How good is it to be wrong?

When I first saw this pretty little cab’, I did note a timeless combination of Grand Prix white, over Marine Blue trim, but my mind went straight to thinking I was tasked with re-homing, a luxury, land-barge 928 type instrument. My first drive was quite surprising, as the comfort, especially compared to the two 944 Turbo’s we own, was very notable. As was the shift of the 6-speed and general improvement in ergonomics. The experts at Bowden’s Own gave her some thorough TLC and suddenly that GP white was looking fresh and complimenting the deep, Marine Blue trim even moreso. A mandatory spirited drive, then allowed this sports cars true personality to emerge. Yippee!

But I must digress. Let’s reflect upon the mighty transaxle Porsche era and how the 968 cab’ came to be. With the famous 944 S2 in production, Porsche’s engineers were developing the final iteration of their superbly balanced, front-engined sports car, which harked back to the humble 924. Porsche planned to call the new model the S3, but upon realising that over 80 percent of the car had been upgraded, leaving little of the 944 S2 it replaced, so a new Typ number was needed, hence the 968. Another deciding factor was the new, down with the 90’s flowing style, that took inspiration from the 928 and993-generation 911. Herr Harm Lagaay, a renowned car guy, was her design chief and another feather is his cap, alongside the 993 and 980. Chapeau Harm!

Firmly ousted from the 944 family, with its own unique model number, the new 968’s real feature was its typ M44.3 three-litre, DOHC, inline-four, with lightened forged internals. The M44.3 produced 236 German horsepowers and bags of torque, featuring Variable Valve Timing (Variocam), a new dual-resonant induction system, Bosch EFI, complimented by Motronic DME engine management. The engine is a peach and a high watermark for NATMO 4 cylinder engines, but the tricky dual resonant induction system engineers, really should have taken a leaf out of the DTM book and allowed some of this amazing engines character to SING! I hope that one day, some clever chap will do a DTM style carbon intake system for all 944 and 968’s…

Another neat 968 trick, is the all-new six-speed manual transmission, the Typ G44. It is a delight to use, with a very pleasant improvement over the previous five-speed. The slight mods fore and aft of the 968, allowed Porsche to finally nail that perfect 50/50 weight distribution, that really caps off the cars “on paper” bragging rights. Not that the 944’s 51/49 was too shabby and don’t even start me on dry and wet, weight discrepancies... Production for this final iteration, of the 924, 944, 968 era of sports car perfection, began in September 1991 and would continue until October 1994, all done at Porsche’s Stuttgart factory.

The 968 we proudly have for sale, chassis # WP0ZZZ96ZPS830313 is an Australian delivered, matching numbers, factory 6 speed manual, well cared for, by long-term owning, ex Porsche engineer (Purchased in Melbourne circa 2002) . As you could imagine with that pedigree, it drives very nicely, with a curious combination of sports and luxury. It’s like an MX5 had a pup with a 928 GTS. My personal take is that it’s a set of Cup 1 wheels away from pretty much 968 Cab’ perfect, but that’s subjective, as some of the crew at Bowden’s Own love the big BBS look.

The current owner has had his health circumstances change and she now needs to be sold, so please reach out and fall in love with this classy cruiser.