Best 911 Book Reads

[m110]

I found this downloadable buyer's guide from the UK had some good practical tips not found elsewher. I only used the 3.2 guide but there are others:

http://www.911secrets.com/FAQ.html

Also a small book but nice collection of design photos culled from other books:
Ulrich von Mende, "The Porsche 911 by Fedinand Porsche"

Recently released:
Bongers, Marc; "Porsche data book" Production figures and spec data for EVERY model including Ruf

Paul Frere, Sports car and performance driving

[dorschman]

subscribed

[pwd72s]

I heard through a grapevine that Frank Barrett is working on a book to be titled "Porsche Illustrated"...or something like that. If it's anything close to his recently published Shelby cars book, it'll be fantastic. Not cheap, but fantastic.

(blatant plug admitted to)

[fbarrett]

Originally Posted by Formerly Steve Wilkinson

You aren't kidding when you joke that I "majored in sports cars at Harvard." My best friend and constant companion was a classmate from York, Pennsylvania, John Barber.

Today they call him Skip.

Stephan:

I didn't know that! I spent 1952 to 1961 in York, some of it at York US30 Drag-O-Way (before Porsche). Then I went to Penn's engineering school and majored in black-and-white photography...

Frank

[fbarrett]

Originally Posted by pwd72s

I heard through a grapevine that Frank Barrett is working on a book to be titled "Porsche Illustrated"...or something like that. If it's anything close to his recently published Shelby cars book, it'll be fantastic. Not cheap, but fantastic.

Not as entertaining as Gold Plated Porsche, though.

Yes, I'm working on a two-volume book, Porsche Cars in Detail, the individual histories of the 60 most interesting Porsches that we can find. Condition of the car is unimportant; it's the story that matters, preferably with plenty of human interest. Help me find them!

Frank
fbarrett@aol.com

[1982911SCTarga]

Other good choices would be the upfixin der Porsche books and Paul Frere's book.

PCA's "Up-Fixin der Porsche" series (Bruce Anderson and Chuck Stoddard were the PCA technical gurus then) and word-of-mouth at region meetings was the primary way of sharing tech info before the Internet.

Brian

[pwd72s]

Originally Posted by fbarrett

Not as entertaining as Gold Plated Porsche, though.

Yes, I'm working on a two-volume book, Porsche Cars in Detail, the individual histories of the 60 most interesting Porsches that we can find. Condition of the car is unimportant; it's the story that matters, preferably with plenty of human interest. Help me find them!

Frank
fbarrett@aol.com

What? You're not going to fly to Istanbul? (Tongue firmly in cheek here)

Frank...if everybody here knew of your talent for excellence in the publishing world, you'd be now flooded with car suggestions and pre orders.

Since I gave all my P-car books to Evren with the car, Cindy says no more...sorry.

[OttawaDave]

The gold plated Porsche was a terrific read - doesn't hurt that I'm also an aviation enthusiast and private pilot, and reading about the trouble, er, fun that Steve Wilkinson got into while flying was an added bonus.

Leffingwell has a good 911 Buyer's Guide that I found useful in getting me familiar with some of the trouble spots to look out for.

His perfection by design book leaves a fairly substantial footprint on my coffee table as well....

[Ole Petter]

Eh, you guys seem to know all about these books! I am searching for some in-depth information on the R/ST/RS/RSR models. I have bought some books, but I would like more technical info... Does anyone know of the "right book for this"?

I have bought Rossi's Porsche 911 Performance and the Performance handbook of Anderson. These are great! As is the two books from our host and the Haynes book.

[craigyirush]

Plus 3 on Jenkinson's a 'A Passion for Porsches' - not about 911s but great for the lost world of European sports cars in the 50s and 60s. He knew everyone.

No one has mentioned the Brookland Books series that reprints road tests - the ones on the SC and the 3.2 Carreras are excellent.

Also, Leffingwell's buyers guide is poor; but his history of the 911 is very good, especially the photos.

[yo911]

WOW. I'm away for a few days and two pages of posts.

How about buyer's guides specifically, for someone like me buying their first P car.

[ViR2]

i like 101 book and also guide to authenticity, both are a great read

[Mark020]

Just one time Peter Morgan's suberb the 'Original 911' mentioned? IMHO (together with Frere) THE books on the 911

[austin552]

Bentley or Haynes manuals.

[RWebb]

Originally Posted by yo911

How about buyer's guides specifically, for someone like me buying their first P car.

Pete Zimmerman's book

[burgermeister]

Originally Posted by yo911

WOW. I'm away for a few days and two pages of posts.

How about buyer's guides specifically, for someone like me buying their first P car.

The Gold Plated Porsche.

Not so much a buyer's guide, but a very good description of the "worst" that can happen if you buy a 911 . If you work on your car, you will travel down that road some distance. Steve took it all the way to the end and wrote a book about it.

I did not find the buyer's guides (I own Zimmerman and Leffingwell) to be very helpful.

Pick your type of 911 (longhood, mid-70's, SC, Carrera, 964, 993). Then scan the posts on this board for 6 months. Then start your search.