EmailPorsche 944 Station Wagon by DP Motorsport
June 23, 2008
Ok, so you need a new car and you want some extra room. However, given the price of gas today, you don’t want and/or need a full blown SUV like the Porsche Cayenne. Well, DP Motorsport has just the answer. The DP44 or DP Cargo is a beautifully customized station wagon (what the Brit’s would call an ‘estate’ or a ’shooting brake’) based on a Porsche 944 platform mated with a highly modified roof from a VW Passat and other custom created parts.
Many of you may know DP Motorsport (founded by Ekkehard Zimmermann) as the creator of the DP 35 or “K3” the Porsche 935 that went on to win Le Mans in 1979. Since then Zimmerman and DP Motorsport have continued in their quest to constantly improve on and evolve various Porsche models including the 944, 911, 993, 996, 997, etc.
Headquartered in Cologne Germany, DP Motorsport began producing the Cargo in the late 80’s. With fewer than 10 cars delivered so far, DP recently announced that between 5 to 10 kits remain available for prospective buyers.
Modifications don’t stop with the exterior styling. The interior includes color matched seating, side panels and headliner (in full leather) along with a flat rear floor for ease of loading cargo. If you have two months to wait, a donor 944 and about $30,000 then this could be the car for you.
Porsche Purists may Object to a Porsche Station Wagon
I don’t know about you, but I like the styling of this much better than the Cayenne. Porsche “purists” may not like the idea, but to me this would be a highly marketable model and could easily compete with offerings from BMW, Mercedes and Audi. What do you think?
Related Posts
Porsche 928 Pickup Truck
Modifying a 1977 Porsche 911
[Source: 911 & Porsche World, DP Motorsport]
5 Ways to Enhance your Porsche Ownership Experience
June 20, 2008
I receive emails quite frequently from new Porsche owners (especially those of the 993 variant) looking for advice for the first time Porsche owner. As I’ve said before, I’m not a Porsche Expert, but I Play one on the Internet. As a result, I’m always happy to give my opinion! Specifically, he wanted to know what he could do to assimilate as much information on Porsche as possible as well as enhance his ownership experience. This is the response that I sent to my new subscriber and new member of our growing Porsche family.
Here was my response (edited for content and privacy):
Enhancing your Porsche Experience
Congratulations on your purchase and welcome to the family!
As for enhancing the experience, that’s a tough one. I’ve found that so much of what people want to get out of their Porsche is unique to the individual.
With that said, I can let you know some of the things that I’ve done and the reasons for them.
- JOIN THE PCA - When I bought my first Porsche, I immediately joined the PCA. I did this for two reasons: 1. the subscription to Panorama magazine (this alone is worth the price of admission); 2. The social aspect. I found it was a great way to meet people with similar interests.
- Take some DE (driver’s education classes) - One of the great things about owning a Porsche (any Porsche) is that you truly have a “super car” that can be used as a daily driver (if you so choose). DE classes are a great way to find out what your car is really made of and will also help you as a driver learn to handle your 993 in ways you may not have thought possible.
- EXPLORE THE WEB - If you haven’t already, explore the various web forums (especially Rennlist and Pelican). There is so much great info out there that at times it is hard to absorb it all. I’ve listed the most popular in this post and would still love to know if I’m missing any.
- UPGRADE, UPGRADE, UPGRADE - There are lots and lots of inexpensive to very expensive modifications that can be done to your Porsche in order to enhance both performance and looks (depending on budget, function and your own personal style). Fortunately for me, my car came with a lot of nice options. I now need to do some small things to personalize it as well as getting rid of the “SUV” ride height.
- DRIVE IT AS MUCH AS POSSIBLE - More than anything, I think this is the most important piece of advice I can give. While we all bought these cars for our own reasons, I have to assume that we share a common bond in our love for driving them (not to mention the way they look).
This list is by no means comprehensive and would love for you to share your thoughts on what else can be done to “enhance” the Porsche ownership experience. If you haven’t done so already, I encourage you to subscribe to my blog by reader or by entering your email in the form to the right.
A Better way to Jack-Lift Your Porsche. Brute Industries Race Ramps
June 18, 2008
When it comes to maintaining your Porsche, especially if you are a back-yard mechanic or a DIYer, sometimes the hardest part about the project can be preparing your car and getting it jacked up and onto stands quickly and safely. You know what I mean. If you’re not fortunate enough to own a lift, then you are relegated to jacking up a side, placing a jack-stand, moving to the other side, repeat, etc. etc. Most likely, this is only after several hit or miss attempts of getting the jack positioned just right and making sure you don’t damage the car or scratch your nicely finished garage floor. Lastly, you better hope you didn’t buy the cheap stands. Having your Porsche crash/crush down on top of you is the last thing you want to be thinking about when you are underneath trying to remove a stubborn bolt or hard to reach oil filter. There has to be a better way…
Race Ramps Discount Code
Enter Brute Industries, Inc. the manufacturer and distributor of the patented Race Ramp products. I came across Brute Industries one day while I was trolling YouTube for Porsche related videos. After seeing the video below (you might want to mute the volume as the soundtrack is a little annoying), I reached out to Rich Heinz, the founder and inventor of Race Ramps and struck up a conversation. Rich was kind enough to send me some of Brute Industries product for my use and review. I warned Rich in advance that my review would be objective and that if I didn’t like his product I would say so. He seemed pretty confident that this wouldn’t be the case. In fact, he was so confident that I would like the product and want to recommend it that he is offering a discount to my readers. So, after reading my review, if you decide you want to purchase any of Brute Industries products be sure to use the following Coupon Code “993c4s8” when entering your order. This coupon code entitles you to a 10% discount off your entire order of any Brute Industry product (not just the Race Ramps) and you can use it and share it as many times as you like.
