I agree with Paul491. As I said previously, the wide body IS Porsche IMHO. Love the look and worth the extra $.
regards,
Steve

 

After having read this thread, I can only imagine what some must think about a completly stock 84 narrow-body Carrera w/ a turbo lip on the tail.

 

It's OK Dan - I like my girls slim and my car is almost the opposite of a Turbo look. Narrow bodied Carrera, Turbo rubber and more than turbo brakes. If I can figure out a way to stick a big turbo on there without a tail I'll be in heaven.

 

I own a 1985 911 Widebody with 42000 kilometers (thats right-original) on it and have to say this car is awsome to drive. Wind drag, heavier...its all crap. I have owned a 1983 911 Eurosport and it was nice, I sold that thinking I got the porsche thing out of my system and then found out I was having "Rush Withdrawls" and found a 91 C2, I put some miles on that one but it was not a Turbo body and I really like the look of the Turbo but did not want the maintenace that comes with it. I then found this Jewel and took it for a rip and that was that. Bought the '85 and sold the '91.

The Turbo look is heavier but not really noticable(the C2 felt heavier), the handling is much better and the look, well, what can I say. I upgraded to Mass Air Flow, chipped it and put in the bi-pass pipe-Zipidy-do-da! This car is a riot to drive, has great throttle response and have spent nothing except oil changes and the performance upgrades. As a side note, I have put very little cash into all my 911's, they are very reliable if maintained much to the suprise of the average joe. I fully and highly recomend the widebody to anyone. Here's a couple of pic's

 

Wow - that's a beautiful car!

 

Paul 491

I love TL cars, in fact I am looking to swap my 3.2 with something else (either rebuild a 3.7 or 3.6 Vario) and build a TL. How do u come up with 20k-30k to build a TL from a carrera?
Big Reds (that are better than the 88 Turbo brakes) will set you back $5k. Flares and bumpers probably 3-4k depending on labor. Suspensions.... I am looking to put in 3k and hoping to get a better handling car than a TL. Fuchs?? Well I am going to follow Jack Olsen's example and have my own 17' Fuchs made... 4k... So all in all this is at the max 16k. Granted it is not original and if I sold it I would probably get back maybe .25% of it... but still

 

Two points:

The 17-inch Fuchs are only about $2,200/set, not 4k.

Big reds are probably overkill, unless you're planning on adding a lot of weight.

 

I love this conversation. I'll always be on the side of the sleeper car with more motor and suspension than looks. I have nothing against the TL cars. They look great. But I wouldn't want one. To each his own..

My car is the "anti TL car"... narrow body car with bigger motor but no flares or spoilers.. :-) Since I only get to the track once per year I am no where near frustrated by the car's limits being too low. When I get good enough to push the car beyond its capabilities I'll add flares and fenders. For now it's pretty fun to run it hard without all that grip. Let's just say the car does not have a noticeable understeer problem :-)

 

Jack Olsen said:
"If I had the funds to build a no-holds-barred street/track 911, it would not have a 77-89 Turbo motor in it. It would be a widebody, however. "

Can I buy the one you threw together on the cheap when you get the funds? It looks AWESOME.

 

Was quoted $2100.00 on the 17" wheels from Lindsey. Going to back-date my FTL a bit. ALready has a duck-tail. Hey, I love most 911's narrow, early, wide. All of them are gorgeous cars. Just wanted to try the wide-body..

A.B.

 

You know, by the time I got to the 3rd page of this discussion, I was saying out loud, where's Paul491?? For HE shall enlighten those in the dark. And those who cannot be enlightened get the **** scared outta them by Jack's car! The term "turbo look" was a catastrophic blunder by the marketing department at Porsche North America; forever being the late night topic of silly internet debates over what's a poser and what's not.

Dude, buy what you like. YES it would make a kickass DE car, and yes it would be less trouble (in the longer run) than a turbo. And YES, you could probably track prep a nice standard Carrera for less dough (but you wouldn't have that shapely rear end to look at, would ya?). Slap a ducktail spoiler on the rear end and score mondo bonus points for the retro RSR look!

 

Hey Taylor, thanks for the kind words and well taken points!

Matteo,
I really appreciate your enthusiasm for the TLs plus I must admit, we also share a similar plan concerning the 3.6

Your estimates along with Jack's are true. When I said $20K-$30k, I was speaking of a very accurate "factory type" conversion. Hey, a real frugal person could just slap on a set of fender extensions and a few other bits, paint to 'em to match, locate some used wheel spacers and install a set of used "turbo" wheels and tires and call it good... thus spending even less than your estimated costs. It just all depends on what a guy wants, eh?

At one time, I too was considering the conversion path. As an example and to keep things simple, let's use your estimate of investing another $16K into your car. It's a very sobering thought considering the possibility of only recouping 25% (or $4,000) of your initial investment. By going down the conversion road, there is a big chance of a $12K loss. Why not just buy something real? At this time, M491 prices are averaging about $5K-$10K above a comparably optioned Carrera of the same year/condition. Interestingly, this is less than your acceptable loss of $12K. Another plus for the Factory M491 Carrera will likely be an increase in value the longer you own it due to its racing heritage and very low production numbers..

Still thinking of converting that narrow-body into a wide-body?
Well, don't forget about all the time you'll be working on, or waiting for the various work scopes to be initiated and completed. It could take quite awhile... Now, if you decide to sell your current 911 and buy a nice clean M491 Carrera for an extra $5K-10K, you can drive it home and start enjoying it! Ahhhhh, what a concept... Immediate gratification with no down time!!! And unless you totally butch it up, I'm sure you'll get your money/investment back when you decide to sell...

One big side note: You'll wind up driving a very unique 911 that is limited, historically-significant and is always an interesting conversation piece no matter where you go; all because it was originally built that way at the factory...

Just my .02 cents, and worth almost every penny!

 

This is the 1985 factory Turbo-Look Cab I owned for 3 years, virtually maintenance free and bulletproof. I don't think you can say that for the "real" Turbo. I sold it for the same amount I bought it for, after putting on 35K miles in 3 years... so I believe in the value proposition (but then, you have to buy it right in the first place).

If this was called the Carrera "S" in 1985 we wouldn't have the conversation as to whether this car is just a "poser" or even a "poseur" ;-). Wish I hadn't sold it....but then again, I do love my other poseur car, the '99 996 with GT-3 Aerokit... which just like the TL was Porsche's way of getting the GT-3 style to the U.S. even though the actual GT-3 wasn't available.

Cheers

 

Say whatever, but I wish I had kept my EURO 79 converted T/L car
Personally I think they just have the "LOOK".
As far as performance, where the h**l are you going anyway?
Whatever makes you smile......

 

DAVE_CAR_GUY
Hey, they just dodn't get it....You said you wished you'd kept your T/l....Me too. even though mine was a "fake"
Daniel