Current flock of RS Carrera clones on the market

[MJM911SC]

I am a 20 yr owner of 911s and a longtime fan of Pelican Parts. I have learned a tremendous amount about my cars from researching this forum. I have rarely found a need to post because I always find what I need with a search. Thank you all very much

I am shopping for an early 911, having owned SC and newer cars. I feel I have a good handle on matching numbers, original type cars, but not so much the clone or modified market. I seek your opinion on the flock of RS Carrera tribute cars currently in the market, why have so many entered the market recently? Is this more than normal?

Pelican viper green 73.5T
Pelican silver 73RSR - to give you an idea where my heads at I REALLY LIKE THIS ONE
eBay blue 71T
eBay white 72E

I know there are more available, but are there any others available that I have not mentioned you think are desireable? Any other opinions such as means to comparatively value the cars, which one is better, what to look for, would be welcome as well.

[Canine64]

My 2 cents. I know the owner of one of the four cars: the 73RSR. Sometimes you buy the Owner of the car just as much as the actual car itself. Phil, the guy who owns the 73, is a true stand up guy who spared no expenses on this build. He is a fair and honest guy, and what you see is what you will get. No surprises. Good luck in your search!!!

Mike

[jellonailer]

+1^

I know pu911 too. A meticulous guy. Bought a GT3 from him sight unseen.

[techweenie]

Phil is definitely a solid citizen of the Porsche community.

Having said that, I think the 'RS tribute' category of cars had its heyday 7-8 years ago. The ST look got a lot of attention 2-3 years ago, but I don't think there's a major 'wave' behind it now.

I may be biased. I've been building stealth hot rods instead: no wings or flares, just 200+ HP.

[CountD]

Originally Posted by techweenie

I may be biased. I've been building stealth hot rods instead: no wings or flares, just 200+ HP.

Way to go. I might be out of line for saying this, but a lot of people are probably going to look back on the RS clone heyday with disdain and scorn the way people look back at all the nice '70s cars that got hacked, whacked, with tasteless wheels, flares, wings, doors, mods, and skirts. Gonna happen

[NYNick]

Originally Posted by CountD

Way to go. I might be out of line for saying this, but a lot of people are probably going to look back on the RS clone heyday with disdain and scorn the way people look back at all the nice '70s cars that got hacked, whacked, with tasteless wheels, flares, wings, doors, mods, and skirts. Gonna happen

I agree. Mods are fine as long as they're easily reversible.

[MJM911SC]

Thanks for the feedback. I like the comment about buying the builder as much as buying the car. All my other pcars have been original, so I have bought into Porsche. I haven't been watching the market consistently so I was unaware of the past RS fad. I think so many of them hitting the market recently is an indication of this past fad. Owners are moving on and seeing another on the market or selling prompts them to do the same.

Keep the comments coming

[G450X]

Like some of the previous comments mentioned, I think many of these people want to "customize" their rides to some extent among the more common 911's (in southern California anyway) to give them a bit of an "edgy" look (Mangus comes to mind).

I also think there is a small camp of enthusiasts who love the way early LWB 911's look and they want to mimic an early performance version of a 911 (RS, Carrera, ST, etc..) in the form of a "tribute" car since the originals are silly expensive these days. I kind of fit in this camp. I plan on backdating a nice, but high mile SC, into something along the lines of an early Carrera. One of the beauties of later 911's is that they are fairly easy to convert back into their more simplistic and ornate form.

I think quite a few LWB 911 owners with more common "T" models modified their cars years ago when the values were quite a bit lower than they are now. With nice "T" models bringing very high prices I think some of these owners are having second thoughts on their conversions - especially if they added flares/scoops, etc., and sold or tossed the now hard to source original parts.

I can recall (and not that long ago) many forum comments that 911T's would never be worth much, just like the same talk about mid-years, SC's, and Carreras. That has proved to be a very incorrect assumption.

I feel that a nice, original, low-mile air-cooled 911, no matter what year, is somewhat collectible to someone. The fact that the basic silhouette was the same for so many years practically ensures that.

