The career of the Porsche 911 was supposed to end in the 1970s, or at least that's what those responsible at Porsche thought. No more investments were made, the focus was on the front-engined 924 and 928 models. Only a few engineers continued to work on the air-cooled rear engine, which was actually outdated. And it turned out that the 911 was ultimately Porsche's salvation.
Between 1973 and 1989, the so-called G-model left the factory halls in Zuffenhausen, with increasing interest among customers from the 1980s onwards. And today, these G models are among the most popular Porsche classics.
Reason enough to write a book specifically about them and apparently also reason enough to revise and relaunch this book after three years.
New edition
In fact, Gabriel, Hering and Kindermann already published a book about the air-cooled model years 1974 to 1989 in 2017 . Now the book has undergone a facelift, so to speak, and more has changed than just the start date of the edition.
Lightweight construction
When Porsche started to believe in the 911 again, some special models were created, one of which was the Carrera 3.2 Clubsport for the 1988 and 1989 model years.
11 pages are dedicated to this 911 variant, which actually only drew its appeal from its omission. 190 units (or was it 339, as mentioned in the text) of the Clubsport coupé were built and they accelerated slightly better and were somewhat louder inside. However, they were not cheaper, which certainly boosted demand. On the other hand, they are rare today and therefore much more valuable. According to Classic Data, a Clubsport in condition 2 costs EUR 138,000, as stated in the price guide on page 285.
But does the art of omission also work for a book, one is tempted to ask, after all, the second edition only has 368 pages, while the 2017 edition still had 425 pages. After all, you can't leave out insulating material from a book, apart from "non-supporting" semi-transparent pages. So what has fallen by the wayside?
Well, for one thing, the treatise on the changes from model year to model year has been made a little more compact, and for another, the interview with Helmuth Bott no longer exists. What has remained in the book is the highly interesting interview with 911 rescuer Friedrich Bezner.
A few pictures may also be missing. But the book still feels "well-rounded" and you don't really miss anything essential when reading it. And according to the publisher, the more compact size of the pages increases the durability of the binding, which is a good thing, because you like to leaf through the beautiful 911 book often.
The origin of the Pasha fabric
The Pasha pattern became famous with the Porsche 928, but the almost psychedelic-looking fabric was also available in other models. It is thanks to Vlasta Hatter, who turned an idea from chief designer Lapine, who wanted a kind of start/finish flag as upholstery fabric, into a dynamic pattern.
This background is revealed in a new interview that did not exist in the first edition of the book. Exciting!
Practice-oriented content
The main part of the book comprises the characterization of the various 911 models, starting with the 1974 model year and ending with the 1989 model year. All normal models are described, as well as the Turbo variants and, of course, Coupé, Targa, Cabriolet and Speedster versions.
There is a two-page summary of the technical data for each of the main variants, and the production figures are also included.
Five buyer's guides on the 1974-1977 model years, the 911 SC, the Carrera 3.2 and the two Turbo versions 3.0 and 3.3 round off the description of the G-model.
The Classic Data valuation values, which have been updated to 2020 for the new book, are published so that you know how much Porsche you can afford.
Chronologically structured
The book is structured along the timeline, with the two major interviews interspersed. A one-page table of contents is used for navigation, which in our view is a little brief. In any case, this does not support a quick search for special models, as there is neither an additional keyword index nor are specific cars recognizable in the table of contents. For example, the special models, of which there are eleven in the book.
It is precisely these special models about which little is often known, so it is all the better that they are presented in detail (including numbers) and with rare images, a real plus point for this book.
And for all those who are looking for specific information on precisely these special models, they are listed here with the page number:
- Porsche Carrera RS 3.0 (1974) - page 88
- Porsche 911 "25 Years" (1975) - page 92
- Porsche 911 "Signature" (1976) - page 100
- Porsche 911 Turbo 3.0 RS "Von Karajan" (1975) - page 150
- Porsche 911 SC "Weissach Edition" (1980) - page 204
- Porsche 911 SC "50 Years of Porsche (1982) - page 212
- Porsche 911 SC/RS (1984) - page 288
- Porsche 911 Carrera Club SportTarga (1988) - page 294
- Porsche 911 Carrera "250,000" (Cat) (1988) - page 308
- Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 "25 Years 911" (Cat( 1989) - page 314
- Porsche 911 Turbo S 3.3 "Sonauto" (1989) - page 358
The book is consistently bilingual, with German texts printed in black and English descriptions in blue for quick orientation. This is practical, but doesn't quite make up for the fact that part of the book's payload is redundant, i.e. in two languages.
Limited
The new edition is limited to 1989 copies (the first edition was printed in 2018) and the price of EUR 99.80 is the same as in 2017.
Owners of the first edition should not need to buy the second version, even if the content is not quite the same. However, those who did not buy the 2017 edition will find a lot of interesting facts in the 2020 version, as well as exciting and rarely seen pictures, which are certainly worth buying, especially as the book is beautifully designed and elegantly presented.
Bibliographical details
- Title: Porsche 911 G-Model - The Book 1974-1989
- Authors: Andreas Gabriel, Manfred Hering and Tobias Kindermann
- Languages: German and English
- Publisher: Berlin Motor Books
- Edition: 2nd improved edition, November 20, 2020, limited to 1989 copies
- Format: Hardcover with slipcase, 27.1 x 32.1 cm
- Scope: 368 pages, over 200 pictures, 2.98 kg
- ISBN: 978-3-9814592-3-4
- Price: EUR 99.80
- Buy/order: Online at the publisher, currently not available on amazon.de
