3/30/2012 Update: This Porsche 911 Cabriolet has been sold! Chequered Flag has other Porsches available.
Our inaugural Featured Porsche for Sale comes by way of Chequered Flag International. This 1984 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet has had but three owners since new. The original owner took delivery in Colorado Springs and drove it for two years before selling it in 1986 to the second owner in Manhattan Beach, CA. It was then purchased in 1988 by the third owner and moved with him to Palm Desert, CA where it has lived for the last 24 years. The California climate has been exceeding kind to this air-cooled convertible. The body appears near perfect and is in the same Guards Red paint it came with. Lower the top, and the factory original Pearl White interior provides a striking color combination. It is available for sale in Marina Del Ray, CA for $37,500.
It’s getting exceedingly more and more difficult to find Porsches of this era in solid, original condition. This cabriolet stands out as near perfect, with a complete service history since 1988 (including stamped service books and the option sticker in the warranty booklet), the original window sticker, toolkit and spare tire.
Please see the listing at Chequered Flag for more details and an additional 30+ pictures. If you, or someone you know, would like a Porsche featured in our newsletter and on our site, please use our contact form to get in touch with us.
Early this morning (around 1:30 am EST) and then again this afternoon (5:30 pm EST) the Speed channel broadcasted the show Porsche 911:Revolution. If you didn’t get to see it or you forgot to set your DVR, don’t worry. Speed is giving you another chance to see it on April 14th at 7:00 pm EST. If you follow us on Twitter we’ll be sending out a reminder in our Twitter stream. Otherwise, set your DVR now. Enjoy the trailer below and see what you missed or, even better, see what you have to look forward to. If you’re having trouble viewing the video vial email you can view it on our site by clicking on the Porsche 911 Revolution on Speed.
Early last week the National Highway and Traffic Safety Administration updated their site with a notification about a possible fuel system problem having to do with certain model Porsche 911s. New 911s (Carrera S versions only) manufactured between October 26, 2011 and January 24, 2012 (1232 of them) run the risk of a possible fuel leak.
According to the notice, “interference between a coolant line and a fuel line may cause the fuel line to become disconnected at the quick connector.” If this were to happen, a fuel leak may occur. The site goes on to say that “a fuel leak could lead to the engine misfiring or stalling, increasing the risk of a crash. A fuel leak in the presence of an ignition source could increase the risk of fire.”
Porsche will notify those customers affected and dealers will begin replacing fuel lines, free of charge of course, starting in early April. Customers can contact Porsche at 1-800-767-7243.
I’ve always been a fan of the Porsche 904. Built in 1963, and making its racing debut in 1964, Porsche built a little over 100 of these flat four, street-legal racers in order to meet the FIA Group 3 (Grand Touring) homologation rules. Today, if you want a 904 you have two choices. You can either hire a broker and hope to find a new one (assuming you have the seven figures needed to purchase one) or you can buy a kit or replica from one of the two or three better known builders (Beck, Martin Walker, etc.).
Enter Gullwing America and Arturo Alonso
Gullwing America is a specialty coachworks firm headed by Arturo Alonso in San Antonio, TX. A quick search of the web will lead you to information on his recreation of the Mercedes 300SL and even a classic Ferrari 340 Mexico Berlineta. What’s unclear in the articles is if any of these cars have ever been built, hence the name of this post.
According to information on worldcarfans.com if the P/904 does get built, it will be done using a Porsche Boxster (987 series) as the platform with a body crafted from composite materials. Unlike the original 904s, the P/904 prototype will use the Boxster’s 3.4 liter engine to produce 291 hp (as compared to 198 hp in the original) and will wear custom-designed 5 spoke wheels (they look a lot like the new Fuchs to me). Gullwing America will add adjustable suspension and sports tuned exhaust to their interpretation of this classic Porsche.
While I’d like the option of more power than what the Boxster platform provides (I’m assuming this re-make will be much heavier than the original) and don’t care for the Carrera script on the doors, if the finished version stays true to these renderings above it will be one sharp looking replica. However, keep in mind that the expected price of 70,000 Euros (about $92K) seems a bit steep considering it doesn’t include the donor car or any customizations.
We get a lot of questions submitted to us here at PorschePurist.com. Some technical, others not so much. One of the most frequent is, “How do I properly close the hood or trunk of my Porsche? Do I push down on the badge?” A quick online search will show you a number of conflicting opinions found in various forums, on blogs and from other Porsche “experts”. Fortunately, Porsche themselves answers this question, and many others on their iManual site. Even better, they answer a number of questions in video format like the one below. As always, if you can’t see the video in your email simply click on how to close the trunk or hood on your Porsche to watch it directly on our site.
Does your Porsche have an iManual?
The site is fairly new and only covers current models. However, there is quite a bit of “ever green” material on it that is pertinent to lots of different model years. We asked Porsche if there were any plans to go back further and they said no. However, it should be kept up to date going forward and the new 911 should come on line in the next few weeks. Take a few minutes and check out the site. You just might learn something!
If you’re not familiar with Ken Block or the sport of Gymkhana, then take a minute and check out first link at the end of this post. Basically, Block has the ability to defy physics, gravity and other laws with his amazing driving skills. He does things in (and with) a car that just don’t seem possible and he does a lot of them in a Ford Fiesta. Yes, it’s a heavily modified Fiesta, but it’s still a Ford.
What Does Gymkhana Look Like in a Porsche?
Up until now we haven’t seen any real attempts a Gymkhana in a Porsche. We’ve seen lots of drifting videos and rides on the track, but none of the full scale, high quality productions that Ken Block is known for. The video below changes that.
Admittedly, the driving in this video isn’t on par with what Ken Block does, but it’s the first real attempt we’ve seen at Gymkhana in a Porsche. While it is a bit painful to sit through some of the bad acting (and the intro is quite long) the production value is top notch. Here’s hoping that we see more of Modesto Martin doing Gymkhana in his heavily modified Porsche 996.
Last week when Porsche announced the Macan (the official model name of what we all knew up ’till then as the Cajun) there were lots of discussions – some good but most bad – around the new name. Some thought it was better than the presumed “Cajun” while others thought it just as bad, if not worse.
Porsche themselves went to great lengths to explain their naming choice. The press release even talked about the meaning behind some of their past naming decisions: the name Boxster describes the combination of boxer engine and roadster, Cayenne stands for sharpness, the Cayman is snappy and agile and a Panamera is more than a Gran Tourismo, capable also of winning the Carrera Panamericana long-distance race.
So, I ask you this, when it comes to the name of anything other than the Porsche 911, does it really matter? Do you think Porsche will actually sell more or less of the new baby SUV because of a poor naming choice? Would you buy (or more importantly not buy) a Porsche based on the model name?
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