muis

When I was looking for my car about a year ago, I didn't pursue some cars offered for sale as they had a tail. The car wasn't going to be raced and I didn't care for the look. That was not smart a smart way to go about it I realize now as I might have passed up the best car available just because it had a tail. Link

I also think it would be nice to have two decklids just for a change in looks, and swapping out should be easy, especially if you don't have a rear wiper.

f4 plt

I would agree that "tails" are individual. When I bought my '83 Sc it had an aftermarket whale (shelf) tail on it. I also got the original decklid. I'm not a fan of the whale style tails but since I was putting RS lightweight front and rear bumpers on it I needed to keep the tail to reduce lift in the rear with the increased downforce of the front spoiler/ bumper. As with most aftermarket items the level of quality varies and I had to do a lot of fitting for the tail. Well I finally changed it out for a ducktail sold by MA Shaw (same as Getty) the quality is excellent and in my opinion the duck tail looks better on the narrow bodied cars. Plus they are lighter than the whale (shelf) tails and reducing weight high in the rear while also reducing lift is a plus plus mod. The lift reduction (ok, down-force achieved) with the duck tail is only slightly less than the whale tail at even track speeds during DE's the only certain thing is if you put any type of spoiler/ splitter up front you need something on the rear. Now that was a rambling dialogue, sorry.

wwest

Since my wife will not allow me to convert our '01 C4 to T-tops our '88 special edition is soon going into the shop for the addition of T-tops, front and rear spoilers, tea tray, not whale tail.

I also have a spare set of gold BBS 3-pc 16" wheels that I may have disassembled and center painted to match the special edition color, grey/purple.

What is the opinion on the wheels..??

Oh, if you have A/C the tail may not only add some minor downforce but also add some level of efficiency to the otherwise horribly INEFFICIENT factory A/C. The tail adds enough space for adding 4 to 6 12 volt 5.25" "boxer" type computer fans to help move airflow through the rear condensor.

And upon buying one of the A/C equipped 911's among the first things to check is for the front A/C condensor blower to be functional.

abe

Personal choice...IMHO tail takes away from the smooth lines of the car and I DONT LIKE IT. That is why the new cars tails pop up and down.
abe

wwest

Pop up and down.....Tacky...to the Nth degree.

Not only detracts from the beauty of the car when up, but is totally non-functional to boot.

MY 99 C2 got its tail "tied" down until it could be upgraded to the full factory aerokit.

elpresidente

I struggled with this in December when I bought my 87. I have never been a big fan of the Carrera or Turbo tails at all. The 87 (in my avatar) had a tail and it was the only thing about the car that I could have gone without. Ultimately, I bought the car and a second decklid w/o tail to paint match and install. I have to say, that in the month since I've had the car, the tail has grown on me. It came that way from factory and seems "period correct". My wife is even starting to come around to it. At first she called it "cheesy." Now she likes it. I'm still going to paint the naked decklid I have, but I am not in as big of a hurry to install it.

jpyles

I think that the value of the car is basically the same with or without a tail, since there are people who prefer one over the other, such as yourself. What DOES affect value is targa vs. coupe and whether a tail is OEM and correct for the vehicle.

Also, if you read some of the Porsche magazines / websites from overseas, they refer to "Sport" and "Supersport" model Carreras. In Europe, the "Sport" came with front and rear spoilers, and the "Supersport" model is what we call "Turbo look" which has the brakes / suspension and wider flares from the 911 turbo.

Edgy01

Few Carreras from that era came with a factory tail. I had a Carrera RSR tail on my 1981 SC because the car was turbo-charged and I spent a lot of time north of 150. It's really important to handling if you're up above 115 mph. Under that, it's not so important. Asthetically, you have to decide for yourself if it adds or detracts,--just don't put a turbo tail on it (3.3 litre tea tray) because it's really out of scale for the narrower Carrera flairs,--use a more conservative tail like the true to the era Carrera tail or an earlier turbo-Carrera tail from 1976-1977.

salukijac

I have come to the conclusion that I need to buy the best car I can find, whether it has a tail or not. If I don't warm up to the tail, then I will take it off and put a plain deck lid on while saving the original in case I sell the car.

From the answers I received there doesn't seem to be a difference in the price/value of the car by having or not having a tail. My initial impression was that a car without a tail was more "desirable" so I believed that it would be more difficult for me to find one...then maybe not.

The search is on!

Jay H

Bingo.

That's the right answer.

These cars are getting so old that you have to buy them on overall condition, not on the options they offer. There is plenty to do on an old 911 than to worry about whether or not it has a tail...

My brother has two '83 SC's with full spoilers (both front spoilers and Turbo rear spoilers). Both of those cars are planted a bit better at speed than my 'clean' (no spoilers) '84 Carrera. Even at 80 mph you will notice a slight difference on a spoiler equipped car.

Also, Porsche specified both front and rear spoilers on these car as an original option, not one or the other. They came as a matched set. You can run these cars with just the front spoiler (many front only spoilers were most likely installed as a dealer option or by an owner, but not by Porsche), but 911's become unbalanced at speed if you run only a rear Carrera or Turbo spoiler.

Ed Hughes

IMO, the tail comes into play closer to 100 mph, at least on my Targa is did/does. Negating the lift is huge...