those were certainly compelling reasons in my decision to buy the car.

That said, the tried-and-true method of tracking a car's history - the maintenance booklet - can be just as valuable. In the case of this car, the stampings were limited but meaningful. The early part of the car's history showed a few dealer stops in Wisconsin after being sold new by a fairly prominent dealer in a wealthy Chicago suburb. After it arrives in North Carolina, however, it makes two stops at Road Scholars. 

Road Scholars is one of the foremost Porsche restoration shops in the country, if not the world. Between their personal collection of significant air-cooled Porches that routinely win at major Concours like Amelia Island and Pebble Beach and being hired to take on the restoration of historical and culturally significant cars, Road Scholars has an iron-clad reputation in the Porsche community. 

This car already had a strong portfolio of proactive maintenance, but seeing Road Scholars in the maintenance book suggests a prior owner was only keeping the 911 serviced by the best of the best. I hope to get in touch with Road Scholars soon to see if they're willing to share whatever invoices they have on file for this car.