Quote:
Originally Posted by famoroso
Let's be intellectually honest. By the late '80s (if not earlier) most every US 911, save for the handful of Club Sports, were ~3,000 pound, more luxury than sport (i.e. less performance oriented) cruisers.
Even G Speedsters (most optioned with AC, many with power seats, headlamp washers, intensive windshield washers, etc,) aren't performance oriented. As much as I like a G Speedster for it's looks, the widebody and heavier 930 suspension & brakes went against the original 356 Speedster ethos, both from cost and weight perspectives.
How many 911s, much less 491s, have you seen as "strippers" vs heavily optioned?
Cases in point:
My '87 coupe, as close to a stripper US 491 that I've seen. It is PTS, which is UH-mazing (still tho, I wish it had also been optioned with sport seats and LSD. I can only dream about the holy grail factory sunroof delete car!). ~2,840 pounds after some lightweighting (fog light delete, heater backdate, 20 pounds taken out of the powertrain's reciprocating / rotating assembly)...
Yes, the code was used and reused. Regardless, please don't try and make a connection between the '70s RSR cars and our beloved lil' street cruisers, like Paul at the M491 Yahoo! group did back in the day. That was a bridge way too far.
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id say the early by 80's they were already beginning to be deck out with mandatory options for the usa market. yuppism was in full swing.
an 84 M491 would be lighter than a 86 and later cars even with the same 915. some of the sheet metal and body panels were thicker and stamped vs welded. the half access hole for the rear torsion would be a clue to which are the heavier cars. changes in the interior added weight as well.
there is a one nice white fed m491 in socal, no SR with RS type bumpers and ducktrail that have posted his car here on pelican. great car, they do exist but unfortunately are extraordinarily rare.
i have a couple of buddies with euro spect 911-930s here. his 3.2 is virtually in spotless stock condition, no fuel evap, door beams, light on options, no SR, no Climate control etc (i cant remember off hand if it had roll up windows). best thing about it is it has all vinyl interior which looks virtually new!
euro specs 3.2's are out there but rarely in m491 form. My family alone have had 4 grey market cars, very popular during the 70s/80s before the DOT-EPA shut it down for a long period.
no misconception here, i think that was my whole point... the Fed specs M491 TLs unlike the earlier cars that used that same code are fat slobs like the 930s, thats why im working on its diet :-)
all the best