I recently read that German tuners DP Motorsport had taken an original 1973 Porsche 911 and decided to ‘update’ it. Since it isn’t a restoration but more of a modification, this DP Motorsport 1973 Porsche 911 gets a whole lot of performance goodies, both in terms of styling and power. Now the car is definitely good looking after the rebuild but I have an issue about it.

Before we get to my criticism about it lets look at its specs first. It gets a styling and steroid-adding makeover as it gets a full carbon fiber bodykit. The front bumper, bonnet, fenders, doors, rear fenders, rear bumper and whale-tail spoiler are all made out of carbon fiber. It must cost a bomb too. All of these drops the weight of the car from 1,080kg to around 870kg.

The car gets a full suspension upgrade too. Racing style coilovers, fully adjustable anti-roll bars, camber plates and full pillowball type suspension arms at the rear. A roll-cage adds stiffness and safety too. The handling department (as well as the overall look of the car) is completed with a set of Fuch style wheels - 9 x 15 at the front and 13 x 15 at the rear wrapped in 225/50R15 and 345/35R15 tires, respectively.

The DP Motorsport vintage 911 then gets its original 2.4liter engine thrown out and replaced with a newer 3.6liter flat-6 engine. It is still carbureted like the original 2.4liter, but due to modern tech and know-how, it now pumps out 306bhp. Pretty decent for a carb-equipped engine, and it should also sound great too with none of the hollow fuel injected sounding engines of today. Coupled with the weight loss stated above, the car has a power to weight ratio almost equal to the latest Porsche 911 GT3 RS 4.0. Quite a feat indeed.

Now after all of that, the issue I have with a car like this is this – The 1973 Porsche 911 is actually quite a rare Porsche 911. If one knows his Porsche history, one would realize that Porsche only made the 2.4liter 911 for two years or so. It may not be as desired as a 911 RS of its era, but the 911 2.4 was only built by Porsche in 1972 to 1973. It is an interim model, where prior to this Porsche equipped the 911 with the 2.2liter flat-6 and a 2.7liter flat-6 in 1974.

I think Porsche may have only assembled less than 10,000 units of this car and I doubt if half of these cars have survived to this day. Maybe tuners should actually be choosier and pick a less rare model to lay their hands on.

Yes the car does look good and is a marvel of engineering, but at what cost to future generations of Porsche enthusiasts? A piece of their history may be too butchered up to be restored after this conversion.

modifications, performance kit and 9 more...

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