HELP - Trying to identify an SC Whale Tail
 

Hi all,

I'm trying to find an authentic era tail for my 1978 SC. I know they changed the tails on them about 81-82, the earlier ones had a different one.

(I think it was 83 that the Turbo look spoiler came in)

I found this one on ebay:

SPOILER

Could anyone verify if this is the era correct spoiler and can anyone pick if its factory or not?

Cheers ,

Tom.

Tom,

That would be correct for your car and it all looks factory. I rather doubt anybody ever made a copy of the rubber tail. You do realize how heavy these tails are, right? If it was my car, I'd look for a fiberglass one.

JR

That is the early 3.0 Carrera Tail, also used on the 1980 Weissach Edition 911 SC. A similar tail was on the early 930. It is characterized by the fact that there is an opening in the top which actually opens down to the grille on the rear decklid. It also looks more like a "tail" than the later ones. The later 930 turbo tails and the Carrera Tail nave a flat top section (there is no exposed opening to the decklid beneath the tail base).

For an SC, that tail could be consider "correct" as it was on the Weissach, and was around chronlogically when the SC was made (it could have ben a dealer installed option.) The turbo tails were also regularly installed on the SC, though they do look kind of large because of the size of the rubber lip. The Carrera tail, obviously, looks the most correct on the SC, as it was designed for the 84-89 Carrera, and the SC body is identical to the Carrera. It can be a chronological faux pax, though, as it came out after the SC was retired. Nevertheless, a delaer could have retrofitted one on to a 1 year old SC in 1984 ;)

That particular tail in this Ebay ad is far lighter than the Carrera or Turbo tails. There is less of it, because it has a big opening leading down to the deck lid itself.

The sponsor of this site sells (or used to sell) replica rubber lips for the tails, by the way. They are heavy, even the OEM ones.

There are some pictures of the tail that came off of my 1978 911SC in this thread:

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsche-911-used-parts-sale-wanted/347161-sale-early-930-911-whale-tail.html?highlight=tail

Unfortunetly I just sold the tail.

The rubber for your year should curve upward and not stay flat like the later carrera tails.

Just an FYI boxed up the tail weighed 62 lbs. It costed $110.00 to ship fedex from Pennsylvania to Georgia. I figure by switching to the fiberglass ducktail I added a couple ponies, ha ha ha.

Rich

"That particular tail in this Ebay ad is far lighter than the Carrera or Turbo tails. There is less of it, because it has a big opening leading down to the deck lid itself."

You are joking, right? That TANK is the heaviest tail ever offered from Porsche. Its all rubber composition mounted on the stock decklid is just plain HEAVY ! We removed plenty over the years to replace with the mostly fiberglass base, metal frame, rubber edged lip units as found on the 75 Carrera and Weissach (which are a lot lighter)

BTW- the all rubber tail option warps quite nicely with exposure to heat and sun

I had one of those tails on my car before I did a re-paint. I replaced it with a Carrera tail.The old rubber tail weighs a ton.

I hate to sound anal but, for the benefit of those that search the archives in the future, I have to correct a couple of things. Yes, this tail was available during the production run of the Carrera 3.0 but it was not used on the Weissach edition or the early turbo. Those tails were fiberglass over a metal frame with a rubber edge, in the same basic shape as this one, with the turbo tails having a second grille, in the flat horizontal part. The turbo tails varied a little, in that the early tails had a smaller secondary grille.

To emphasize what TRE said, these all-rubber tails were hugely heavy. Lot's of weight in the absolute worst place for weight on a 911.

The later SC (82, 83) got the 3.3 turbo tail.

JR

That is an early Turbo Tail (76 or 77). I think you want the next whale tail or a carerra tail.

Hmmm. Some of you guys aren't paying attention here. It's not a turbo tail.

Take a look at my last post.

JR

JR(Javadog) is correct
Some but not all had the secondary grill, which was alternately used for AC or oil cooler

here are the weights of just the tails w/o the lids
MA Shaw C2 spoiler 9#
oem P/U spoiler 20#
83 930 tail 23#
I replaced the p/u tail which was oem on my '76 C3 w/ the Shaw one. The 930 tail info was given to me so no guarantees on accuracy.

The lighter tail does make a noticable difference in the feel of the car in turns and at speed.

by the way if any one needs a lid drilled for the p/u tail let me know i've got one you can have cheap.