Stupid Question

[Red84Cab]

Team 911,
While my car is down with engine repairs.... I have been reading and grabbing as much knowledge as I can. My stupid question is......

What exactly is "backdating"?

[Noah930]

Making a car look like an earlier model. So for your short-hood '84, it usually means making it look like a long-hood ('73 and earlier).

[Poopwink]

Short answer: taking a car from one particular era and making it look like an older version. If someone takes a 911SC or an '80s Carrera and replaces the bumpers and fenders with those from older '70s cars, that could be considered a "backdate." I don't feel like there's any true, rigid scientific application for the term--just something that gets thrown around.

[mike sampsel]

Around 50K or more

[snbush67]

A backdate can be a simple project such as replacing your mirrors. Wait. That’s not that simple.

Or it could mean a “full backdate” taking an decent SC that you pay say…45$k for then spending oh…5 years of your life … “backdating” into a 73 RSR with a monster engine and performance upgrades for oh, about a gazillion pesos in parts in material not withstanding the stuff that you may have to outsource.

[EC900]

I’d like to backdate myself to 1973 or earlier and pick up a few castaways.
Anyone have a way back machine perchance?

[fintstone]

Funny how back in the late 70s & 80s, people would take long hood cars and try to make them look like newer ones by adding the big flag mirrors and blacking out the chrome (and with targa's, painting the stainless bar black). In many cases, people swapped out the interiors and front clips. I almost put the power flag mirrors on my first '74, but instead, opted to remover the aftermarket ones and install the original chrome ones. My current '74 has the single driver's side chrome mirror. In many regards, the '74 is a mix of the new body style and a lot of the older features. I like all the shiny parts and Crayola color as it looks very retro to me. I also have an unmolested '89 sitting next to it in my garage with all the black trim, tail, and flares...and the contrast between the first and last year of that body style is pretty cool.

When I bought my first Porsche, "purists" at that time believed that almost anything that was factory from a later car like a Carrera oil cooler, mirrors, wider fuchs, etc... were cool (an improvement). I sorta subscribe to that...as to me, Porsche engineering/design are what makes the car a Porsche (And desirable). With that in mind, I added the Porsche engineered '89 Carrera cooler to my car as it is the "best of breed" versus a cheaper aftermarket setup and "7 fuchs vs the original 6". Of course, now that "restomods/rods" are popular (or things like Singer builds). I did add LED lights, as these are almost undrivable at night with the old ones.