Amber Gramps

It is the raw feedback and connection with the road you get from manual steering and solid turbo tierods that really makes the ride experience what it is. Neck snapping quickness from the light weight to horsepower ratio and the pure insanity of understeer going in and oversteer coming out of corners makes the 911 so, so challenging and memorable. My neck always reminds me the day after I've driven my car hard. Even my lowly cab is a screamer in the world of old cars. It really is just a raw machine

pcarhiway

Reiver,

I had my old 70E with no AC (cue up Linda Ronstadt Poor Poor Pitiful Me) ... no one in the family would ever ride along - " oh come on Dad, that car is too noisy and hot".

So, when it came time to do the backdate I reasoned "well if I am going to get any passengers I better include the ac".

Guess what, no one wants to ride with me in the backdated car either.

I sense a theme developing ...

Bruce

pcarhiway

During the backdate the black anodized trim is removed from the car and sent to the King of Trim in San Diego, not sure of the process but they will remove the black anodizing and "make it silver" like the early cars.

www.kingoftrim.com

Reiver

Driving a slow car fast with the original 911 design is its own reward. The older 911's are both slow and fast...that's not a contradiction.
The driver makes the difference if he understands what was designed into the car and can exploit it's unique virtues.
Some need the AC...I think it too much of a HP/weight trade off, and truth to tell, if Porsche wanted you to really have an AC they would have made one that worked.
I drive in Az summers at 100 plus degrees and have actually lived to tell about it.

tcsracing1

in AZ, that is brave.

A friend of mine has an older 911 with no heat. He uses shaving cream on his windsheild to stop it from fogging up.

Very interesting cars.

pu911rsr

I own a 73 RSR clone, awesome car in every sense of the word. I also own a 964 US Carrera Cup, also an incredible car in it's own right, a little heavier and a less powerful. Completely different cars, totally different to drive, which one is better- beats me, do you prefer Bach or Beethoven. I have also raced 911 and 964 based platforms and the 964 is as engaging and easier to drive at limit. I would not build a car from scratch, too many good ones available, it's a very expensive endeavor to do correctly. I think if I had it to do all over again I'd hot rod a GT3, it's already a hell of a car to start with.
Phil

race911

Ultimately, I say get your *** in the seat of a decently prepped torsion bar car for a test drive. Preferably on track. Bottom line is that what we call Spec 911 here (3.0 @ 260HP, 2400 lbs. w/ driver, still using torsion bars, 225/245 RA1 tires) is equal in lap time to my 3100 lb./320HP, 235/275 RA1 faux 993RS. Just a wholly different driving experience, and one you've honestly got to ask yourself if it's worth the effort.

I like the differences, but I'm coming through the generations. If I could only have a single 911 in the fleet it would pretty much be as I've assembled the parts for the faux '73RS. Maybe a bit more engine, but that's only now because I've had 4 months tooling around with 550HP in the 996 Turbo as a commuter.

Amber Gramps

Ken is El loco, don't listen to him.

Mondrian

Newbie here. Don't mean to hi-jack the thread so but I am also pondering backdating but for a different application so hope OP is ok with this post.

I love driving old 70's & 80's sports cars - fav ride from 70's was 240z & 2002 tii & late 80's the 4cyc M3. What I loved about these cars was their road holding ability through mechanical means (as opposed to modern cars that use a whole array of electronics) & relative ease of maintenance. My experience with 60's cars was a bit of a mixed bag from the hairy Cobra to under powered 911s. I do love the look of the classic 911s which I think are still the prettiest, what donor car would give me the chance to enjoy the driving experience & reliability (2000mile tours across europe) so that I can re-wrap them in my fav look. I am not aiming for a classic or resale value just pure driving pleasure so its will be a bit of a retro build as opposed to an authentic backdated classic build.

race911

And you've never ridden with me. Wish I had a torsion bar car clip, but I guess this is better than nothing:

race911

Oh, duh. From AMP, here's Ruby's last on track run just a couple of days after I picked it up from Ed:

Amber Gramps

Was that a Ford Probe? Did you get smoked by a Probe?






(Sorry, 3" screen)

race911

5.0 Mustang. Street owner Porsche guy who had that as his track car. Notice the track prepped 911 on Hoosiers who overcooked it into T1? Long way from what Ruby was to where you can go with a torsion bar car.

Amber Gramps

you should have hot braked the *****.

tcsracing1

man you can really wheel that thing around! Nice driving!