Why is it that so many Porsche owners want to "upgrade" (not even valid) their cars by changing to a newer front or rear end. Or change the lights or....?

Every great car: 911, Corvette, Lamborghini, Ferrari..... change their style and design periodically. The beauty of this is that if you like the 993, 996, 997, 986, C2, C4, C6.... Gallardo, Aventador,..... you can admire or buy any one you prefer. I never talk to Vette guys who say " I love my '66 but I'm going to switch to the '70 front end to "upgrade" it. Additionally, it is NOT an upgrade to change your car to something it is not. In fact, most of the time, changing factory original parts for aftermarket or "FrakenPorsche" parts lowers the value to anyone who wants an original car (which is most sports car fans) like any true Porschefile.

I get personalizing the car with wheels or paint or stereo (again none of these are upgrades) or spoiler but - TO ME - changing the specific features that make a '99 a '99 or a 2007 a 2007 to add newer appearing appliances like front ends or rear ends to make the car look something it is not is no different than putting an S on a non-S model. Just a spew on Friday morning. Now a cup of Camomille tea.

 

Agreed. If I wanted a 997 front end I wouldn't waste my time and money buying a 996. Sort of like when I owned a BMW 540 6speed and kept trying to make it "look like" a M5. Eventually you come to the realization that it is NEVER going to be what you are trying to dress it up to be. I do like some things about the 997, but I'd never change anything on my 996 to resemble it. Plus, resell suffers from doing so and would always bring up the "was it in an accident?" questions. Wheels, suspension, wings etc. are great compliments to the car, but swapping out body parts change the car completely in my opinion and not in a good way. Just my .02.

 

Agree, the only thing I want is a rear wing, and coilovers. Everything else is 2003 C4S.

 

Like many, I'm guilty of swapping my OEM for plug-N-play 997.2 LED tail lights and it's 100% reversible in less than 5 minutes. Whereas, I reckon that removing a custom "GT3 Orange" stripe (even a badass one) would probably take longer to reverse to factory specs. Beauty is in the eye of the beholder denversteve. Let's own up to our resale reality: that none of our sub $20k cars will be entering the concours d'elegance at Pebble Beach, or headlining Barrett Jackson for a few decades...drive, relax, and enjoy. Namaste.

 

Thnaks for the idea, gonna have one myself shortly.

 

You are absolutely correct! I'm putting steer horns on the front of mine.

 

I agree these cars are all great in their own respect trying to make them something their not is really a waste of time and money,if I wanted a gt3 etc I would buy one.Sometimes its even imbarrasing what people will do lol.

 

I honestly feel it's your car,do what you want with it. I really like the updated look my LED Taillights and Headlights give to my car. As stated before it is completely reversible if I wanted to go back to stock. On the only other hand I can't see forking the money over do to a front end conversion. These are posts I like because people speak their mind,and everyone should. Just keep it clean and talk cars,that's what this site is for.

 

Interesting post... I was wondering what you had in mind when I read the topic title...

I think it boils down to 2 schools of thought:
1) Keep it stock... or stock-ish, in the manner you describe
2) Do whatever... in the manner raul welt (sp??) does

I don't think that folks who take option 2 are concerned or considering resale...

For me, I can appreciate both directions.

 

You can't make an 06 Jag XK look like the 07 Jag XK. However, I think that since the M96 and M97 models are so similar (throw in the 991 as well), its relatively easy to make your "older" model look like the newer model. That's the beauty of our cars. The general public doesn't know the difference and almost everyone thinks I am driving a brand new 911. I figure for about $45k I could make my 996 look like a Turbo!

 

You might want to let Wicked Motor Works know that taking a salvaged 99-2004 911/996 C2 and updating/modifying the body/interior to something else and advertising/selling it for $80,000 - $160,000 is a bad business idea!

Does not look like they are having any "...resell suffers..." issues. just saying!

 

+ 99999 ......plain look is boring..I don't want mine to look like everyone else unmolested...just my .02

 

I have a 2003 Targa, and I was thinking of led rear lights, till a few of the fellows from the club told me not to do it. They said if I owned a 2007 997car then rear lights would make sense but not on a 2003

 

I have seen some nice modded cars here and elsewhere but a lot look like they lost a battle in the accessary isle of pep boys. I know most people on here do not care but a clean lower mileage car usually gets more respect and money as a rule and older clean cars are hard to find.Some people have money to burn and could care less but mods are money wasted and I know because I have sold many cars for half of what I had in them lol= those days are over.

 

That example is a little extreme..... We're talking about cars in the $20-$50k range owned by an individual. Not super modified by a company who does restoring and updating salvaged vehicles as a business. A $5-$10k hit on our cars would definitely impact resell. Just sayin.