1987 Porsche 911 Carrera

The Porsche 911 is a sports car icon. Keeping essentially the same shape for almost 60 years, Porsche has been content to make only incremental, progressive changes from year to year, preferring to keep buyers interested by constantly refining the performance envelope of the car. Instead of replacing the 911, Porsche has instead come up with a number of different cars throughout the years such as the 944 and the 928 to service parts of the market where the venerable 911 did not fit.


The 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera represented the last version of the 911 to still be based upon the original design that dated back to the mid 1960’s. In the base model a 3.2 liter 6 cylinder engine was mounted in the rear of the car (as with all 911’s), and it produced 214 horsepower and 195 lb-feet of torque. This was an improvement of 12 horsepower and 10 lb-feet of torque over the previous year. This amount of power might not seem very impressive from today’s perspective, but in the late 1980’s it was close to the top of the heap, and the lightweight construction of the 911, combined with its finely-tuned driving dynamics contributed to a very quick car that was solid through the corners.

The engine in the 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera was air cooled, and an improved electric fan designed was added to help cool down the oil in the engine. A new 5 speed transmission that functioned better in the cold than previous 911’s was combined with a mechanical clutch to make the vehicle much easier to drive, particularly during the daily commute.

Carrera was the general name Porsche had applied across the entire 911 model lineup, and Carreras could be had in a number of different iterations. In addition to the base model there was a Targa option which allowed the center section of the roof to be removed, giving the car a convertible feel without sacrificing as much chassis stiffness. There was a traditional convertible called a Cabrio, and there was also a special version of the car just for 1987 known as the Carrera Club Sport. This edition featured a unique engine with a raised rev limiter and a stripped down interior which shaved 110 pounds off of an already light vehicle. Only 340 Carrera Club Sports were built.

A 911 Turbo was also built in 1987. The model was carried over from 1986, and it featured a turbocharged 6 cylinder engine making 282 horsepower - a stunning number for that period in automotive history, as most performance vehicles were dogged by strict emissions controls. The 911 Turbo looked essentially the same as the Carrera, yet it was more commonly known as the Porsche 930, as that was the internal designation used by Porsche to differentiate it from the normally-aspirated 911’s.

The 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera remains a popular vehicle amongst collectors and racers alike. Most of the Porsche 911’s from the 1970’s and 80’s made it very easy to interchange engines, making swaps for more power or more modern technologies quite common. The light weight of the car also makes it quite surefooted in a track environment, and the reasonable market prices for these cars puts them at a level where they are affordable to run as a second car. While the interiors of these vehicles could be described as spartan, and they are definitely not the most comfortable cars to drive for people over 6 feet tall, the Porsche 911 Carrera holds a special place in automotive history as one of the purest sports cars of the 80’s.







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June 8, 2008, 9:09 am