When you click on links to various merchants on this site and make a purchase, this can result in this site earning a commission. Affiliate programs and affiliations include, but are not limited to, the eBay Partner Network.
I used to think all 911's were ugly, ...until the 930 Turbo came out. All those beautiful flairs housed bigger wheels/tires for harnessing the additional power of the turbo, grip for the bigger brakes, as well as stability for the chassis.
The flairs are functional, as well as making the car look muscular, something the 911 never had prior.
RUF Yellow Bird
Narrow body for better aero, faster than any factory 911 up to that point and even many after:
Taste also changes..... Growing up nothing was sexier than a 427 S/C Cobra (I thought the 289's looked boring) and every 911 must have the Turbo fenders and whale tail.
Now I'll takea 289 Cobra all day long over the "Pam
ela Anderson" look of the S/C (not to say Pam looks bad....) and a classic narrow bodied 911 without a tail is much nicer looking than the "decked out" fendered version....
Frankly the new 911 wide bodies look bloated, like so many other new cars. That's not to say they look bad, but I much prefer the clean lines of a 928.
Same goes for the 993/964 - I find them far more attractive than any 911 that followed.
As to the original post - I see a definite family resemblance in the tail of the 997 and the 928, the 991 not so much. It's all in the tail-lights but even then, you've really got to squint to see it.
Hell, the older I get the less and less I like the GTS fenders on a 928. It disrupts the clean lines of the OB body.
Still considered one of the, if not the sexiest car ever made - with a very "slab side" styled body:
I must be the only person in the world who doesn’t get the appeal of the E Type - I think it’s the most overrated design.
Anyhow, I agree that the new 911 looks bloated - it also isn’t very aesthetically pleasing to me from
the side (too symmetrical, I prefer a more “fastback” look with a long nose and the cabin more towards the rear. I agree that tastes change over time, but most consumers don’t have any taste.
Agree - love the E-type. I had a Corgi 2+2 when I was 11 - with the left-hinged hatch door. The '61 coupe was the prototype for every long hood hatchback made ever since, including you know what. It even beat the '63 Corvette to market.
From the same vintage, VW Bug begat Porsche 356. Porsche 356 begat 911. Of course many love the aesthetics but to me there is always a Bug in there deep underneath.
Last edited by chart928s4; 09-26-2017 at 01:39 AM.
Reason: Add images
I wonder if there are any other cars besides the 928 that have the "implied fender flare" created by the crease above the front fenders. There is a slight actual flare to the fenders, but the way that crease tapers in towards the nose makes it look much bigger than it really is. I think it's the most ingenious styling cue.
Taste also changes..... Growing up nothing was sexier than a 427 S/C Cobra (I thought the 289's looked boring) and every 911 must have the Turbo fenders and whale tail.
Now I'll take a 289 Cobra all day long over the "Pamela Anderson" look of the S/C (not to say Pam looks bad....) and a classic narrow bodied 911 without a tail is much nicer looking than the "decked out" fendered version....
Frankly the new 911 wide bodies look bloated, like so many other new cars. That's not to say they look bad, but I much prefer the clean lines of a 928.
Same goes for the 993/964 - I find them far more attractive than any 911 that followed.
As to the original post - I see a definite family resemblance in the tail of the 997 and the 928, the 991 not so much. It's all in the tail-lights but even then, you've really got to squint to see it.
Hell, the older I get the less and less I like the GTS fenders on a 928. It disrupts the clean lines of the OB body.
Still considered one of the, if not the sexiest car ever made - with a very "slab side" styled body:
Agree with everything you said. My boss has two E-types and they are even better looking in person.
... And that's why there are Porsche showrooms with more than one model available. Functionally, I'l need some reminders of why all those bulges and bumps were added. It's stuff sticking out in the breeze as you drive.
Originally Posted by SwayBar
I used to think all 911's were ugly, ...until the 930 Turbo came out. All those beautiful flairs housed bigger wheels/tires for harnessing the additional power of the turbo, grip for the bigger brakes, as well as stability for the chassis.
The flairs are functional, as well as making the car look muscular, something the 911 never had prior.
To me there's a certain amount of compromise here. We are stuck with a specific body width, feel a need to add more track and tire width to cope better with higher performance demands, so we glue on some body blobs to help manage appearance and airflow. The piece at the beginning "stuck with a specific body width" is critical. Much better aerodynamics to to be able to stuff things inside smooth sides. The body is too narrow.
The 911 has seen some milestones where the body was widened to eliminate the blobs. The wider version had more room for suspension, improved chassis stiffness, plus room for bigger tires and brakes. A more spacious cabin is a good fringe benefit for road cars. The factory took the opportunity to tune the rear roof and window areas to combat both lift and drag. No need for the marginally-cheating double-roof Groupe B cars, or the flared blobs pasted over the full original body shell of the too-narrow homologation road cars. Just make the homologation versions wide enough to start with.
Anyway, this is opinions of "style" stuff much more than function, where having a road car with blobs that look similar to the actual race versions automatically makes the road car at least appear to be faster, even when reality spoke loudly with faster coming from the cars without the blobs.
----
Perspective: My first car was a 356 SC cab, about as smooth-sided as a Porsche has been. The 911 was heresy, at leat appearance-wise. But after driving one the benefits became instantly apparent: initially about 20 more ponies, a different engine note, and much better suspension and road manners. Smooth sides with just a tiny lip on the wheel openings. Same body rust issues though. By the time the 928 was formally introduced, we had been introduced to the 930 with what seemed at the time to be huge blobs in the rear and some milder front fender widening, all with the intent of keeping the back of the car behind the front on the road. There was enough "extra" horsepower to offset the aero losses, and the wider rear tires and stance helped some with that mission especially under throttle and steering at the same time. The original 928 was a significantly wider car with smooth sides and nose/deck. By then I was into my third 911, plus there were several Lotus cars and some weekend Frankensteins thrown into the mix. The 928 was not a Porsche by most definitions, but it turns out that the design grows on you especially when compared with other similar-year Porsche sports cars. Amazingly, the 928 has managed to deliver comparable or better performance without the blobs, adding only a rear "spoiler" along the way as top speeds moved over 150 or so. Know that the 928 was intended to be some 4-6" wider than it ended up, per some late pre-production design documentation. The wider body wouldn't fit within Porsche's existing shipping system limits (rail cars I think), and also would have had a tougher time in commercial car wash systems at the time.
Yes, I also love the 991 and would be happy to add one if I had the garage space. Likely a C4 but not an S. That's the one with the blobs, right?
Imagine seeing your first 928 in the age of the Chrysler K-car.
Almost every other car being made at that time was square and boxy.
The first one I ever saw was in Napa in 1979. White with no spoilers. The owner had just traded a Datsun 240Z for it. It looked like a spaceship compared to EVERYTHING else in the parking lot.
I asked the owner to compare the 240Z to the 928. His words exactly were, "There is no comparison."
I can still remember the first time I saw my Dad's Guards Red 930 (..could have been a 964 Turbo) and was just blown away at how it just sat there and scowled and growled, flexing its muscles, all without the engine running. It was a true case of shock and awe.
Anyway, it was one of the defining moments in my life, and I'm sure a major reason why I prefer a well-sculpted, muscular looking car.
09-25-2017, 10:25 PM
