Mechanic Holds Rare Porsche Hostage for 11 Years, Drops Stripped Shell at Owner's House

Stories about mechanic troubles are a dime a dozen, and they could very well be directly connected to this apparent inability of man in general to be kind to fellow man – or, at the very least, professional. Even in this context, this one takes the proverbial cake: a researcher with the prestigious Oxford University had her rare Porsche held against her will by the mechanic who was supposed to fix it for more than a decade.

To add insult to injury, when the mechanic was pressed to return it and eventually sued, he stripped the vehicle of all essential parts and dropped the naked chassis outside the owner's home. In this particular game, justice came late but swiftly: the female owner was awarded almost $150,000 compensation (£114,000) by a London court.

The longest repair timeline

The car at the center of this saga is one of the last units of air-cooled Porsche 911s, a 1997 Porsche 911 Targa equipped with a 3.6-liter M64 flat-six and a Triptronic automatic transmission. The court heard that the unit was a "rarity" and a wonderful touring car that could fetch as much as £80,000 ($105,000) in good condition, according to Mail Online.

The court also heard that the researcher bought it in 2008, almost five years after starting her job at Oxford, and only got to drive it sporadically on her commute until 2010 when a minor accident damaged it. She hit a pothole on a wet road, which caused an oil leak and led to the car refusing to start the next day.

The owner contacted the mechanic for repairs, but she'd end up in an 11-year saga that included verbal aggression, threats, and repeated delays. According to her attorney, she showed plenty of understanding for the mechanic, including agreeing to extend the estimated timeline for repairs as he dealt with personal illness and even an 11-month prison stint for conspiracy to commit assault.

The mechanic pledged to fix the Porsche in 2008, when it was first brought in, and then again repeatedly, in 2012 and 2016. Every time he was asked to report on progress, he'd say repairs were almost complete but would never offer anything more precise. According to the owner's attorney, a one-year interval from his making this commitment should have sufficed to carry out the repairs.

Instead, the mechanic kept asking for money, billing the woman at one point £9,000 ($11,820) before informing her that the engine had to be rebuilt and demanding "storage" fees. In 2014, the owner bought an Audi to use as the daily driver, and by 2016, she'd already found another engineer to start working on the car.

At around the same time, the mechanic started being more aggressive toward the owner. When she finally told him that she'd be suing him, he retaliated by calling her an "attention seeker" and demanding money for keeping her Porsche in "storage" all these years. He even told her that the car was his, since she was refusing to pay what she owed him.

The owner asked for the car to be released to her or delivered to the new mechanic for repairs. The old mechanic did neither but instead stripped the vehicle "of the engine, gearbox and other crucial parts," and in 2022, dropped it outside her home. This only compounded the suffering she'd already endured until then.

"Nobody buys a Porsche to have a car"

The judge ruled in favor of the owner in her lawsuit claiming breach of contract and conversion, which is legal-speak for refusing to return someone's property when asked to do so. The ruling noted that the Porsche was a prized asset for the researcher, even though she'd only drive it on occasion and didn't want to use it as her daily driver.

"Nobody buys a Porsche to have a car," the judge said. Porsche might want to trademark that.

"They buy a Porsche to have a Porsche," the judge continued. "The car had a particular value, given its status and performance. It was her evidence that she prized it and enjoyed driving it and she was deprived of the value of being a Porsche owner while the car was held by [defendant] even though she only used it for specific trips."

The owner was awarded almost $150,000 in damages but the ruling isn't final. As per the same media outlet, the two parties have to show up in court once more to find out if the mechanic has standing for appeal and to discuss interest on the amount awarded and legal costs.