First Drive: Understanding the charm of the aircooled 911
It's not every day that you get the chance to drive a Porsche classic. Of course, we couldn't say no and so we drove a true aircooled 911, the 964, to promote the Gentleman's Fair as we wrote before.
I agreed to pick it up the day before, just after dinner. It hadn’t rained all day until 17:00 when it started getting worse.
I arrived at the owner’s house where the car was waiting for me inside. Afterwards I drove it to the nearest gas station to fill the 911 up and have the owner see how I could handle his 964 Carrera 4. The clutch has a very nice feel to it and comes up very gradually but don’t let that fool you, this is still a 20 year old aircooled 911 so I hope you didn’t skip leg day if you’re planning on driving one.
The 964 is still a Porsche like the oldskool days but it already introduced a lot of technology. It was the first AWD 911 and featured a new 3.6L six cylinder. It also was the first 911 with hydraulic power steering (our arms thank Porsche for that) and featured ABS as well (which has come a long way since its introduction).
You might be wondering: ‘It doesn’t really look like a 964’ and you’re correct on that. It’s been fitted with a Classic RS kit, giving it that appealing look the 2.7 Carrera RS has. The wrap is inspired by the Martini racing livery but the colors were adapted from the Gentleman’s Fair. Further modifications were an exhaust to wake up the neighbors when you get home and a Momo steering wheel plus gear knob.
The 3.6L engine has a very enjoyable character. Deep down in the revs it has a low grunt, almost sounding like a V8 (don’t hate me on this) but as you climb up the revs it starts to sing that beautiful flat six sound and at around 4.000 rpm the power buildup increases. AWD makes sure the 250 hp (or less by now) does not escape and plows the car forward with so much character. The noise and the feeling it gives you is something I haven’t felt in any other car before. It’s so raw, yet refined and I know it may sound contrary but I think it makes sense.
I drove it around the entire day and didn’t really felt that tired to be honest. The only thing I suffered from the next day were the weak legs from the stiff pedals.
Should you buy one?
The 964 was a great introduction to cars of the past for me. It might not be the purest Porsche out there. But it's a great series out of the Aircooled 911 range that you could easily daily drive it if you'd want to thanks to hydraulic steering. Porsche parts are known to be expensive and that's not different for the 964 but it is a collector's item and if you buy a good one now, you probably won't lose any money on it.
I really enjoyed driving the 964 and can't wait to drive more older cars. Whether it's another classic Porsche or other oldtimers. It just has a certain character which you don't find in cars of today.
