Strange Desire - What is yours?

Strange Desire - What is yours?

Author
Discussion

Filibuster

Original Poster:

3,116 posts

214 months

Saturday 13th January 2018
quotequote all
Having been to St. Tropez with my manual 997.1 C2 that has the -20mm Sports Suspension during the festive period, I have a very strange thought that I don't get out of my head:

My ideal St. Tropez/South of France Porsche would be a 964 C4 Targa Tiptronic with soft suspension and decent ride height in Californcation state.

The state most roads in and around St. Tropez are in is appalling. Gigantic speed bumps and every one is a different size in height and length, so you never now whether you can take them with 20km/h or whether you have to come to a complete stop first and then still catch on with the underside protection. And then there are dozens of manhole covers that are directly in you path and none of them is flush. This is all before we get to the sometimes horrible general state with hundreds of potholes everywhere.
The fastest cars are knackered old Pug 206 with suspension developed with those roads in mind rather than German Autobahns and the Nürburgring...

Ever since I contemplated that thought over a Pastis at Place des Lices, I cant get it out of my head!!
A mechanically sound but stty looking C4 Targa Tiptronic that doesn't handle any good on track but flies over potholes and speedbumps. That car would be the complete epitome of the antichrist watercooled 911. Oh how I would love one of those cloud9

What is your strange Porsche desire?

Geneve

3,857 posts

218 months

Saturday 13th January 2018
quotequote all
I don't agree with your generalisation about the roads around Saint Tropez. The 'driving' roads are first class - whether the Autoroutes, N or D roads -beautifully engineered, low noise asphalt, clean and well maintained. Cameras are well marked, but the gendarmerie do know where to hide.

There are some problems in parts - the traffic in the busy season being the worst, yes, they like their speed bumps in urban areas, narrow cobbled lanes, and some back roads are rough and bumpy (often due to tree roots and camion damage).

Of course, resorts like S.T. attract the supercars, and in town they are purely for posing - a Golf GTi or the ubiquitous Mini Cooper would be far more sensible - although my choice would be a Renaultsport Clio or Megane.

If it has to be a Porsche, then yes, an air-cooled 911 would be super cool. But never a Tip, it would be wasted on the best roads. Boxster or Cayman if modern.

v8ksn

4,711 posts

183 months

Saturday 13th January 2018
quotequote all
I don't know why and i have no real 'need' for one but I would love a 550 Spyder replica.

Its a proper analogue air-cooled sports car of the past


RSVP911

8,192 posts

132 months

Saturday 13th January 2018
quotequote all
v8ksn said:
I don't know why and i have no real 'need' for one but I would love a 550 Spyder replica.

Its a proper analogue air-cooled sports car of the past

Its gorgious that's why - I'm in smile

jh001ace

615 posts

176 months

Saturday 13th January 2018
quotequote all
I have owned a house in Port Grimaud (5k from ST) for the past two years, the roads in my opinion are ok compared to the uk but the smaller roads can be very narrow with interesting drops! The French also drive like nutters and the mopeds are a pita. The only fast roads are the autoroutes imo.

I quickly learned that the French have a different concept of car ownership where in the main it is viewed as a means of transport, look at most cars in the car parks and most have dents and scrapes. Our Cayenne goes straight in the garage and the Fiat Sedici comes out for the duration of our stay.

Mario149

7,750 posts

177 months

Monday 15th January 2018
quotequote all
I go through phases where I want to drop a LOAD of unnecessary money on my 993 manual C2 Cab (as if what I've spent already isn't enough laugh). Nothing major is actually wrong with it, just the usual bits and pieces that pop up on a 25 year car that's done nearly 140k miles that I keep on top of. She's already on shiny new Koni FSDs and new Porsche springs, new top mounts, various suspension arms etc have been replaced, has a strut brace, OEM motorsound airbox, Carnewal RSR mufflers, a fab map from Wayne at Chipwizards (296bhp), refurbished brake lines/callipers, 17" Cup 2 wheels, clear lenses on the front, air ducts, dials refaced to white etc etc etc, plus a myriad of little things.

But it's soooo tempting to think about a full interior retrim, respray to an outrageous colour, an engine built out to 3.8 and tuned up, some strategic stiffening, all new roof an mechanism etc (or indeed the full mental with a speedster conversion!) etc etc. I would only ever see a fraction of my money back, but the thought its always there. TBH, if it was a coupe I probably would have blown some big bucks on it, but because the desirability of a Cab is always going to be limited, I've managed to keep things in check hehe

hoegaardenruls

1,218 posts

131 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
Even thought I'd:

(a) never afford one, or
(b) probably not even fit

it would be a 904 GTS


RSVP911

8,192 posts

132 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
hoegaardenruls said:
Even thought I'd:

(a) never afford one, or
(b) probably not even fit

it would be a 904 GTS

Agree - that is stunning smile

RSVP911

8,192 posts

132 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
hoegaardenruls said:
Even thought I'd:

(a) never afford one, or
(b) probably not even fit

it would be a 904 GTS

Agree - that is stunning smile

Taffy66

5,964 posts

101 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
hoegaardenruls said:
Even thought I'd:

(a) never afford one, or
(b) probably not even fit

it would be a 904 GTS

Robert Redford used to own two 904GTS's back in the late sixties and took Paul Newman for a long drive up to Sundance while filming 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid'..Rumour has it that drive started Paul's lifetime addiction with Porsches.

