![]() ![]() The Targa’s added steel bracing provides extra rigidity and the G50 gearbox, while being heavier, is more robust and has a slicker change than the 915 unit from the earlier coupés. However, he insists that the Targa shell was a better concession: “The PS Spyder was never intended to be a Caterham chaser, it doesn’t compromise all of its comfort and ease-of-use in pursuit of light weight”. Stephens admits that basing the car on an earlier coupé could have dropped the mass down further, to around 800kg. These changes, along with some extensive steel-for-aluminium swappage on the car’s bodywork, bring the weight down to 950kg. Stephens sacrificed the front and rear screens, roll hoops and the majority of the heater system, and also replaced the car’s hefty original bumpers with some composite parts which he fabricated himself. Understanding the Spyder formula is simple – low weight, low drag, little or no windscreen and no roof – however, executing it is a little more difficult. Weighing in at 1300kg, it needed to be put on a strict diet to have a chance of emulating its namesake: the Spyder moniker has only been applied to lightweight, open-top sports cars, beginning with the 1953 Porsche 550 and continuing today in the form of the 2010 Boxster Spyder. The donor car fortunate enough to be selected by Stephens began life as a 1989 3.2-litre Targa. But this project was a little different from his usual, and rather than resuscitating a slightly tired old model, he decided to completely reincarnate one as the 911 Spyder that never was. ![]() Paul Stephens is no stranger to giving a classic Porsche a little TLC: he’s well-known in the Porsche community (and wider – he also restores other luxury marques) as an independent specialist. This led Essex-based Porsche fanatic Paul Stephens to take matters into his own hands. Oddly, despite producing countless special editions and limited production versions of the car which embodies its brand, Porsche has never produced a Spyder version of the 911. ![]()
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