diciembre 05, 2015

Road Scholars Review – December 2015

The first English-language review was published by Randy Leffingwell last week in the Road Scholars Magazine, December 2015 issue:

Ryan Snodgrass’s new Carrera 2.7 is the logical and meticulously researched follow-up to the Carrera RS history written by Drs Thomas Gruber and Georg Konradsheim and first published in 1992. The earlier book encompassed 911 RS Carrera models from 1972 through 1992 because the RS designation was the focus of its interest. Snodgrass follows a similarly tight discipline, examining the 2.7-liter models with mechanical fuel injection, a series that began with the 1972 model year and ended in early 1975 with some 1976 “Sondermodell” or special variation cars. These cars share a mystique in the U.S. with the ’72/’73 RS 2.7 in that Porsche did not export them to the states either – because they were identical in their specification and in their non-compliance to early emissions standards. Motivated by his desire in recent years to find a good example of one of these cars for himself, he undertook what is now a bible on the 2.7s.

Pages are handsomely designed, and hundreds of not-seen-before black-and-white and color images share importance with diagrams or graphics or charts. Several pages show engine or chassis or body assembly as it only could have been witnessed and photographed in the early- and mid-1970s. Detailed part photos turn this book into an ultimate restoration guide as well as encyclopedic buyer’s reference.

The photos deserve special mention because it is easy to completely lose count of how many were specially commissioned for this book. A common complaint from European readers of American-produced books on Porsche is that U.S. versions of 911s are different, which provide inaccurate references to continental readers. Snodgrass enlisted photographers not only in the U.S. but also in the U.K. and Europe to provide excellent images. What’s more, the thorough racing coverage in chapter 7 shows countless photos of these cars sideways, tricycling, or fully airborne. The captions – for all the pictures – are more than just labels and some are downright entertaining.