Max Newman
Model 991.1 CARRERA S Year 2013 Acquired SEPTEMBER 2020
I was out walking one Sunday morning recently when I noticed a smartlooking, mid-century house with a single garage block that looked slightly incongruous. Outside said garage, looking immaculate, having been the recipient of some serious elbow grease and TLC, was a lovely black BMW 1M. Clearly the owner’s pride and joy, it was accompanied by some nice but normal family cars – an X5 and a Golf. It prompted me to consider what I would keep in that garage?
For starters it would be road legal – so not a 956 or 962 – but obviously a Porsche and definitely 911 shaped. But which one? The thought of owning a car with Le Mans 24 hour provenance has always appealed. The 964RS 3.8 is one of the best-looking 911’s ever, so how about one of the Larbre Competition 964 RSRS that won its class in 1993 and 1994? Girado & Co recently sold an example that has been road registered, so it can be done! Not a car one could go touring in though, and extremely precious too.
Too precious also might be my next thought: the sole C16-delivered 964 RS 3.8. Owned previously by Dario Franchitti, resplendent in Guards red, and the most spectacular looking 911; it ticks all the boxes. Better placed for touring it may be over the raucous RSR, but Dario sold it because it’s such a special and original car that he didn’t want to use it too much.
Leaping forward a few generations to a stalwart of many a fantasy garage, including my own, I think a 997 GT3
RS 4.0 could fit the bill. Rare, usable and spectacular to drive. I’ve thought previously that a black ‘decal delete’ car with silver wheels would be my ideal spec. More recently though I’ve found myself drawn to the full-on white with white wheels and the full compliment of decals. I’ll make the final decision nearer the time.
These cars are all winged-wonders of course, and my ideal car would maybe be a flat back; I love the elegant silhouette. Flying slightly under the radar in the way it looks, if not the way it drives, is the 991R. I’m not a big fan of the stripes but I’ve seen them with ‘decal delete’ in both black and silver, with the brown upholstery and complementary Pepita inserts.
Back in the real world, my 991.1 C2S continues to delight with its chameleonlike ability to change between its loafers and its running spikes at a moment’s notice, to be all the 911 one really needs. I wonder what life would be like without it?