Der Sportwagen

May / June 2015 23 spot next to the tractor. It's a great range of our local Porsches from the tractor through a 356, 911's, a 968 and Kris Lovelace's 944 Race- car. The guys at the museum gradually help me negotiate the car in to posi- tion. Now it's time to disconnect the battery. I release the hood, discon- nect the negative and then close the hood with a firm thud. Just need to lock her up now. As we discuss the car with Jeff Wagoner we think that maybe its best to display her with the top down. Great idea I think. Then I realize the battery is discon- nected. No problem I'll just pop the hood and reconnect the battery. The only problem is, as any 996 owner is aware the hood release is elec- trically operated, and apparently it needs a crude copper cable to allow electrons to flow between battery and said electrical solenoid. With- out this crude cable device pressing the hood release has no impact. No problem I think. The later 996's have a pull out jumper in the foot well fuse box on the driver's side. Pull it out, hit it with 12v and voila the release works. Now I just have to find a 12v source. I check my back pocket and apparently I have left my spare battery back home. I work with the Museum Team to try and get a 12v hit. We try a charger in the cigarette lighter and one on the jumper posts with no success. No problem I think, we just have to get to the manual/emergency re- lease cable, I just can't remember where I last saw it. I remember see- ing it the last time I had the bumper cover off the change the radiators, I just can't remember where the end is. It only takes a couple of minutes to take the bumper cover off; the problem is there is a row of screws that are covered by the hood, which is locked. I do an internet search on my cell phone. I get a hit which suggests the manual release is be- hind the passenger fender liner. So all I have to do is get the wheel off pull the liner back and voila. The car has wheel locks. So all I need to do is jack the front up, get the passenger wheel off with the special key and we can get to the manual release cable. Now where is the jack and the special key to release the wheel nut? Oh yeah it's in the trunk which is locked, which can be opened by the manual re- lease which is behind the fender liner which cannot be got to while the wheel is on which is locked by a special key that's in the trunk that has to be opened by the manual re- lease……….. One of the Internet hits suggests flat bedding the car to a Porsche dealer so they can remove the wheel etc. Grrrrrrr. By this time it's late, I am tired. My daughter Sammy and I had planned to take some photos of all the great cars on display. Enough already, we think. Time to go home a re-think a plan, which does not entail flat bedding. The month of February flies by. I do get chance to work on the 944 race car but not enough to get her painted, plus the ambient tempera- tures are not conducive to spraying cars. Saturday the 28th is my planned date to pick up the car. The plan is casual. It begins with cars and cof- fee at the museum and then bringing the car home. I arrange for a work buddy to take me, who happens to also be a car nut. The weather fore- cast is for chance of snow Saturday afternoon. I take a 12v battery and a set of jumper leads. My hope is that the hood release will work with a battery where a charger failed. My fall back is the hope I can find the manual release behind the pas- senger side marker light. The battery I have is an Odys- sey 680. Its one from my race car. Small and light, but didn't last more than a year before quitting on me. I had charged it at best I could the night before. It was showing 11v it should be enough. I connect the leads and hear the click of a re- lay, so far so good. I hit the hood re- lease and voila she opens. I connect up the battery and she's ready to go. Much relieved that I don't have to fish for a hidden cable I start to relax and its time to enjoy the mu- seum. By now light snow is falling continuously. We take a quick tour; my buddy is getting nervous, as the snow is harder now. So we decide its time to run. We say hasty good byes and leave. The snow is falling steadily. I am heading east to Lee's Summit. I know the storm is coming from the West so expect to get ahead of the storm front. Seems I was wrong. It took until 470/291 turned North in Lee's Summit before I broke out of the snow. Even with all wheel drive, driving on snow with part worn extreme summer tires is hairy. Thankfully I made it home just fine. The car is covered in dry salt, and decidedly filthy. I can't wait to get back to the carwash. Thanks Jeff and Alex at KC Auto Museum for looking after my car. It's a great museum, I hope to re- turn again in the near future for a casual cars and coffee. - RICHARD

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