I'm not exactly sure when it started, but for a while now I've been entranced with the look of the Porsche 928. Oh, I guess it started a few years back when I picked up a 944 for track usage and naturally got to looking at the 944's big brother.

It certainly wasn't because I got excited about them when they were new. In the '80s I was recently married, we had three kids in a period of 18 months (a son followed by twin daughters), and I was busy with my engineering career. I’m sure that in eastern Washington where I lived, I never saw a 928 in the flesh.

Whatever, the itch has been there for a while. I see them for sale quite often on Craigslist. Even though I am a sucker for a car rescue more than most, these Craigslist cars clearly have needs. It is apropos of several cars to say, “There is nothing more expensive than a cheap _____” but filling in the blank with Ferrari, E-Type or 928.

Being a PCA member, I started looking at ads in The Mart. I can now offer a second aphorism: “There is nothing more expensive than a late-model 928 GTS." Wow, some folks are very proud of these final-model-year cars. I suppose the thinking is that they are highly collectible, but I was not in the mood to drop top dollar into a low-mileage time capsule that I was afraid to drive.

As I continued looking, I really fell in love with the early models. No wings, no spoilers, just pure out-of-this-world rocket ship shape. And that wild Op Art seat fabric? I love it! But again, I wanted my car to be a driver, so I moved my time frame forward a few years from the early cars.

The high prices of the GTS models drop a lot if you are willing to go a few years earlier into the 928 S4 variant. These are nice cars, with everything being continuously improved by Porsche over the 10 years of production. But that wing! Cutting edge at the time, but every car today down to the lowly Toyota Camry seems to be sporting a wing these days. I’m sick of wings.

Without thinking about it too much, I was boxing myself in. I continued to look at the entire model range but was becoming biased toward the cars older than the S4. And I wanted to buy the best car I could afford, in order to avoid immediate maintenance issues. This equation gets a lot easier to balance when you look at the cars from the early '80s.

And finally, I wanted a five-speed car. Although it will not see anything like heavy track usage, I do want to track my car. And I love to row through the gears.

So I was kind of bumping along, checking out the ads here and there. A home remodeling project was underway, which can be a major distraction, and I was enjoying HPDE weekends with my capable and well sorted 944 when lightning struck.

It was just another ad on Rennlist for a 1986 model car. The pictures were a little sparse. One of the car sitting in some sort of shop. A few interior and engine bay shots. But I was attracted to the long list of maintenance items that the seller had performed during his ownership of the car and the mid-range mileage.

The color was white. Many folks go for exotic hues, but not me or my wife Kelli. White Cayman. White Jetta. Old English White E-Type. Orange 944 (hey, it’s a track car). So I read the ad and thought it may be a possibility, but it was in Ohio, which gave me pause to not rush right out from North Carolina and buy the thing.

The car came with original full leather upholstery in a tan color, just like the upholstery color in our Cayman and E-Type. The pictures showed a color combo that I was very comfortable with, was easy to keep clean and reflects the Carolina sun.

That weekend, I went to VIR for a DE. I have a friend who tracks his 928, and he was there. I had already done ride-alongs with him and was more than happy with the performance of his car.

What I needed to circle back around and check was seating ergonomics, which is becoming to be a big factor for me in my old age. I sat in his car for about 10 minutes. Tried all the seat adjustments. Let's just say I found the seating to be better than most. Worlds better than a Ferrari, for instance. (Think tight Italian shoes, if you will).

But things were busy, and a few more weeks went by. The seller kept bumping his ad every few days (a smart move on his part). No takers, but lots of positive testimonials from his friends about the car. I’m here to tell you that when a half-dozen random people chime in on a Rennlist ad with positive words, it makes a big difference when the car is four states away.

So after about three weeks, something clicked, and I decided to call the seller, Joel. Great guy! He immediately sent me a much more extensive set of photos. And we talked about this and that. Car guy stuff. He left me feeling very comfortable that he was a straight shooter.

I mulled it over the weekend while I was at anther DE. The following Monday, I called him again. More discussion. Could I get a PPI (prepurchase inspection)? Could we get a wheel vibration issue looked at? Would he accept a deposit to hold the car for two weeks? Yes. Yes. Yes.

We were on our way!

I was starting to think I needed to buy this car, but not so fast. A little "due diligence" was required. I had a few more discussions about the history of the car with its owner. I asked Joel if there was anyone in his area that could do a PPI. He couldn't come up with a 928 expert but did know a general Porsche mechanic that he could take the car to.

