How I found Sandy

I'm very patient when it comes to buying things. My motto is "you can find anything you want at any price you want, as long as you are willing to wait long enough." On my quest for a project car, I spent months trolling auctions sites, placed hundreds of bids, and even came out as the high bidder a few times (but having not met the reserve, those sales were void). Then one day it happened. On May 24, 2013 I bid (repeatedly!) on a 2000 Porsche 996 Carrera Cabriolet that had no reserve. I found the car on Copart out of their Houston, TX facility. The car was inoperable with a salvage title from flood damage (hurricane Sandy to be exact) but otherwise looked to be in fair condition. It included both the rag top and the hard top. And with the last bid on the auction, "Sandy" was now my first car project!

Next I had to figure out how to get the car to Scottsdale. A friend at work suggested U-Ship, which is like a backwards eBay for logistics. After 4 days I got a bid from a reputable company for half of what Copart wanted with their shipping option. Timing was tight: I had to get the car off of Copart's lot before they started to charge storage fees, and I wanted to make sure the car arrived in Scottsdale before I left for an overseas work trip that was scheduled two weeks later.

In conclusion (really? This is the START!), I'm doing everything "wrong" with this project: I bought a car sight-unseen, at an auction, on the internet, with a salvage title, that doesn't run... and to top it off, I paid for it all with a credit card!