 |
www.QV500.com - Porsche 911 (1984 - 89) Part 4: 911 3.2 Speedster |
 |
Porsche reintroduced one of their most iconic body styles in 1989 - the Speedster. This uncompromising variant hadn’t been offered since 1959, a time when 356’s were rolling out of the factory and the 911 was still five years from inception. The first 911 Speedster had actually been displayed at the Frankfurt Motor Show in September 1987 but it would be 16 months before production actually began in January 1989. Regular 911 Cabriolet bodyshells were used for the mechanically standard Speedster, these being equipped with a cut-down, more steeply raked aluminium framed windscreen and special frameless one-piece side windows. |
The normal Cabriolet hood mechanism was completely discarded in favour of a flimsy emergency roof that stowed under a distinctive body-coloured plastic moulding. Both the standard narrow-body and wider Turbo shell were available in most markets although bizarrely only the latter could be specified in North America and Germany. Inside, the seat rails were dropped by 20mm, the seats themselves having been a combination of Sport backs with standard lower sections. |
 |
| The rear seats were junked and the vacant area carpeted like the Club Sport, an optional storage box (again like that of the CS) having been a sensible upgrade. A manual heater and wind-down windows were fitted as standard. 2065 Speedster’s were built (all in 1989), 1894 of which were Turbo-bodied, the remaining 171 having been the 50kg lighter narrow body type. 63 right-hand drive Speedster’s were imported to the UK and 823 went to North America with 217bhp engines. |
 |
 |
 |
 |