Cars of Technology

Remember when you started to rebuild your Porsche? It’s still under construction out in your garage and you’ve let the registration and insurance lapse to save a little money. Do you realize that the car and all those expensive parts in the garage are not insured? If your garage catches fire, your homeowner’s insurance will not cover an unregistered vehicle. Homeowner’s insurance does not cover your Porsche project unless you have a specific rider in the policy for that specific car. A basic rule in the insurance industry is, “If we don’t know about it, it’s not insured.” Most classic car insurance companies offer something called “Project Car” Insurance or “Vehicle under Construction” insurance. The premiums are usually less than $100 a year. The actual cost depends on the value of the car and the parts stored on the shelves. The exact cost of a policy is something you have to discuss with your agent. NCM Insurance (http://ncminsurance.com) offers a policy that has an automatic va...

A basic charter for any museum is to conserve the objects placed in their care. The Simeone Museum in Philadelphia (www.simeonemuseum.org) believes that certain cars because of their place in history are deserving of the term "historically important". These cars are like fine buildings and should be restricted from changes in their originality.   How does that apply to you? Do you, as an individual, really have any responsibility for conserving or preserving the car in your garage? Should the car in your garage be preserved? Or, does it require a restoration? Preservation: The essence of preservation is stabilization. Preservation is an effort to decrease the rate of deterioration. It involves maintaining the condition of the car.  You should also drive the car on a regular basis. The engine seals and brake components need to be used on a regular basis.  Letting a car sit idle for long periods of time can result in significant damage to a variety of parts. Not drivin...

The car is a 1973.5 911T and this is its story. I’ve owned this car for twenty-six years. A friend owned it for a few years before me and I always told him that I would buy it one day when decided to sell it. Then one afternoon in 1990 I got a call. “I’m bringing your 911 over – get your checkbook out.” At the time I was working with European Car magazine. Greg Brown and I decided that this 911 should become a magazine project car. Over the next several years I wrote a series of articles and participated in a number of driving events with the car. I even talked Derek Bell into testing the car for me once we finished all the modifications.  In the past twenty-six years this 911 has been both a daily driver and a track car. This car has never been stock since I’ve owned it. One of the early owners of this car removed the CIS fuel injection system. I have no intention of finding a replacement CIS. Life is too short for that. The Webers work just fine and the car has a lot of low-end t...