[70SWT]

As one more data point: over the course of at least 20 years, I have owned multiple longhood and shorthood 911s (nothing driveable that was older than 1969 or newer than 1988), with multiple lightweight and widebody versions of each.

My experience jibes with Bill's and others here in that I know of no inherent technical factor pertaining to the longhood vs. shorthood platforms that would favor the former in terms of nimbleness and handling. Stripped to the chassis, on a coupe vs. coupe or targa vs. targa basis, they are extremely similar in terms of anything a regular guy could detect when driving.

The two main factors in nimble handling are what is bolted to the chassis: (1) tires/wheels (both in terms of weight and width) and (2) overall weight. Whether longhood or shorthood, if they are lighter with narrower tires, either generation will feel markedly more nimble and very similar to each other.

The newer they are, generally, the more heavy BS is bolted to them - if you leave them stock, then the newer ones feel bogged down. One exception is that the aluminum trailing arms and front crossmember in later cars are actually lighter - all else being equal, that one factor favors the newer cars.

As one guy says, there is a lot of fantasy and mythology associated with the longhood era. The main thing that differentiates them is their appearance and the fact that they rust a lot more!