1988 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 restomod with a 3.6-litre flat-six 993 engine

This once-standard 1988 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 was personalised with unique styling and a rock-solid 3.6-litre flat-six prior to its relocation a stone’s throw from Canada’s Rocky Mountains...

Words Garry Melnyk

Photography James Kelly

BACK FOR GOOD

A 911 Carrera 3.2 restomod with a 993 engine.

Standing on Shawn Delaney’s driveway, I anticipate my ears will soon take in the quintessential sound of a modified Porsche flat-six. As the car’s powerplant turns over and lights up, I’m a little surprised at the un-911 harmony from the custom exhaust system. I expected the throbbing sound of six eager cylinders ready to give their all in the polished aluminium engine case. I need not have worried — as Shawn presses the throttle pedal and the needle on the rev counter rises, little hammers beat on my chest. Yep, this engine more than throbs and growls, albeit with user intervention. My entire body feels the force, even though I’m standing a few paces away. Make no mistake, the heart of the beast is strong, although it’s important to note it didn’t start life in the 911 shell it currently inhabits.

In planning his dream personalised Porsche more than a decade ago, Shawn drew up a list of several specialist 911 builders in Europe and North America, each business capable of turning his idea into reality. Some of these restomodders are better known than others, but in the end, armed with recommendations from fellow 911 owners and folk he knows in the industry, he chose an unassuming air-cooled Porsche specialist based in southern California.

The shop in question is known for its high-quality, low-volume restorations, with particular focus on the excellent standard of the bodywork it applies when backdating 911s. This was music to Shawn’s ears, primarily because the design in his head owed more than a passing nod to California’s popular Porsche Outlaw scene. “I’ve always desired ownership of a classic 911,” he tells me, “but I wasn’t prepared to wander into a dealership and plunk down a hundred grand for the privilege. Besides, I wanted a 911 tailored to my taste in style and power, as well as my driving style. For this reason, a custom build was the only way forward.”

Along for the ride was Heinz Henrich, Director of Sales at CPR Classic, a renowned 356 and air-cooled 911 restoration and sales centre situated an hour south of Los Angeles. “Heinz and his team specialise in concours restorations of early Porsches to standard specification,” Shawn explains, citing CPR’s forty years serving California’s 356, 912 and 911 restoration communities. “The company won’t produce Turbo clones or slant-nose conversions. When CPR applies wheel flare upgrades or builds tribute cars, the team prefers not to deviate from the original style designed by Porsche. In fact, the company is more likely to reverse aftermarket modifications and return your car to factory specification than create anything not in keeping with Porsche design standards.”

FROM LOS ANGELES, HE DROVE STRAIGHT DOWN THE PACIFIC COAST HIGHWAY TO SAN FRANCISCO

With this in mind, Heinz could be considered a strange choice of consultant for a highly personalised Porsche. “Not at all,” Shawn smarts. “He and the extended CPR family possess huge depth of knowledge, making him the perfect person to speak to when I was contemplating my choice of donor car. He advised me to consider a Carrera 3.2 as the starting point for a custom build, arguing the case for it being the ultimate evolution of the original 911 concept. Specifically, late G-series cars benefit from far better anti-corrosion qualities than their predecessors, and by the mid-1980s, the 911 recipe was much refined, leading to the appointment of the Getrag G50 gearbox, which replaced the somewhat recalcitrant Type 915 transmission. With Heinz offering encouragement, I began the search.”

A stock-specification 1988 Carrera 3.2 was sourced in Los Angeles. The appointed bodyshop set to work immediately, stripping the Porsche to a bare shell and tossing what seemed like almost every standard component. Genuine 911 Turbo (930) wheel arch flares were grafted into place and reshaped by hand, thereby forming a flat-edge on the outer lips of the wheel openings front and rear, per Shawn’s direction.

To cover the exposed oil lines running beneath the chassis, three-inch-wide steel sills were shaped to the subframe below the doors and blended into the newly flared wheel arches. Of course, any serious homage to early Porsches involves deleting the chunky (and unsightly) rubber extensions added to bumpers for 911s supplied to the North American domestic market. For Shawn’s car, the change was accomplished by fitting a complete new genuine Porsche nose assembly to the front body tub and customising the front wings to allow for the installation of turn signal and driving lights. He didn’t care for his Carrera 3.2’s standard ‘whale tail’. Even so, he wanted the car to make a statement and reasoned a flat Carrera engine lid was too subtle. He consulted Tony Gerace, co-founder of TLG Auto (a classic Porsche specialist founded in 1978 and taking up residence in North Hollywood), who recommended installation of a 964 engine lid, complete with motorised rear wing assembly.

Not satisfied with the standard look of the part, Shawn instructed his appointed bodyshop to alter the tail’s profile to reflect styling elements of early Porsches. The work was achieved by way of chrome grille slats and a smaller spoiler lip.

A frunk-located fuel filler replaced the blanked flap on the front wing. Retro-style door mirrors were mounted slightly forward of the vent windows to enhance the vintage look. All brightwork was nickel-plated, rather than chrome-finished, making for a much sharper accent to the spotless white paintwork. Speaking of which, the restored and modified body was ready for a fresh lick of colour following an intense six months of preparation. Once painted and polished, the rolling shell made its way to the TLG workshop. This elite Porsche specialist, serving So-Cal enthusiasts more than forty-five years, was tasked with upgrading and installing all of the car’s mechanical systems. Tony put together an Elephant Racing suspension package — incorporating new struts, trailing arms and linkages — and added a 930 braking system complemented by uprated hoses, discs and pads. The superb stoppers nestle behind E/T LT III wheels from the ET Mags brand. These soft-spoked seventeens are shod in BF Goodrich rubber (245-wide at the front, 275 at the rear) and work brilliantly in evoking the Outlaw aesthetic.

