The weekend for me revolved almost entirely around Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2s. I blogged earlier that I have been looking for a Porsche 911 and probably a 993. Trouble was my head kept getting turned by the earlier Impact bumper models. They're cheaper to buy, less complicated (and therefore hopefully cheaper to maintain) and I get the feeling that 993's are about to fall in value (based on how 997's are falling in price possibly due to over supply)? The final thing in the 3.2's favour is that I think the impact bumper models have finally become cool and have shaken off the eighties banker in red braces image.
I looked at a few impact bumper models on dealer stands at the NEC classic car show last weekend, but all of the these seemed a bit ropey and /or very expensive. Obviously every search for a new car involves the web and on the second last page of the ten pages of impact bumpers on Pistonheads revealed a rather nice looking 1989 3.2 Carrera Supersport (a.k.a the Turbo look). The details of the ad were somewhat limited but an email to the owner revealed more information and the answers he provided seemed promising so I arranged to see the car on Saturday. The car turned out to be way better than expected with immaculate bodywork and interior and a spotless engine. Without going into details of price I have agreed to buy it subject to satisfactory completion of a pre purchase inspection which is taking place this coming weekend. I don't have any picture of my own but have posted the pictures from the now deleted http://www.pistonheads.com/ advert.
That was Saturday, with my enthusiasm for a 911 running high I took the opportunity to borrow my Dad's 1986 911 Carrera 3.2 Sport for a Sunday drive (actually to Chris Evan's restaurant the Mulberry for a very nice Sunday Lunch).
Dad spent some time looking for a cheap 911 to use as a sports car for those occasions.. come to think of it I'm not quite sure why he wanted a cheap one but he does move in mysterious ways when it comes to car buying. Anyway, he brought the one shown at the top of the blog earlier this year for a lot less than £10,000. Not bad for a 3.2 Carrera with a G50 Gearbox and less than 100,000 miles on the clock. The price can in part be explained by the er interesting colour which is known as Cassis on the Porsche colour chart.
As shown in the picture it is as he brought it, but since then it has lost its spoilers and gain some retro chrome trim on the headlight surrounds and around the windscreen. Jury's out on that.
The body itself is okay without being fantastic and the interior can best be described as tired. Dad has had a top end overhaul done on the engine so mechanically it's in good order.
Anyway driving an air cooled 911 is always a unique experience but on Sunday rather more so as the heater was not functioning which meant the windows were constantly steaming up, and the heavy rain meant that at one point we had to wade through some water up to the sills. Nice.
These 911s are best described as an ergonomic mess , I wonder if the designers just picked up a bunch of switches and knobs and merely threw them at the dashboard and where they stuck was where they were placed.
The offset pedals take some getting used to and on at least one occasion I momentarily paniced as the brake pedal was not quite where i expected it to be.
Once you becme acclimatised to the 911 though you quickly realise what a great drivers car it is and why so many motoring journalists have idolised it for so many years. The steering while not light(especially after an Alfa Mito) is exquisite telling the driver exactly what the car and the road underneath it is doing. The G50 box is perhaps not as accurate as a Ferrari gate box but it requires a lot less heft and is probably a quicker shift.
The engine is statistically not that powerful (231bhp, but makes great use of the rear engined configuration and even in yesterday's damp conditions traction was never a problem, and the car feels considerably quicker than my old Audi TT which actually has more quoted horsepower (250bhp).
The view from the drivers seat is excellent with the front wings giving a clear view of the corners. The thin A pillars while not exactly comforting in a roll over situation, reduce blindspots considerably compared to modern cars (TT again).
The engine sounds great, if not quite in the league of a Ferrari V12 (but then nothing else in the motoring world sounds as good as a 4.4 Ferrari 4 cam), with a lovely bassy roar.
The drive yesterday while not exactly an epic, has reaffirmed my desire to own an early 911 and if everything goes well with the PPI on Saturday, shortly after that is exactly what I will do.
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