A Classic Dilemma

It may not be the cheapest entry into classic car ownership, but there is more to PS Autoart’s 240C than meets the eye.

I want a pre-1973 911. A 2.2 S would be perfect, just like the right-hand drive £35,000* example advertised with early Porsche specialist Export 56. There are a couple of issues however. First off I’m not the greatest classic car fan. Don't get me wrong, my appreciation for the older generation is as strong as it is for a GT3, it is just that I have a sense-of humour failure when it comes to cars that don't work. After all, they are, at the end of the day, a machine, and what use is a machine that can’t carry out its intended task?

The idea of poking around under the engine cover of an original S to get the thing started in the morning doesn’t, for me, fall into the category marked ‘enjoying your Porsche’. Then there is the issue of everyday use and 50,000-miles-a-year motoring. That ain’t going to help the residuals. And did Imention the small matter of the salt-water river running less than 50 metres from my drive?

Pre-galvanised Porsche parked on the drive exposed to salty air, not a combination you could call perfect. It looks like classic Porsche ownership starts with a galvanised body (post 1975) and will wear impact bumpers and most likely a fat, rubber-lipped whale-tail then.

Of course there is an answer to my (strictly hypothetical, for now) desire in the shape of a PS Autoart 240C. At the tail end of 2005 deputy ed Dominic Holtam grabbed a drive of PS’s range-topping 300R and Retro models, came away impressed with the concept and saw potential in the project, despite the examples he drove still being very much in the prototype stage. In a nutshell Paul Stephens’ PS Autoart takes an impact bumper or 964-generation 911 and turns it into a pre-’73-look 911, complete with contrasting retro interiors.

Why? Because, as I’m quickly discovering, older 911s and the 21st century do not make comfy bedfellows, and the PS cars attempt to meld the olde world with the new.

Fast-forward to early 2006 and Paul Stephens is enthusiastically running through all the improvements and modifications that have been made to the PS series of cars since their launch at the tail end of last summer.

The list is pretty substantial but it has grown out of the continuous development Stephens and his team have put into the project, and feedback from customers. The front wings, extended aluminium bonnet all and pre-impact front bumper assembly sit a lot more comfortably and cohesively together thanks to detail improvements in the build process. here are new wing mirrors, which you can actually use and are a 100 per cent improvement on the original items. Also offered is a wider range of mechanical upgrades than before, such as 964 RS suspension and brakes, should you opt for a 964 Carrera as your starting point.

PS Autoart’s development car, the 240C, started life as an uninspiring 3.0 SC taken in part exchange by the sales side of Paul Stephens’ operation, and proved to be the perfect donor for the Autoart project. The process of building a 240C is identical to all PS-built cars in that it starts with a bare-shell respray followed by a build programme determined by you and your imagination. On this example the 3.0-litre flatsix has been balanced and lightened, the K-Jetronic fuel injection optimised for the increased airflow and improved breathing fromthe sports exhausts and uprated metering unit.

The result is an impressive 236bhp delivered at 5900rpm, with a 5.8-second 0-60mph time and 151mph top speed claimed. Behind the three-piece solid billet aluminium wheels (yes, they do strike a remarkable resemblance to a Fuchs) sit 282mm ventilated and cross-drilled discs and twin-pot calipers front to rear. The original front and rear torsion bar suspension remains, but with every bush replaced with more modern items and the dampers calibrated to the car’s 1095kg kerb weight.

3.0-litre flat-six has been lightened and balanced and produces a healthy 236bhp

The only potential mechanical slip-up you might detect is the retention of the original SC’s 915 type five-speed gearbox, but after a thorough rebuild it’s more than up to the job.

As well as the retro-look GRP additions for the exterior, internally the 240C takes you back in time. The door cards are simple RS-esque leather-topped items in black with chrome surrounds for the electric window switches and a leather pull cord to open the door. The bucket-style seats are also leather lined but with corduroy inserts to match the replacement carpet on the floor.

The leather-topped dashboard is a work of art and the PS-tagged instrument dials a neat finishing touch. The half roll-cage and four-point harnesses are a little OTT for the road but are in keeping with the retro feel of the interior. The removal of the SC’s standard centre console completes the makeover.

From behind the wheel it is anything but a retro driving experience. The sport exhaust dominates the soundtrack, the flat-six barely audible over the angry bass-filled burble emanating from over your left shoulder. With that trade-mark upright screen seemingly inches As well as the retro-look GRP additions for the exterior, internally the 240C takes you back in time PS Autoart cars all start like this, the final spec is down to you from your nose, the Mota-Lita steering wheel on a collision course with your chest, and the dials bolt upright with the minor controls scattered around the cockpit I’ve subconsciously prepared myself for a trad-911 SC driving experience. It couldn’t be further from the truth.

This feels like a new car; well, a car built at the beginning of the 1980s that hasn’t turned a wheel since it rolled off the production line. The clutch, gearshift, brakes and throttle actions are all crisp, pure and razor-sharp. The oft-lambasted 915 gear change still has an arm’s reach of throw between gates but it snicks home with precision, and after three or four miles your palm knows instinctively where to stir to ensure clean up- and downshifts.

The brakes feel sharp (they’re uprated after all, so should do) and instill an initially unnerving level of feedback and a comfort zone unexpected in a 911 of this vintage. Consequently, when the opportunity to floor the loud pedal presents itself the temptation is too great and all hell breaks loose behind you. The engine pulls like the proverbial steam train, the tail sinks into the tarmac, the nose goes a touch light and tacho races round to the redline with the pace and enthusiasm of a Porsche half its age.

A four-car line of slower traffic presents itself in the 240C’s screen, and with a couple of ratios dropped they’re dismissed in a cacophony of flat-six howl.

After a couple of hours tearing around the Essex/Suffolk/Cambridge borders to satisfy the photographer’s needs the 240C is growing on me. Its performance is unquestionable and those uprated brakes instill the confidence to extract every last drop of it from the flat-six, as does the ride and the car’s general dynamics. The nose bobs around to a degree that would be alien to a modern Porsche driver, but the ride, grip and balance are all there for the taking and combine to deliver the thrills as the miles pile on.

Is it the answer to the pre-’73 classic 911- ownership dilemma? In some respects it is, because by opting for a PS Autoart creation you get all the looks with the usability and dependability of a later, galvanised, more useable and reliable 911. You could leave it parked on the street and be as confident of it starting, de-misting and running as smoothly as any SC or Carrera 911 that has undergone a similar mechanical overhaul. The running costs will be friendlier on the wallet too.

If I’m honest though I’ve a bit of an issue with the classic look-a-likey appearance, and even though Stephens isn’t trying to pass his cars off as replicas of any other Porsche model (there’s not a Porsche badge in sight) if I had the £40,000 to sink into a PS Autoart creation or an original 2.2S I’d go for the original every time. On the other hand, if I had a tired SC requiring some TLC there’d be a classic interior and mechanical overhaul on order from Stephens before you could say ferrous oxide.