The ULTIMATE essence Thread.

[Zeke]

I'm reading today and talking less. My daddy would have been proud of me. I see all kinds of 911s here and lots more ideas on what to do to the car besides restoring it to stock.

Popular conversions are early body to RS look and a 2.7-9 motor.
Same car with a 3.2 or a 3.6
Mid year car to IROC or RSR
Turbo or 3.8 wing on any of these. Or retro with a duck.
17 " wheels on any of these.
Exhaust.
Seats.
Turbo look.
964, 993 conversions to earlier models

What is essence? Essence is the approach by which the final modified product incorporates that which is better for the base subject car and has the aesthetics to be in proper, meaningful combination with the base. And it was probably inspired originally by the factory.

There is no reason not to change out a Rolls Royce engine in favor of a smooth, powerful, sophsiticated power plant that is quiet and a better motor. It would be a misdeed to install a deisel.

There is no reason not to install a 3.6 in a '72 and add suspension and driven components that need to be there for the extra performance. But, does this capture the essence? Can you stray too far from the drawing board when building a car? Maybe that's what is unpopular with the 996. They went too far in their own game and pursued avenues that were outside of the raw essence.

If I took a 996 and backdated it some, most notably making it lighter and less dependent on computers and auto controls and made it the most basic I could w/o being silly, will I have the essence back?

I think taking any factory wheel and having it widened keeps the essence more than bolting on a set of OZ racing wheels. Over at the race track though, the OZ have essence in that context.

I think using a ducktail up through '73 captures essence, or even on later year cars that backdate the bumpers. I think it is lost with a duck on the platapus. The reverse is true, also. The whale tail on the early body does not convey a sense of belonging. A great mod along these lines is the 964 lid on an early car. The disappearing duck! The much later lid has the early essence.

The factory has cobbled together some make-do efforts for their racing efforts. I have always thought of the 914-6 GT with it's box flares as simply the quickest way to cover wider tires and wheels and not so much as a great inspiration in design. It kept the silouette, which is what they had to do. Do we now endevaor to copy what was a solution brought about by rules of the date? Does that capture the essence of the orginal 914 design? I'm just using the 914 momentarily as a benchmark for flares, i.e., that's what they did then, so we do it now.

There were dozens of variations on the 911 from the factory, some bad and some good.

How 'bout it? Which 911s have "it?" Show pics of cars that display pure essence of the marque.

[GettinHeadStuds]

Essence?

Right here:

[ubiquity0]

Looks like an SC humped a 356A

[dd74]

Originally posted by GettinHeadStuds
Essence?

Right here:

Sweet! I like it!

[Jim Richards]

Vintage track essence:



This is probably in the wrong forum.

[Jens]

Rooted in competition, no doubt-

[Jens]

RSR

[Shuie]

I don't know if it's the same thing as having essence, but there are some cars here that give me a warm fuzzy when I see pictures of them . Here are a few:

[Shuie]

more...

[Zeke]

I didn't realize I had put this in the parts forum. Sorry. Thanks for the responses. You guys all get it alright. Not a bad car in the lot.

[Jeremy Cottrell]

Cool thread Zeke! Maybe one of the moderators will move it to the proper place?

[Jeremy Cottrell]

This one's got good "essence"

[Westy]

For several years I thought essence was a blend of spices Emeril uses on a daily basis. Alas I am corrected. Milt, using any of your proposed definitions, gettinheadstuds has defined ESSENCE with the pic of that silver beauty. I don't see how it gets any better than that.

[Zeke]

That's why it's called Essence. Emril gets it.

[KobaltBlau]

No offense to anyone, but I think that 356 is ugly with those flares.

is this BB1?:

Originally posted by Shuie

Light weight and good sounds are important parts of essence for me. These among many other things are exemplified by the old factory race cars. Is a faithful '73 RSR replica a good daily driver? probably not. Is it a good example of essence? I think so.

[jpnovak]

Cool thread.

HMM essence. That is a good word to describe many things. In this case I think it means that you take the main part of a whole and concentrate on making that the best it can be, extracting the most from it.

In the case of the 911, it means to use a car for its intended purpose. To me the purpose is to drive the crap out of them. Push them and hold them on the edge as long and as much as possible. What happens when you cross that edge? Modifications are the result. why? To push that level of perfomance that much further.

To me, modifications that enhace the "essence" of the car are what you go after.

Remove weight.
suspension changes
brake changes
safety changes
engine changes

As long as the modifications all fit the essence then go for it with the intention of doing what her doktor had in mind all those years. For example, I am not a fan of building an RS replica becuase they are cool and have a long list of automotive history. But, I am a fan of building an RS replica becuase it had a lightweight chassis, stripped interior, flares which allowed bigger wheels for greater traction, and an enlarged motor that made the whole package come together in a seamless expression of WOW!

Sherman, thanks for including my car in those fine examples of the 911 "essence".

[Shuie]

Every car I posted above has infleuenced something I have done to my car. There are many others as well and I apologize for anyone I left out.

Andy,
Yes, thats BB1. Great picture. The pictures of BB1 were what made me want a longhood hotrod.

Jamie,
No problem. The updates from your car, dtw's cars, and thrown_hammer's car were what convinced me to try some of this stuff myself. I'd never done anything more mechanically intense than change the oil on a car before I came here and started reading those updates. Thanks for the motivation.

[SCWDP911]

I found this thread tonight while doing a search and thought it deserved to be resurrected... Hopefully I am not the only one that agrees with myself!

[nameisbauer]

[88 Club Sport]

Here is what I am trying to do with my 78SC and a 85 3.2...... a Euro Carrera Club Sport replica. Time to paint the SCarrera



Hey Milt, thanks for the tip on the XIM sealer/bonder