wintershade

Help! My first Porsches were modern - 992 C4S, 992 TTS. Amazing machines, but coming from an E36 M3 race car the 992 platform just feel too big, isolated, WAY more power than is usable on public roads (especially the TTS), and for the amount of money I have in the TTS not enough of an occasion to drive. Miss the MT (for fun, PDK and adaptive cruise sure is nice for my stop-and-go commute).

So the air cooled siren song calls. I've been on the merry-go-round now for months. Finally selling my TTS back to my dealer Friday, which frees up nearly $250K in cash to go shopping.

Since I'm coming from such powerful care and have the money, I was going to start with a 993 TT "king of the aircooled" and DD it, but that's a pricey opening gambit. I'm also excited to work on my own cars and start a project car (which you can't do on the 992, and the 993 TT is a bit expensive). So thinking about getting an SC, or a late 3.2... as a fun/project car and maybe using leftover funds for a NB 993 or perhaps even a 991/992 C4 PDK to daily. Then I start thinking... I just am smitten by the Turbo looks, and start looking at 930 Turbos, 964 Turbos, but the 930 I drove was pretty gutless TBH and I have no seat time in a 964 TT and can't afford a good 3.6T. So I just go around and around and around.

My instinct is keep the initial buy-in "small" with a well documented/sorted SC or 3.2, then figure out where I want to go next (smaller lighter, then go to the longhoods... do I need AC and more power then look to 964 or Turbo cars). Maybe I want more sunshine, look to Targa.

Help!

parkerfe

993 RS is the king of air-cooled

Ironman88

The general sales environment is almost never an effective means to form a sound basis for an investment decision like this one.

I would recommend that you consider reaching out to Nathan Merz with Columbia Valley Luxury Cars in Redmond Washington. Nathan is the foremost authority on Porsche cars in my view and can help provide factual information and guidance that will put you on a successful path to getting the right car. Unparalleled knowledge / expertise, and integrity. I have purchased two air-cooled 911's from him and have been 100% satisfied in every way.

https://cvluxurycars.com/about-us/

A few photos below of the car that I recently acquired from Nathan...



'88 3.2 Carrera Sport Coupe

Marine Blue

Can Can Red

darylbowden

You're all over the place. I would suggest you try to drive as many of these cars as possible and then you'll have an impression of what you want.

IMO the 930, 964 Turbos and 993 turbos are not worth the additional money they cost. I would start with looking at VERY well kept SCs, 3.2s, 964s, 993s - regular RWD, narrow body cars. Nathan is great as is Paul at Auto Kennel (I think he has a couple really clean G bodies coming to market right now as well as a 964 RS that is about 100k out of your budget but looks pretty great), Holt is pretty well-respected as well. See if you can visit, learn about each car, its story and drive a couple examples. When you drive the right car, it will let you know. If it doesn't, don't buy one just to tick a box.

wintershade

Thanks! Yea, agreed I’m all over the place. It’s hard because I have relatively little sit time in these cars. None of the “good” dealers are driving distance and most of the “other” dealers seem unwilling to let me test drive their whole fleet to pick a car.

What’s tough about the Turbos is they look the business and scratch a nostalgic itch (930 was THE car when I was a kid), but the throttle response is laggy and low end torque pretty anemic around town. They seem better suiting to highway cruising. The 993 TT is a pretty perfect, delightful car, but not really all that raw and I struggle a lot with the recent run-up in values (which is a problem for all cars, but on an absolute dollar basis I’d rather “overpay” by $20K on an SC than $100k on a Turbo, especially if it turns out not the be the “right” car.

darylbowden

Yeah I get it - there aren't a lot of great dealers of these classic cars out there and the ones that are good usually don't have more than a couple examples in stock at any time.

Just my opinion, but I'm not a fan of the 993TT. I really don't like the way the AWD system makes it feel. It's definitely a good car, but if I were spending that type of money, I'd be looking at 964TT (ideally a 3.6T but those are VERY pricey now) as I much prefer the feel of them being RWD. Some people absolutely adore them though - and so why I think it matters so much to drive one. As you already experienced with the 930, expectations and reality may not be aligned and also be aware that there is a TON of variance in cars of this age. You could drive a great one or a horrible one and have a very different impression of the same model.

Mountaineer84

What a gem!

Spyerx

get off the merry go round? lol. you're jumping in on high speed.

