Porsche’s rear-engine 911 features an antiquated drivetrain layout, which is one of the reasons fans of the brand love them so much. Today’s Nice Price or Crack Pipe Turbo SC makes the most of that layout, but could that make this cobbled-together car worth its asking?
The Grateful Dead, a band beloved by stoners and stoner wannabes world wide, was never as popular on the music charts as they were in the dedicated hearts of those fans. Case in point, their best known song, Truckin’ about a New Orleans hotel drug bust only reached 64 on the 1971 American pop singles chart. And that was the edited down three-minute version. The longer, five-minute album version would have likely not reached even that.
Friday’s 1964 Ford F100 pickup was much like an album version in that it was a long-bed edition. Many people prefer the short bed version for its aesthetics and easier parking opportunities, but this classy and classic old truck still found plenty of advocates, especially at its modest $4,500 asking. That, along with a patina that was ‘just so’ made that truck a winner, earning it an impressive 84 percent Nice Price win. What a long strange trip it’s been, indeed.
How do you envision casting off these mortal coils? A preferred exit strategy for some of the more well to do back in the latter half of the 1970s was by way of buying a Porsche 930 Turbo and then letting the car get ahead of their driving talent. Seriously, my mom once told me about someone she knew who bought a 930 and killed himself in the car within the first week of ownership, having not mastered the car’s hair shirt handling properties and power application.
What made the 930 such a widow maker? The layout was the main culprit. The 911 has traditionally had an excessive rearward weight biased. Add to that the 930’s added power and the laggy turbo’s snap application of said power and roadside trees start to tremble in fear of imminent attack every time they hear one approach.
Porsche attempted to mitigate the 930’s dangers by widening the rear track and fitting the fattest tires they could find, but they still released a car that should have come with the kind of warning labels they put on cigarette packages and Miley Cyrus.
You’ll be happy to learn then that this 1979 Porsche is actually a 911SC and not an official 930. Well, that may in fact be a moot point since this car’s been imbued with the 930’s 3.3-litre flat six and honkin’-big turbo as well as the monster car’s fat fender flares, the latter expressed in all steel.
It also has the ‘safety’ whale tail with the flat sides rather than the early cars’ knife edge aero aid. The rear spoiler’s job isn’t just adding downforce to the rear end. It’s also there to mask the enormous bump above the 911’s engine cover necessitated by the intake system’s air to air intercooler.
The ad claims that the engine once called a real 930 home and carries the weight of 45,000 miles upon its shoulders. It’s fronted by what’s described as a rebuilt 915 transmission with less than 5,000 miles since the update.
The bodywork looks pristine and carries a coat of arrest me red with reverse script Turbo down each door. Black-center Fuchs fill the wheel wells and carry BF Goodrich tires. A nice addition are a set fo Euro headlights up front.
The interior looks ready to rock with only an inappropriate stereo (Blaupunkt or Grundig, please) and some overly puffy sun visors to mar the experience. This is not a slicktop so you’ll have a mail slot-sized sunroof to open should the mood arise.
There’s no detail on the car’s overall mileage, however the dealer does note that it’s been in the same hands for the past 30 years and does come with a clean California title. The question of course, is whether it should also come clean about not being an official 930 Turbo.
That’s a big deal since Porsches of this ilk are now officially classic cars rather than just fancy-pants daily drivers and rides for weekend warriors. That means that provenance, and having the right VIN and matching-numbered major mechanicals are of importance. This car is a bit of a mutt, and while it will snap at, and possibly kill you just like a real 930 will, it doesn’t have the papers to make that death an honorable one.
That’s potentially why the asking price is $49,870. That’s about half of what a real-deal 930 would command and we’re now at that point in the show where we ask you to weigh in on whether it’s discounted enough to go with a pretender to the mad king throne. What do you think, is this 930-ized 911 worth that $49,870 asking? Or, for that much would you say death definitely does not become it?
You decide!
San Diego, CA Craigslist, or go here if the ad disappears.
H/T to Ned C for the hookup!
Help me out with NPOCP. Hit me up at rob@jalopnik.com and send me a fixed-price tip. Remember to include your Kinja handle. MAILTO:rob@jalopnik.com