One For The Purists - Picking Up a Carrera Today
 

And not one of those new fangled 996 Carreras like I normally buy, this is a good old fashioned "real" Porsche.:p Normally I wouldn't have two "project" cars at one time, but this was simply too good to pass up and only one hour away. I made the deal on Wednesday and am heading back to pick it up today. Here's the major details:

1988 Carrera Targa Commemorative Edition - special edition to celebrate 250,000 911s built. Exclusive diamond blue metallic paint, metallic blue interior with Ferry Porsche signature seats, color matched 15" Fuchs (included but not installed)
54,000 miles (!)
G50 gearbox with Quaife LSD and shortened 5th gear, RSR lightened flywheel, HD clutch
Safety devices 6-point bolt in cage w/harness bar and harness
Momo wheel with quick release
Momo racing seat with sliders (not installed)
RS door panels
RSR bumpers, RS America rear spoiler
16x8 & 9 HRE wheels
Fully rebuilt suspension with monoballs, sway bars, 23/29 torsion bars, custom valved Bilsteins, turbo tie rods, strut brace
993TT front brakes, 928 S4 rear brakes, 911 turbo master cyliner
The best part - recent total engine rebuild with 9.9:1 P&Cs, rebuilt heads with new valves and studs, boattailed crankcase, lightened and knife edged crank, rebuilt lightened and shot peened rods, full balance, Autothority MAF, headers, and Phase 9 race mufflers.

The car overall is in fantastic shape and awesome to drive. Despite the work being done the suspension is actually very livable, the current owner lives at the end of a rough one mile gravel road and it handled it very well. It's a car that was built to be a PCA Club Race car, and it did a few races around the 2000 timeframe. Only four races on the current engine build. I spoke with the engine builder (GK Ltd - super nice guy) who said that it was built to be a reliable race engine with minimal maintenance and still streetable, he said that it should last nearly forever if only used on the street, DE, etc. The current owner essentially parked the car in 2000 when he moved to the country and started a farm, it has seen maybe 150 miles worth of occasional use since then. All of the original parts are included - 15" Fuchs, bumpers, door panels, rear interior side panels, original mechanical bits, etc.

My plan for this one is to remove the cage, take care of the deferred maintenance, find some SSIs and a good sport muffler so I can have heat again, then drive the hell out of it. I go through a lot of cars, many posted here for your amusement:cool:, but I haven't been this excited about one for a long time. My last two nights were late ones because I couldn't sleep, I have a feeling the Maserati is going to do a lot of sitting.

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Pics from the current owner. It's dirty but otherwise very nice. Damn I'm excited!

Looks like another fun toy.

Yes, the new Porsches are better . . . blah, blah, blah . . . and the BMW this & the Audi that & lotus etc etc.

But imho . . . nothing beats an air-cooled Porsche with the top down for affordable & reliable fun. The smell. The sound. The surgical handling. Enjoy it.

I am going out for a Why not? drive right now. SmileWavy

Ian

Funny you say that, sitting in it was a total flashback to my 1970 911T.

You win :cool:

Don't worry. That's just sleep deprivation! :)

Great score. So many possibilities. I like the roll bar long term if it is just a half cage.

More pictures and enjoy.

I have Sept 2013 in the pool. :)

Oh yeah, nice find, Matt!

Nice find! I always enjoy reading your threads.

Aren't you suppose to start the post with a couple of dozen newb questions? Having run a MAF on my car for years before I switched back the original, thats the first thing I would do. It's an interesting car for sure. IF he was club racing that car, the mods he did would make it really hard to compete with that car. But the better for you!

Beautiful car Matt! But lose the wheels. To me, Fuchs are the perfect compliment to a 911. Why people change them out, I'll never understand.

Everyone has their personal opinion, of course

But if it were mine, I'd return it to stock appearance, fit different blue Sport seats to save those from wear, sell the HREs while they're worth something, and fit 16x7/8 Fuchs with polished rims and color-matched centers mounted with 225/245 Pilot Super Sports.

Detail, maintain, and enjoy

YMMV

It's funny how this is directed to the "purist". That car is about as pure as Kim Kardashian:D Actually, my car as plenty of the same upgrades, its hard not to do. Which is why I will never sell mine, I'd hate to see what he got for all that money he sunk into it!:D

Wow, sounds very sweet. I'm jealous. Hell, there is probably as much or more money in the mods as the car would otherwise be worth.

Very nice Matt! I like the color, and it sounds like it has had some good mods to it.

Bill

Love Diamond Blue Metallic. Makes me miss the zoomer:

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Beautiful ride! Congratulations and enjoy it.

