t.p.

Last week I saw the ugliest 911 ever. It was a late 60's model with a horribly done slantnose conversion (side strakes and turbo tail too). It was (cheaply) painted purple metallic and had a worn aftermarket white interior w/ black piping. The guy even went so far as to put power-everything in it.
People, 911's have soul. Don't dishonor them by making them something they're not. Early 911's are beautiful - that white one in Nov. Excellence is the perfect example of how to modify these cars. Maintain their essence. Now, every a-hole who races the purple 911 will think they beat a slant 930S.

Thom Fitzpatrick

I've seen some really hideous conversions out there, and they tend to look beat down.

There was a '77 911 at the shop that did my engine conversion that had been converted to a turbo. They did a horrible job of it, left a lot of engine bits disconnected, etc. But what was horrendous was the body conversion. It had some funky flare/rocker contraption that was glued to the body, so the rockers and flares were all one piece, but in fiberglass. It had some strange 'intakes' at odd spots, with cheap screens behind them. ug. In there now is a slant-nose "turbo-look " cab, with a 'Turbo' badge, but it doesn't have an intercooler nor a boost guage, so I don't think it's a real turbo. It has turbo brakes though. They made a 'sunroof' in the cab top with clear plastic, similar to the rear window!

There was another turbo in there a while back that was purple with all *white* interior - every single surface as done in white. It had some pimpin' wheels on it, too!

Kevin Reilly

Here is a place to get some accessories to go with that pimpin car:

Pimp Hats

ked

If it's any consolation, most of these I've seen were "one step from the graveyard" BEFORE the ugly & tasteless downgrades were slapped on. There are always (tragically) exceptions...

87slant-nose-cabriolet

I glean from the previous posts the general
feeling that its a sin to modify a porsche
from its originally delivered configuration.
I take offense at this as I am the proud owner of a non factory 87 slantnose cabriolet
coversion. I knew what I wanted when I sold my last muscle car (1969 copo 427 camaro)
and waited two years before I made the leap.
The car I bought has fiberglass( will soon
be "used to have"!) front and rear bumpers
and front valance, but over the last two months I,ve removed the fiberglass crap
and from Ebay gathered lower spoiler, valance
, lower rear fender extensions and rear bumper. While tearing into the car I,ve rewired the rx-7 head lights (try figuring out color codes for two differant countries
of vehicle design) to as porsche quality
as could be done. I love this car and will not soon part with it. Before you dismiss me
as a loon, previous vehicles owned were:
77-930 turbo, 72 lamborghini espada, 82 targa
and 5- 57 chevrolets of differant configurations, all of which I did all of the wrenching on. Those cars that show little care in their modification are sometimes the result of people with less means or ability than our own in their construction or maintainance. Every time we see one, instead of instant ridicule we should ponder the unfortunate story of the vehicle- perhaps the poor soul that spent more than he made trying to imitate the cars we drive. In another thread about "egging on" I said "be cool let em drool" but perhaps we all should be a little more humble and say thanks for what we have.
keith

KLehmann

I'd have to agree that most post-production kits make cars appear wrong. The slant nose seems to be the exception to my belief. The factory did a nice job of changing the appearance of the car without losing the 911 look. The slant cars don't have the big "eyes" of a normal 911, but still maintain the 911-look. I agree that an early car must look a little strange with a slantnose.

A good example of cars that never look right with body modifications:

Has anybody ever seen a Corvette (68-present) with a significant body modification that improved the car's appearance? IMO, nope. Most might frown upon the Vette reference, but it's a good example nonetheless. The designers seem to have penned each version of that car in a way which makes it hard for the car to look any better. I don't know if that's good or bad!

Cornpanzer

Im glad I found this topic. I can pretty much top everything else. I was reading through some of my old VW/Porsche magazines and happened across an article in the Jan 86 issue showcasing what used to be one of the 15 1973 IROC RS's. The new owner had torn it down and installed a slant nose kit along with Turbo flares and a Turbo tail! It also had big fat rocker covers and Gotti wheels....YIKES! Hopefully in the last 15 years someone has restored that car to its original incarnation. Fortunatly it still had the 3.0 liter twin plug engine in it tho.

Randall G.

You're absolutely right! I've never seen one of these kits that did anything but make a Corvette look tacky!

Having said that, perhaps someone should market a "narrow-butt" kit for the current model 'Vette. Its back side looks like the rear end of a sailboat.

Victor

One (hopefully not misspelled word) for you boys:

GEMBALLA!

In my humble opinion, more pimpin' than early AMG's.


Victor, '89 3.2

ked

Gemballa represents an exceptionally well-crafted amalgamation of (mostly) bad taste styling cues (they seem to perform good performance tuning, is it out-sourced?). In recent years they seem to have toned down a little, at least in bodywork as compared to interior details - has the market changed?

Just as there seems no correlation between wealth and high IQ, there is obviously none between wealth & good taste. IS there a correlation between low IQ and bad taste? Maybe Gemballa responds to a market created by wealth, poor taste and low IQ. Is excessive, iterative "pimping" of otherwise nicely styled cars the result of moderate wealth, questionable IQ and poor taste? I guess it is all a small price to pay for a market economy responsive to freedom of choice...

CamB

Keith

For me the key part of what you describe is "Porsche quality". You are going back over a few parts of your car which are not up to standard and redoing them.

The original posts were about shoddy conversions, and I agree they suck. But if yours is done right then that is pretty cool by me.

Questions of tastefulness or otherwise should be left to personal interpretation, like you say.