In addition to the 911, and the 911-6 550 replica, we've gone a bit of a 944 bender. Picked up two 1983 NA 944's for cheap over the summer. These will both have LS3 engines in them.

So...yes, I am a lower class of human. One who is absolutely addicted to horsepower. :D

angela

Putting a fresh 3.0/6 in my 914 right now, even on the /4 the engine bay is made for a six and the inner fender is stamped for the oil tank. 911 front end bolts right on and a large amount of the 914 part numbers start with a nine.

Even early 911's are peppered with VW parts, so I guess they are not a real Porsche as well. :rolleyes:

BTW 1970 Le Mans the 914 came in 6th overall... and beat the 911S ;)

I guess you are missing the point of what many people want in a Porsche and that is a hot rodded air cooled VW:rolleyes:, The more VW like the better.
944, 928 are pretty darned refined, nice cars compared to their air cooled brethren, the joy in a 911 is the fact that it is so such a bad idea that made good, the most unusual way to make a sports car, especially using a economy car as a design base, 944's, 928's were clean slate cars, Porsches chance to break away from poor man post war necessity.
They are all great cars but, front engined water cooled is just not unusual enough to want to chose a Porsche only, maybe a BMW? or any other front engined water cooled car, there sure a lot of them to chose from, Mustang, Corvette Some make great power if that is your thing.
No better human, just different taste. SmileWavy

Yep, after attending a PCA AutoX in my 944Turbo I got that impression from some, but felt welcomed overall. I'm there to race my car and sharpen my skills...if I meet great people than that's just a bonus I'll gladly accept. I got a ride in that well known Red Targa with hundreds of thousands of miles. Blew me away how well that car handled. He told me the cars name, but I can't recall now...Now that guy was a real down to earth nice guy.

Terry Zaccone from GGR? His Polo Red '68 911L Targa is named "Marcel".

Yes but you have to put yourself down.

Of course this argument is only among porsche owners. I get back handed comments about making too much money from guys steppin out of a 50000 dollar trucks next to my 5000 dollar 944 all the time.

Come on man, you'd drive a Volvo wagon for the lines. I agree on the 928, but has to be an 85 Euro S2.

My take is, you can preserve a xyz, or you can drive it. So I did, and it's been purposeful. There are a lot of miles many cars won't see, but mine has, and will still.

I have a nice 85 928 that was modified by Al Holbert in period. Boy is that a nice driving, streetable car that will outrun a bunch of faster, later year 911s on a track.

I have had a lot of cars over the years. I have driven a few badly maintained or poorly set up Porsches in the past, but generally speaking, they are all great cars, and there are good reasons why people like each and every model. Some may have less acceleration than others, but all were designed by committed and passionate engineers.

Some of the happiest, most memorable moments of my life have been spent behind the wheels of Porsche automobiles, not just 911s. I have driven some pretty sad examples as well. Some Porsches have just had so much love and admiration directed at them that they practically emanate a glow as you approach them, even the tired ones.

“Real isn't how you are made,' said the Skin Horse. 'It's a thing that happens to you. When a child loves you for a long, long time, not just to play with, but REALLY loves you, then you become Real.'

'Does it hurt?' asked the Rabbit.

'Sometimes,' said the Skin Horse, for he was always truthful. 'When you are Real you don't mind being hurt.'

'Does it happen all at once, like being wound up,' he asked, 'or bit by bit?'

'It doesn't happen all at once,' said the Skin Horse. 'You become. It takes a long time. That's why it doesn't happen often to people who break easily, or have sharp edges, or who have to be carefully kept. Generally, by the time you are Real, most of your hair has been loved off, and your eyes drop out and you get loose in the joints and very shabby. But these things don't matter at all, because once you are Real you can't be ugly, except to people who don't understand.”
― Margery Williams, The Velveteen Rabbit

Many of us feel that our own Porsches are Real, much in the way that the Velveteen rabbit became real to its Boy. However all Porsches were made real by men with drafting tables and wrenches, long before the first parts were assembled. It is a shame that some were dumbed down before their release, but the essence is still there. The Miata people, have an expression, ''Jinba Ittai'', which means ''Horse and rider become one.'', or ''Two become one.'' This was the design philosophy of the Miata, and I think it applies equally well to Porsches. In our best driving moments, we are the car, and we are the road. There is nothing else in that moment, and this is the hallmark of a good sports car, 911, 914, or even the lowly Miata. ''Lowly'' being a filter, BTW, like a pair of sunglasses that are too dark for proper vision.


Sometimes I think we have to help our cars to become the car we can become one with, and I think this applies even to the beloved air cooled 911. But however you get your Real Sports Car Experience, no one can take it away from you, even if the other boys made fun of your Rabbit. You were one with the car, one with the road, and by extension, one with the world. To paraphrase someone's signature line, You don't drive the sports car you wish you had, you drive the one you have.

You make it real, and there is no faking it. Some day, my Lowly Miata will be sitting rusting on a junk heap, and a shining 911 will come up to it and ask it if it wants to take a drive. ''Oh I can't'', says the Lowly Miata, ''I have no wheels.'' ''Yes you do'', says the 911. ''Let's go chase that GT3.''

I'd like to think that it will.

Sharks are still pretty ferocious - I'd like a later 928 that hasn't had the electrical system cut into by a tweaker.