Safe back at home. Fun trip, 100 miles of torrential rain in a 911 with a leaky targa top, no heat or A/C (so no defrost), broken headlights, and 13 year old tires. Fortunately I at least grabbed new wiper blades before we left town. There were a few spooky moments but the car did great.

No heat, do you have the autoheat feature with the rotary dial. If so, my 1st search on Pelican was for that problem. There is a plastic ball and socket assembly under the plastic box between the front seats. That ball and socket are plastic and the socket can pop off. Reattach and put a small wire tie on it.

Cool car. what does the script on the front fender say, I can't read it.

Hugh, no heat because it has headers.:)

The front stickers say Porsche Club Racing. Looking through his records includes all of his race results, looks like he was D class (2000 ish) and ran mid pack in the overall rankings, pretty high in his class. He beat out RS Americas, 993 S models, 930s, and was pretty close to the 993TTs.

Looks like a good score if the price was right but not exactly a purist's car.

Nevermind.....

no, I thought it would be a special 356 or a 90_cough cough

You guys are killing me. It's not a 996......:cool:

I'm pretty sure he was thinking that any air-cooled 911 is more a purist car than the water cooled 996s and Boxsters he's had lately.

Just poking fun at those that consider the water pumpers to not be real Porsches.

Very nice. Would get rid of the tail though...

Totally agree Joe, the RSA style tail just doesn't fit it. Though it apparently is effective, the PO told me that the front bumper splitter and rear wing made a huge difference in high speed sweepers. Sadly it has two bolts that go through the deck lid, so if I remove it some body and paintwork will be in order.

Nice find Matt...out of curiosity...why the rebuild at that mileage...worn valve guides?

Performance, he wanted more power on the track without risk of mechanical failure. When I talked to the engine builder he told me that the PO didn't want a full on race motor that would drive high maintenance requirements, just something competitive and reliable. He said that this engine build should be about 250 HP, and basically bulletproof.

Excellent outlook IMHO. Hard to beat something like that for a "fun car" to drive!

I understood exactly what he meant but that is stretching the definition of "purist" quite a bit. A few short years ago, there was no such thing as a water-cooled 911 and they were definitely not all *purist cars*.

Not that I give a shake what some purist thinks, but there were air-cooled abortions by the boat load back in the day. Stosek, Gemballa, I can't remember the rest but L.A. eurotrash spots were choked with over-cooked poser machines outside on the curb. I'm older, so air-cooled does not = purist to me at all.

And once again, nice score if the price was right. I hope it was. :)

When the time comes, and you know it will, to move on, let me know first.

I am itching for another Targa and could see myself in that one with the tail gone and the Fuchs on:)

Very true statement. I could feel a significant difference when I went from ducktail to larger tail in the back (and balanced it with a front spoiler). I hated the look but loved the lap times :D

Seat wear? Remember we're talking about Matt (car swinger) - I highly doubt this will last more than 6 months in his garage. :)

Nice car Matt. I agree (mostly) with what Kaisen says. Since you're not going to track the car I 2nd losing the ugly tail and just deal with minor body work for the deck lid holes. Oh and lose the headers and get heat & AC working again. I love the diamond blue - it is my second favorite color behind black.

That makes it easy Todd, have one rear deck for daily use and another for the track. They are not that expensive if you keep your eyes open for something used.

Very nice find, Matt... "engine rebuild philosophy," especially.

A while back, you were looking for ideas on an autocross/track car. It seems like this baby could fill that role nicely... or are you still going to pursue something else for that?

If you plan to let this one be a sort of dual role car, you might consider leaving the cage in for the extra stiffness it would provide.

Paul, I'll let you know.:)

Overall approach on the car is to keep most of the sporty elements but make it more street able. The cage is already out, and I'll be ordering new carpet today and reinstalling the original door and rear sidewall panels. I'm not in love with the current Momo so I may replace that as well. After further investigation the Targa top seals actually look pretty good as does the top, I think an adjustment is all that it needs. Outside I've already dropped $500 with our host for a comprehensive tune up and change of all fluids, as well as taking care of some misc stuff. I'm going to pull the headers and race exhaust and replace it with the stock heat exchangers, cat bypass, and banana muffler for now, and I'm going to order backdate heater ducts so I have heat. I'll tinker with the A/C to see if I can get it working as well. I can't reinstall the original 15" Fuchs because of the 993TT front brakes, so I'll stick with the HRE wheels and get some new Potenzas for now. I haven't made up my mind on the exterior, I don't like the wing but I also don't know if I want to mess with removal and bodywork. Should be a fun project, even needing a few things it's a blast to drive. It's with me at work today despite not having any interior past the front seats. :D

Matt, I need new carpeting for my '86. Let me know what style you get and who you get it from!