what is an 'early' 3.4 996?

[ultrastapler]

seriously considering ambering mine in the future. it it were blue and not silver, would've been first on the list of changes

[richthebike]

I amber'd mine when I got it three years ago. It makes them faster, apparently.

Gave it a wash yesterday. Hopefully I'll be able to actually drive it one of these days!

[LaurasOtherHalf]

I must admit, if a speed yellow early C2 came up with gingercators I'd be very tempted.

[Dammit]

(Second one came out way better - I used a hairdryer and the vinyl became massively easier to shape).

[James76G]

ATM said:

James76G said:

I am loving this one.Great colour, ambers, right wheels, contrasting interior, good price. I'd be putting a deposit down but really don't want to compromise on a manual gearbox and this one is a tiptronic.



https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

What colour is that?

I think it must be Zenith. I downloaded the colour palette from the owner's club and all the other blues available on the early cars are much darker. Happy to educated though, if that's not right. I do really like it though whatever it is.

V8fan said:

Are the ambers coming back into fashion then? The seller of that car lists them as being 'sought after' but I thought it was the reverse.

So many 996 (and 986) Porsche owners have paid to have the clear ones fitted.

The upgraded stereo has moved the air-con control panel to below the cubby, so I would hope it was done properly.

I have to say that is tempting though.

Edited by V8fan on Saturday 16th May 08:09

I can only speak for me, but I prefer the ambers on certain colours and as we've seen here so do others. Thankfully there are still a few cars out there with their original sets which were never changed.

Interesting point about the aircon controls and looking at the photos I am now seeing what you did. I wonder though, was there ever a double DIN headunit option on the early cars?

Edited by James76G on Monday 18th May 23:24

[Filibuster]

James76G said:

I can only speak for me, but I prefer the ambers on certain colours and as we've seen here so do others. Thankfully there are still a few cars out there with their original sets which were never changed.

Interesting point about the aircon controls and looking at the photos I am now seeing what you did. I wonder though, was there ever a double DIN headunit option on the early cars?

Edited by James76G on Monday 18th May 23:24

To my knowledge, you could option the double din PCM 1 from the very beginning of the 996 production.

The HVAC then moved the the lower spot as per how it is done in the blue car from ebay.

[ATM]

James76G said:

ATM said:

James76G said:

I am loving this one.Great colour, ambers, right wheels, contrasting interior, good price. I'd be putting a deposit down but really don't want to compromise on a manual gearbox and this one is a tiptronic.



https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

What colour is that?

I think it must be Zenith. I downloaded the colour palette from the owner's club and all the other blues available on the early cars are much darker. Happy to educated though, if that's not right. I do really like it though whatever it is.

When did Cobalt become an option?

[Filibuster]

Those where the blue colour options for the early 996.

But again, who wants this 996? You do realize it's an automatic, don't you?
Is there any specific reason the interested buyers needs an auto box? (Injury or something?)

While I do like the exterior, and even the ambers, I don't like the interior. Would be smashing in dark blue or even grey (or dare I say it even nephrite ). Also black works great with blue colours. But on this I despise this tan interior....

[ATM]

ATM said:

James76G said:

ATM said:

James76G said:

I am loving this one.Great colour, ambers, right wheels, contrasting interior, good price. I'd be putting a deposit down but really don't want to compromise on a manual gearbox and this one is a tiptronic.



https://www.pistonheads.com/classifieds/used-cars/...

What colour is that?

I think it must be Zenith. I downloaded the colour palette from the owner's club and all the other blues available on the early cars are much darker. Happy to educated though, if that's not right. I do really like it though whatever it is.

When did Cobalt become an option?

I've asked the owner - its L3AX or Zenith.

[shalmaneser]

Filibuster said:

Those where the blue colour options for the early 996.

But again, who wants this 996? You do realize it's an automatic, don't you?
Is there any specific reason the interested buyers needs an auto box? (Injury or something?)

While I do like the exterior, and even the ambers, I don't like the interior. Would be smashing in dark blue or even grey (or dare I say it even nephrite ). Also black works great with blue colours. But on this I despise this tan interior....

Agreed it's a non starter as an auto unless as you say for injury etc. I looking into a manual conversion before I bought mine but apparently it's a huge job.

Stories about the engines more prone to damage too because they pull away in second if they're an auto or something (???)

Zenith not even that rare but it's been nicely photographed here and does look good with ambers and 17's.

[skinny]

Anyone know why there are two paint codes for ocean blue and what the difference is?

[Fast Bug]

skinny said:

Anyone know why there are two paint codes for ocean blue and what the difference is?

I was wondering that as well. Mine is Ocean Blue, and I only ever remember there being one shade of Ocean as well?

[James76G]

ATM said:

I've asked the owner - its L3AX or Zenith.

I asked him too. Well I asked him for a copy of the options sticker which also shows that it was originally supplied with option code 408, which is the 18" Turbo look wheels (not the hollow spoke ones - that's 410 apparently)

As it goes I prefer these 17s and they suit the early cars really well IMHO.

Filibuster said:

But again, who wants this 996? You do realize it's an automatic, don't you?
Is there any specific reason the interested buyers needs an auto box? (Injury or something?)

While I do like the exterior, and even the ambers, I don't like the interior. Would be smashing in dark blue or even grey (or dare I say it even nephrite ). Also black works great with blue colours. But on this I despise this tan interior....

