1992 Porsche 911 Carrera 2 Cabriolet

Description

When it was launched in 1988, the new Porsche 911 - codenamed 964 - was the most radical redesign yet of Professor Porsche's masterpiece, with around 85 per cent of the car being new but the shape was still easily recognisable as the classic 911.  After the development of four-wheel drive systems through the 959, Porsche decided to adopt such as system for the 964, finally doing away with the torsion-bar rear suspension.  A Bosch ABS system was also introduced while the flat-six had the bore and stroke increased to lift overall capacity to a full 3.6-litres and the dual-ignition, twin-sparkplug arrangement allowed for the very high compression ratio of 11.3:1, to give a healthy 250bhp at 6100rpm.  Big improvements were made to the aerodynamics, particularly around the engine, along with a flush windscreen and an electronically controlled rear spoiler, which practically eliminated lift at high speeds.  Sold in coupe, cabriolet or targa guises, a two-wheel drive version was added to the line-up in 1990, appealing to Porsche purists and was the first offered with the optional Tiptronic semi-automatic transmission.  Weighing 100 kgs less than its four-wheel drive Carrera 4 sibling, the Carrera 2 offered stunning performance, with 0-100km/h taking just 4.8 seconds and the quarter-mile dispatched in just 13.3 seconds.  Of the 62,172 964s made by Porsche, just 11,013 were Carrera 2 Cabriolets and relatively few of these ever made it to Australia and all 964 variants have been showing strong appreciation in the classic market in recent years.