Porsche 911 2.7 RS tribute can bemore fun than the real thing. Opinions of Porsche tribute cars from the air-cooled era have firmed up in recent years as the values of everything before and including the 993 have surged. Advocates of preservation and restoration of 911s that a decade and a half ago may have been considered used sports cars now appear to hold a decisive majority over those who are willing to really play with the bodywork and engines.
“That engine is hot-rodded”
“What Makellos has done with this 1973 Porsche 911 is basically create the 2.7 RS experience for less than it would cost to buy an actual 2.7-liter RS, and it might be better,” Glucker says. “That engine is hot-rodded — this whole car is hot-rodded with torsion beams and upgraded suspension, a short-ratio short-throw gearbox, upgraded cross-drilled rotors. This is … this is vintage in the best way.”
The flat-six of this particular car churns out about 220 hp — a little over RS spec — but well within the margin of the original; Makellos did not set out to soup up an an older body complete with flared fenders with a new and overpowered Porsche engine out back. Far from it — the shop took care to replicate the look and feel of the interior, complete with houndstooth buckets and period-correct gauges. The biggest difference when it comes to the engine spec is that this car is carbureted; the real ones had fuel injection at this point.
The price of entry? Glucker says that this car is in the neighborhood of about $120,000, in the range in which clean 911s from 1973 now trade. That’s certainly a discount from the real thing, but the difference is that this one can be daily-driven without (much) worry.