Yellow491

2,911 posts

118 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
Nearly as nice as my old car

MDL111

6,895 posts

176 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
Mario149 said:
I go through phases where I want to drop a LOAD of unnecessary money on my 993 manual C2 Cab (as if what I've spent already isn't enough laugh). Nothing major is actually wrong with it, just the usual bits and pieces that pop up on a 25 year car that's done nearly 140k miles that I keep on top of. She's already on shiny new Koni FSDs and new Porsche springs, new top mounts, various suspension arms etc have been replaced, has a strut brace, OEM motorsound airbox, Carnewal RSR mufflers, a fab map from Wayne at Chipwizards (296bhp), refurbished brake lines/callipers, 17" Cup 2 wheels, clear lenses on the front, air ducts, dials refaced to white etc etc etc, plus a myriad of little things.

But it's soooo tempting to think about a full interior retrim, respray to an outrageous colour, an engine built out to 3.8 and tuned up, some strategic stiffening, all new roof an mechanism etc (or indeed the full mental with a speedster conversion!) etc etc. I would only ever see a fraction of my money back, but the thought its always there. TBH, if it was a coupe I probably would have blown some big bucks on it, but because the desirability of a Cab is always going to be limited, I've managed to keep things in check hehe
I vote for speedster conversion and weight reduction - needs its own build thread on here obviously

MDL111

6,895 posts

176 months

Tuesday 16th January 2018
quotequote all
hoegaardenruls said:
Even thought I'd:

(a) never afford one, or
(b) probably not even fit

it would be a 904 GTS

I love those and there is one for sale on mobile.de that I stumbled across recently ... I should really start playing the lottery

Mario149

7,750 posts

177 months

Wednesday 17th January 2018
quotequote all
MDL111 said:
Mario149 said:
I go through phases where I want to drop a LOAD of unnecessary money on my 993 manual C2 Cab (as if what I've spent already isn't enough laugh). Nothing major is actually wrong with it, just the usual bits and pieces that pop up on a 25 year car that's done nearly 140k miles that I keep on top of. She's already on shiny new Koni FSDs and new Porsche springs, new top mounts, various suspension arms etc have been replaced, has a strut brace, OEM motorsound airbox, Carnewal RSR mufflers, a fab map from Wayne at Chipwizards (296bhp), refurbished brake lines/callipers, 17" Cup 2 wheels, clear lenses on the front, air ducts, dials refaced to white etc etc etc, plus a myriad of little things.

But it's soooo tempting to think about a full interior retrim, respray to an outrageous colour, an engine built out to 3.8 and tuned up, some strategic stiffening, all new roof an mechanism etc (or indeed the full mental with a speedster conversion!) etc etc. I would only ever see a fraction of my money back, but the thought its always there. TBH, if it was a coupe I probably would have blown some big bucks on it, but because the desirability of a Cab is always going to be limited, I've managed to keep things in check hehe
I vote for speedster conversion and weight reduction - needs its own build thread on here obviously
hehe If it was simply a matter of ordering the parts from Porsche for a set price, I'd be up for it. But my understanding is that basically you have to scour the whole interwebs for random bits and pieces, some from Porsche, rest from other places and then start building hoping you haven't missed anything. As a result it's almost impossible to work out a "cost to change" which is the bit that puts me off. What I don't want to happen is to be £20K in and suddenly find something is not available and has to be hand milled from unobtanium on special order for eleventy billion pounds.

Filibuster

Original Poster:

3,116 posts

214 months

Thursday 18th January 2018
quotequote all
Geneve said:
I don't agree with your generalisation about the roads around Saint Tropez. The 'driving' roads are first class - whether the Autoroutes, N or D roads -beautifully engineered, low noise asphalt, clean and well maintained. Cameras are well marked, but the gendarmerie do know where to hide.

There are some problems in parts - the traffic in the busy season being the worst, yes, they like their speed bumps in urban areas, narrow cobbled lanes, and some back roads are rough and bumpy (often due to tree roots and camion damage).

Of course, resorts like S.T. attract the supercars, and in town they are purely for posing - a Golf GTi or the ubiquitous Mini Cooper would be far more sensible - although my choice would be a Renaultsport Clio or Megane.

If it has to be a Porsche, then yes, an air-cooled 911 would be super cool. But never a Tip, it would be wasted on the best roads. Boxster or Cayman if modern.
I didn't mean to generalize, there are some stunning roads down there.


Near Manosque


Col de la Croix-Haute

Yes, Autoroutes are mostly very, very nice indeed. And people tend to drive in the right lane.
Also most RN and RD are very nice driving roads indeed!
I was referring to roads in and around town in my rant.
Also this is where the Tiptronic comes in handy as you tend to go everywhere with an average speed of below 20kmh and stand in traffic jams most of
the time.