Reformed Porsche Owner Just Got Bit

Adrenaline Junkie

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After 15 years of enjoying different flavors of Porsches as my toy, I am happy to say, I have just been bit.

After owning my current 911 Twin Turbo for 5, or 6 years, I decided it was time for a change. I finally wanted to indulge in some American muscle. I was watching a movie that had a bunch of the vintage muscle cars, and just felt it was time to experience some raw, unrefined hp.

I really had been struggling with what it was going to be. My wife, being a traditional 2nd generation upstate NY Sicilian continued to push me to get a Vette, but I just couldn't do it, every parking long was full of them.

Sunday morning my neighbor (a Dodge Dealer owner) pulls into our soccer game with this:
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A 2004 Convert, stock w/18k miles on it that he had just taken in on trade. I couldn't resist. I met him at his dealership Monday morning, test drove it with the wife, had her drop me back off at the dealership and had her drive it home while I wrote the check. Boom! I'm a Viper owner.

All I can say is WOW! What an aweseme experience. I really enjoy driving this beast. The sound, the smell, the feel, even the seats are just bad a$$....and the way it looks- just down right tough.

I still own the Twin Turbo, but man am I enjoying driving this thing.

At some point, I will probably change out the exhaust to get a little more aggressive sound and manage the cabin heat..but for now, I am looking at the weather forecast to see when I can drive it again.

I wish I would have known what I was missing sooner!
 

JoelW

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Just changed my exhaust to Corsa catback and MGW shifter on my '03. What a difference in cabin heat!!!! Got mine from Woodhouse but I am sure you can find a set soon from one of our sponsoring retailers.
 

Bill Pemberton Woodhouse

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Enjoy and now enter the World of Viper upgrading ---gonna have to get the Corsa like mentioned ,and see George for his MGW goodies ( your wife will approve as he is a good Italian boy, ha ).

Personalizing your Snake is half the fun. Welcome to the " Land of Torque!":2tu::2tu::2tu:

Bill Pemberton
Woodhouse
 
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Adrenaline Junkie

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You let your wife drive it home?!!!:omg::omg: What were you thinking?:dunno:

Yeah, I think that may have been a mistake. She never wants to drive my twin turbo - actually she rarely had an interest in driving any of my Porsches.

That's not the case with the Viper. She was supposed to drive the car home from the dealership. She decided to drive it to my daughter's school and pick her up in it. She friggin' disappeared in the car for almost 2 hours.:omg:

Oh boy. I may have created a monster.

Maybe my dealer can give me a 2 for 1 special? :dunno:
 
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Adrenaline Junkie

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Enjoy and now enter the World of Viper upgrading ---gonna have to get the Corsa like mentioned ,and see George for his MGW goodies ( your wife will approve as he is a good Italian boy, ha ).

Personalizing your Snake is half the fun. Welcome to the " Land of Torque!":2tu::2tu::2tu:

Bill Pemberton
Woodhouse

Thanks Bill. The funny thing is I have an offshore boat that is powered by 2 Ilmor Viper 625hp motors. I've had the boat 3 seasons and enjoyed 230 flawless hours on them - and they have a very unique sound compared to the typical big blocks powering most of the other performance boats on the water.
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Seems to be a trend here... :smirk:
 

AndrewDoe

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Congrats!!! Sounds like you're in real upstate NY, and by the Sicilian comment, I'd guess the Utica area!

Tough owning one of these up there (I grew up in that area), with one of these cars. 6 months tops, of driving...

ENJOY!
 
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Adrenaline Junkie

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Congrats!!! Sounds like you're in real upstate NY, and by the Sicilian comment, I'd guess the Utica area!

Tough owning one of these up there (I grew up in that area), with one of these cars. 6 months tops, of driving...

ENJOY!

:D Too funny...those from the area easily associate w/the Italian/Sicilian/Vette type of comment - whenever I travel.

Yes, I am not too far from Utica (relatively). I am in Rochester NY.

And yes, it is a very short season - but, as you know, we do our best to "pack it in." Work ethic may suffer a bit in the summer months because we're all playing with our toys, but it's kind of an unspoken understanding.
 
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Adrenaline Junkie

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Are you in NY? you should come out with the club. Congrats on your beautiful new car!!

I'd love to do a cruise w/you guys - especially if you ever make up this far northwest...seeing your Avatar says you are on the Island, that's a bit of a haul for me :)...but who knows...on a nice day, would be a fun drive.
 

Nine Ball

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Congrats on the new toy! You know what looks even tougher than a stock Viper? A Viper with nicer wheels on it :)

Catback definitely makes these cars wake up. Another low-buck option is to find someone selling their used 08+ catback.

Tony
 

AndrewDoe

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Congrats on the new toy! You know what looks even tougher than a stock Viper? A Viper with nicer wheels on it :)

Catback definitely makes these cars wake up. Another low-buck option is to find someone selling their used 08+ catback.

