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Do you really want a Porsche barn find?
While barn finds may be few and far between, Philip Raby does rescue the odd Porsche that’s been sitting unloved in a garage. However, there are some that just aren’t worth getting involved with I tend to take reports of ‘barn finds’ with a pinch of salt, especially after hearing about a magazine faking a photoshoot of an abandoned Porsche, adding hay bales and detritus to the images to give the impression that the hapless car really had been uncovered in a farmer’s barn. It hadn’t. Let’s face it, most people are going to store cars in garages rather than […]
Releasing early Porsche 996 and Boxster boot releases when the battery is flat
One of the most popular features on this website is about accessing Porsche Boxster and 996 emergency bonnet releases, which you can find here. The emergency release allows you to access the luggage compartment where the battery is housed, which is useful if the battery has gone flat and the electrically operated releases aren’t functioning. If you have an early Porsche 996 or Boxster, you may be feeling smug reading this, because these cars have mechanical, rather than electrical, releases for the boot and engine compartment. There are two levers on the driver’s door sill which, when pulled, pop open […]
Porsche 911 Turbo LE – a slant-nose without the slant-nose
The Porsche 911 Turbo LE of 1989 offers all the benefits of the SE but without the Slant-Nose styling. The 911 Turbo SE of the mid-1980s offered a useful 30bhp extra power over the 300bhp produced by the standard Turbo of the day. The problem, though, was that part of the Special Equipment (which SE stood for) included a Slant-Nose front end. Instead of the 911’s distinctive wings and round headlamps you got a wedge-shaped front with pop-up headlamps, which even then were getting somewhat passé. To put it into some sort of style perspective, the Triumph TR7 which was […]
Driving an early Porsche 911
A lot happened in 1963. Martin Luther King had a dream, Lee Harvey Oswald and Jack Ruby played with guns, Alfred Hitchcock made a film about birds, Sean Connery was oh-so-cool Bond, Ronnie Biggs stopped a train, some Liverpool lads pleaded to be pleased, and Porsche unveiled a new sports car badged ‘901’. Meanwhile, in a Bristol hospital a baby with the surname Raby breathed his first, somewhat premature, breaths. Yes, that was me, and I guess I would have been walking and talking (well, after a fashion) by the time that the car I’m now driving arrived in […]
Porsche 996 Turbo first drive
A look back at Philip Raby’s first drive in a Porsche 996 Turbo, back in 2004. If you asked your Mr Spocks and Hal 9000s what the best car in the world was, they’d come up with something sensible like a diesel-powered Vauxhall Zafira. A vehicle that would stolidly go about its business of transporting yourself, your family and stacks of cargo from A to B; cheaply and reliably. It would, in short, do everything a car needs to do in a very efficient manner. These logisticians would be wrong, of course; motoring should be about passion, not practicality. The […]
10 things we love about the Porsche 996
The Porsche 996 was a radical car when it was unveiled in 1998 because it was a complete reimagination of the iconic 911. It was the first time that the 911 had had a total redesign, complete with new bodyshell and new engine. Larger, more practical and more modern, the 996 prepared the legendary Porsche for life in the 21st century. In the nearly 20 years since, the Porsche 996 has been loved and hated in equal measures. As the years go on, though, the haters are falling away and the 996 is becoming appreciated for what it is – […]
Porsche Boxster Spyder RS60
I’ve just had a call from someone asking if a Porsche Boxster Spyder RS60 would be a good used buy. Based on the Boxster S of its day, the 2008 limited edition Spyder RS60 echoed the style of the Porsche 718 RS60 Spyder racecar from 1960. Visually, it was distinguished by a unique front spoiler, 19-inch SportDesign wheels, GT Silver Metallic paintwork, and a red or black hood. Inside, the RS60 had Carrera Red leather (or Dark Grey with the black roof) with a unique texture on the seat centres, door linings, steering wheel and handbrake lever, plus ‘RS60’ sill […]
Customer service is everything
Here at Philip Raby Porsche we like to look after our customers well. We may not have a flashy glass and tiled showroom (although we do make a mean cup of coffee and have some tasty biscuits), but we do offer really good service. All our Porsches (and other cars) are put through a thorough mechanical inspection by Porsche service specialist AW Motor Sport, which is conveniently situated next door. Any faults they find are rectified before sale (unless they are age-related and not fixable, in which case we make the buyer aware). We also put a full 12-month MoT […]
Porsche Cayman S Vs Porsche 924 Turbo Photoshoot
This week, we have had Ryan Thorn, a 14 year-old work experience student from the local Bishop Luffa School with us (that’s him trying out a Cayman for size in the photo below). Ryan has been enthusiastically involved in all aspects of the business, including coming out on a magazine photoshoot which he reports on below. The words and photos are all courtesy of Ryan. Today, four of us travelled out to the South Downs near Goodwood to do a photoshoot with the Porsche Cayman S and the Porsche 924 Turbo, a real blend of modern and classic styles of […]
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