Among a number of amazing products offered by Brute are the 56” and 67” one or two piece Race Ramps. These light weight, industrial strength ramps allow you to simply drive your Porsche (or any car for that matter) right onto them and provide amazing clearance (better than most jacks and stands) and titanium like strength.
My Porsche 993, while at what some might call SUV ride height, is still quite close to the ground. To determine the proper size Race Ramp for my vehicle I used one of two simple methods prior to ordering. You can use this easy to follow guide and decide for yourself.
I opted for the standard 67” Race Ramps in the two piece configuration (more on this later). The 67” configuration is perfect for most cars with lower ground clearance. However, if you have lowered your Porsche, have a Turbo, or extremely low ground clearance you will want to consider the optional Race Ramp Extenders. These simple add-ons provide the extra clearance you need to drive your car up the Race Ramps and are very fairly priced. You can see the pictures below of just how close my exhaust was to the ramp from a clearance standpoint using the standard 67′ Race Ramps.
Race Ramps are Light and Strong
My Race Ramps arrived just a few days after talking with Rich. As I watched the UPS driver pull the carton from his truck I was a little apprehensive. Given the size of the box, my first thought was, “Wow, these things are going to be cumbersome and heavy to move around.” Boy was I wrong! The UPS driver simply put the box on his shoulder and walked up my driveway as if the box was the lightest thing. Turns out it was. The entire 67” set-up was less than 30 lbs (or 15 lbs per ramp). After taking them out of the box, the set-up was a snap. I simply placed them on the ground behind my rear wheels, centered them, made sure they were aligned, started the car and backed onto them.
Backing onto them for the first time made me a little nervous, I have to admit. Because they are so light weight, it didn’t seem possible they could handle the weight of the car. As it turns out, each ramp can handle up to 1500 lbs for a maximum weight of 3000 lbs. While the ramps can handle tires up to 12 inches in width, that doesn’t leave a lot of room for error if you veer to one side or the other. If I were doing it again with my 993, for the first time, I would definitely recommend a spotter (I’m running 285/30 – 18 on the rear of my 993).
After slowly making my way up the ramp, the lip at the far end makes a nice safety catch to keep you from rolling back off of them, I was very pleased with the ground clearance, stability and more importantly the sturdiness provided by these simple to use Race Ramps. In fact, as you can see in one of the picture below, I had gone a little to one side and the Race Ramp handled it just like the car was centered perfectly. There wasn’t the slightest bit of droop or sagging on the side of the ramp. Once up on the ramps be sure to chock the wheels still on the ground for safety. You can do so with a small piece of wood or Race Ramp makes some very inexpensive and lightweight wheel chocks that work quite nicely with this set-up.
As I mentioned earlier, you can purchase either one piece or two piece ramp. The ramps that Rich sent to me were of the two piece variety. I would highly recommend these for a Porsche application. From the videos on this post and the picture below (sorry about the Corvette, I couldn’t get a good picture of my car from the side) you can see how the two piece gives you side access to your car for some of those hard to reach spots. The one piece design, while very functional, doesn’t allow this access.
I have only two suggestions for improvement on the ramps I was sent:
- If possible, I would offer a slightly wider size for cars with very wide street tires and possibly even wider track tires.
- If practical, it might be interesting to integrate a slight lip or rail on the side of the ramps to act as a guide when backing up (for those of us with rear-engine cars). This lip or rail would simply act as a safety mechanism to ensure that you are backing straight onto the ramp and not veering to one side or the other (very similar to how the rear safety lip functions).
Race Ramps are a Superior Designed Product
All in all I think the Race Ramps are a superior designed product and will now be using them instead of my jack and jack-stands. In addition, Rich has sent me a set of wheel cribs that can be used in place of jack-stands. I have not yet had a chance to try these out, but from the looks of them and my experience with the ramps I’m sure they will work just as well.
Don’t forget that Rich is offering a 10% discount for my readers. If you decide you want to order something from Brute Industries, be it the Race Ramps, Trailer Ramps, Wheel Cribs, etc. simply add in the coupon code of “993c4s8” when prompted and you will automatically receive a 10% discount.
I hope you found this review helpful and I’ll be posting another one in a few weeks on the wheel cribs.
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