During the lead up to mechanical work taking place, Tony’s son, Marco, who heads TLG Auto following his father’s passing in 2017, engaged with Shawn in discussion concerning engine performance and power. As luck would have it, one of TLG’s long-time clients was converting a modified 1972 long-hood 911 back to numbers-matching specification and was hoping to sell the recently refreshed and modified M64 engine he’d liberated from a 993 sometime earlier. After a protracted period of back-and-forth negotiations, the potent 3.6-litre boxer was secured for Shawn’s Porsche.

Marco was able to confirm the engine made use of upgraded internals, a twin-spark ignition system, remained normally aspirated with electronic fuel injection, and was developing a solid 295bhp. Once installed in Shawn’s 911, the six-cylinder powerhouse was equipped with a bespoke exhaust system designed to include custom headers allowing the engine to slip into the Carrera 3.2 chassis. A GT3 muffler and twin-tip tailpipe complete the assembly.

The original G50 transmission was inspected and found to be in good condition. A new flywheel, clutch and throw-out bearing were installed for good measure. At this point in the build, with the mechanicals and paint finished, the car made its way to George Baloian at Levon Upholstery, a company working exclusively for clients of TLG Auto and Shawn’s chosen bodyshop. George started his apprenticeship at a young age and worked alongside his father, who was a master upholsterer. By the time Shawn’s car entered the Levon workshop, Baloian the Younger had been running his one-man trim shop for nearly two decades and had completed projects for a list of notable clients, including Luftgekühlt founder, 912 owner and former Porsche works driver, Patrick Long.

“Seventy percent of the interior was Shawn, thirty percent was me,” George says, modestly. “I had to interpret descriptions of the vision in his mind and turn them into a real-world 911 interior. The process was aided by Shawn spending a week in my shop during the construction process. An owner’s hands-on involvement in a restomod project always helps them to create a strong bond with their car, which is why I was more than happy for him to visit and get involved.” Shawn acknowledges the work was challenging, but recognises — certainly, in retrospect — how rewarding it is to be invested in the build stages of a project like this beyond financial liability.

As interior backdating progressed, several controls were relocated onto the instrument panel from the centre console, which was redesigned to ensure it wouldn’t rub against the sides of the enlarged front seats. George tells me they are reproductions of early Recaro sports seats, but are far more comfortable. “They also feature additional bolstering and are completely reupholstered in Nappa Saddle leather,” he adds. The interior is completely bespoke, with only the base of the dashboard being original to the car. The instrument cluster has been upgraded and a Retro Sound head unit provides smartphone connectivity, whilst exhibiting a vintage look. The other sound system components consist of six Focal speakers, a Pioneer five-channel amplifier and a JL Audio subwoofer. Rolls-Royce woven weave carpet lines the floor and luggage deck. It’s durable material and sits perfectly with the overall décor of this stunning 911.

The rear seats have been replaced by a custom fibreglass luggage shelf hiding the subwoofer. Dynamat sound deadening material was applied throughout. The unusual design of the interior door panels was dictated by Shawn, as was the Nardi three-spoke steering wheel and short shifter kit, the latter topped by a polished wooden gearknob. “From start to finish, the interior took four months,” George confirms. “The car was then returned to the bodyshop for fitting of glass, side stripes, for final finishing and shakedown testing.”

In the fall of 2016, after three years of hard graft, the car was finally ready for Shawn to take home. From Los Angeles, he drove straight down the Pacific Coast Highway to San Francisco, where he planned to keep the car, primarily as a means of him being able to hop in and travel around the region’s vineyards when vacationing from his home in Calgary, a cosmopolitan city in the Canadian province of Alberta. Wind clocks forward to 2022, however, and he made the decision to bring the car north of the border, where it now enjoys a largely dry climate and finds itself only a short drive from the Rocky Mountains.

As we return to his house after a blast around local backroads, he drives his backdated 911 into the garage it now calls home and reflects on the utterly transformed Porsche. “It’s a dream come true,” he beams. We can’t help but bring to mind Ferry Porsche’s famous quote referencing the 356. “I couldn’t find the sports car of my dreams, so I built it myself,” he said. Shawn, so it seems, has taken a leaf out of the master’s book, using it as his blueprint for 911 ownership.

Above Automatically raising 964 rear wing has been modified with chrome grille inserts and a less pronounced spoiler lip.

Above M64 flat-six was originally fitted to a 993 and was sourced from an enthusiast returning his modified 911 to stock spec.

Facing page Frunk-mounted fuel tank occupies space inside an entirely new nose.

Above and below Interior was designed by Shawn and trimmed by Levon Upholstery in soft Nappa leather and Rolls-Royce weaved carpet.

HE WANTED THE CAR TO MAKE A STATEMENT AND REASONED A FLAT CARRERA ENGINE LID WAS TOO SUBTLE

Above This heavily modified 1988 Carrera 3.2 now lives in Calgary after years spent soaking up the California sun.