Paul Stephens

911 and Porsche World - PS Retro Touring vs 911 S vs 997

BACK TO THE FUTURE

Three ways to spend £90 grand: a classic 2.4S, a brand
new 997 C2S with options for similar money, or a Paul
Stephens 911 featuring rebuilt powertrain and interior in a
backdated 3.2 Carrera or 964 body. Who gets our cheque?

Imagine, your ship’s come in and you can trade up.
Will you go fresh out of the box or cuddle a
cosseted classic for similar money? First, take a
reality check. That new 3.8-litre 997 will effortlessly
whisk you down the road, but it will depreciate sure
as addled eggs. The classic 2.4-litre 911 is almost 40
years old now and needs to be mollycoddled to retain
its value, and it’s always going to feel like a period
piece. When I realised that classic values have
escalated to the point where a concours 2.4S is worth
similar money to a new 997 C2S, I pondered which way
I’d jump. Both Porsches, but chalk and cheese in
virtually every respect. Then I hit on the third way. How
about a cross between the two – ye olde styling with
modern mechanicals, available for much the same
price? I give you the Paul Stephens Retro Touring range.
We’re on the Suffolk-Essex border to see which of
these paragons would tempt us. Paul’s provided two of
his cars for us to assess, a PS Retro Touring and a
Classic Touring, and Antonio and I have come in a 997
C2S. To complete the conundrum we’ve invited an
owner to join us with his 911 2.4S.
When you explore all that’s gone into a Paul
Stephens retromobile it’s easy to see why that costs
the same as the other two: he’s effectively offering a
brand new car. Let’s put it in financial context. The bar
on 911S values rose this summer, thanks to a swell in
the model’s popularity. Export 56 sold one recently for
£93k. Who’d have thought it, 20 years ago, when a
2.7RS seemed out of reach for most of us at £35K, but
a 2.4S could be had for £10K? But still, while the 2.4S
has always been the aspirational classic 911, it’s been
sought after by Porsche buffs who nowadays would
have to find double the money for a good 2.7RS
Carrera. And as we know, a 911S is not half an RS at
any level. There might be 300cc difference in capacity,
but the power gap is small: 190bhp against 210bhp,
216Nm torque as opposed to 225Nm. There are
already some extraordinary precedents for RS price
hikes: says Paul Stephens, ‘H&H auctioned an orange
right-hand drive 2.7RS for £220k, and another well
known dealer has a right-hand drive, lightweight RS
advertised for £275k, so suddenly a 2.4S at £90k
looks, dare I say it, cheap!’ Having stumped up £90k the
question then is, how will you use it? Can you, or would
you, use a concours 2.4S as your daily driver? We’ve
got one to test the variables.
Steve Harker has brought along his yellow car for
comparison. He sold his last 911S for £70k a year ago,
and values his current car between £75-80k. As if to
prove the point, among the mouth-watering array of
911s in Paul Stephens’ showroom is a 2.4S in Gemini
blue with tan interior, on at a yardstick £75K.
Porsche GB were sporting enough to lend the 997
C2S even though it’s pitted against two old stagers. It
has nothing to fear. I’ve done several runs recently in a
variety of 997s, and the C2S is another example of
Porsche’s sheer competence: inviolable, indomitable
and inexhaustible. Put it like this - the classic 911S
fights you back, the PS 964 fights in your corner, but
the 997 defends and protects you.
So, ancient and modern are up against Paul
Stephens’ middle way. Paul has been handling Porsches
for 20 years on track and showroom, and five years ago
he decided to go down the backdating road. His line up
consists of the Classic Touring model based on the 3.2
Carrera and the Retro Touring based on the 964.
They’re also developing a showcase car based on the
964 Targa, designated the PS Speedster, with bespoke
panels and interior. As he says, ‘we have a basic model
range and we have options, and if customers ask for
something special we can oblige; we pretty much say,
yes, if it doesn’t exist we’ll just have to make it.’ By the
time you read this PS will have built 23 cars.
Outside his premises at Little Maplestead is a white
Classic Touring 911. It may be based on a 3.2 Carrera,
but it looks to all intents and purposes like a narrowbodied
911 from the late ’60s. Paul explains: ‘we’ve
narrowed the bodywork by changing the rear arches
and the front lid, and fitted early grilles and badges,
nozzles and wipers, so externally it’s identical to an
early car.’ The front bonnet is based on the original
Carrera 3.2 frame, extended at the front and reskinned,
incorporating our own bonnet catch. ‘That
allows us to keep the original structure of the car in
place,’ says Paul, ‘instead of cutting the 3.2 Carrera
slam panel out and fitting an early bonnet, as some
people do.’ He does fit pre-’73 wings however. It’s a
ground-up reconstruction, built to order, which enables
customers to specify exactly what they want in the
way of creature comforts. This one’s got airconditioning
and a strictly two-seater cabin, with
luggage boxes where the rear seats would be, in the
manner of very early 911s. The cabin carpeting
replicates that of a late 356 and the doors feature
early 911 grab-handles and bullet-style armrests with
buttons in the ends to open the catches. Some of the
switches are early 911 items, but most were specially
made. Plastic switches were remanufactured in brass
and chrome – evidence that anything is possible.
The seats resemble standard Porsche Sport items
but the squab of the driver’s chair is re-profiled to suit
this customer’s larger physique. The seat runners are
also mounted further back to provide more legroom.

