The Porsche 964 was a big step up from the long-lived classic 911 that it replaced in 1989. Gone was the decades-old silhouette, to be replaced by, well, a very similar silhouette, But this was no re-skinned old 911; the 964 was completely redesigned, with a new 3.6-liter M96 engine, coil spring rear suspension and power-steering, and ABS were introduced for the first time. As always with a 911, the best was yet to come and in 1992 a lightweight RS variant was introduced for the European market, featuring a revised and more powerful M64/03 motor, close ratio transmission, limited-slip diff and track-prepped suspension. It also had numerous weight-saving features to bring it in almost 350 pounds lighter than a regular Carrera 2.
A slightly less extreme RS America version was introduced the following year to satisfy the US market, but these cars made use of the standard Carrera 2 engine, gearbox and brakes and were not quite as light or quick as their European counterparts. But the story doesn’t end there: a proposed Carrera Cup meant that 45 race-spec Carrera Cup cars needed to be brought into the States, but to avoid any importing issues they arrived in street-legal specification and Porsche tuner ANDIAL was commissioned to do the racing modifications.
After having completed 25 conversions Porsche announced that it was scrapping the Carrera Cup championship (apparently no title sponsor was found) and got ANDIAL to return the cars to street-legal spec once again. The 25 converted cars did retain some of their upgrades, such as the chassis reinforcement, power increase, and weight reduction measures and these as well as the 20 unmodified cars ended up being sold through normal dealership channels.
This 1992 964 Carrera Cup car now being offered by Porsche specialists Canepa is the final example that was converted by ANDIAL and was sold as a street-legal car with the “Carrera Cup Edition” package, which included a lightweight aluminum hood, sound deadening and undercoating removed, sport flywheel, steel transmission synchronizers, modified suspension with different struts and spring rates, different calibration for the brake system, manual steering, master electrical shutoff in trunk, deleted rear seats, no sunroof, racing electrical charging system, 36 amp hour battery, race type engine mounts, manual mirrors and adjustable sway bars.
However, when it was sold to its first owner, Don Patterson, in 1993 it underwent a Porsche-sanctioned conversion back to racing specification by ANDIAL. It was a pricey option at $20,322 (a standard Carrera 2 cost $62,000 back then) but Don saw the future value in having a rare race-ready 911 that was also legal for use on the road. Having covered just 1241-miles under two owners since then, this 964 Carrera Cup is one of the most pristine examples in existence as well as being one of the rarest 964s ever produced.
Images courtesy of Canepa
