964 3.3 Turbo S (non-Leichtbau)

[smithyithy]

Did such a car exist?

On many sites I've read lists of the 964 model variants, it lists the 3.3 Turbo as being the first turbocharged 964, obviously carrying over the slightly upgraded 930 engine, and then the 3.3 Turbo S 'Leichtbau', with power increased to around 380bhp and weight reduced by around 200kg.

As far as I was aware, there wasn't a non-lightweight 3.3 Turbo S, as it was a very limited car.

The second gen Turbo S, based on the revised 3.6 car, was more like the Turbo S we see today - essentially a more powerful Turbo with added options eg. the 'flatnose' was an option I believe).

However a comment on a Reddit thread prompted some research that led to a Rennlist thread, sourcing a well-regarded book on the 964 and production numbers, specifically:



It seems that they lump the 3.3 Turbo and Turbo S into one box, then list another Turbo S below (assuming this is the Leichtbau variant) with 80 built.

So my question is, where are these 3.3 Turbo S 'non-Leichtbau' cars, because search results only seem to turn up the Leichtbau which have been, or currently are, for sale...

Is it possible that a powerpack option was offered for the 3.3 Turbo, and these cars were also referred to as 'S' models despite not being the full lightweight version?

Edited by smithyithy on Thursday 11th February 11:37

[smithyithy]

Cheers! Yeah I'd say money-no-object, a 3.3 Turbo S LW would be a dream car.

Always interesting trying to pin down numbers for these things though

[smithyithy]

IMI A said:

You will not pin down a number on the LW. I reckon theres still a few delivery mileage LHD and RHD cars sitting in collections we may never know about unless they come up for sale. What I find extraordinary is that there are people out there who tucked them away 20 years ago and worked out they could be worth a few quid so stored them as alternative investments. I was offered a used 3.6 Turbo for £20k back in the day. Avoided my God its a terrible 964 which was the consensus on the whole 964 range back in 1995! How things change!!

Madness isn't it... I've seen stories of RS's selling for not much more than a Carrera too, back when people thought they were too raw and unrefined for the road.. Now look at the price difference!

But with the Turbo etc, it's not so much about how many Lightweights were built as I understand it's a disputed figure to this day, it's just whether there was in fact a third 3.3 model offered, as a Turbo S but not lightweight..

I imagine it may have been possible to have the 3.3 engine upgraded closer to 'S' power figures, but I hadn't idea that Porsche might've offered that as an actual model variant until now...

When you search for '3.3 Turbo S' for sale, it seems to only throw up LW variants..

[smithyithy]

Yeah that definitely makes sense.

[smithyithy]

That's great information! So it does seem that white a few 3.3 cars received power upgrades..

I wonder how Porsche advertised them then, as it seems odd for them to have produced two different Turbo S's with both being badges as such..

[smithyithy]

TB993tt said:

Is this what you are looking for,don't think these were badged S back then owners probably added the badges.

That's really useful dude cheers! Is that official Porsche literature or something that has been compiled elsewhere?

I suppose owners would badge them as Turbo S given they'd had the engine upgrade..

Even if the first official use of 'Turbo S' badging by Porsche was for the Lightweight, maybe afterwards when the 3.6 Turbo S was released and in subsequent years, people with the upgraded 3.3 cars could've retroactively badged theirs up as an 'S'

[smithyithy]

I'd take the yellow one for sure.

I think having the lower part of the bumpers and sills painted really suits the widebody cars, it seems to tie in well with the big arches.. Whereas the narrow body cars I generally prefer to see them unpainted..