Tony

So true. I got mine from a VCA member for dirt cheap when I had my Copperhead. You can search and find ~1.5 Billion threads on Borla vs. Corsa. :D
 

vpower01

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Your wife will probably take over that car so get ready to get 1 more. :drive:
Or maybe just the corsa...sometimes a loud exhaust
puts a damper on the female perspective, if your lucky. :lmao:

Congrats!
 

Phun70

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No offense meant, I just figured that one of two things would result. Either he created a monster and he wouldn't see it for hours, (which apparently did occur) or she would wrap it around the nearest vertical object. (thankfully this did not occur!) It wasn't a dig against women, I'd actually like to get my wife involved, but she refuses to drive the thing!
 

vancouver-gts

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Forget about the Viper ,J/K ;).Tell me more about your cat . Is it an MTI or a newer Eliminator ? I see a center sponson that tells me Eliminator.
Congrats on your new ride .I took out an 08 vert for a spin yesterday ,and I'm not really happy with the power of my 99 GTS now.:curse:
 

jman2

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can we get a camparo between the srt10 vs your twin turbo porsche? i assume that s a 996TT, does it have a the x50 pkg?

J
 
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Adrenaline Junkie

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Forget about the Viper ,J/K ;).Tell me more about your cat . Is it an MTI or a newer Eliminator ? I see a center sponson that tells me Eliminator.
Congrats on your new ride .I took out an 08 vert for a spin yesterday ,and I'm not really happy with the power of my 99 GTS now.:curse:

You're obviously an experienced boater, recognizing the pod on my 36 2007 Eliminator Daytona Coupe. It has a removalbe Canopy (5 alan bolts), that I typically run without, unless I am doing a poker run - and is an absolute sweetheart. I recently did a poker run and had another couple join us for the fun. The women were in the back seat, my buddy was riding shotgun as navigator. After running 2-3 hours at 110mph+ in 2-3' lake snot, the other woman says to my wife, she could have done her nails in the back of this boat during the run.

I have Teague Platinum Drives (it came with IMCO Extreme's, but I broke 4 of them in my first season with the boat, so I swapped them out for the Teagues).

I have Gatlin exhaust, with the combination of the Viper Motors, sounds like nothing else out there on the water. With a red-line over 6k, it just sounds sick when I lean on the sticks.

Running these motors in a marine environment is tough. Imagine running your cars between 5k and 6.2k almost all the time, and launching off of jumps throughout the entire process - that's what they have to endure in my boat -and they have been flawless (the only minor issue I had is I lost some header bolts, and simply had them replaced).

I've seen 123mph on this boat -and it was like I was doing 50mph. My crew and I could carry on a conversation like it was nothing, and she handled like a dream.

Eliminator made very few of these Coupes (I think it was under a dozen), so it is truly unique and turns heads at every event.
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The above shot was taken via helecopter at the Desert Storm Poker Run in Lake Havasu - those of you that like HP, I strongly recommend attending this event. Imagine 260 ridiculously fast and loud boats gathered for a weekend running hard up and down a narrow lake. There is ALL SORTS OF EYE CANDY. Some are wrapped in fiberglass, and others are wrapped in thongs and pasties.
 
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Adrenaline Junkie

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can we get a camparo between the srt10 vs your twin turbo porsche? i assume that s a 996TT, does it have a the x50 pkg?

J

:D OK...now this will be interesting. At the risk of starting a religous debate, I'll take my best shot at this.

Growing up there were 2 cars I always wanted, a 911 Turbo, and a Lambo. After owning a 944, then a 911 cab, I was ready to make a move on my next venture. Unfortunately, here in Rochester, there are no Lambo authorized techs. If you own a Lambo and have an issue here, you have to ship it to Toronto - so it made the choice easy - I began my search for a 911 Turbo, and found this one owner 2003 TT, in excellent condition. It was chipped to slightly over 500hp, arctic silver, tinted windows, and the Aero Package ground effects.

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The TT acceleration is ridiculous. Depending upon the year and if it's chipped or not, people are seeing 0-60mph in 3.4-3.7 secs. It is 4 wheel drive, so it is very difficult to break it free. When you get on it, it throws you back in your seat. If you jump on it too hard, it'll actually hop instead of squeal tires - which was scarey the first time I experienced that...but have learned to manage it. The 2 complaints that you might hear about a TT are: 1. Turbo Lag on the older ones, meaning, when you get on it, it takes a second for the turbo to wind up, but when it does, hold on because it's a rocket ship 2. It's too easy to drive. Because it's 4 wheel drive, ********* driving enthusiasts like the GT3s better because they have similar power, but are rear wheel drive and actually requires some skills to drive it aggressively. My 70 yr old mom could out drive most street cars with the TT.

The TT is so refined and so simple to drive that some might be bored with it. It will make some of you cringe, but I actually drove the TT almost all the time during the summer. My previous porsches were Sunday drivers - I decided I was going to enjoy this car - so I drove it all the time. I've already put 30k miles on it.

The TT handles like a dream. You can corner like you are on rails - taking on an off ramps at speeds that will make most people's parts pucker is like nothing.

The TT is so small that parking is no issue at all. You can actually park it in most parking lots without suffering moronic door dings. Mind you, I typically park away from everyone, but in some cases, there is no choice.