The wheels are 15in Fuchs but they’re an inch wider
than the 6in rims that would have been fitted on a late
’60s car. As well as a fresh engine and gearbox the
suspension is overhauled and new coils and dampers
fitted; even the fuel tank gets replaced. ‘People who
get in at this level have bought something bespoke,
hand-built, and our aim is to make it better than it
came out of the factory.’ That is certainly the
impression I get; Paul is resolved: ‘you can’t compare it
with the original; this is going to someone who has new
Porsche money but doesn’t want to drive a new
Porsche. He’s got classic Porsches, so he’s chosen this
as his practical classic car.’
The transformation starts with an accident-free
shell, though Paul says they can work with a little
corrosion as they always replace the weak areas. The
shell gets stripped back to bare metal as a matter of
course, and all known trouble spots are addressed
before painting. That’s just the beginning: ‘it’s no longer
just sticking panels on cars and making it look
backdated; the game has really moved on from there.
It’s fulfilling somebody’s dream to create their perfect
car.’ And, as we’ve said, if that is a classic 911 with
some of the foibles massaged away, then the formula
is about right. ‘All components are Porsche original
fitment unless there isn’t an alternative. Porsche spent
millions of pounds developing these components so
why would you use other bits?’ As a consequence, the
cars get a three-year, 60,000-mile warranty.
We turn our attention to the 964 variant, which is
the PS Retro series, and can be specified with fresh C2
or four-wheel drive C4 powertrains. The Retro Touring
variant has 16in wheels, standard retrimmed interior,
rebuilt 3.6-litre flat-six and G50 gearbox. The Touring R
version implies a sporting interior with or without rear
seats, a slight power upgrade over the standard 3.6,
and bigger Fuchs type wheels. The Lightweight R
trades on the iconic RS look with ducktail spoiler and
lightweight panels, thinner glass panes and no rear
seats. If it’s more power you seek, PS does offer
options from the 270R, delivering 20bhp more thanks
to a special twin tail-pipe exhaust system and engine
management re-map through to the 330R with a full
3.8 RS powerhouse.

