I had always been a big Healey fan. Coming back to the San Francisco Bay area in 1999 after a three-year assignment overseas, I decided to look for number five.

However, when my wife and I got to the agency where a 1967 BJ8 was advertised, it had already been sold. I was ready to head for home when my wife called me over to look at a Porsche at the back of the showroom.

It was a 1983 SC Targa with 18,000 miles on it, and it was in immaculate condition: Guards Red with the black leather interior and, of course, the Fuchs wheels. Apparently the previous owner had bought it for his wife, but she did not like the gearshift. They had left it in the garage for almost 12 years.

I had always liked the look of Porsches, but felt they were a bit out of my league. Added to that, they weren't known for leaking oil, and a true Englishman is just not comfortable with a car that doesn't leave a little puddle on the garage floor.

Who can say no when your wife says, "Why don't you buy this gleaming beauty?" So it quickly became ours.

Later, when I asked her why she had persuaded me to buy it, she said that every Healey I had rebuilt cost twice as much as I had budgeted and took three times as long to complete. She was tired of the dirty towels and grease marks all over the house every weekend. She had never quite gotten over the rebuild of the transmission and overdrive of my last BJ8 in the spare bedroom of our apartment shortly after we got married.

What a car the SC has been. Rock-solid mechanically, a joy to drive. No computer, ABS, airbags or fancy traction control. Great agility and wonderful stock brakes. Even the cruise control works. Not sure about the radio since it simply has too much competition from that gorgeous engine note.

Many Porschefiles sneer at the Targas, but there is nothing greater on a cold winter's day with the lid off, windows up and the heater on full blast. Mine does not even leak when it gets caught in the rain, and I have to put the Targa top on once every two or three years.

This car is simply pure joy to drive and very nimble — although slower than a Honda Civic off the line, with that short first gear and the 915 transmission. However, what a thrill when the car winds up through the third and fourth gears.

In all these years, the only mechanical issue it had was the failure of the Dilavar studs about six months after we bought it. Stuck in traffic in Oakland one day and seeing the oil temp gauge getting up to the red area, I heard a "ping" and then an air leaking sound from the engine area.

Joe Zeiph in Oakland diagnosed it immediately and tore the engine down, putting in the newer steel studs and a replacement clutch "just in case." He also did the timing chain tensioner modification and put in the pop-off valve in the airbox at the same time.

Since then, almost everything has been routine maintenance or upgrades. Rumberito as my wife calls it, burns absolutely no oil and has never leaked a drop. Now at 54,000 miles and 15 years later, it has never let us down.

Thanks to Panorama, Excellence, Pelican Parts, Rennlist forums, the much missed Bruce Anderson and many others, I have also learned that a reasonably competent owner can do a lot of work on these cars when needed.

We upgraded the tired old air conditioning in 2011, to help survive the heat in slow traffic in our Maryland and Washington, D.C., summers. We replaced all of the suspension bushings and transmission mounts last year and also installed the Turbo tie rods, which made a world of difference to the steering precision.

But the best upgrade I ever made was the Wevo shift unit and linkage. I could not believe the difference it made to that sloppy shifter. My 915 transmission now shifts beautifully, and I can get from third to second at the first try and even get down from fifth to fourth in two fluid moves.

When on an overseas assignment from 2007 to 2010, I decided to take the car with me, rather than leave it in a garage for so long. We found a great Porsche mechanic in Panama, and he installed the Turbo oil cooler and fixed the headlight switch that had become temperamental. With labor charges at only $25 per hour, the car quickly became pampered.

We did have an issue restarting the car down there when the weather got really hot, but Internet searches pointed to the accumulator and fuel filter, which solved the problem with a one-hour fix at less than $100.

Not sure if it is my imagination or simply appreciation of a well-built car, but the SC has a solidity and quality about it that just not seem to exist with the newer ones. My maintenance bills are minimal, with one oil change per year that equals about 2,500 miles driven. We have an excellent tech here in Annapolis who can handle anything beyond my limited abilities, but he does not get to see the car often.

The car just attracts attention whenever we take it out, and once we found a note on it written by an 8-year-old asking if it was for sale as she would like us to hold it for her until she was old enough to drive. She left her address so we sent back a polite note saying it was not for sale, but we would let her know if we changed our mind.

So now we get to my big problem. The SC is now increasing in value, and I get unsolicited offers for it quite regularly. We love to drive it, but being stuck in traffic with a stick shift and rather heavy clutch can quickly become boring.

When that happens too often, I hanker after a 2009 or later cabriolet with PDK. My wife is not comfortable driving the SC, even with the Wevo shift, so she does not take it out, which doesn't fit our definition of sharing, so the PDK would be a good option.

When this happens, I do my research, find a nice late-model cab with PDK, and decide that I am going to do it this time. Then I get home, and there is that Guards Red paintwork peeking out from under the cover in the garage. I give the wing mirror a quick pat and tell Rumberito that there is no way he is going to be sold so that I can buy a newer model, even if it is a Porsche.

Feeling guilty for having had these thoughts of betrayal, I take the SC for a quick drive, and it feels as smooth as silk and is always on its best behavior. People alongside me at the lights lower their window and say "nice car." The desire to get the latest and greatest fades once again as my smile grows.

So I guess the SC is going to stay in the family for another 15 years. There is something special about no traction control, power steering, on-board computer, navigation system or all those warning messages to close the door and mind the temperature outside.

Oh yes, and depreciation is a thing of the past. These SCs are now gently appreciating in value, so I can actually call it an investment in cash terms as well as for my well-being.