In Hawaii, there is a tradition of storytelling through chanting and song. A historical record told entirely through song resonated as we drove some of the new Porsche museum cars and Porsches on the large Hawaiian island, Kona. Driving cars decades apart can make it difficult to find connections, especially if you begin to judge with the lens of vehicle dynamics, but if you listen closely, there will be one obvious thing in common between old and new Porsches.
Porsche
356 Speedster and Boxster BILLION
As the oldest vehicle submitted to the museum, the 1957 356 Speedster is the longest-lived of any modern Porsche, a new Boxster T, is paired with it. Remarkably solid and graceful with a supple ride, the Speedster is tiny. A Mazda Miata would pass it and be a little worried about safety since there aren’t any seat belts. Rolling on small tires, the Speedster doesn’t have much grip, but with a mass too small to control, the Speedster is a delight. It reminds us that there are happy cars out there, cars that seem to smile as they try to hit the 55 mph speed limit. The Nardi steering wheel is a standard of the period, replacing the three-spoke that the Speedster has left the factory, feels good and enhances the car with surprising precision. The gearbox slides in and shifts without any noise. What really dates the Speedster are its four drum brakes. Like many older cars, planning your moves in traffic is essential to avoid scaring you or worse, damaging a car worth about $500,000.
Acceleration is lethargic, but you’ll sometimes look down at the speedometer — the tachometer is located right in the center of the cluster — to see that the diminutive 1.6-liter sped beyond the legal limit. Even when revved to the red line of 5800 rpm, the engine is quiet. It peeks behind you contentedly as it gathers speed and occasionally squeaks if you release the accelerator quickly.
Powered by a turbocharged 2.5-liter four-cylinder, the Boxster T is basically what you might expect from a Boxster. Like the Speedster, it aims to appeal to drivers who just want options that give the car better steering and handling. It takes an angle to realize the technological leaps that have occurred since the Speedster. Against Speedster, going fast in Boxster is easy and does not require much bravery or skill. Point it and it goes, slam on the brake and it will pop your sunglasses.
Put it down — it’s a click of a button compared to the two-man work required for the Speedster — and the Boxster’s flat quartet produces a similar sound, even though the new car is louder. That there’s any connection is remarkable, but thanks to the inherent sounds produced by a flat quadruple, it’s there and audible.
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Porsche 914/6 and 718 Spyder
The next classic Porsche in rotation is the 914/6. Porsche’s 914, a product co-developed with Volkswagen, was a mid-engine two-seater like the Boxster, which was Porsche’s popular sports car at the time. Sold from 1970 until 1975, most were powered by compressed air-breathing VW flat-fours. A few, like the Adriatic Blue 914/6 from 1970, come with the 911 T’s 2.0-liter inline-six mounted behind the driver. The 110hp six sounds like an angry little engine, but acceleration is very leisurely, mainly due to the wide gap between first and second gears.
The gears are hard to find because the four-speed linkage makes a Rube Goldberg-like trip from the shifter to the 901 (borrowed from the 911) transmission located behind the engine. It takes a while to become proficient even from a distance, and even then, it’s hard to imagine paddling it with anything resembling urgency. Despite the gearbox, the car still charms with its simple design and impossibly low seating position. The model started out in the United States before Porsche brought it back to Germany and removed the reflectors and bumpers of American models. The steering is slow and unhelpful, but feels reliable. There is also a notable amount of body roll. A premium over the base 911 killed the 914/6’s chance in the market, but the lack of sales success made it rare and therefore valuable today.
The current equivalent of the six-cylinder 914 — at least according to the Porsche Museum — is 718 Boxster Spyder. The Spyder comes with a naturally aspirated 4.0-liter inline-six with 414 hp at high rpm, which sounds even angrier than the small six in the 914/6. The grip, brakes and performance of a modern Porsche give the classic car an old-fashioned feel, but hit the throttle right away, and the eagerness shines through. Just remember that you may have to look for the next gear in the 914/6’s transmission.
