I've been looking for a wide-body 993 for a few months. I have a couple Porsches already, but this would be my first "classic" 911. At first I was looking for a super low mileage car, but I'm a bit OCD, and even the "mint" cars aren't to my satisfaction given the $100K+ prices. Now I'm considering buying a car with higher mileage and making a restomod-type car out of it. I would keep it tastefully OEM as possible, but would like LED lighting, adjustable suspension, custom seats, exhaust, possibly tune the engine, etc. Any suggestions how I should approach this?

I have an image in my head of the car I want, but I live in West Virginia and there are very few if any shops who do Porsche work around here. I do have a guy who was a certified Porsche mechanic in Miami who now works at my friend's Cadillac dealership here in town. And another guy who works on European cars who would be able to do any engine work for me.

I'm a real estate developer by trade, so subcontracting jobs to different shops/suppliers is in my wheelhouse. I just don't want to bite off more than I can chew.

Thanks for any input.

 

buy a car that is a complete dump, but without accident damage. Rebuild the gearbox with RS gears, rebuild the engine to whatever specs fall within your budget, bare metal respray, completely retrim the interior, new headlights, porsche classic radio, new suspension bushings all around, and new coilovers.

 

Sounds ambitious, but I like it. Assuming I can get a complete dump of a car for $40-50k, any estimate (USD) on total outlay for something like that? I'm assuming an engine rebuild would be $30-40k alone.

 

Sounds like a cool project. Finding a wide body example that's a "dump" will take a very long time. With all the things you and @nk993 mention I would say you're looking at $150k+ all in if you're not doing any of the work yourself.

 

Well, I'm impatient, so I'm sure that won't help my budget.

 

Most of the hot rod/RS clone/restomod 993 builds are done with narrow body cars mostly because there are so many more donors to choose from. I like the wide bodies too but they are much rarer these days. You might be in for a long wait if you're set on wide.

Best of luck with it and I look forward to watching the build.

 

Check out this car, maybe it's to your tastes? It's an absolutely gorgeous guards red RS clone. Guarantee it would cost well beyond the asking price to put something like that together. Last asking price was 135.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/porsc...1-replica.html

 

Yes. If I was doing my 993 project all over again I definitely would not get a C2S. Too much initial outlay, and everything you do has potential downsides on collectability.

Also fwiw, one bodyshop I spoke to showed me a 993 was working on. It was originally narrowbody, but was now GT2 wide, but without the bolted on fenders. It looked fantastic. So ya definitely go narrowbody and give yourself the flexibility. The price difference between widebody and narrow is much higher than what it would cost a super high quality bodyshop to make your narrow into a wide.

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All I have to say is looking forward to reading about what you do. I have found myself thinking of doing something similar with a g series car or 964. 964 widebodys are now getting up there for anything. So much you can do with exterior/interior design to make it your own. I really like what Tom Kearn has done with his 964.

 

Don't know who the owner is. Came across at a local PCA meet in DFW.

 

That looks absolutely terrible

 

This.

Ilko's car will make you forget about wider hips.

 

Eh, I'm not a huge fan of knock-offs or "clones." Would prefer a tastefully modernized S or 4S while keeping most of the car as OEM as possible.

There's a black 4S at a dealer outside of DC with 72K miles for $79,988. I felt it was overpriced, so I offered $69 today and they wouldn't take it. Seems overpriced to me, especially with the weird head unit retrofit (which I would immediately correct) and interior wear. Thoughts on this car?

https://www.intersportperformance.co...sche/911/3151/

 

I can't say I blame them despite the apparent interior wear and tear (minimal) the weird head unit you mention is actually a somewhat tasteful attempt at pulling off a newer navigation , entertainment center including video ( if you like that stuff) in a twenty five or so year old car! Im sure they would be a lot more negotiable if it likely wasn't a consignment car but even still $10k ? Thats a reach ...Bert

 

Widebodies are not cheap and prices will likely be rising on 993s. Picking a junky car is a false economy, IMO. You are inevitably going to fix all the problems - a junky, problematic car just seems like an inefficient, penny wise/pound foolish way to go about doing it.

Like you, I never owned an older Porsche. My 993 had 43k miles when I bought it. It was in good condition, with nice paint and a solid engine. It was a driver, but was functionally in very good condition. I bought the car thinking I'd leave it pure OEM, but have had much more fun customizing it and making the car exactly what I wanted it to be. Best decision I made. This is the best car I've ever owned.

Even then, the total outlay, financially, has been significant. The key to a project like this is having a top tier air cooled shop, patience and budget flexibility. Be prepared to dive deep and try to learn every detail you can. This forum is a treasure trove of technical data .

Have fun and good luck