BODY & IDENTITY

As ever, let's address the basics first. The 944 S2 Cabriolet you’re looking at should display a matching Vehicle Identification Number (VIN) on its V5 registration document and on the identification stamp located on the bulkhead. Elsewhere on the V5, you’ll see the engine number. For early 944s, the engine number is stamped into the left-hand rear crankcase, visible when looking top-down in the engine bay. For the S2 (and, for the 944's successor, the 968), the engine number is stamped into the right-hand rear side (UK offside) of the engine, just below the number four exhaust outlet.

Spend a couple of quid at mycarcheck.com, where you can download a history report outlining any insurance claims, change of registration number, recorded mileage and whether there’s any outstanding finance on the car.

You should also enter the vehicle’s details into the DVLA’S free-to-use MOT history database, which can be found at bit.ly/dvlamot. The service will return all test passes, failures and advisories registered as far back as electronic records are stored, which is helpful in identifying any ongoing mechanical or safety issues. If you have the V5 document number at your disposal, you can even see which test centre carried out the inspection.

Damage may have been inflicted upon 944 S2s driven in anger, so check panel gaps to make sure they’re straight. Look for signs of mismatched colour and don’t be afraid to ask questions. You might be eyeballing a Porsche which has simply been tapped with a trolley in a car park, but then again, the car might have been stacked into a tyre wall at a race circuit. Either way, Porsche body repairs shouldn’t be done on the cheap, so ask to see receipts relating to the work, if applicable. A paint thickness gauge will help you to determine if you’re looking at quarters full of filler.

Almost all 944s have required new inner and outer sills at some point in their lives. When the work was carried out will largely be determined by how the car has been used (e.g. in all weather) and how it has been stored (e.g. outside). Remember, 944s — especially normally aspirated models — spent decades at the lower end of the Porsche price spectrum. In other words, past money spent on the upkeep of a 944 S2 Cabriolet is likely to have been commensurate with the car's former value. Bear this in mind when you're examining service history documentation.

Thankfully, renewed interest in the model (not to mention an increase in the financial worth of well-presented examples) means many of today's owners are treating their 944 S2 Cabriolets to corrective surgery in order to ensure vehicle survival for decades to come. Demand for sills means they can be bought from any one of a number of parts suppliers at reasonable cost, while new door panels and wings are simply bolt-on items that can be replaced with brand new components or salvage spares.

Dirt collects behind wheel arches, trapping moisture and causing rust to form. Blocked roof drains, compromised tailgate glass, sunroof seals and hoses flowing rainwater through the cavities behind the rear wheels (below the battery tray) can prove problematic. Poke around to ensure the car isn't suffering damage through moisture ingress.

SERVICING

Porsche recommends a service schedule involving the replacement of spark plugs, fluids and filters no later than every twelve thousand miles, though we recommend halving that figure to six thousand miles to promote mechanical longevity. If your 944 S2 Cabriolet is likely to only come out on sunny days, be sure to service it at least once a year irrespective of how much ground is covered. It’s also a good idea to have an S2's fuel injectors ultrasonically cleaned. They’re unlikely to have been serviced in the car’s lifetime, but are prone to trapped dirt particles resulting in inconsistent fuel spray patterns, which can inhibit performance. Expect to pay £10-20 per injector when using a mail order service, such as that offered by injectortune.co.uk.

BRAKES, SUSPENSION AND GEARBOX

944 transmissions don’t tend to throw up problems, although it pays to listen out for whining noises, which might suggest bearings need to be renewed. Replacement parts are available at low cost from independent Porsche parts retailer, Design 911. The same fault might also encourage the gearbox to sweat transmission fluid, so get on all fours and have a good look beneath the S2 Cabriolet you’re poring over.

