993 restoration

[Ferry Man]

One of the ways I intend to ‘improve’ the look of the car is to present uniform colour lights at the front & the rear. By which I mean clear headlights, clear foglights and clear indicators at the front. All white. And then all red at the rear. So, red indicators, red brake lights and red central reflector. i.e. no amber indicator lenses.
I have purchased all new lights from Porsche. The 993 turbo had all red rears and the C4’s had clear fronts so it’s perfectly possible to put such a set together using genuine parts.
If anyone is on a quest to return their car to amber lights, talk to me, I’ve got the parts.

[Ferry Man]

uniform colour lights at the front & the rear.

Old rear indicator units:



New rear indicator unit:

[Ferry Man]

uniform colour lights at the front & the rear.

Old front indicator units:



New front indicator unit and foglight:

[Ferry Man]

New centre rear reflector:

[Ferry Man]

Nice and sparkly.

[hot66]

Lights look greAt ... But I know how much of an investment that must have been !

[Ferry Man]

The 993 is a pretty car. But one element where sympathetic styling was discarded in favour of existing parts bin simplicity was the side repeaters.
Manufacturers were compelled by EU law to include lights visible from the side of the car. And, of course I understand the wisdom of that safety feature for pedestrians and other road users. But sadly, I don’t think the ones used on a 993 look appropriate for the car. For one they are rectangular (whereas the car they are affixed to is all curves), and secondly they are orange (and I would like to ‘soften’ the prominence of a bright orange light sticking out of the side of my blue car). The use of that style was probably driven by cost and the easy availability of a repeater from a VW Mk2 Golf.

The standard repeaters:

[Ferry Man]

I did think of merely deleting the side repeaters (no USA cars have them and they do look better for it) but it’s a safety feature and a potential MoT failure if missing so I think it wise to comply.

So the answer is: change the shape and colour to best suit the car.
Now, some years ago there was a fashion to do just what I want and many owners switched to an oval design. However, as I’ve observed before, any deviation from standard is now an anathema to the 993 community. Such an abomination is no longer tolerated. In fact it’s all a bit too ‘Halfords’. Which suits me fine.
Fortunately I managed to find a pair of lights discarded when the fashion changed and these came from DDK’er Tom (tp81). He was blackballed from his local Porsche chapter and had to remove them to be accepted once again amongst his friends. I have to say I love ‘em. I think they look great.

[Ferry Man]

It’s true to say you can easily buy oval repeaters on eBay for just a few quid but these days they are horrible LED versions and that’s too much even for me.
These units are clear but house a conventional bulb of orange colour.

[Tp81]

Nice

[Ferry Man]

Nice

Yes, especially as they were free.
Thanks Tom.

[C3s]

Those amber square side repeaters look like 924 & 944 ones.

[sladey]

They are, but they were also stock IB 911 ones as well

[DustyM]

As well as almost every VAG car of the era...

[Ferry Man]

I’m not big on sounds in the car. Not too fussed about audio. But I thought I ought to have something in the car to play music.
The problem is you want something that matches the style of the rest of the 993 dash and most modern units are all flashing lights and garish displays. An amber backlight is also desirable to integrate with the 993 instruments.
There’s a few that are suitable, one sought after unit is the Becker Grand Prix. It’s an appropriate brand and a good spec. But there are many colour options (some have red or yellow or green displays) and to find one illuminating amber is difficult and expensive. Probably £500? Certainly pricey for an old radio.