Advman89

RSA964993

I was trying to see how many RS Americas are still on the road or exist. I was under the impression the attrition rate was high but no supporting evidence of that.

cobalt

I hate to say it as Adrian did a fine job with his book but we learned long ago his numbers and just about every source are incorrect.

You need to subtract 60 vins from each column for the most part. We are still learning but essentially the vin sequence started at 061 and not 001 as everyone initially believed. Porsche came out in writing clearing this up a few years ago in their classic book #2. So it is official news but the internet has made this info fact which is incorrect.

So for instance column 1 should read
2008 ROW C4's
1057 US C4's

I have been compiling data for nearly 20 years and had Adrian make changes to his book but the info was still skewed. Total Coupe production not including the RSA, RS, Turbo or WB should read 27,219 instead of 33,984

There were only 55 3.8RS's made and 52 3.8RSR's.
The US spec 3.6T's were all 1994 MY cars. There were 335 imported to the US with the first 228 M718 coded changing the vin from a P code to an R code and an additional 15 that went to Canada. Then there were an additional 39 Turbo S Flachbau's and 15 turbo S package cars to the US and 2 to Canada.

I can go on with all the incorrect info in each column but don't trust those numbers.

As far as how many RSA's exist out of the known 701 made? That is a good question. Just like the coupes which could not be found in decent condition for the longest time I suspect that most RSA's are like the coupes. A true clean original car is a rarity and very few exist. Numerous versions had been turned into track rats and crashed and are now being fixed up to sell at premium prices. The majority of RSA's on BaT were such animals. I know of a few real gems out there but most are pigs with lipstick. I do know of a few that have been club raced and have gone to Porsche heaven. My guess is that there are few hundred that no longer exist and many hundred more that were used and abused with a handful of true clean original condition.

I would keep yours as I don't see them going down in value.

I will say I have a good friend who recently passed and was an advocate for making the RSA. He had a beautiful red one that he tracked extensively and boy could he drive. I still don't understand why the RS couldn't be imported. I have access to one of the 45 US spec cup cars and it is essentially an RS. If they could import and sell those legally there was no reason the RS couldn't have been imported. In any case they were planning a tribute for my friend at Parade this year but his passing may have changed what they do. His car didn't sell on Pcar not long ago but a picture of him and his car will be joined at PCA headquarters with his wifes plaque under the title of Volunteer. RIP Dennis Thovson. You and Maryls are so missed.

PS: it is fun reading the wrong info we had back in 08. So much has been learned since.

rjf

May I ask - does anyone have a photo of a factory original rolled fender on their RSA? I’m guessing I might know what it looks like but I would like to see the difference compared to a regular RSA fender.

Also, are all four fenders rolled on the early RSAs?

RSA964993

RJF- I can get pictures when I get back home over the weekend, My car was #75 in the build order and my fenders are rolled. I’m assuming it was done at the factory because it’s very uniform and looks like it was built that way.

rjf

Thanks! I will look forward to the photos!

RSA964993

RJF- As promised, Here are pictures of the front fenders on my RSA. The car is an early build and as far as I know, they weren’t rolled by me at least under my ownership. The first 2 pictures are the driver front, the second two, passenger front, the last two are passenger fender at the highest point of the wheel well.