The biggest challenge of the #hunzikerartcar was always going to be the very first trade for the donor car. So it feels incredible to type the following:

Trade #1 is in the books: I traded two paintings for a 2004 Porsche 911 GT3

One of my previous painting customers (who values his privacy and wishes to remain anonymous, for now we shall call him Mr. Topanga) was absolutely enthralled with this project. His first comment was:

“I don’t own a GT3… but I could give you the money for the car in trade for the paintings. I know it’s not a straight trade but I’m hoping that you will say ‘yes’.”

Of course, that was a no-brainer for me. My only stipulation was that Mr. Topanga would wire the money directly to the seller of the GT3 donor car.

Mr. Topanga and I also discussed the subject matters of the paintings that I would create for him, in the end we agreed on the following pieces: One painting would depict a Singer modified Porsche 911 and the other subject matter would be the Porsche IROC at Riverside. I’m currently in the sketching phase for these two painting commissions so stay tuned.

After Mr. Topanga and I had agreed on the deal, he joked: “Tomorrow you’ll be on the internet, looking for a GT3!” – He was almost right, I was scouring the internet for a donor car that very same evening.

After a week of searching every car site, forum and after having reached out to various friends in the trade, I came across this gem on the Rennlist forum:

This 2004 GT3 pretty much ticked all the boxes: It was white with a black interior and the car came back with a clean DME over rev report. The car did have some bolt-on mods (such as a rear roll cage, Fabspeed exhaust and uprated brake discs) and it even had the European Clubsport seats. It looked like a well cared for example with just a bit over 79,000 kilometers on the clock. Why kilometers and not miles? The car was in Nova Scotia, a scant 3,642 miles from my studio in California.

I did find other GT3s that were not in Nova Scotia but most of the GT3s on the market fell into two categories: Either they were low mileage and pristine stock examples that, at $75K+, were too expensive and frankly too nice and too rare to be turned into my GT3R Strassenversion build. The second category consisted of heavily modified and extensively tracked GT3s.

I talked it over with Mr. Topanga and we both agreed that in spite of the car’s location, the white Nova Scotia car would make for the best donor vehicle. I approached the seller and made him an offer on his GT3. I didn’t want to be too cheeky so I figured I’d offer him 10% below his initial asking price. After a day or so I got the following reply:

“Thanks again for your offer, I’m having second thoughts about selling the car. I think I am just going to hang on to it for now. Hope you find the right car.”

Alessandro’s Last Ride – The original 18″ x 24″ acrylic on canvas painting that helped seal the deal in the acquisition of the GT3 donor car.

I included a link to my original paintings and waited for his answer. His reply surprised me: Not only had he heard of me, he was a PCA member and PCA instructor and had read my art&canvass features in Porsche Panorama magazine. He inquired which painting I was offering or if he got to choose. I told the seller that he could take his pick.

The donor car for the #hunzikerartcar project: A white on black 2004 Porsche 911 GT3 with 79,000 kms.