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1991 Porsche 944 Turbo Cabriolet and 911 Turbo Cabriolet
Porsche’s journey through history continues with the 944 Turbo convertible. Never sold in the United States, the 1991 Turbo convertible was the one-year anniversary product of its launch the year before the 968 arrived. Only 528 were made, and this Maritime Blue model still looks glamorous on 16-inch D90 wheels and with its pop-up headlights raised or lowered. The 2.5-liter turbo-four makes 247 horsepower, and that seems quick back then. A routine test of this engine on the coupe resulted in a 0 to 60 time of 5.6 seconds. Turbo lag means waiting for the revs to rise above 3000 rpm before it makes sense. After acceleration, the engine is happy for the extra speed and it never really complains as it spins. Equipped with a balance shaft, the engine note is soft and far away. It’s almost as if the technical goal is silence.
Even from the top down, the convertible is still obscured. A rubber gearshifter that doesn’t like to be rushed to connect to the rear gearshifter. The seats sit straight out of the 911, although the seating position takes some getting used to as the steering wheel is non-adjustable and seems a bit far away. As the top performance 944 model, the Turbo has a suspension that’s certainly not as harsh as today’s sports cars, but it does send vibrations through the structure. Modern convertibles are much stiffer – all those claims of improved torsional stiffness have clearly increased over the years.
The modern car that Porsche places next to the 944 Turbo is a 911 Turbo convertible with a stiff and serious build. Its 572-horsepower turbocharged flat-six works through all-wheel drive. Although we haven’t tested the convertible 911 Turbo, we did Turbo S convertible 640 hpand it goes to 60 mph in 2.3 seconds — the smaller version can be a few tenths slower than that benchmark. The power of the 911 Turbo is astounding and the connection between past and present is perhaps the most visible in this matchup. Both have turbo – that’s the ticket.
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1991 Porsche 911 Carrera 2 Cabriolet and 911 Carrera WILL
Among Porsche 911 collectors, the 964-generation 911 – the penultimate air-cooled 911 and the first to feature coil springs – is hot right now. In the eyes of buyers, the 911 convertible folds below the coupe and Targa, and for many, the four-speed automatic over the Amethyst Metallic 911 Carrera 2 convertible the museum brings to Hawaii will be disruptive. After driving it, we recommend reconsidering that mindset.
When the four-speed automatic appeared on the 911, we tested a coupe and found that it added more than a second to the 0 to 60 time. It might not be as fast as the five-speed version, but it does. a coupe with the Tiptronic automatic transmission still hit 60 in 6.1 seconds in our testing. From behind the wheel, that level of acceleration still feels fleeting. Plus, with fewer gears and a large gap between the ratios, the sweet-sounding 247-horsepower flat-six is forced to stay in gears longer and work a little harder. Drop the top and six people sing its rocky song mainly through its intake, the exhaust is relatively subdued.
The automatic Tiptronic system allows the driver to select gears by moving the gear lever into the gate next to the PRND selector. Tip forward to get a promotion, and tip the clubhead backward to shift down. The steering wheels are still a few years old in 1991 but will appear on the 1996 911 (993 generation) equipped with Tiptronic.
The gearbox does not affect the path of this 911. A comfortable ride is perhaps the biggest surprise. The switch to coil springs and museum-fitted Porsche Classic dampers deliver smoothness that seems fitting for this Mercedes-Benz 500SL competitor. A tight structure that shows the age of this car. No shakes or bad vibes running through. Of all the classic vehicles brought to Hawaii from Germany, the ’91 Cabriolet is the most relaxing and the most enjoyable. Buy one now before everyone catches on to the mellow genius of this 911.
Drive a 1991 911 and then move on to the new version 911 Carrera S Cabriolet, and there is a family connection, albeit loosely related, 30 years apart. The five lap gauges in front of the driver in the air-cooled car are still honored, but the four gauges are LCD displays. The tachometer remains in the same form and is located front and center, and the ignition remains to the left. The solidity of the chassis and the engine sound also connect the old and the new. Tight and shake-free, the new 911 makes you forget that the upper has been removed from the structure. And even though two turbochargers muffle the 443-horsepower 3.0-liter inline-six, that old familiar sound still rings out. The history of Porsche, told through sound.
