Porsche 911 Sport Classic – Ah, back to the foundations of glory

So yesterday I was very much

harshng on Porsche’s mellow

as far as the Cayenne and Panamera were concerned. So today, head guy Chris decided to send me word about a new, and sadly exclusive, 911 variant that is much more my style. Check out the 911 Sport Classic. Now what does that remind you of? I can answer that for me: Boy does this thing remind me of the first Carerra RSs from the early 70s. It’s got that whole ducktail spoiler fender flairs thing down.

That’s the good news, the bad news, apart from being way outside my price range is that this is a limited edition model. Porsche is only rolling out 250 of the beasts. But the details are oh-so-delicious.

The 911 Sport Classic is a product of the Porsche Specialist Department that makes customized versions of Porsche cars beyond the Company’s regular production models. The 911 Sport Classic will be rolled out at the 2009 Frankfurt Motor Show and as I mentioned is limited to just 250 cars [sniff].

The 911 Sport Classic is based on the rear-wheel-drive Carrera S. For starters, this isn’t just an engine job & some chassis beefing up. They re-did the body too. There’s a newly developed double-dome roof, and the rear is wider by 1.73 inches thanks to the wider track on the rear axle. There’s also a new SportDesign front apron with a unique spoiler lip and the rear spoiler fixed in that position, just like the ducktail on the 73 Carrera RS.

Under that rear deck lid is a 3.8-liter plant with Direct Fuel Injection and a newly developed resonance intake manifold with six vacuum-controlled switching flaps. Bottom line on the dyno sheet: 23 more bhp for a grand total of 408 horsepower. [Sigh ... you lucky 250.]

All those ponies go through a six-speed manual gearbox, which I guess is OK, but a semi-auto box would have been better. Who knows why Porsche went this way – could be because their in-house PDK is on the heavy side, or maybe they’re just after the full on old-school thing.

Stopping, always a Porsche strong suit, come by way of Porsche Ceramic Composite Brakes. And there a PASM sports suspension that lowers the 911 Sport Classic by or 0.79 inches. Other trick bits include a mechanical rear axle differential and custom-made 19-inch wheels with their rim star painted black.

The interior of the 911 Sport Classic is a typical Porsche ergonomic nightmare of oddly placed gauges and whatnot. The one pictured here is in a hideous shade of brown, and the seat inserts harkens back to when Porsche decided to get psychedelically “creative” with its fabric choices in the early 70s. Bad idea then, bad idea now ... stick with the basics, like black leather and such, OK? Turns out that this color combination is all you get, there’s no other choices. Porsche calls it Espresso Nature on the inside and on the outside it’s Sport Classic Grey.

Price? That will be 169,300 euros, sir.