While the PS Classic Touring is a convincing pastiche
of an early 911, the 964-based Retro model ploughs its
own furrow. It’s a seductive package. Typical
customers, according to Paul, ‘love the look of the
outside and that they can have the slightly funky
interior. They don’t want a modern Porsche, just
something different and bespoke. They are after
quality, not originality; they get the hand-built thing,
and they may already have some toys in the garage.’
Sure, it displays classic traits like the pre-impact
bumpers, front and rear lids, but its stance can’t belie
its ’90s origins. As Paul says, ‘we can’t get it
aesthetically as close to the 3.2 derived car because it
has a different floor pan, suspension and brakes.’ But
that does mean you get coil-sprung suspension rather
than torsion bars and more of a modern feel with ABS
and power steering, wrapped in a period shell. As with
its stablemate, there’s close attention to detail: for
instance, window surrounds, headlamp bezels and horn
grilles can be anodised or chromed like those on our
test car to advance the historic look. Door handles are
standard 964 but chrome-plated. Even the old
fashioned mirrors contain the electric paraphernalia to
orientate them remotely.
The PS sports seats are similar to Recaro’s Pole
Position model. While normal belts are fitted, buyers
can opt for full harnesses, and they tilt to allow access
to the rear cabin, unlike most racing style seats. Paul
Stephens’ replica Fuchs design wheels are 17in
diameter, though he will supply them from 15in to 20in.
Machined from solid billet and anodised, they can be
made to any size or offset. Centre caps are also
machined and embossed with the PS logo. If I have any
issue at all with the overall look, it’s that the 17in
diameter wheels with RS offsets and low profile tyres
don’t go with the classic image, but then smaller 16in
diameter items as applied to the standard Touring
model can be fitted if required. With period-look
bumpers allied to deeper 964 sills, the whole car is
physically deeper than its ancestors by a few inches all
the way round.
For the photo shoot we select the 964-based Retro
Touring R to contrast with the 2.4S and 997 C2S, and
we ease through the lanes over to an airfield site for a
bit of high speed cornering. The PS’s fresh 3.6 engine
emits a crisp, deep rumble, it’s got bags of torque and
acceleration is surprisingly rapid, backfiring on the
overrun. I’m finding the pedals very close together and
wishing I had my Sparcos on. The shift is crisp, throttle
response brisk and, not surprisingly, it rides and
handles like a sorted 964. The small steering wheel
seems slightly at odds with the driving experience –
though for retro purposes you couldn’t have a 1990s
wheel. Otherwise everything about the controls seems
like brand new, and it feels like a very strong, straightout-
of-the-box car. The ride is smooth, and the slick
shift is down to its rebuilt gearbox.
Of the trio we’ve got here, the modern 997 C2S is
the easy driving option, and if it’s downright power you
want there’s no contest. Liquid-cooled 3.8-litre flat-six
developing 385bhp at 6,500rpm, stonking 420Nm
torque at 4,400rpm and 0-62mph in 4.7sec and
187mph top whack. Ours has the 7-speed PDK
automatic transmission with paddle shifts, which
improves 0-62mph acceleration by 0.2sec. PASM
controlled suspension is lowered by 10mm, and its fourpot
calipers are visible through the 19in Carrera S2
wheels. It’s a technical titan compared with the other
two £90k contenders. But our pal Steve Harker with
the 2.4S gets straight to the point: ‘as much as I’d love
that 997 to drive around on a daily basis, I couldn’t
afford to spend £85-90k on a new Porsche knowing
that in three years time when I hock it in for something
else they’re going to offer me £35-40k if I’m lucky.’
Maybe he has a point but there’s no denying that the
current 997 is a master blaster par excellence – it
cossets, flatters, and there are no compromises. That
said, modern 911s lack the cuteness of the classic
Porsche and have yet to regain the aesthetic high
ground long held by those rolling curves.
The 2.4S is Steve Harker’s fourth 911. He started off
with a 3.2 Carrera, then went back in time with a 1972
2.4S. ‘That was an RS Lightweight recreation but I
didn’t like driving around in a pastiche, because what I
really wanted was an original 2.4.’ Finished in Light
Yellow with 83,000 miles on the clock, it’s upholstered
in an unusual brown sports interior: ‘You’ll be hard
pressed to find any RS or S without the standard black
interior,’ says Steve; ‘this is totally original, and I think it
will be with me for a long time.’ Fine, and the numbers
present at, say, Classic Le Mans are testimony that you
can do big mileages in classic 911s with no worries.
Closer in spirit to the 2.4S is the white PS Classic
Touring, which drives more like the car that it’s meant
to represent than the 3.2 Carrera it’s based on. It’s set
up to oversteer. The gearbox is superbly precise, and a
treat to use, while the engine has only done 112 miles
so it’s far from run-in. It’s easier to convince yourself
you’re in a classic car because of the way it’s been got
up – gorgeous red leather interior, period windscreen
wipers and dashboard and so on – than the Retro
Touring which, cabin-wise, is still recognisably 964-
derived. I had to remind myself the Classic Touring is
really a 3.2 Carrera, because of the lightness of touch
it felt like I was in an older car. ‘That’s because we’ve
taken the weight from it, the impact bumpers and the
whale tail have gone and it’s on taller tyres,’ says Paul.
So who gets our notional £90K? If it’s the period
driving experience you crave, with reliable refurbished
mechanicals to boot, the PS Classic Touring is the one
for you. You like the looks but want more modernity?
The Retro Touring will suit you fine. If you’re a concours
purist then it has to be the 2.4S. Intercontinental
express? That’ll be the 997 C2S. It really is horses for
courses. But I know which stable door I’d be opening,
and it’s just south of Sudbury on the A131.

Words : Johnny Tipler
Pictures : Antony Fraser

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