I feel that if you have a fairly common model with some "issues" (high miles, repaired wreck, etc..), that you want to modify, go ahead. I don't think too many people would really care. I think when someone modifies an especially nice original (or a "special" version), that tends to send some people into fits...

[Cal44]

I'm not smarter than a team of German engineers, so I leave em' as stock as possible.

[dml]

Looks like Phil's sold...

[Matt Monson]

I think long term value on these cars will be directly related to the components used in assembling them. For a long time genuine Porsche R/Sport Purposes and RS components like fenders and bumpers were available. And some of these cars go genuine RS engines, or at least the P&Cs from one along with heads, injection, etc.

On the other hand if the car has 10yo GT or Shaw fenders and bumpers, and SC flares with a 3.2 or 3.6 swap it just won't be worth as much in the long run.

It is all about build quality and components.

[MJM911SC]

Congratulations to the owner of the silver RSR clone. A very fine build that I was seriously eyeing.

Your comments are helping me and hopefully others better understand this segment of the market. Keep em coming

Thank you

[pu911]

My RSR clone did sell, great buyer - only wanted a Porsche hot rod. I've owned a bunch of hot rod 911's, some very nice stock 911 and one factory hot rod. From an appreciation standpoint stock is the way to go but from a joy of ownership perspective you can't possibly beat building you own "dream" Porsche. It's very hard to make any blanket statements about valuations other than to build one from scratch is bloody damn expensive, I went through my receipts on mine - it was breath taking and I bought mine already built but it needed a lot of sorting to make it right. I'll say this you see very few really well built cars for sale- most folks build them to keep forever. You see plenty of RS clones for sale that consist of little more than a ducktail put on a T. I wanted a car that looked like and performed like a real RSR. I'd recommend driving a well build 911 hot rod - I think you'll be amazed.
Phil

[brisboats]

I'll weigh in here and I rarely post. I bought a 73T with the intention of building my dream car a rsr look alike probably 20 years ago. Also had a rust free 76 with a new 3.0 crate motor and 48 webers as a donor. Life happened the cars got parked and the all original 73T is suddenly so valuable now that I have the time I don't want to cut it....But.
Truth is I still want an rsr hot rod..so I may dive in anyway. In the end it is your car, your taste and if someone gets offended than congratulations you actually took a stand on something.
B

[2cam]

Originally Posted by techweenie

PI've been building stealth hot rods instead: no wings or flares, just 200+ HP.

Insert applause here! Thanks for taking that route. Too many of these cars have been destroyed by whacked-out, half-assed mods over the years.

Originally Posted by CountD

Way to go. I might be out of line for saying this, but a lot of people are probably going to look back on the RS clone heyday with disdain and scorn the way people look back at all the nice '70s cars that got hacked, whacked, with tasteless wheels, flares, wings, doors, mods, and skirts. Gonna happen

I get the desire to mod a car to fit one's personal vision of the perfect car, but I fit into the camp of only doing light, easily reversible modifications that truly improve what is already there as a base.

I had my 1st 911 (an all stock, well worn '69 E) almost 25 years ago and didn't make it back into 911 ownership again until this past year. Looking back at all of the modded 911s that I've seen over the years, I'd say that the platform may be the most tastelessly modded outside of the Honda Civic family of cars. Over the years there have been so many updates, backdates, 935 copies, 959 wannabes, slants, widebody conversions, Turbo-copies, etc. Could one say that they've been "Wursted" instead of "Riced"?

2cam

[techweenie]

2cam and brisboats, if I want to build a hot rod, I never start with a numbers-matching car.

There are enough pound puppies out there with short hood conversions and slant noses and other atrocities (V8s!) that even bringing them back to RSR/ST/RS configuration is a good deed.

[2cam]

Originally Posted by techweenie

2cam and brisboats, if I want to build a hot rod, I never start with a numbers-matching car.

There are enough pound puppies out there with short hood conversions and slant noses and other atrocities (V8s!) that even bringing them back to RSR/ST/RS configuration is a good deed.

That's great! Sort of a pet rescue program for old, neglected, and abused 911s.

2cam