As I referenced when I posted it originally, this is not the car for me for the simple reason that it is a Tiptronic. But it clearly is a car for somebody because it's done 90k miles and, as we all know, the classifieds are full of the damn things. If it were a manual I'd have bought it by now. I've said it before but the use case of somebody buying a new Porsche (only car, daily driver, lives in an urban area so wants an auto) is very different to those of somebody buying them when they are 20 years old (likely 2nd car, weekend and occasional use, driven on the open road so doesn't want an auto) hence all the Tiptronics.

As for the interior colour, thankfully we all like different things. I'd far prefer this colour combo than black on black which a great many people like a lot because there are plenty of those in the classifieds too, annoyingly.

[James76G]

skinny said:

Anyone know why there are two paint codes for ocean blue and what the difference is?

Looking at this (https://www.porscheclubgb.com/legacy/clientftp/Register/996/faq_996_paint_codes.pdf) it references different codes depending on whether it's conventional paint or waterbased paint. Could it be that?

[Filibuster]

James76G said:

As I referenced when I posted it originally, this is not the car for me for the simple reason that it is a Tiptronic. But it clearly is a car for somebody because it's done 90k miles and, as we all know, the classifieds are full of the damn things. If it were a manual I'd have bought it by now. I've said it before but the use case of somebody buying a new Porsche (only car, daily driver, lives in an urban area so wants an auto) is very different to those of somebody buying them when they are 20 years old (likely 2nd car, weekend and occasional use, driven on the open road so doesn't want an auto) hence all the Tiptronics.

As for the interior colour, thankfully we all like different things. I'd far prefer this colour combo than black on black which a great many people like a lot because there are plenty of those in the classifieds too, annoyingly.

Thanks for clarification, I must have overread that.
As you say we all like different things. Me too I like "odd" or "different" colours. Like I said, I'm a fan of blue on blue, and also a black or dark grey 996 with the nephrite interior looks great imho.































says the owner of a black on black 997 .......

[Baked_bean]

Filibuster said:

Thanks for clarification, I must have overread that.
As you say we all like different things. Me too I like "odd" or "different" colours. Like I said, I'm a fan of blue on blue, and also a black or dark grey 996 with the nephrite interior looks great imho.








says the owner of a black on black 997 .......

To be fair, it appears to be incredibly hard to find 997 or 987 caymans without black interiors.

[ATM]

Baked_bean said:

Filibuster said:

Thanks for clarification, I must have overread that.
As you say we all like different things. Me too I like "odd" or "different" colours. Like I said, I'm a fan of blue on blue, and also a black or dark grey 996 with the nephrite interior looks great imho.








says the owner of a black on black 997 .......

To be fair, it appears to be incredibly hard to find 997 or 987 caymans without black interiors.

Until I recently saw a 997.1 interior where the owner had managed to change the central shiny grey bits to black I'd have said that black is preferred as it goes well with the shiny grey bits. Red is sort of ok with grey shiny bits but super rare on the 9x7.1 cars. Looks fab on the rs60. There is also lots of chrome dotted around the place. The 981 is also very very common with black interiors. I'm not a super fan of Savannah as I'd prefer a leather in brown or slightly peach in hue. But I'd take Savannah over black if the car is blue. I like blue. Especially Colbalt on Porsche. On a BMW I like Le Mans blue.

[was8v]

James76G said:

What do we think of this '98 Carrera 2.





Lots to like here for me including colour, spec, amber indicators, two keys, plenty of history and so on. And I do like the early ones.

More details in the advert here

https://www.facebook.com/marketplace/item/25605383...


Only problem is it's Cat S. I asked the seller for any photos and he sent through these.







I've no idea if that represents a heavy shunt or not, but it's being sold by an Accident Repair place so presumably they've bought it in, fixed it, run it for a bit and are now moving on.

Price is £10,450. Too high for a Cat S would you say?

I'd happily give £9-£9.5k for that if bodywork has been done properly (all bolt ons replaced and a quality paint job, no mask lines at screen rubbers etc), so long as the engine is in rude health and it drives in a straight line.

The posters above have no experience with cat cars

I had no problems selling my cat d 996, the phone was off the hook and the buyer 1st to view travelled big miles.

[Fast Bug]

I think even at £9k it would be a touch too strong money compared to non cat registered cars. They need to be circa 20% less if they're cat registered and repaired well.

[Filibuster]

ATM said:

Baked_bean said:

Filibuster said:

Thanks for clarification, I must have overread that.
As you say we all like different things. Me too I like "odd" or "different" colours. Like I said, I'm a fan of blue on blue, and also a black or dark grey 996 with the nephrite interior looks great imho.








says the owner of a black on black 997 .......

To be fair, it appears to be incredibly hard to find 997 or 987 caymans without black interiors.

Until I recently saw a 997.1 interior where the owner had managed to change the central shiny grey bits to black I'd have said that black is preferred as it goes well with the shiny grey bits. Red is sort of ok with grey shiny bits but super rare on the 9x7.1 cars. Looks fab on the rs60. There is also lots of chrome dotted around the place. The 981 is also very very common with black interiors. I'm not a super fan of Savannah as I'd prefer a leather in brown or slightly peach in hue. But I'd take Savannah over black if the car is blue. I like blue. Especially Colbalt on Porsche. On a BMW I like Le Mans blue.

that was me!