Some months ago, Paul Soares shared with me his excitement of winning a concours Porsche trophy. Self employed and modest in manner, Paul and his wife Jackie are Porsche enthusiasts. Jackie drives a Macan, and Paul has a 911, 944, and a Spyder. So, the stable contains front engine, rear engine ,as well as water and air-cooled Porsches.
The following is Paul’s narration regarding his Porsche collection.
Some bullet points on my Porsche History: I thought I always wanted to own a corvette as I was a longtime fan having a friend who owned a few over the past years. I actually went as far as putting a deposit on a 2003 model but I could not get the color I wanted. In the interim my neighbor Jay worked for Herb Chambers Motor Cars in Boston and told me I should look at the Boxster from Porsche. I had no clue what a Boxster was at the time. Needless to say, I test drove one and that was all I needed in a sports car.
1.) October 2002 I put a deposit on my first Porsche, a 2003 Boxster S in Basalt Black and took delivery on February 1, 2003. The same day the Space Shuttle Columbia tragically disintegrated on re-entry into the atmosphere as my wife and I were watching TV at the dealership.
2.) June 2008 I purchased a 1987 Porsche 944 2.5-liter base model and picked it up in Waterbury, CT for $5,000, what a bargain at that time. I’ve always loved the 944 styling and dreamed of owning the Turbo at some point. Now my son and I both could attend Cars and Coffee’s while driving the Porsche brand.
3.) I believe in sometime 2015 I heard rumors that the Boxster was dropping the Flat 6 and going to the Flat 4 motor similar to the Subaru motor; I was not thrilled upon hearing this news. So, I had to act fast and convince Jackie about putting an order in for the 2016 Boxster Spyder in Agate Grey Metallic. The Spyder was a big step up as it came with the Flat 6 motor from the same year of the 911 S with the 3.8-liter motor producing 375-385 HP. She said yes so in May 0f 2016 we took delivery of the Spyder and we were blown away with the build package we put together. The following year we sold the 2003 Boxster S which was very pristine with only 29K miles for a 13 Year old Boxster. “Can’t keep them All”.
4.) In June of 2018 I purchased a 1985 Porsche Carrera 3.2 in triple black on the “Bring-A-Trailer” website. A friend who is familiar with these air / oil cooled models went to see the car prior to the auction closing the following day. The owner was nice enough to let us take the car for a spin. I took a friend’s advice of not telling my better half of winning the bidding on the 911. Not a good move on my part as she was not a happy camper for a couple of weeks. So much for asking for forgiveness as a friend suggested prior to the purchase. Now she gets my logic as the car has increased in value significantly. Happy Wife – Happy Life.
Jackie and I attended the National Porsche Parades starting in Charlotte, NC in 2008, then Savannah, GA in 2011 both without bringing our Porsche.. Not until the parade in Jay Peak, VT in 2016 did we bring the 2003 Boxster S as it was the closest to home Porsche Parade we were interested in attending
Then came this year’s (2022) Parade at the Kalahari Resort at the Poconos in PA. A local PCA friend was planning on attending so we decided it would be a great drive and great company so we registered for the event. Also seeing that it was not too long of a drive, roughly 5 hours I decided to enter the Spyder in the Concours Event. I entered it in the Preparation Group 2 which takes into account cleaning of the exterior and the interior cabin, fairly easy preparation in my opinion. So no under carriage, front or rear trunks , and not the engine compartment as that would have been a nightmare on a Boxster.
We were pleasantly surprised about four hours later after the judging that we had won First Place in our category. So not bad for entering a Porsche in the Parade for the first time and winning first class. Unbelievable and Jackie and I could not have been happier!
Intro by Roger Slocum & Article by Paul Soares
