Save My Car!

Myself at age 15 with the car.

Alright, I know that I see donation scams all over the internet. And I bet that you do too. People are scamming for hurricane Katrina and everything else in between. But not me -- no gimmicky "win an iPod" scams or natural male enhancement. I'm just here to fix my 1977 Porsche 924 Martini Rossi Racing Edition into a fully-restored piece of history.

This car has been my baby; in fact, her name is Shela. On November 15, 2003, Shela was my first car. Parked outside of a home in Midland, Texas, she had been left unattended by her high school student owner. The car was covered in old pecans and the hood was stuffed full with leaves. The previous owner had dropped a cigarette on the driver side seat, broken the odometer, and even left the car in the sun long enough to turn the fire-red interior into a pale orange!


Knowing that this car needed some work, I was able to purchase the car for just 1,800 USD. I was only 15, so the car was a treasure to invest in before I could actually drive it. Yet, today it's the year 2006 and the car still needs work. And I want you to help me.

Why Give You Anything?
Alright, alright! I know you're thinking "...so why do I want to help you?" Well, I have some reasons for you:

  • Somebody purchased a grilled cheese sandwich with the "image" of the Virgin Mary on it. C'mon! On a sandwich? And somebody bought it? AND FOR 28,000 USD?! Seriously, if you have that sort of money, spend it on something that isn't a scam. With your funds, you will have helped to preserve a classic example of automotive history.
  • You're going to help preserve a very rare automobile. In fact, less than 2,200 cars of this model were built from Dec. 1976 to Mar. 1977. And how many have survived? Well, I've found just one person in the continental United States who owns one (which he fully restored) and still participates online. This car is not only a classic car, but it's a part of Porsche history, if not the legacy of car production in general. Mine has only 65,000 miles in it's name (before the girl broke the odometer), and it's in generally great shape.
  • The Competition
    If I am unable to raise the appropriate amount of money via this website and working two jobs before I go to off to an expensive college that I can't really afford, I won't have another chance to restore my car. My parents are going to force me to sell this beautiful piece of history for some low price and buy a '90-something Mustang if I can't fix the problems this has. You've got to be kidding me! With your support, I will be able to repair my car and have it protected for years to come.
  • This is history! If I wanted a fast car, I'd get the Mustang; this car isn't made for racing. If I wanted a car that has a powerful air conditioner or a fancy heater, I'd get the Mustang. If I wanted to have any of these modern features (power steering even!), I'd get the Mustang. But to be honest, I'm not asking for your help so that I can have a cool car because it's already cool! I just want to keep this car safe and mostly keep it as an example of the low cost Audi that Porsche purchased. It's no Dodge Charger -- and it's no Ferrari. But regardless, I care for this car because I respect its history and its reason for being designed. I hope that you can help me keep this car as the pinnacle of Porsche excellence for the 924 series.

My Car's History and its Future
So far, I've purchased or completed the following:

  • New tires (to replace the bald ones that car came with -- they didn't even match!)
  • Window tinting (to stop the carpet from fading in the hatch area)
  • Carpet Dye from Porsche Germany (I didn't have the money to let the auto shop do it so I learned how and dyed all of the carpets back to the fire red color from their faded orange)
  • A full dash cover (to stop the nearly prominent cracks in the dash from forming completely)
  • A new exterior gas cap with lock and key (to replace the old one which met an unfortunate end)
  • A replacement shifting mechanism (to replace the old parts that had worn so much that the previous owner used duct tape and super glue to secure them)
  • A completely new set of fuses (to replace the many that were fried from neglect)
  • A new set of exterior and interior lights (again to replace those which had burned out that nobody bothered to replace)
  • Porsche 924 floor mats especially designed for the Martini Edition (to obviously protect its carpeting)
  • Removed the broken CD player (the original tape deck and radio were lost in time) and replaced it with new a new Panasonic deck and two rear 6x9'' speakers.
  • Removed the Martini Rossi Edition stripes (they had since faded and had started to peel off; I'm planning on purchasing a new set soon)
  • Replaced every belt on the car (even the timing belt) along with some worn bolts and misc.
  • New rear struts for the back hatch (to replace the old ones which had long since been broken)
  • Bought the official Porsche tune-up kit (spark plugs, distributor cap, the rotor, etc.)
  • Purchased new front brakes (the old ones were pretty much fine, but I wanted to be safe)
  • Replaced the water pump (the old one was leaking so much that I had to fill it up every day)
  • Replaced the fuel injectors (after one died, I decided to replace the others)
  • Replaced the fuel pump (the original died after nearly 29 years of service; I bought an original, never used fuel pump directly from Germany to replace it)
  • Replaced the driver side window crank (unfortunately, this newer model looks different than the original passenger's side one, so I plan to replace the other one [which already had a great deal of wear] in the future)
  • Welded the driver side door (the original weld had become so loose and unattended that it was ripping from the door. I immediately repaired this)
  • Purchased new door brackets to stop them from opening too wide (the old ones had been broken and fallen off and the previous owner did not feel like replacing them, apparently. This problem actually caused the problem mentioned just above this one)

