My first effort was to get this car home. I suppose I could have driven it but that would have been a long drive (300 miles) in a car that seemed anything but reliable. I discarded that idea and with some suggestions from friends at various Porsche discussion groups, I learned that U-Haul does not have the Porsche 944 on their list of approved-for-towing cars. 

However, if I convinced the folks at U-Haul that I was really towing a 88 VW Rabbit, then the tow dolly would in fact work. It seems that, for some reason, people have trouble towing Porsches. The 944 does sit very low to the ground and I suspect this contributes to damage when towing. If you search the discussion groups, you'll find that some have towed rear-first (rear wheels on the dolly) and others (like me) have gone front-first.

I've done this job twice, once with a 944 and once with a 944 Turbo. With the 944, I just drove the front wheels right up onto the dolly. The 951 was a little more tricky. For it I had two 6 foot, 2 X 8 inch boards and a couple of blocks to support the mid-point of the boards. These boards make for a more graduated rise up onto the dolly. I also used a come-along (hand winch) to pull the car up the ramps. Not all tow dollies are alike so use some judgment.

In the process of using the winch on the 944 Turbo and a tow eye, I was able to see (close-up and in slow motion) how well the structure supports the tow eye. Even though the incline was very slight, the structure above and forward of the radiator was immediately stressed to the point of bending. From this I concluded that the tow eye was for emergencies only!  Many of these original tow eyes have been lost - maybe it is for the best. 

 

Under pet peeves: As much as I love the technical discussions on Rennlist  (as well as the other discussion groups). There are many Porsche owners who have encountered problems and are determined to help others to not suffer a similar fate. Generally, this is a good thing (no, its a great thing) but... in the rush to emphasize the dangers of things like belt tensioning and need for high quality wiring, exaggerations are made to stress a point or make an impact. These, in turn, get passed along again and again and become what one friend referred to as "RennList Myths."  Some are good because they truly are valuable lessons learned. Some are just the everyday exaggerations that occur in the human interchange known as the internet.  Like all things on the internet, I would encourage you to add a healthy grain of salt to everything you read. There are many good people here in the 944 community, you need only read their words to know this is true.