Customer Reviews

Porsche 911 3.2 Carrera: The Last of the Evolution

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There are lots of books out there for the general Porsche or 911 fan, but if you own or otherwise specifically adore the Carrera 3.2 or turbo, this book is a must. Unique in its obssessive level of detail, this book is almost certain to teach you something about the last "real" 911 that you didn't already know, whether that is the number of each body style built in each country by year, how to decode the VIN, option and paint codes, or the subtle differences between years, body styles and geographic regions. And yet in spite of all the factoids (dare I call it trivia?), the book is not a mostrous, weighty coffee table book, but rather a light, hardbound nightstand reader. I actually sat in my Carrera 3.2 as I read it, learning about my specific engine's bhp, checking to see if my paint was (and which options were) original by comparing the codes, etc. All in all, I found it a fascinating study of one of my all-time favorite cars. The photos of rare, concourse 911s in every body style -- from the pinnacle Speedster to the ultra-rare U.S. edition Club Sport -- don't disappoint, either.

Anyone who knows Porsche 911's knows the 3.2 Carrera is one of the best 911's ever made. The classic 911 lines started getting "soft" after the 1987/88 model years, and of course, a few years later, the classic air-cooled engine, which some refer to as "bullet-proof", was gone. It was a thrill to find a book that specifically covered the 3.2 Carrera, and a bigger thrill to discover the author did a great job of it too. The pictures are excellent, as is the lay-out and text. As the 3.2 Carrera becomes more of a classic, I'm sure this book will too.

This book provides you much more information than you can get from The 911 Red Book or The Used 911 Story by Peter Zimmerman (I owned both). Those are the two must have. Furthermore, Tony Corlett gives you a lot of personal opinion, like driving impression and feel. This is more than just dry numbers on specification and performance measurement. All the variation within the 3.2 Carrera model line are being covered. High quality nice pictures. The most important chapter is on the Turbo-Look M491 option. It dispells a lot of mis-information I got from internet forums.

A very nice book with good data and photos - however strictly of British nature i.e. measurements, terminology, even colours are given with the British colour names only. Still worth having if you are a 911 owner or fan.

Somehow, there is an anti 930(turbo) bias here. There must be 4 times the space devoted to the Turbo look alike(Why? it is a self made replicar-without the boost). There is a chapter on the Ruf Yellowbird ,which is fine, except that project was based on a 964 which was the following model.

It is arguable the Turbo is the most interesting since they have held and increased value over the last 5 years and certainly are considered the most valuable in future pricing.

Since I own an 88 Turbo 930 I was completely disappointed.