The simplest way for me to compare my SRT to the TT is the SRT is a RAW, UNREFINED, HP SPEWING BEAST. It sounds and smells and rides like unbridled muscle. You obviously don't have the Turbo Lag on this car which is nice (apparently newer TT's mitigated the lag, but my year has about a 1 sec lag).

So, they are very different. It all depends on what you feel like. I would sum it this way. Some nights you may feel like attending a sophisticated, black tie affair, with all the local socialites and celebs, where champagne is served, and they fly in Harry Connick JR to entertain for the evening, and other nights you feel like going to the beach party in your board shorts with an outdoor pig roast, fireworks, ******* limbo contest, body shots, Mettalica is the entertainment instead of Connick, and the hotties are throwing whats left of their undergarments at you and Tommy Lee while your spouse is dancing on the picnic tables.

Both cars a a party, it's just a matter of what kind of party you want to attend that night.:headbang:
 

Phun70

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:D


So, they are very different. It all depends on what you feel like. I would sum it this way. Some nights you may feel like attending a sophisticated, black tie affair, with all the local socialites and celebs, where champagne is served, and they fly in Harry Connick JR to entertain for the evening, and other nights you feel like going to the beach party in your board shorts with an outdoor pig roast, fireworks, ******* limbo contest, body shots, Mettalica is the entertainment instead of Connick, and the hotties are throwing whats left of their undergarments at you and Tommy Lee while your spouse is dancing on the picnic tables.

Both cars a a party, it's just a matter of what kind of party you want to attend that night.:headbang:




That's the greatest comparison I think I've ever heard!!!:lmao:
 

Viper Specialty

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I am just over in Buffalo NY if you have any questions or concerns! Not much going on for the rest of this year, but 2011 should be a hoot, lots of new cars, builds and owners around here!

VSP Home
 

jman2

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i like the second type of parties!!! but like ACDC instead....heeee
 

ACR steve

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Adrenaline- I had a Nor Tech , glad you made the switch from IMCO they will never hold up with the Viper motors torque to bad the number 6's are so damn expensive :)

Also a Porche guy here I still race one but love my ACR

Welcome to the dark side :)
 

Flying Viper

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Very Good Sir,
I own both also.
Good write up.



:D OK...now this will be interesting. At the risk of starting a religous debate, I'll take my best shot at this.

Growing up there were 2 cars I always wanted, a 911 Turbo, and a Lambo. After owning a 944, then a 911 cab, I was ready to make a move on my next venture. Unfortunately, here in Rochester, there are no Lambo authorized techs. If you own a Lambo and have an issue here, you have to ship it to Toronto - so it made the choice easy - I began my search for a 911 Turbo, and found this one owner 2003 TT, in excellent condition. It was chipped to slightly over 500hp, arctic silver, tinted windows, and the Aero Package ground effects.

You must be registered for see images attach


The TT acceleration is ridiculous. Depending upon the year and if it's chipped or not, people are seeing 0-60mph in 3.4-3.7 secs. It is 4 wheel drive, so it is very difficult to break it free. When you get on it, it throws you back in your seat. If you jump on it too hard, it'll actually hop instead of squeal tires - which was scarey the first time I experienced that...but have learned to manage it. The 2 complaints that you might hear about a TT are: 1. Turbo Lag on the older ones, meaning, when you get on it, it takes a second for the turbo to wind up, but when it does, hold on because it's a rocket ship 2. It's too easy to drive. Because it's 4 wheel drive, ********* driving enthusiasts like the GT3s better because they have similar power, but are rear wheel drive and actually requires some skills to drive it aggressively. My 70 yr old mom could out drive most street cars with the TT.

The TT is so refined and so simple to drive that some might be bored with it. It will make some of you cringe, but I actually drove the TT almost all the time during the summer. My previous porsches were Sunday drivers - I decided I was going to enjoy this car - so I drove it all the time. I've already put 30k miles on it.

The TT handles like a dream. You can corner like you are on rails - taking on an off ramps at speeds that will make most people's parts pucker is like nothing.

The TT is so small that parking is no issue at all. You can actually park it in most parking lots without suffering moronic door dings. Mind you, I typically park away from everyone, but in some cases, there is no choice.

The simplest way for me to compare my SRT to the TT is the SRT is a RAW, UNREFINED, HP SPEWING BEAST. It sounds and smells and rides like unbridled muscle. You obviously don't have the Turbo Lag on this car which is nice (apparently newer TT's mitigated the lag, but my year has about a 1 sec lag).

So, they are very different. It all depends on what you feel like. I would sum it this way. Some nights you may feel like attending a sophisticated, black tie affair, with all the local socialites and celebs, where champagne is served, and they fly in Harry Connick JR to entertain for the evening, and other nights you feel like going to the beach party in your board shorts with an outdoor pig roast, fireworks, ******* limbo contest, body shots, Mettalica is the entertainment instead of Connick, and the hotties are throwing whats left of their undergarments at you and Tommy Lee while your spouse is dancing on the picnic tables.

Both cars a a party, it's just a matter of what kind of party you want to attend that night.:headbang:
 
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