Living the Legend
Our contributing enthusiasts from around the world share their real-life experiences with their Porsche 911s
Real-world reports from our global collective of 911 owners
Now I think I finally ‘get it’ about classic 911s. Ignorance about the classic 911 experience has been a gaping hole in my rear-engined Porsche fantasies. I mistakenly thought that these older cars were primarily about their looks and the nostalgia of their history. I thought that they needed to be modified to provide some thrills behind the wheel.
The modifying to get a fun drive in an air-cooled 911 led me to ultimately order a 1991 964 reimagined by Singer Vehicle Design. And absolutely no regrets on that decision, the Singer-built car is a thrill to drive and its execution remains top-notch. It has the long-hood look with plenty of Rsr-type shape and style. But it left the question of whether the real deal, a true long-hood 1973 or earlier 911, could provide enough dynamic athleticism to draw me behind the wheel when choosing what to pilot on any given day.
Well, I think I now understand. After enduring the three-year wait during a full bare metal restoration, the 1972 911S is in my hands and on the road. Being in the midst of winter, I’ve only enjoyed a couple of drives so far. But wow, what drives those have been.
The car was built to stock 1972 specs with respect to chassis, suspension and brakes. I caved to just one meaningful modification, which was that since the engine was being fully rebuilt (this remains a numbers matching car), I might as well get a little more power, especially since I was installing factory air conditioning and figured that the load placed on the engine by the belt driving the a/c compressor justified putting some more power in there.
So I had the engine built to full
1973 2.7 RS spec, which included the larger displacement, RS cams, and modifications to the mechanical fuel injection. Though almost 50 years old, this car accelerates very nicely. I’m pleasantly surprised by its mid-range torque in addition to how it pulls from 5,000rpm to the nominal 7,200rpm redline. It is easy to have fun on the back roads just riding the torque curve, though the top-end power is always saying to me, ‘Don’t you really want to play up here?’. The engine dynamics are total pleasure.
The stock chassis and suspension is accurate though a bit ‘soft’, but slowin, fast-out through the corners works just fine. The ride as a result is very comfortable, though I would never attack apexes at the level that is no-brainer speed in the more modern 911s. And the stock brakes, so far anyway, are just okay. They feel a bit wooden, but I’m hoping that they will come alive as I get more miles on the car.
The steering is sublime, totally alive as one would expect from an early non-power-assisted 911 rack. Accurate, talkative, just what I hoped for. So the overall experience behind the wheel is a pleasant surprise. This car is FUN!
Then there are the ancillary experiences. Most onlookers want to
know about the flap on the right rear quarter panel. Popping it open when the engine is running, opening the screwdown cap, and seeing oil flowing into the oil tank beneath is fun every time. The look of the ‘deep-six’ Fuchs wheels on Pirelli Cinturato CN36S is just right and the stance is as I had hoped, the wheels filling the fender wells just right.
Much of the fun is in the details. For example, I had the interior redone in full German black leather, replacing the original vinyl. The smell and feel of the leather is complemented by another decision I made during the build: to fit Pepita centres to the seats. The interior restorer was able to find through one of his German suppliers enough material in the colour combo I wanted. The material is typically composed of white/black/grey. He was able to source white/black/green.
There are plenty more details to discover and enjoy. It was a long wait, but a longhood done to one’s own desires makes me now fully appreciate what Living the Legend can be. If you’re able, try to get your hands on one of these early cars and discover why the 911 from its earliest years is so revered.
As highlighted last month by the quest to find temporary accommodation for the 930, my summer has been thoroughly interrupted by selling the family home and relocating to our new house. Fortunately, that is all behind us now and we are living in a sea of cardboard boxes in our new abode. The Porsche has been repatriated from my friend John’s mega-shed and is now garaged at the new home, although as already described, the new garage is much more squeezy than the old one.
This has necessitated some creative storage solutions and a massive game of Tetris as I was manoeuvring all of my tools and storage plus dismantled hoist/ lift/ramp into the locations I had preplanned via a CAD layout.
Everything is now in place and I can finally explore the practicality of a hoist with only 2.4m ceiling height. As you can see in the picture (where the car is not quite raised to the maximum), I can get some elevation off the floor for axle/ brake work but will certainly be struggling to get under the car without grovelling on the floor. The next step is to seriously consider raising the ceiling up to the pitched roof height.
The other great thing about having the move completed and the car on-site is that I can finally get out for a drive.
The BW (Beautiful Wife) and I headed out last Friday evening after work with the intention of a quick meal and then driving along the coast looking for some photography sites. However, we ended up being delayed by a family visit along the way and then dinner took much longer than expected, meaning that we didn’t get to the coast until after dark.
Not good for sunset photography, but not really a problem as it was a beautiful balmy evening after the day had reached the high 30s earlier. Cruising along with the windows and moon roof open was delightful but we were soon in a stop/start traffic jam of cars as many others had the same idea. As we drove through the popular Henley Beach Square in the heat of that evening, I was very glad to be in a Porsche rather than a highly strung Italian supercar whose clutch would not have survived the night. The Turbo would much rather have been cruising an Autobahn at 200kph than crawling through traffic, but it did the job without fuss or bother. The car was finally rewarded on the way home when we returned to the cool and dense air of the Adelaide Hills and some gratuitous point and squirt between the twisty bits. The contrast in performance of the car is amazing as ambient temperature changes. There may be some CIS component to this, but it is mainly due to the ability of the turbocharger and intercooler to cram in much more air when it is colder and denser. It feels like a different engine on really cold days.
In other recent news, I was involved in a nasty accident before Christmas in my daily driver (a Megane RS 265) when another driver parked in my boot at high speed and pushed me into the car in front. I was so grateful not to be driving the Porsche that day! The car was initially declared an economical write-off, but after sourcing some second-hand parts, repair was entrusted to Les and Ray Khabbaz at Finishline Autobody Repairs. They did a fantastic job, especially with stitching in the new rear panels and matching the difficult multi-layer paint colour of the Renault. In their shop at the same time was a 1984 911 Targa getting a full body makeover and respray in black. It looked great even during reassembly and I’ll make sure that I drop in again to see the finished article.