Higher mileage cars may be in need of a replacement clutch, so be sure to observe how easy your prospective purchase is to get in and out of gear, as well as how smooth shifting is when you're on the move. Age and mileage also affects the effectiveness of suspension components. With this in mind, pay special attention to how the car behaves when driven over sleeping policemen or bumps in the road. Any knocking sound or vibration felt through the chassis or steering wheel indicates bushes are past their best. You can opt for OEM replacement parts or ‘fit and forget’ polyurethane bushes. Worn engine mounts may produce the same complaint. Fortunately, new genuine and aftermarket parts are in good supply.

S2 aluminium brakes are good, although old pads and tired backing plates can cause calipers to stick. Again, the 944’s popularity means all parts are readily available. The majority of 944s feature single-piston calipers and vented discs at each corner. Turbos and S2s, however, benefit from four-piston 911 Turbo (930) Brembos as standard equipment. The famous M030 cost-option gave lucky owners even bigger Brembo calipers housing larger discs. These parts are more difficult to get hold of than regular Turbo calipers and rotors, but came as standard equipment on the 944 Turbo S and some special editions, including the rare 944 S2 SE, which served as inspiration for the 968 Club Sport.

TUNING OPTIONS

Before you’re tempted to tinker, make sure the car is properly serviced and is running without fault in a standard state of tune. Once you’re satisfied this is the case, airflow updates unleashing trapped ponies can be easily bought and fitted to your S2 Cabriolet. A direct-fit K&N panel air filter, an enlarged stainless steel exhaust system (Dansk and Fabspeed should be your first port of call) and renewed hoses will make a world of difference to the performance of your new toy.

Unlike modern Porsches, the S2's electronic brain can’t be mapped, meaning chipsets need to be installed on the original circuit board. For more control over fuelling and performance, refer to the products of Gloucestershire-based 944 tuning outfit, Augment Automotive, which produces a modern standalone 'plug and play' Bluetooth-enabled ECU suitable for the 944 S2. Visit augmentautomotive.co.uk.

RAISING THE ROOF

The 944 Cabriolet roof is generally very reliable, but switchgear and the roof's motors can fail with age, as can old wiring. Needless to say, when inspecting the S2 drop-top taking your fancy, ensure you test the car's roof, confirming it fully retracts as Porsche intended.

Thankfully, in the interests of safety during emergencies, the 944 Cabriolet roof can be manually operated, meaning an open-air S2 with a faulty roof can still be enjoyed, canvas lid up or down. Additionally, parts are readily available for any necessary repairs.

It took Porsche a long time to introduce a Cabriolet to the 944 line-up. Then again, it took thirty years for a fully open 911 to reach production. Even so, the earliest 944 S2 Cabriolets are now thirty-five years old, meaning their soft-tops may be showing their age. A new roof is easily obtained from a variety of independent suppliers, such was the popularity of the 944 S2 Cabriolet following model launch. Also, the same roof was used on the 968 Cabriolet. The price won't break the bank, either — a complete hood, including PVC rear window section, will set you back around £800.

Fitting can be achieved by a competent DIYER with a dry working space and plenty of patience, but there are a variety of interior restoration companies and independent specialists wellversed in the workings of the 944 Cabriolet. Each of them is well-placed to assist you. PIE Performance, Cambridge Concours, Awesome Classic & Custom, Dave the Trimmer and others are at your beck and call. They will also be able to assist with the repair and restoration of a 944 Cabriolet's original roof, if it isn't too far gone.

To spruce up a 944 hood at home, we recommend a soft scrubbing brush to remove debris without scuffing the material. Never jet wash — you're likely to draw dye out of the fabric. Instead, using standard hose pressure, get into every crease and seam, especially around the rear window. Dry with soft towels.

A Renovo colouring agent (take your time with this) will rejuvenate the roof, but be patient with drying time and test with a swab of kitchen towel before applying a sealing agent. On this note, Renovo is the first-name in soft-top care and DIY restoration, producing kits to clean, dye and weatherproof canvas lids. The company also produces a treatment kit for plastic softtop rear windows, eliminating 'milky' marks caused by the plastic being folded.

Expect waterproofing treatments to last three to five years, depending on whether the host 944 Cabriolet is left exposed to the elements.

