Help a fellow PHer in need
Donation protected
Regular visitors to the 'readers cars' section of the PistonHeads forums will no doubt be familiar with PHer Escy's (Tom Prosser) long-running thread about his hugely ambitious Porsche Boxster engine swap project (see here). The thread, which has been running since February 2016 and now extends to 25 photo-heavy pages, has long been a source of fascination and inspiration for many less-gifted home mechanics (myself included!). Tom's apparently endless passion and enthusiasm has seen him overcome numerous technical challenges throughout the build, each documented in meticulous detail for the benefit of others.
Then last week, with the end finally in sight, the car was tragically destroyed in a fire from which Tom and his daughter Sofia were lucky to escape unscathed. The disaster struck at the worst possible time, just as plans were being made to sell the car once complete to raise funds for a deposit on a house. Worse still, as the project was not yet finished, the Boxster was being kept on a 3rd party only policy, with plans to upgrade to fully-comprehensive cover once the car was ready for regular use. As such, the loss of the car not only represents the loss of two years' hard work, but also the loss of a significant financial investment.
Since news of the tragedy broke, Tom's thread has been flooded not only with messages of sympathy and support, but even more touchingly, with numerous offers of financial assistance from PHers keen to see the project resurrected. I have started this fund to give those who wish to donate the opportunity to do so through a secure, trusted website, safe in the knowledge that the funds will only go to the intended recipient (I am setting this up so that only Tom will be able to make withdrawals from the account). Although I do not know Tom personally, I have followed his thread with great interest over the past year or so, and hope that this fund will go some way towards giving Tom and his family a small glimmer of hope for the future, at what must be an extremely difficult time for them all.
I have set a nominal target of £1,000, but if everyone who has read Tom's thread donated just a few pounds, I have no doubt that we could go a long way towards covering the cost of a new donor car. I should add that although the fund is mainly aimed at encouraging fellow PHers to donate, members of the general public are of course welcome to contribute as well. I fully appreciate that non-PHers may well feel that there are more deserving causes than a fund which essentially amounts to "help buy a Porsche for some bloke that I've never met"...! To them, I would say that this isn't really about a car - it's about a man, his family, and a community.
Thank you for reading, and please give generously!
Best wishes,
Rob
Then last week, with the end finally in sight, the car was tragically destroyed in a fire from which Tom and his daughter Sofia were lucky to escape unscathed. The disaster struck at the worst possible time, just as plans were being made to sell the car once complete to raise funds for a deposit on a house. Worse still, as the project was not yet finished, the Boxster was being kept on a 3rd party only policy, with plans to upgrade to fully-comprehensive cover once the car was ready for regular use. As such, the loss of the car not only represents the loss of two years' hard work, but also the loss of a significant financial investment.
Since news of the tragedy broke, Tom's thread has been flooded not only with messages of sympathy and support, but even more touchingly, with numerous offers of financial assistance from PHers keen to see the project resurrected. I have started this fund to give those who wish to donate the opportunity to do so through a secure, trusted website, safe in the knowledge that the funds will only go to the intended recipient (I am setting this up so that only Tom will be able to make withdrawals from the account). Although I do not know Tom personally, I have followed his thread with great interest over the past year or so, and hope that this fund will go some way towards giving Tom and his family a small glimmer of hope for the future, at what must be an extremely difficult time for them all.
I have set a nominal target of £1,000, but if everyone who has read Tom's thread donated just a few pounds, I have no doubt that we could go a long way towards covering the cost of a new donor car. I should add that although the fund is mainly aimed at encouraging fellow PHers to donate, members of the general public are of course welcome to contribute as well. I fully appreciate that non-PHers may well feel that there are more deserving causes than a fund which essentially amounts to "help buy a Porsche for some bloke that I've never met"...! To them, I would say that this isn't really about a car - it's about a man, his family, and a community.
Thank you for reading, and please give generously!
Best wishes,
Rob
Organizer and beneficiary
Robert Cork
Organizer
Thomas Prosser
Beneficiary
