As a car-crazed kid in the late 1980s, there were machines that every adult expected you to like. A 1965 Ford Mustang? Yep, liked it…classic American. 1957 Chevrolet? Fins and a shape that was no longer an everyday sight on the roads. Ferrari Testarossa? Sleek Italian wedge with the strakes along the bodysides…exotic. But what about the Porsche turbo cars, the ones with the big whale tail spoiler…did I like those? Nope! Young McTag held the entire Porsche 911 line in full contempt…what the hell was that car? It looked like the butch version of a Volkswagen Beetle and the spoiler looked like it was designed to be a picnic tray for when you pulled off of the side of the road for a bite to eat. I could see why some people were still swayed by the late 1980s Jaguars, or why a Chevrolet Chevelle Super Sport could be cool, but the 930 wasn’t going to win me over that quickly.
With age comes two things: maturity and respect. While there is some truth that the Beetle and the 911 are kissing cousins of sorts, it’s not as direct a link as the five-year-old’s brain made it seem. Sure, every yuppie in the northern part of Colorado Springs that didn’t own a BMW or a high-end Volvo had one, but there was a reason. Presumably, it was to look Miami Vice cool, because I highly doubt any one of those owners discovered why the Porsche 930 earned the “Widowmaker” title. A combination of potent power from a turbocharged flat-six, a propensity for lift-off oversteer and an on-off turbocharger system combined to scare all but the most capable drivers off, and to treat the daring but unskilled in a dramatic and violent manner…usually with expensive fixes for a result. 
Young me thought that the 930 was an overrated Beetle. Older me would love a crack behind the wheel of one just once, if for nothing more than to know what it’s like to drive a car that you might not be completely and utterly in control of.
That would be WRUNG out.
The most “tail happy” Porsche (911) ever. The old Rt 35 & 70 traffic circle in NJ collected a lot of Porsche tail light debris over the years. It had extra high curbing. 🙂