I've owned and/or driven extensively every generation of porsche 911. Most of them on track too.

My suggestion would be either: a 100% stock 964 C2 with some minor chassis mods (shocks, alignment, fresh suspension) or a hot rodded 964. Depending what you want.

The 964 is the best mix of old and new in the lineup. Feels old, but feels modern. Stupid fun to drive hard. WAY better chassis than the 3.2 cars, and more visceral feeling (and less round looking) than the 993.

If your budget is around $250k, you have a pretty open book to find something great. You won't get any 964 or 993 RS for that price, however, but you can find an RSA 964 I'm sure.

On the 3.2 / g series cars, they look the best. they just feel/drive heavy. they are not that fun to drive aggressively unless the chassis is extensively modified. But, I LOVE the look, they are the BEST cruisers.

So, kinda depends what you want... but if you have an e30 e36 race car and you want that generation feel and aggressive street driving... 964 c2.

My garage currently (I sold many good cars and this is what I've kept): 997.1 gt3rs, 964 c2 hot rod, 71 991t hot rod (see links in sig for builds).

rsabeebe

you can see from my sig i have some M-car experience (not nearly all are listed) as well and was always a big fan of the e36 M3. fantastic all-around car, even with only 240hp. here's the thing i hear you saying that will be the rub - the older cars are slow and certainly will be compared to a 992TT. i love the late aircooloed cars for what they offer - a somewhat modern feel that has the lineage and direct connection back to the early aircooled cars. that upright windshield, being able to reach over and touch the pass door, the iconic dash... it's all still there. thing is, they are also not fast. quick maybe, but they're momentum cars just like the e36 M3. the good thing is, you can wring their necks on the street and enjoy the powerband.

i sold my 997S for similar reasons to you - too composed, you could never really explore the limits, and even the 997 felt a bit large. you clearly like the turbo/WB look, but only the 993tt will offer something to combat the lag of the single turbo cars. it would seem the 993tt is the best conclusion. many say that the 996 GT3 has the 'feel' of the smaller aircooled cars and offers much better performance. i agree with that and the 6.2 GT3 is a perfect compliment to my 964 and 993WB. not sure if that was on your radar at all, but it might be worth a consideration. not to mention, it would only take half your budget, so you can still add a sweet 964NB to the party.

rsabeebe

where did i miss that the OP has an e30 race car? i also raced an e30 325is in SCCA ITS and some BMW CCA racing. the e30 is still one of my favorite platforms for builds. the e30 was what the 964 has become - an incredibly universal platform that has so much potential for individual customization. you could do so much with a little e30 back in the day. love those cars. they also have an iconic interior for BMW aficionados. you step back in one and it just feels right.

rsabeebe

ironman, that marine on the cancan with the subtle Carrera script is gorgeous. love the body-colored wheels and the RSA rear parcel area is awesome. what a great build!
i can't imagine doing anything to improve it. subtle improvements while maintaining the classic impact look.

Spyerx

E36!!! I mis typed, or maybe it was a subconscious switch to E30 :-) I agree with your comments!

raspritz

My respectul suggestion is slow down, step back, and take time to discover what you want and why. I've owned many different Porsches and other cars, including racecars. Cars are just a tool, if only just to have fun. In my opinion, no air-cooled Porsche measures up to any water-cooled Porsche on any parameter except nostalgia, a totally appropriate motivation not to be under-valued. Go out and get that seat time.

Igooz

I don't know who you are and your standards and expectations as far as the quality of your target purchase. But know that these air-cooled Porsches are now 30–50-year-old cars, and some good and some really horrible mechanics, hacks, owners with no skills have been through them taking short cuts, creative deviations, etc.

Whatever you buy, purchase absolutely the finest example that you can afford with documentation of the work. And line-up a first-class OLD Porsche technician to help you before you buy the car. The new Porsche techs are mostly useless with these old cars as they can only plug in laptops and read codes and then replaces an entire module or mislead you.

Do otherwise, and your experience will go sour real fast.

frederik

For me it works well to have both a classic and a newer 911 -- in my case a longhood and a 996TT. The classic 911 is for those nice summer canyon / alpine drives, the TT for daily / winter / highway usage. With your budget, you should be able to do this easily. I wouldn't get too hung up about needing an early Turbo because you are used to powerful cars. They won't be close to the 992TT and you don't need that much power to have fun.