JANUARY 2013 In This Issue... Toys 4 Tots Paso Robles Wine Tour ...

Rice’s Ramblings: (Continued from Page 15)
# 2 - Autoweek June 16 1973 Carrera RS
to the parking lot to examine my just
acquired 1973 911 Carrera RS. As a
proper enthusiast, Lee was on his knees
and belly examining the important bits,
then burst out laughing. I had just had
a set of trick new Yokohama 008 tires
installed to help keep it under control
and the tire shop mounted the tires right,
but the wheels wrong. The 7s were on
the right side and the 8s on the left! Hey,
it still worked better than any nonflared
911 I had driven.”
Back in 1973 we were quite
disappointed that the Carrera RS was not
going to be legal here in the USA and
so would not be imported. In those days
there was very little information about
them. I found bits in Christophorus and
looked for the foreign car magazines
to read about them. If I ever loved a
Porsche model, it has been the ‘73 RS.
You know that I have owned and enjoyed
an amazing variety of 911s over the
years, so I can claim to be an bit of an
expert on most all of them. A stock RS
isn’t the fastest, most challenging, nor
most exciting. It really isn’t the “best”
either. I don’t believe that Porsche ever
intended to build a Great Car when they
produced the RS. They were trying to
continue racing. The RS was merely an
upgrade to a lightened 911 with what
was necessary to produce a decent RSR
racing car. It just happened to work out
that it was a fantastic combination of
parts that made for one of the nicest all
around sports cars... ever.
My first RS:
I had only seen one before I saw “my”
RS. That was the early RS prototype
that Don Wester had at his Porsche
Dealership in Monterey. I
saw that car several times
at his dealership and always
with dealer plates. It totally
mesmerized me.
In 1986, while reading
the S.F. Chronicle and, as
always, scanning the Foreign
Car Section, I spotted a new
listing: a”1973 911 Carrera
RS” from a small shop in
Berkeley called Fantasy
Junction. White/blue,
Restored”. I nearly fell out
of my chair. There was an RS in the area?
And it is for sale? I had to see it.
I quietly went to see the RS and
started carefully, but discretely, looking
it over. They realized this wasn’t my
normal social visit when I asked if they
minded if I opened doors/hood/lid,
brought out my flashlight and crawled
around looking underneath it. They had
a thick document file that went with it.
Over the next week it was time to
step up to the plate. It was time for a test
drive. Mike Duffy was the lucky sales
guy. He seemed a bit nervous about this.
He had never been in a car with me but
he knew my sports car and SCCA racing
history so I didn’t appreciate why he
seemed so anxious. He drove it out to
the open Berkeley Marina area where we
wouldn’t bother anyone and turned it over
to me. To me, this was a very special car,
but it was mainly because the factory had
built something that worked so well, not
that the performance level was so special.
By this time I had read many detailed
stories about driving,
racing and rallying
these cars and
some stories were
incredibly detailed
about how the cars
reacted. They were
pretty much just
big bore 911S’ with
wider rear wheels/
tires, slightly better
suspensions and a bit
lighter. Pretty much
what American 911
enthusiasts had been
building for years.
# 3 - JhR’s RS Carrera -1986
It sounded just like any other hot MFI
911 except for a slightly guttural note
to the exhaust and it was obviously set
up stiffer than a genuine stock RS. I also
noted the 80% limited slip installed. I
knew that they cause “unusual” handling
characteristics when driven with vigor
and I certainly was going to do that
before I bought it.
There was no one around when I
carefully felt out the clutch engagement
and gently started off. Listening to
every sound and feeling out the engine
response, suspension and brakes. Finally
it was time to give it serious stick. I
advised Mike that I was about to finally
DRIVE it and... all hell broke loose! You
hear the term “explosive” and it is just a
word. There was something so instantly
raw and brutal about this little 911.
It was very well set up and put the
power down with no trauma, but the
engine had a particular banshee wail
unlike any of the upgraded 911s I had
driven. It pulled “like a freight train…
a darned fast freight train”. Gads! This
thing was intoxicating! I also discovered
that the testers from CAR magazine were
correct. The 80% was severe. On the
highway if you cruised along and nailed
it - the car moved to the left about 2-3
feet, let off full throttle and it instantly
snapped right about the same. Very
controllable and no problem... after the
first few goes and you realized it was
predictable and wasn’t really trying to
kill you. Basically, it was incredibly fast.
It was the most exciting [controllable]
(Continued on Page 30)
JANUARY 2013 23