Porsche 911 Carrera 4: restoration after 370,000 kilometers

newsabc April 30, 2022

0 5 4 minutes read

A Porsche returns! This Porsche 911 Carrera 4 from the 993 series was delivered to the Porsche Center in Hamburg on July 4, 1996. Almost 26 years and more than 370,000 kilometers later, he is back at home in the Hanseatic city. The interesting story of how it came about!

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Review: In December 2021 we reported that a very special Porsche 911 was to be auctioned. The special thing about the 993 Carrera 4 was not only the PTS special paintwork in “Ragusa Green”, a color of the Audi RS 2, but above all the mileage. In 25 years, the previous owners have always used the 286 hp Porsche as a daily driver, which meant that the well-equipped 911 had over 370,000 kilometers under its belt – and that with the first engine!

The penultimate sentence of the original article read, “Auction ends December 23, 2021, so someone might still be able to snag a last-minute Christmas present.” Sebastian Lindau took this sentence literally.

The 993 Carrera 4 cost 70,000 euros

Lindau is managing director of the “Patina Garage” in Hamburg and bought the Porsche for 70,000 euros one day before Christmas Eve after reading the AUTO BILD article. A few months later, he told editor Jan Götze the story on the phone and promptly invited him to inspect the 993 in Hamburg.

On-site visit in Poppenbüttel: A few weeks passed between the phone call and the meeting, so the Porsche was already dismantled and in the middle of being rebuilt. Originally, the plan was to just work up the 993 and then use it again as a daily driver – but things turned out differently.

Checkbook with 21 stamps

Sebastian picked up the Porsche in the Czech Republic and drove the 700 kilometers back to Hamburg on his own without any problems. Although the 3.6-liter six-cylinder boxer with Vario-Ram was quite damp with oil, the engine ran smoothly – this was certainly also due to the fact that all previous owners had the 993 regularly serviced by Porsche. When the first checkbook ran out of space, a second service book was simply started. To date, the Carrera 4 has collected 21 entries, the last dated December 18, 2020. The mileage at that time: 360,002.

Current mileage of 372,457

When the Porsche rolled into the yard at the beginning of 2022 at “Patina Garage”, which appropriately specialized in Porsche and US cars, the analogue speedometer showed an unbelievable 372,457 kilometers. Time for a service, but the maintenance should become much more.

In the workshop, the 993 was inspected more closely and, in addition to the well-known rust spots on the window frames, a lot more of the brown plague was unfortunately found. Unlike many 911s, which are mainly driven in good weather, the ragusa green Carrera 4 was driven all year round, i.e. even in rain and snow. Above all, the road salt is not good for the sheet metal. This is particularly evident on the side skirts. Behind the covers there was not only rust film, but unfortunately massive rusting through.

Repairs were no longer enough here and since the project task was never an option, Sebastian decided to have new rocker panels welded in on both sides. But that wasn’t all, the end tips for attaching the rear apron were also through.

Neat interior

Sebastian quickly realized that the 993 required a lot more work than initially thought. In the end, he decided not only to fight the rust, but also to overhaul the engine at the same time – because what good is a pretty cover if the technology doesn’t play along. Speaking of pretty: as soon as the sheet metal work is complete, the 911 gets a new paint finish, of course in the original color “Ragusa Green”. Only the black leather interior was in comparatively good condition. With a light patina on the driver’s seat and steering wheel, the cockpit looks more like 170,000 than 370,000 kilometers.

What was supposed to be a small refreshment has now become almost a complete restoration that will take several months. As soon as the 993 is back on the road, Sebastian, who also owns a converted 964 with a 4.0-liter engine, bucket seats, carbon bumpers and much more, wants to use the Carrera 4 as an everyday vehicle again.

There is still a lot to do until then, but the special 911 deserves to stay on the road simply because of the PTS special color and the good equipment. And then there is also the complete history. Only when studying the documents that fill several folders did Sebastian make a surprising discovery: the Hamburg first owner is a friend of his father – now the Porsche is home again!

newsabc April 30, 2022

0 5 4 minutes read