Rarity - Page 1 - Porsche General - PistonHeads UK

Thom, Nice! Do you want one then?

Yup (and those are about the only good piccies on the net of it too). Found one in Germany for about £25k, decided it was too 'rare' a car and would have silly repair prices. Was also worried if a '968 Turbo only' part broke........ not like there's going to be a stack of spares on the Porsche shelf.

They had one on mobile.de a little while ago. The question to ask is why would you want one? Rarity will make running costs difficult and at 30k or so for a tracked and possibly tatty example, you're not far off a 993 RS etc. Not totally against them though - if it was a mainstream model I would have one already. I even toyed with getting a cheap CS and adding a Turbo SE engine. Or Chevy smallblock, which is what the yanks do.

Err...yes, could say it like that. >> Edited by thom on Thursday 18th April 20:54

Oh dear, IMO you should have gone for it (!) £25k seems to me a bargain since they're estimated at around £40k. One would certainly not have silly repair prices with them since the engine is a standard 944S2/968 block fitted with the standard 944 turbo head... Brakes are standard 928GTS and so on...as far as I know, it only has standard components; if it comes to the specific body panels, many American companies seem to build them. Can you remember who was selling it? Where exactly? >> Edited by thom on Thursday 18th April 20:53

Yes, there was a white one for sale on mobile.de for 65,000 Euros (£42k) The ad only remained a couple of days, which in a way prove they can stir interest for people who may know about them... IMO it's the ultimate performance/reliability/budget sports car to have, and so beautiful For sure their rarity would give some issues, but I don't think to the extent of disgusting one from owning one. Personally I would definitely go for this over a 993RS; the 968 is so special compared to the dull and now rather widespread 911 The idea of dropping a 944 turbo engine in a 968CS sounds good, but at the end you have a car which you can say is neither a proper 968 nor a proper 944 turbo... >> Edited by thom on Thursday 18th April 20:55

Hi Thom I think you would be surprised how many non standard bits they have on them. And I'd question the reliability given the relative lack of development. I looked into them in some detail - there are one or two good info resources on the web, but I forget where, you'll have to google it. Basically, they are *wider* than the standard 968s, in terms of both bodywork and presumably suspension track etc. Also, the engine was curious as it was a 16v turbo head I think, rather than the 8v turbo heads found on all other forced induction 944s. Probably more complicated than it sounds. Yeah, 42k sounds about right. If the 911 isn't your bag they are quite special, but with approximately 12-30 produced (depending on whether you group the track 968 Turbo RS cars along with the roadgoing 968 Turbo S cars), they are v rare beasts and will always cause problems if things go wrong... and they might given the nature in terms of use and development of the car. Keep the dream alive though, and hope you get one sometime - if I don't get one first ;-) Rgds Domster

Sorry Thom, IMHO they are just not as nice as a 993 RS - yes rarer, but if you didn't know that and the two were lined up in front of you the 993 has to be a better car on paper. (Obviously looks are down to the individual) - I've been out for a few beers at lunch so I could of course be talking s**t

Domster, So like me I suppose you never had the opportunity to look at one in real. The track may be wider for sure, but I don't think that would be the main difficult parts to find; it may share many mechanical similarities with the normally aspirated cars. About the engine I'm afraid you're wrong my dear: it was an 8v head indeed. By the time it was designed Porsche couldn't afford to develop properly the 16v head ("not economically viable") so they decided to retain the well-proven head of the 944. About the production numbers, most sources say 16 Turbo S built (2 retained by the factory) and even less RS (3 if I remember well). About their reliability, they're still Porsche aren't they? If ever I can afford one (if ever I find one ) I'm willing to take the risk >> Edited by thom on Thursday 18th April 20:43

Scottster, No prob; I'm just biased in favour of front-engined Porsches (but why, I can't tell ) >> Edited by thom on Thursday 18th April 20:43

Looks like your research is fresher than mine Thom ;-) They also had a different bonnet and front airdam if I remember, which would be a bugger to get hold of, and expensive. The wings were flared, but they used the original doors and bodyshell...? I have only seen a Turbo S *rear wing* up close. This was on a CS, and it looked great. Sadly I've never seen a real Turbo S up close. Have you been to www.968.com? They often have Turbo RSRs featured, so I'm sure there are more than 3... or maybe they are unofficial conversions. Rgds Domster

There are certainly loads of unofficial versions, as wandering on American websites has shown. Among others, powerhaus.com offers a conversion either with an 8v head or with a reworked and tuned 16v 944S2 engine fitted with a turbo. It's not cheap and for sure I wouldn't reckon they're as reliable as the original Turbo S, but who can tell since no history of running a Turbo S is known (to me at least)? Even on rennlist.com I haven't found very enthusiastic post/encouraging comments until now on these conversions... >> Edited by thom on Thursday 18th April 21:00

Thom - you are certainly an individual for preferring this to a 993. Take's all sorts I guess.

The only (I think) UK car was at a Croft PCGB trackday last year Here is an excellent resource for the RS version www.968turbo.homestead.com/ >> Edited by dmsims on Monday 22 April 21:09

Has anyone ever seen one of those? I'm trying to locate them (16 built!) just for the sake of it... >>> Edited by thom on Wednesday 17th April 21:18