'R-Gruppe' Style Mod For The Porsche 944 - New Mirrors

I can’t afford an old Porsche 911 and the one time that I could, I went and bought the wrong 911. In 2005 I purchased my one and only 911. I searched long and hard for a Porsche 996 in Guards red with tan leather, sport package and sport seats. The 996 was a great car and mine was in exceptional condition, with only 21,000 miles on the odometer it felt like a brand new car. It was fast, handled well and started every time…it was a little too good. It was too smooth, capable, and boring for my 6 block commute to work. At the time I could have bought the best 911 SC around for a third the price and had a lot more fun.

Nearly 10 years later (married with 2 kids) I can’t afford any 911 but a 996, but I wanted something with a little more “personality” so I bought a 1985 Porsche 944. My intentions with the 944 are to transform it into an ‘R Gruppe’ style 944, focusing on lightweight, purposeful, period correct upgrades that have motorsports pedigree. 911s are now out of reach for most people, so I want to do all the cool stuff to my 944 that 911 guys have been doing to their cars for years. The cool thing about 911s is that you can basically swap parts from every 911 built from 1963-1994 to make your ultimate 911. The 944s’ history isn’t as rich, but the 924 was first sold in 1976 and the 968 ceased production in 1995. The 924/944 has also had quite a bit of racing success, so there are a lot of styling elements that can be borrowed from the race cars.

My latest mod is installing a set of ‘Vitaloni Seabring’ mirrors. These Mirrors have been used on countless Porsche race cars, from the Porsche 935 to the Porsche 924 GTS. These mirrors are most commonly mounted directly to the doors without a base, but that wasn’t an option, because it would require welding the holes left by the stock “flag” mirrors and painting the doors.

Before, with factory 'Flag' mirrors

After, with Vitaloni Seabring mirrors

After many months of searching the web, I found this thread (http://rennlist.com/forums/964-forum/533845-flag-mirrors-gone-welcome-vitaloni-sebring-mach-1-mirror.html) on Rennlist.com, where a guy had figured out a way to mount these racing mirrors on the stock “Flag” bases (Thanks to ‘Jetta911’ on Rennlist.com for coming up with this awesome mod).  I took my stock mirror bases and painted them in a textured black to match the ‘Vitaloni’ plastic shells, then I put my ‘dremel’ skills to work modifying the new mirrors to fit on the factory bases. I love the way the mirrors turned out and I think it gives the 944 a more purposeful, sporty look without being over the top.