GT Porsche, February 2016 issue #171 Book Review
Carrera 2.7 is one of those Porsche books you just cannot put down. It is a perfect example of how to write a modern super detailed and beautifully designed text on a specific car. Author Ryan Snodgrass, who looks after the carreramfi.com website in the USA, is a confirmed fan but this work on his favourite model excels in terms of research, writing style, design and the huge amount of contemporary and studio photography. This lavish ($250 USD) slip-cased book details every aspect of the story behind the first full production 911 Carrera.
The 1974 models were the next step in Zuffenhausen's then-established routine of introducing bi-annual major upgrades to the 911 series. The top-of-the-line range model had been planned as a 2.7 911S, with the free-revving engine first used on the previous year's RS. However, the new G-series models were much more than that – adopting the required impact absorbing bumpers and a whole new interior. The use of the revered Carrera name upset many purists, but it was an essential gilding to the top production model at a time when Porsche faced stalling sales and possible bankruptcy caused by the 1973–74 OPEC oil embargo. Although not available in the USA, Porsche treated its customers in other markets to a RS-powered thoroughbred. The Carrera 2.7 was the last in the line of pure-bred 911s, before ever more restrictive regulations took the 911 in a different direction.
This absorbing book details all the development that led to the final production models and includes fascinating sections on the Sonderwunschen (special wishes) cars, the other sections covering the technical specifications, colours, options, literature, motorsport and even the tools included with the car. It is a fantastic work and an essential for any serious Porsche book collector.
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Octane Magazine — Turbo 3.0 Review
Review of the Turbo 3.0 book in Octane magazine's October 2019 issue:
We'll come clean: this book was released last year but our review copy was mislaid during Octane's hastily carried-out office relocation form Bedfordshite to London. It's author, Ryan Snodgrass, very kindly offered to send us another one—and we're so glad he did, because this is a truly exceptional work.
A companion volume to Snodgrass' previous magnum opus, Carrera 2.7, this mammoth 536-page tribute to the Porsche 911 Turbo is printed on creamy archival paper and presented in a stout slipcase. Pay extra for the 300-off Publisher's Edition and you get an even stouter clamshell box that additionally houses convincing reproductions of Porsche ephemera such as press releases and photos, and actual 35mm colour slides, plus a 20-page supplement on how the book was put together.
Is either version worth the money? Emphatically yes, because the level of detail and the production values are stunning. To give just two examples: expert financial book-keepers were hired to check the production data for all 2819 Turbos built; and because no detailed cutaway drawing was ever made of the Turbo, noted cutaway artist Makoto Ouchi was commissioned to draw on. The print specification—which apparently involved '15-micron stochastic hybrid screens' and 'special wide-gamut inks'—will have any bibliophile salivating over their silkscreened linen slipcase.
Every possible aspect of the 1975–77 Turbo is covered in depth: development, build, mechanical, design, one-offs and special editions, racing versions... There's even a spread devoted to specific tyre inflators, jacks and plastic gloves supplied by Porsche for the Turbo's space-save tyre.
As you'll have gathered, we're impressed. It's taken a while for Turbo 3.0 to make it into these pages, but it was well worth the wait.
—Mark Dixon
Panorama Editor-in-Chief picks Turbo 3.0 As Best Book
"Ryan Snodgrass's book on early Porsche Turbos is probably the greatest single model book that I've ever seen in my life. I have not been able to put it down since getting it. It is just full of every bit of geeky goodness about those cars. It is phenomenal."
Of course, when asked at 0:28:07 by Mark Green if manifested into a car, what kind of car would Robb Sass be, his affinity for the Turbo was clear. Sass answered he'd like to be a 1975 or 1976 Turbo Carrera, the first generation Turbo: "I think that they are kind of a little bit edgy. It was the height of the malaise era. A car I really respect as when everything else was slow and crappy, you had this car that would go 0 to 60 in about 5 seconds. Performance on par with a muscle car from ten years before at a time when people were building the Mustang II. If I could aspire to be any car...I'm not a 75-76 Turbo Carrera, but if I could that is probably what it would be as it was so shocking and so surprising and a little bit unpredictable." "Porsche never got the memo that the malaise era was going on."
Turbo 3.0 Book Wins MOTORWORLD Buchpreis
The Turbo 3.0 book wins first place in the coveted MOTORWORLD BUCHPREIS for the Markenbuch category (best book for a single brand), which honors the best car books of the year. The award ceremony took place on Thursday, May 23, 2019 inside the Arthur Bechtel Classic Motors showroom at the Motorworld Stuttgart V8 Hotel in Böblingen, Germany.
For almost 20 years, noted automotive historian and journalist Jürgen Lewandowski has presided over the Autobuchpreis which honors the best works produced each year on automotive and motorsports topics. For 2018, MOTORWORLD Group became the primary sponsor for the Autobuchpreis, hosting the event and judging team of Jürgen Lewandowksi (chairman of the jury), Andreas Dünkel (Motorworld Group Chairman), Mark N. Backé (Grand Basel Chairman), Vittorio Strosek (Strosek Design), Michael Stoschek (Brose Chairman), Christian Steiger (Classic Cars Editor-in-Chief), Dr. Andreas Kaufmann (Leica Camera Chairman) and Robertino Wild (Capricorn Chairman).