Right, so that's a lot of stuff that I've done. As you can probably tell, I'm pretty serious about keeping my car looking and running as well as possible. I deeply care for this car. Yet, even though I spend nearly all of my money that I get from working on it, I never have enough to fully restore it. It being an older car, new problems constantly crop up. However, with your help, I hope to fix everything on the following list:

  • Replace both door handles (the passenger door will not even open and the driver side door sticks and often will not close easily)
  • Fix the odometer (the previous owner had pressed the "trip reset" button while still in motion, thus freezing it for my entire ownership)
  • More powerful headlights (the original replacements work, but they're incredibly dim. It would be nice to have stronger bulbs.)
  • A passenger side mirror (alright, this goes beyond restoration because it's modernization. I nearly have accidents because without this mirror [it didn't come standard], I have a huge blind spot.
  • New analog clock (the original one stopped working at 3:15 on one day in the past -- it's a cheap fix.)
  • Give it a new paint job including the wheels (the original paint is more of a yellow and it's flaking off, showing its age.)
  • New Martini Rossi stripes (to preserve the original history)
  • A new shifter and boot (the originals are ripped, torn and incredibly worn)
  • Replace the emergency brake lever (unfortunately, the lever's locking mechanism isn't working well and I often find myself rolling off of hills!)
  • Replace the weather stripping (I'm getting a few leaks here and there [which I noticed immediately and never let hit the inside of the car] that I wouldn't mind being fixed)
  • Replace a portion of the window tinting (some of the tinting has stretched upwards and doesn't cover a 1 inch area around the curves of the hatch)
  • Weld the portion of the undercarriage (it has begun to rust and peel away)

Despite this, I have a few long term goals which I feel would ensure this car's life to last that much longer:

  • Replace the steering wheel (while still acceptable for an old car, it's obvious the wheel has had quite a bit of abuse)
  • Buy completely new carpeting (while the dyed carpeting looks fine, a replacement set would be rich and lot more full)
  • Replace the knobs and levers for the heating and A/C (they're not bad, but the paint has come off and the levers won't stay in position)
  • Buy an antenna (the original has long since been removed)
  • Buy the official Porsche turbo kit (the car isn't fast and I don't mind, but I would assume it would show the car's full potential if I had that sort of money!)

Hopefully, you can tell that my goals are noble. I definitely want the best for this car and I just can't do it alone, especially when I'm in college and up to my eyes in, well, college. I'm trying my best to repair any problems and at the same time restore the nonessential items. My wish is that one day, my car will look and run like the best of the cars produced this year. But I need some help from any car enthusiasts or just people who understand my situation.

But I Don't Have Money Just Laying Around!

A more recent photo

You don't need to! In fact, if you can just spread the word; that would be great. This isn't meant to be a scam or a joke or anything malicious at all. I'm just a guy who wants to make sure that a classic automobile is given proper treatment. I love this car to death and I can't see anything bad ever happening to it. So if you have any money to spare, please don't spend it on a cheese sandwich with biblical figures on it, fake herbal male enhancement, or any other scam. Please help me see this car get its proper treatment.

Each and every dollar does count! I plan to honor those who help out with this website and, if I ever have a surplus, a plaque in the back hatch that lists the names of the supporters. I'll write or even call every one of the donators and personally thank them for their incredible kindness. I just hope that you'll also consider helping me out.

Although I have no real goal for raising money, I think that a major checkpoint, if I am able to get there is 3,000 USD. Yes, I know it's a lot but it will help to accomplish nearly everything on the list of immediate problems.

Protect this Car!
Alright, so if you're interested in helping out, you can get in contact me through any of the following methods:

Clay Chastain
lemontea@bonbon.net
AIM: Sitruunatee
MSN: homie71@hotmail.com (I don't check the e-mail here, I just use IM)

Or, if you have PayPal, you can directly contribute by clicking the button below:

What else can I say from here except thanks for reading and thank you so much for the donation. Your help will allow me to continue to ensure that this beautiful car remains beautiful forever.