Chuck Jones

I'm going tomorrow to look at what's being advertised as a 1977 turbo guards red cabriolet with a slantnose body to it....it has all the same general configuration as my '87 factory 930 cab slantnose (but doesn't look as wide in the butt end)...except that the guy says it's an original '77 and that the front end "is made out of steel", not the fiberglass aftermarket add-on that they put on a number of the later 930s. The gy says he's selling it for her dad who's had it for 17 years...why doesn't he sell it himself? Hmmmm....and that it's got 86K miles on it...but less than that on a new engine and transmission that was installed in 1989. If I can get the picture to load, I'll attach it...otherwise, I'll solicit your input off the description I just furnished.

I guess my question is....is there even such a thing as a 77 turbo slantnose cab with a 232 HP engine in it. Sorry guys...I'm not a very technical Porsche owner...but I know what I like...and if this is something that's real or collectible...I might be interested in it.

I'd like to hear from someone before I go over there tomorrow....if you want to email at my personal email....fishoncj@aol.com maybe I can get the picture to load in an email because I wasn't too successful doing it here on this board.

Chuck

craig001

There original slantnose (option 505) were oringinally part of the "Special Wishes" program in the 1980's. After Porsche saw how popular the look was becoming they made it a checkbox option that ran over $10k. Cab's first showed up in the 1983 model year IIRC. So that car is definately a conversion, nothing wrong there if done correctly. But in reading your post it looks like it might have a 1989 turbo engine and 5 speed G50 tranny. I would say take it for a detailed PPI. Maybe some of the SoCal guys could give you some good shops.

As far as someone selling it for their father, selling a used car is a major PITA. If it's a p-car it's even worse with tirekickers and people wanting to test drive w/o any intent of buying. BTDT.

Rico

Like Craig said, no cabs in the 70's and slantnose option started in about 86.

Peter Zimmermann

I must offer my 2 cents worth - there can be plenty wrong with a Cab conversion. Porsche did not create the structural integrity for Cabs until the 1981 Targa. Any attempt at converting an '80 or earlier car to a Cab will end up with nothing more than a Flexi-flyer that feels like the front and back ends belong to two different cars. Buyer beware, this car is no longer a 911, it's just a boulevard cruiser.
Pete

JBO

ALL cabs are boulevard cruisers . Not to disagree somewhat with Pete, but IF the conversion was properly done, including adding additional structural support (which is unlikely), a slant cab with an 89 turbo engine and trans is still a 911, and could be a fun car, athough it is a frankenstein. Now if it had a chevy V8, then it's no longer a 911 . However, since it's a frankenstein, even if it is well done it's not really a collector car and you should not pay top dollar for it.

Jastx

Prior to the reintroduction of the Turbo in the mid-eighties when the factory made the Slantnose a production option (M505 in the US) and an EXPENSIVE one too ($29,555 in 1989), Slantnoses were one-offs created by Porsche's Special Wishes organization. If the car you are describing is a factory job, it would have been done by this group.

During the Slantnose period, a lot of shops did fiberglass, and all steel, conversions. A typical tell-tale sign is no jack port on the extended rocker panels. Porsche made many modifications to the body and structure for the Slantnose cars. Excerpts from a factory Technical Manual that describes these changes can be seen on the 930s.com site here: http://930s.com/service.htm. Once you look at all the stuff Porsche did to build the Slantnose -- it's not just bolting on different fenders -- it makes you a little wary of any conversion. Do your due diligence.

I was once warned to look out for conversions. Expensive to do, they cost about the same as repairing a crashed car with factory parts, so that's when many cars were converted -- after an accident. Again, do your due diligence, and good luck.

Peter Zimmermann

Hi JBO: Your comments are well taken, but I've driven a few of these abominations, and they are scary! The cowl shake is similar to that of a Model A, and handling anywhere near a limit probably 30% below what the car should be able to do is hard to describe. I had customers that time-trialed pre-'81 Targas, and to a person, when they found out how limited the car was, they switched to coupes. Seriously, the car's modified like the subject of this thread felt like the front end didn't know what the back end was doing, and weird camber changes were taking place as the center of the car flexed. A good friend of mine came into possession of a factory body shell, post '81 Targa, and we spent a lot of time dissecting that thing - where the gussetts were, what seams were continuous (instead of spot) welded, etc., and nobody is going to go to those lengths when they do a conversion.

Jas: Very perceptive! Even the '81 Targa that I made into a Cab back in the early '90s was in a fairly heavy front collision (fortunately with the PO driving!). During the time it sat (for three weeks post-pull) I came into possession of the factory brochure for conversion from a Targa to a Cab. The body shop that my car was at had always wanted to do the conversion, and offered to do it for free if he could keep all of the Targa parts (top, roll bar, rear window, etc.). The chassis pull worked, we did the conversion, parts manager extraordinaire Lenny Yee (now at Pacific Motors in Torrance) provided me with a new, complete, factory manual top, we painted the car the original dark blue-gray metallic and drove it 100K miles! Since I sold the car it's rolled well past 300K miles and is still running around in L.A., but it was a post crash conversion.

Pete

Chuck Jones

Hey guys....I was doing some research on the 77 turbo and found this information relating to the fact that there appears to have been a '77 slantnose....here's the information. This is contrary to everything I've been told so far. If this is the case...then is it possible that the car I'm going to go look at is an authentic '77 Porsche turbo slantnose cab?? Sort of goes against all the experts I've talked to.....Chuck

Additional Resources and Links
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1977 Porsche models
911
911S Slant Nose
924 Martini Edition
934.5



Other Model Years
1983 911SC
1979 911SC
1978 911SC
1977 911S Slant Nose
1975 911S
1973 911S
1972 911S
1970 911S
1969 911S
1967 911S
1966 911S