Thursday 25th October 2012

You Know You Want To: 964 Turbo

Modern 911s too safe and boring? Fear not, Harris has found one that'll scare you silly

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Journalists and punters didn't find the original 1992 Porsche 965 quite exciting enough, so the Germans upped the capacity of the engine to 3.6 litres, giving a decent 360hp and leaving most testers in no doubt that the days of the dangerous Turbo were, erm, safely restored.

Blingy, scary and built like a tank

There were other detail changes to the chassis and brakes, plus a set of rather snazzy two-piece Speedlines that would corrode within 100 miles of a suggestion of rain.

By 1994, the 911 bodyshell was nearly a quarter of a century old, but the 3.6 looked so damn good that the producers of the film Bad Boys chose one for Will Smith to roar about Miami. I watched it again the other night, and I think I reached the slightly shameful conclusion that the 3.6 is one of the few cars I could buy on looks alone. This being the case because it wasn't much cop to drive.

Massive understeer gave way to shocking oversteer, it had tragic turbo lag and the airbag weighed so much you could feel the inertia in the steering column. But when it was on full-boost, and you'd been brave enough to hoon through the front-axle push, it was one hell of a challenge.

They don't make 'em like this any more, etc

But mainly it comes down to looks and build quality for me. These were assembled to withstand years of abuse, and those wide arches, the move to 18-inch rims and the slightly lower ride height over the 3.3 somehow tipped the 3.6 into car porn territory. Which makes white the ideal choice.

Any car vendor with the word joker in its name clearly requires further investigation but if this car stacks up, it will be good news in the long term.

 

 

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PORSCHE 911 Turbo 3.6 (964)
Price: 109,964 euros
Why you should: A proper, scary 911 Turbo and an appreciating asset...
Why you shouldn't: ...so long as you don't bin it

See the original advert here.

 

[Bucketeer]

Is it possible to de-chrome wheels?
De-chromed and de-spoilered = delightful

Edited by Bucketeer on Thursday 25th October 13:04

[simonigrale]

Bad boys, bad boys, what ya gonna do when they come for you !!!

[365daytonafan]

Didn't Steve Sutcliffe's attempt to buy and run one of these not end very well for his (or Haymarket's) bank account?

Cool car though.

[chiefski26]

Nice old skool 911.

[Remagel2507]

simonigrale said:

Bad boys, bad boys, what ya gonna do when they come for you !!!

Eighty thousand dollars for this car and you ain't got no damn cup holder?
It's $105,000 and this happens to be one of the fastest production cars on the planet. Zero to sixty in four seconds, sweetie. It's a limited edition.
You damn right it's limited. No cup holder, no back seat. Just a shiny dick with two chairs in it. I guess we the balls just draggin' the fk along.

[simonigrale]

Modern Ferraris too safe and boring.........

http://www.autoscout24.eu/Details.aspx?id=21248447...

These are half price on the continent and your get the steering wheel on the correct side !

Might buy 2

[simonigrale]

Remagel2507 said:

simonigrale said:

Bad boys, bad boys, what ya gonna do when they come for you !!!

Eighty thousand dollars for this car and you ain't got no damn cup holder?
It's $105,000 and this happens to be one of the fastest production cars on the planet. Zero to sixty in four seconds, sweetie. It's a limited edition.
You damn right it's limited. No cup holder, no back seat. Just a shiny dick with two chairs in it. I guess we the balls just draggin' the fk along.

[Crimp a Length!]

Owned one wasn't that impressed.
Look nice though

[Caractacus]

My best friend back in NZ had a Midnight Blue X88 version - it was mint. He still regrets selling it. Mind you, the regret will vanish when his 997.2 GT3 RS lands in NZ in seven weeks time. lol.

[StottyZr]

Surely those wheels aren't OEM?

[James1972]

Bucketeer said:

Is it possible to de-chrome wheels?
De-chromed and de-spoilered = delightful

Edited by Bucketeer on Thursday 25th October 13:04

A 911 Turbo without the whale tail ???????????? All wrong, sort of missing the point of one of these.
Any non turbo with the whale tail also all wrong.;)

[turbo-ww]

StottyZr said:

Surely those wheels aren't OEM?

Oh yes they are - Split-rim Speedlines and if you want to buy a set, if you can find a set, they are about £7k.

[HorneyMX5]

By 1994, the 911 bodyshell was nearly a quarter of a century old

Surely 64 - 94 is 30 years and therefore well over 1/4 of a century?

[sato]

I remember following two of these into the car park at the 1999 (I think) Festival of Speed.
One was metallic pink, one metallic purple. At the time I thought they were impossibly naff and hardly gave them a second look. They are probably not quite out of their awkward period yet, especially in those colours, but they are not far off.
Will take mine in mint green.

[Murcielago_Boy]

I hate the white.
BUT I love the car and have been looking for a good one for ages. LHD please. Probably the most aggressive looking 911 Turbo they've ever made.
And rather controversially, YELLOW please.

ADORE IT.

[Greg964]

James1972 said:

Bucketeer said:

Is it possible to de-chrome wheels?
De-chromed and de-spoilered = delightful

Edited by Bucketeer on Thursday 25th October 13:04

A 911 Turbo without the whale tail ???????????? All wrong, sort of missing the point of one of these.
Any non turbo with the whale tail also all wrong.;)

You can't easily de-spoiler it, the spoiler is full of a dirty great intercooler.

[s m]

365daytonafan said:

Didn't Steve Sutcliffe's attempt to buy and run one of these not end very well for his (or Haymarket's) bank account?

Cool car though.

I don't think Steve Sutcliffe has much financial joy with a fair few of his purchases...Cerbera and M5 spring to mind

[turbo-ww]

To save repetition:

http://www.pistonheads.com/gassing/topic.asp?h=0&a...

[DJRC]

Murcielago_Boy said:

I hate the white.
BUT I love the car and have been looking for a good one for ages. LHD please. Probably the most aggressive looking 911 Turbo they've ever made.
And rather controversially, YELLOW please.

ADORE IT.

Nope. The 964 Turbo S lwt was even more aggressive looking.

And utterly rabid. Loved it.

[Chris Harris]

HorneyMX5 said:

By 1994, the 911 bodyshell was nearly a quarter of a century old

Surely 64 - 94 is 30 years and therefore well over 1/4 of a century?

Long Wheel Base arrived in '69 - that's the platform which went largely unchanged to the end of 964.