So I agreed to foot the bill for a PPI. The mechanic did a compression check and found all eight cylinders to register around 180 psi. It seems that you have to take the manifold off to reach some of the spark plugs. But things are reasonably priced in Ohio, and the PPI cost less than $200, including a few minor repairs. The car got a clean bill of health.

At first I thought the fancy three-piece wheels to be a little too "blingy," but as I saw a few more pictures I had to agree they did a good job of improving the overall look of the car, which is hard to do with a 928.

At this point, I was pretty confident that I was getting ready to buy a sound car. Joel confirmed a couple of things near and dear to me, i.e. a functioning A/C and functioning cruise control. With all these preliminaries behind us, I committed to fly up Oct. 5 from North Carolina to meet Joel in Columbus and drive the car home.

I spent an hour talking to Joel and getting familiar with the car during the short drive to his home in the 928. The car was exactly as Joel had described it. Joel had everything prepared for the transaction. A signed and notarized title. A fat book of receipts gathered since he purchased the car in Miami some years back. Posters and spare parts. All the keys. He even had the original owner's manual that was signed by Hurley Haywood and Graham Rahal.

It was then that disaster struck. We had been in and out of the car. The windows were rolled up because we were having some rain showers. Joel had been explaining the various controls. We had talked about the alarm system. Joel had the drivers door open but allowed it to shut. Clunk. Phsst. Snap. The car locked itself. Oh crap! All the keys were in the car, ready for my departure.

This car cost over $50,000 in 1986. That was a lot of money. Apparently Porsche was very concerned that Porsche 928 owners would be very concerned about theft. So we were getting ready to find out that they had done a fine job of making this car the equivalent of Fort Knox. We called a locksmith, who eventually arrived. We said "Porsche 928" and he said "There isn't any car that I can't get into". He almost had to eat those words!

After some trials and tribulations with the locksmith, we finally got in without having to order a new set of keys from Germany. Joel and I decided to have a celebratory beer. The sun was setting, but I decided to get down the road a ways before crashing at a motel. I was fairly well spent emotionally. Poor Joel, he almost got to keep his 928, but his plan didn't quite work out.

I pulled away from Joel's house in my recently acquired Porsche 928. First stop was at the gas station. A guy next to me filling up his pickup said, "Dude, what year Porsche is that?" "1986," I said. "Looks really nice. I'm a Corvette guy myself. Used to own a Z06." And so began my life of extended refueling stops.

It was a scenic relaxing ride through southern Ohio, just motoring along in fifth gear. Great exhaust note! I called my wife Kelli, and we talked for a long while about the new car, her day, the new car, the dog, the new car, when will I be home, the new car. I can tell she is really excited to see it. She asks me if it will outrun the Cayman. Damn, I don't know but it sounds great!

The next morning I'm on the road at 8:30 a.m. after spending a night in Ripley, W.Va. Still getting familiar with the clutch, the shifter, the unique sounds of this car.

The view out the windshield is great. Well, not E-Type great, but great all the same.

I stopped at a rest stop. No one seemed to notice the car, which may be because I went the far end of the rest stop to avoid the door slammers. I'll get over this phase eventually. I think.

I passed through West Virginia and Virginia and soon was back on I-77 headed to Charlotte, N.C. What's this? A tunnel? Time to roll down the windows and downshift into third. Heaven. Before I knew it, I was back in Charlotte, my trip complete. A flawless trip, really. Priceless.

So what are my driving impressions? First, this a 27-year-old car. Close your eyes and listen as you move down the road. Not a squeak. Not a rattle. This car feels like it was carved from a single block of metal. It is just so solid. The steering is quick but not nervous.

Older roads with expansion joints are a little noxious with the low-profile tires but not excessively so. I spent much of the trip in the left lane because, let's face it, the right lane of most highways has been beat up pretty badly by the trucks.

My wife's Cayman gets to my back within a few hours, but I love the seats in the 928. They are soft and supple, and there are enough seating positions with the electric adjustments to give me a nice variety of seating positions to keep the old back happy as I drive down the road.

I love that the instrument binnacle adjusts in concert with the steering column. I like to lean the seat back, lower the wheel as low as possible, and just cruise.

My main quibble would be wind noise with the windows down. I really like to run with the windows down, but really found it better to have them up and enjoy the CD player. But compared to modern cars, there was none of that horrible buffeting that occurs with the windows down. And the window sill is low enough that I can easily rest my arm on it. For any kind of shorter trip, it will be windows down for me.

The engine has gobs of torque. The lower gears are useful for getting up to speed quickly, but once I'm at Interstate speeds fifth was fine 90 percent of the time. Did I say that the exhaust note was great?

So, I'm beyond happy. This was an unobtainable car for me when it was new. Now that I own one, it appears that this shark has me hooked.