from what I have heard the replicas of any kind are poor fit as the fiberglass or whatever they use doesn't form fit as well.

 

Yeah my ducktail took at least $600 of work to make it fit just right, and it still isn't near as good as a factory fit. Still, a lot lighter and cheaper than OEM.

 

Speaking of Ducktails, what are some reputable sites? Does each site/manufacturer make it's own mold of the original tail from the '73? How many manufacturers and variations/molds are there of the FG Ducktail? Who makes the best, who makes the worst?

I've always wondered, as I've wanted one for quite a while now.

-Cam

 

AASE Sales has a nice duck tail mounted on an aluminum frame/decklid. Kind of pricy $2K. Wish they had a Carrera tail similar.

 

I do not appreciate the whale tails on the narrow bodied cars. Just never looked correct to me. Now a duck tail......

 

I guess the question is how do you define Narrow Body cars. Personally I think the whale looks fine on anything with SC flares and up , but I do realize to each his own, Certainly not a tea tray on anything less then turbo flares.
I just think many of the fiberglass ducks out there just look cheezy as they seem not to fit well or they take the paint differently and it looks like an obvious add on.

 

I have a Stratton tail for mine, wasn't that much more and fits correctly.

 

In retrospect I wish I had gone that direction. I didn't want the car to be out of commission for so long, though, but ended up having it at the body shop for a month and a half anyway. Even after all that it's still not as good as a Stratton.

 

A little late, but here are some more interesting graphs. These are from an article Porsche:
The Cars and Weissach Engineering by Robert A. White. It appeared in the May 1978 Pano, and is included in Up Fixin' Volume 5.

Here is a graph with front end lift reduction for different spoilers. I think the duck tail from front spoiler was similar to that on the 911S? The Turbo front spoiler is the rubber one we're familiar with.



This is reduction in rear end lift:



And this is Figure 13 referenced in that paragraph. Some interesting points on stability during a panic stop that we haven't really talked about:




Mark

 

'84 survivor - love the look

 

Mark that's an interesting article. guess we can assume when they say " whale tale" they are referring to the turbo tail ? as the 3.2 Carrera type tale wasnt around in 1978 correct ?

if its the turbo tail that we know today I can certainly see the reduction in lift based on the weight of that thing alone its a monster .

re: going into a turn at 90mph and jamming on the brakes , I wonder if they factor in the weight of the diaper you would be filling as that definitely negates the " don't lift" rule !!

 

The tail Dr. White was referring to was the early whale tail, also used on some Carrera and SC models. It was not the more efficient later 3.3 Turbo "Teatray" introduced on '78 930

The early whale tail looked like this, w/ 3 variations on the second slot. None, Medium(pictured) and large. There was also a more efficient long version used on IROC and as a spare for the '74 Carrera 3.0RS

 

I think that's true, Bill. Although Figure 12 also has the curve for the 3.3L tail.

I'm also not sure what the front spoilers looked like.

Mark

 

This seams like a good thread to post this question. You all obviously know more about early 930 deck lids than I. I own a 1977 930 (03/77 production) and recently took it to a restoration shop for evaluation. While the car is in good shape, they felt that the deck might be aftermarket. They did say they had not seen a 930 this old, but it looked odd. My deck is a metal frame with the spoiler made of fiberglass. It is suffering from the same things your posts discuss, poor fit, cracks from heating/cooling. The fiberglass work wraps around the edges of the metal deck lid, and looks very original to the car. Is their any way to know if it is original? I have included some photos, the car was repainted before we got it in the mid 80's so, not sure if anything might be over sprayed, but I can see remnants of the old paint in areas under the deck, so I always thought is came with the car. Any advice would be appreciated.......thanks

notice large cracks in the curve



curve crack



one can see the fiberglass wrap around the lip of the lid