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Watch MotorWeek review the last great air-cooled Porsche 911

These days air-cooled Porsche prices are blasting through the roof, and the 993 gets much of that love among collectors as the last generation before the 911's switch to water-cooled design. MotorWeek's latest Retro Review now looks back at the 1996 911 Targa. The coupe came from a brief period when the 911s were the only models in the brand's lineup, but the company made sure those cars were perfect. The point of Porsche's Targa models is to combine the open-air driving of a convertible with a security of a coupe. In this case, the engineers came up with a massive glass panel that slid into the roof at the touch of a button. The design still allowed for rearward visibility but created a giant opening to allow the sunshine in. The solution isn't as awe-inspiring to watch as the Transformer-like metamorphosis of the latest 911 Targa, but it gets the job done in a very unobtrusive way. As air-cooled values continue to creep upward, it's fascinating to hear how contemporary reviewers critique the cars. In this case, the 993 lives up to the promise of being the ultimate evolution of the original idea behind the 911. MotorWeek even calls the coupe "simply one of the best road cars ever made." Check out the video to find out why. Related Video:

Porsche forum claims eco-friendly 911 Blu coming to Frankfurt

The fiftieth anniversary of the Porsche 911 has been a nearly year-long affair, with unique tributes and even a special anniversary edition with plenty of retro throwbacks. The party is expected to continue through the end of 2013, and if one 911 enthusiast forum is right, we'll see yet another special edition model near the anniversary of the original car's September 1963 debut, when it arrives at next month's Frankfurt Auto Show.
It's called the 911 Blu, and where the 911 50 Years Edition was more expensive than a 911 Carrera S hardtop, the Blu would be an entry level special edition. That's right, a limited run car that actually slots in at the very bottom of the 911 range. According to Porsche forum 911UK.com, the new car would be priced at 74,600 euros ($98,718 at today's rates) or 64,750 pounds. That undercuts the price of a base 911 in Germany by nearly 16,000 euros and in the UK by nearly 8700 pounds (although to be fair, it's roughly identical to the price of a base 911 C2S in the US).
This 911 will reportedly feature a detuned flat-six with 300 horsepower and 211 pound-feet of torque.

2016 Porsche 911 R First Drive

Competition has forced the 911 GT3 RS to prioritize lap times over driving enjoyment. The 911 Carrera line has softened, now full of GT cars rather than the wild children of yore. Turbocharging is hitting the rear-engine Porsche en masse. All of this gave Porsche Motorsport a vacuum of emotion and purity to fill with just 991 examples of its glorious 911 R, a machine focused on putting unadulterated feel and enjoyment back into driving. Even amongst the diehard Porsche fraternity, just going faster doesn't work for everybody. They don't all want the thrill that comes from a high-downforce car running out of grip inches from a concrete wall. Not everybody loves suspensions so tied down that the slightest bump threatens the front splitter's continued existence. And many don't love turbochargers or want a computer to shift gears for them. Fortunately, just such people live, breathe, and work at Porsche Motorsport. This part of the company makes its living building Porsche's fastest machines, like the Cayman GT4 and the 911 GT3 and GT3 RS. But in an era when the bulk of Porsche's profits come from SUVs, Porsche Motorsport also sees itself as the guardian of the parent company's soul. Motorsport has enough pull that when it tells Porsche's board it needs a car like the 911 R the board listens. The quickest way to turn the 911 into a driver-connected car was to pull the weight out, and the easiest way to do that was to use the 911 GT3 RS as the basis. So it gets that car's magnesium roof, polycarbonate side and rear glass, carbon-fiber bonnet and front fenders, and lots of aluminum. The air conditioning got thrown out (you can pay to put it back in), as did the multimedia screen (ditto), the audio and navigation systems (ditto, ditto), the rear seats, and even the interior door handles. Cloth straps replace the latter so you can still get out of the car. At 3,020 pounds, the R is 110 lighter than the race-bred GT3 RS. Eschewing turbocharging in the interest of car-lover must-haves like induction noise, butterfly chirps, intuitive throttle response, and purity of sound, the 911 R simply borrowed the GT3 RS's 4.0-liter flat-six. So there's 500 horsepower of engine playing for keeps, the car ripping to 60 mph in 3.7 seconds from a standing start, hitting 124 mph in 11.6 seconds, and continuing on to 201 mph thanks to the lack of a monster, drag-inducing rear wing. The dry-sump engine revs and revs and feels like it wants to keep revving forever.