INTERIOR

It’s the 1980s! Why go for boring old black, brown or Linen leather when you can have, er, blue?! Pop on your Ray Bans, comb your mullet and get ready to drive all the way to Rumbelows for an Amstrad hi-fi. In fact, why not buy a Commodore 64 while you’re there, such is the generous luggage space you’ve got at your disposal in a 944 S2 Cabriolet.

Porsche’s transaxle range of cars offers a superb balance of practicality and performance. The cargo bay at the rear of a 944 S2 Cabriolet is more than big enough to carry small suitcases, while the hard-wearing seats and door furniture will withstand plenty of abuse, although we advise you to check seat side bolsters for signs of wear, where previous owners may have dragged their jeans in and out of the seats.

Damage caused by this behaviour will be especially pronounced on cost-option Sport seats, which feature much bigger bolsters. There are a number of specialist Porsche trimmers who can carry out the repair work, but it's worth keeping an eye on ebay for replacement pews — due to the high number of 944s produced, there are plenty of spares floating around, including complete interiors and individual seats, which might work out more cost-effective than the application of new hide at a professional auto upholsterer.

Fabric seat centres were often optioned with Porsche script displayed across them. This material can become worn and discoloured without proper care. It’s also expensive to replace. Nevertheless, most Porsche interior materials of this age are available to buy new. If in doubt, speak to a Porsche trimmer.

944 (and 968) LCD dashboard clocks are renowned for failing. More often than not, the clock screen will have given up the ghost. DIY repair kits are readily available. You'll get change out of forty quid, but bear in mind, in some cases, other components, such as capacitors, transistors, tracks or the clock's motherboard, might be damaged.

OUR VERDICT

There are bigger Porsches, faster Porsches, cheaper Porsches, more efficient Porsches. No 944 will ever be as quick as a GT2 RS, as avantgarde as a 928 or as widely adored as a Carrera RS 2.7, but none of this makes the S2 any less enjoyable. The same can be said of the 944 range as a whole: while the late-production 944 Turbo boasts ever-rising collector value, and cars with the early 2.5-litre M44/40 engine remain one of the cheapest ways into marque ownership, the 944 range in-between brims with hidden gems.

Nowhere is this clearer than behind the wheel of an S2. Produced between 1989 and 1991, the model boasts the highest capacity engine fitted to any 944 and is a flexible, usable dream. Based on the 2.7-litre, sixteen-valve engine fitted to the earlier 944 S, the three-litre unit finds its extra capacity from increased stroke and uses it to produce 211bhp and 207lb-ft. That’s barely ten horsepower short of the Turbo, and it’s delivered with the kind of flexibility only natural aspiration can provide. It's nothing short of fantastic.

The S2’s excellent road manners can be attributed to Porsche's liberal application of 944 Turbo parts. The hollow front anti-roll bar, sixteen-millimetre rear anti-roll bar and stiffer, progressive-rate springs all come from the forced induction model, as do the brake discs (298mm at the front, 299mm at the rear) and Brembo calipers, which, as we mentioned earlier, can be tracked back to the legendary 930.

Many S2 styling features are also borrowed from the 944 Turbo, be they Design 90 sixteeninch alloy wheels or the flared panel below the rear bumper. Most obvious of all is the smoothedout, single-piece front bumper, complete with integral air intake, wide indicators and high beam headlights, all of which give the 944 S2 a modern look, even by today's standards.

Reliable and versatile, the S2 rarely demands mechanical attention. Asking prices are also accessible, especially when compared to sameage 911s. A leggy 944 S2 Cabriolet, for instance, can be yours for ten grand, but expect to pay much more for the very best examples out there — a mint condition coupe from a specialist dealer will set you back at least fifteen thousand, with prices climbing fast towards £20,000. Fortunately, 944 Cabriolets remain cheaper than their equivalent tip-tops.

Buyers with extra budget will be automatically drawn to the 944 Turbo, but if you're looking for a totally usable everyday retro Porsche mile muncher, the smart money is on an S2. ●