Rantillon

Hello,

I have a doubt identifying a 2003 rear wheel drive 996 Carrera with manual transmission whose purchase I am considering.
The car looks very clean and well maintained, but it has a Carrera S emblem on the back, also red colored brake calipers.
As far as I know there was no rear wheel drive Carrera S until the arrival of the 997, but I would like to be sure about this.
I will appreciate if anyone can clarify this for me.

wildbilly32

This is what I found for 2003 production:
2003Carrera Coupé 4987
2003Carrera Cabriolet 4973
2003Carrera 4 Coupé 1147
2003Carrera 4 Cabriolet 2930
2003GT3 781
2003Turbo 4322
2003GT2 233
2003Targa 1812
2003Carrera 4S Coupé 7388
2003GT3 Cup (M001) 200
2003Carrera 4S Cabriolet 451
2003Turbo Cabriolet 200
2003GT3 RS 4
The only "S" I see are 4S. Is it a wide body car(4S)? Reason I ask is people do remove the front universal and drive shaft from 4S's to make it rear wheel drive only. However, people also change the rear badging to make the car appear to be something it's not. Brake calipers can also be painted and new decals put on.

Rantillon

Thanks for your reply.

I think it is the second case you mention, since the car is not wide body, so probably the owner tried to make the car appear to be a Carrera S.

In any case, this has not to be a deal killer provided the car is in good condition. Later on it can be put back to the original appearance.

Ratchet1025

You may want to run the VIN on a place like https://www.stuttcars dot com. For a few $, you can see how the car was originally built. There may be other sites, but this is the one I use.