The request: “I want to sell Dad’s Porsche behind his back”

Source: Official Night Scoop X account

The October 9 episode of *Night Scoop* was one Porsche owners couldn’t afford to miss.

ABC Television’s *Night Scoop* is a show where detectives take on requests from viewers. It airs locally in the Kansai region, but episodes are also available on catch-up services such as TVer. This time, the person seeking help was a 26-year-old woman from Tokyo, the second of six siblings. Her request: “I want to sell Dad’s Porsche behind his back.”

Her father, a photographer, had once again bought a car without telling the family. He revealed the price three months later: “two million yen.” He already owned five cars, but never let his family drive them—or even ride in them.

Her mother was furious. The refrigerator-freezer was on the fritz, she knew, and yet he had bought a car purely for his own enjoyment. When he was home, she stayed upstairs and avoided him. More than a month went by without them seeing each other face to face. Normally, they were a close couple who called each other by their first names.

The car was a black 996-generation 911, built between the late 1990s and early 2000s, with 133,000 kilometers on the odometer. It had been customized to look like the GT3, Porsche’s high-performance, race-bred model. A Porsche specialist valued it at ¥1 million to ¥1.5 million. The siblings wanted to use the proceeds to take their mother on a trip to Hokkaido, and the family quickly agreed: “Let’s sell it!”

Even with its looks changed, Dad recognized his 996

The episode’s big moment came with the detectives’ “last chance.”

They restored the car from its GT3-style custom look to something closer to its original appearance, then brought it in front of the father to see if he would recognize it. He called it “cool” and admired the care taken with the GT3 parts, but soon began to sense something wasn’t right. Then he figured it out: “I know where every little dimple and blemish is on my partner.”

I really connected with that moment. Even when its appearance has been changed, you can still recognize your own car. That’s incredible—and I think I’d probably recognize mine, too. Change the exterior or interior, and I’d still know it by its aura, its character, its soul.

The feel of the cabin when you open the door, your view from behind the wheel, the shudder as the engine fires up: drive a car every day, and your body remembers all those little details. That’s the kind of car a Porsche is.

In the end, the father said, “I regret getting the order of things wrong. If my wife will talk to me as usual after we sell it, that’s a small price to pay.” The couple saw each other face to face for the first time in a month, and their daughter was in tears. It’s easy to understand why YOU, the show’s special director, called it “an unexpectedly moving story.”

I’m no stranger to telling my wife after the fact

My former SL500 (R129)

Watching the episode made me think about my own family.

When I buy a car, I don’t tend to consult my wife much. I usually tell her, “I’m buying this,” once I’ve more or less made up my mind. I’m not trying to keep it a secret, but I often tell her afterward: “I’ve put in the order.” With the 718 Cayman T, it was more like, “I went and bought it.” I think I told her about the Mercedes-Benz SL (R129) afterward, too, saying, “I’m getting that one.”

Even so, my wife has hardly ever objected. At most, she’ll say, “Wouldn’t this one be better?” So far, I’ve never canceled or changed a purchase because of her opinion.

When it comes to telling your spouse after the fact, maybe I’m not so different from the father on the show. So why don’t we end up arguing? The reason is clear.

The key to enjoying cars: Don’t make your family sacrifice

The show’s preview post on X has been viewed more than seven million times.

This week’s second Night Scoop story is…

“I want to sell Dad’s Porsche behind his back”

— Night Scoop (@abc_knightscoop) October 8, 2026

Before the episode aired, some people asked, “Isn’t this helping someone commit a crime?” and “Are they really allowed to broadcast this!?” Others were more pragmatic: “If he can afford a Porsche, surely he can afford a family vacation.” That second reaction caught my attention. Talk about cars can easily become a conversation about money—and about who has to go without.

I think my family is comfortable with me owning several cars because they haven’t had to give anything up for them. If my car hobby meant financial sacrifices for my family, my wife would object, too. From the start, my goal was to make sure my family never had to worry about money because of my cars. No complaints—and then I can enjoy my cars. That was the plan.

That’s why I’d like to ask the father on the show one thing. If he loves Porsches enough to own five cars, could he have sold, say, three of them and kept the Porsche along with a car for the family? If he sold everything, the family would have trouble getting around, so keeping a family car makes sense. If you really love Porsches, that’s the least you can do.

A car you know so well you can spot every little dimple and blemish—that kind of connection is special. And if you’ve found a car you care about that much, there must be a way to protect both your time with it and your time with your family. Maybe that’s the real secret to enjoying Porsche ownership for years to come.