Ron Lang
Ashland, Oregon @ronlangsport
One of the fun ways to pass the winter days has been building my first
LEGO Porsche, in this case the orange Technic GT3 RS. All 2,704 pieces. It was a fun project and I only had to partially disassemble two or three times to repair construction errors. And the fact that I ‘only’ had about 30 small connectors left over at the end was either an abject failure on my part or close enough to call done and good. It’s a big car, 18 inches in length, so make sure you have adequate shelf space before acquiring one of these. It is beautifully crafted and engineered. Just putting together the seven-speed PDK gearbox was a challenge, but at the end everything spun and turned as specified. Though now I’m way behind on my reading so need to take a LEGO break for a while. There is a 911 RSR kit that looks like the next target. I especially enjoyed the extra treat, the very last step in the orange RS build was assembling the orange suitcase replete with Porsche logos.
Now on to the real thing. I have purchased a couple of 911s since I last disposed of four a few months ago. Away went the 991.2 Turbo S in British Racing green, the 1989 964 Carrera 4, the Guards red 993 C4S and the 991.2 GT3 threepedal car. Rationale, if there is such a thing: the 991s are just too large for my sense of a proper 911 experience. And they need to be pushed beyond road-safe speeds to get the chassis and engine to really thrive. I’ve kept one, the 991.2 C4S. It’s a great daily driver, I like the seven-speed stick, and I ordered this car new just the way I wanted it. It’s a keeper (for now).
The 1989 964 Carrera 4 went to a new home of another serious air-cooled enthusiast; that car ultimately was not quite fast enough for me. And being bog standard, and recently 100% restored, I did not want to start doing any mods.
The 993 C4S was also a delightful, all original, 40K mile car. But also having a 993 Turbo sitting in the garage next to it made it just a bit redundant. It’s gone to an avid Porsche fan’s home as well.
As for what is on the way: I’ve never owned a 930 Turbo, so I have purchased one that is currently being fettled and hopefully in my hands by late spring. It is a paint-to-sample orange 1982 rest-of-world (ROW) car. 930s were not sufficiently smog compliant to be imported to the
USA between 1980 until 1986. This car was originally delivered in Germany and currently shows 115K kilometres on the clock on apparently an untouched engine and transaxle. I’ll save more details for a future LTL article.
Also on the way is a 997.1 Turbo. I’ve owned one before and really enjoyed it. The smaller size is part of the 997’s appeal. I continue to enjoy my 997.2 GT3 RS – the more erect, closer windshield and cockpit of the 997 just feels more intimate and proper. So I think this 997.1 Turbo will be a proper replacement for that 991.2 Turbo S I recently sold. The 991.2 is much faster and handles better, but it’s too easy to drive and just not challenging enough without scaring myself. And the 997.1 is a proper three-pedal car. Again, more details soon.
The 1972 911S restoration is getting closer and closer to completion, so I’m looking forward to that car for the summer as well. In the meantime, between driving the 991.2 C4S and the 1991 Safari 4 over winter, I’m jumping into reading the latest edition of Karl Ludvigsen’s Excellence
Was Expected history of Porsche. It’s an enormous five volumes but thankfully a fascinating read throughout.