1985 Porsche 911: Tea Tray Spoiler is On

you don't have a good profile or front side quarter panel shot

like the last picture only from the front of the car

You screwed it up and are now leaving it to the pro?

You don't need some kind of certified master tech to figure out a problem with a piece of sheet metal with two hinges and a latch.

Hate it. This ruins this particular car's low, sleek, mean look, and takes away the punch of its fender flares and wheel spacers. Plus whale tails on Carreras have always irked me.

I like both looks, but if this were mine, I'd keep the whale tail. I absolutely love the look...but I'd like profile and front quarter shots please.

Also, I think you should spend a good bit of time (like any reputable 911 owner) and try to fix the hood release yourself. If you can't get it open after a few hours, much cursing and bruised knuckles, taking it to your guy is fine by me.

Not a fan of the whale tail. Looked so much sleeker and sexier without that giant spoiler.

Not your fault (Porsche sold it this way, after all), but it's as if Nissan sold a GT-R model with an Altima engine, just for looks...the definition of 'poser'.

The Porsche whale tail has always been a love it or hate it thing...no inbetween. I personally love the look..especially on the older 911's as it balances out the droopy VW beetle look of the rear end.

Ha! texases already stole my comment to a tea. +1

The fenders and bodywork were almost passable as semi-functioning for the tires, etc. The whale tail leaps across the line into poser-town. When do your M5 wheels arrive for the 528i?

Correct me if I'm wrong - but I believe the tea tray spoiler was introduced for an intercooler? It looked silly even when it was new, but it was functional.

looks much better w/o

My father would have summed this up as follows.

"Spoiler, definition. Person or something that spoils".

I count two people and one lump of plastic matching that perfectly.

Tea trays are for Turbos. Even with the silly all black wheels it looked much better before. It's a very 80's Porsche now...

You have an alignment issue with the hood. You may also have a bad spring.

Looks better without the spoiler but nice that you have the option to mix it up once in awhile!

Just think of Blague Plague like it's a 1:1 diecast with no engine detail, except from underneath ;)

"Lord Vader, your sports car is here".

For all you complainers, the Whale Tail still looks better than the picnic table Porsche put on the back of the 928GTS.

SOOOOO much better with the whale tail!!

It just looked off before with the bulges, lowered stance, powdered Fuchs, and no turbo tail. Glad it's rectified!

I prefer the old RS style ducktail spoilers on NA cars. If there ain't no intercooler back there, there's no need for the whaletail. The ducktail is good at reducing rear lift, looks special, but isn't over the top (and OTP for no reason on this car).

I prefer it without.

I like whichever one's more aerodynamic. However the whale tail gets a few knocks because it's not really functioning as an intercooler (what it was originally for). I do like the old RS ducktails though.

@ fordson

I believe by expert, they meant resident Porsche expert Michael Jordan. Not a master tech. Although I could be wrong.

Without. They should only be on real turbos in my mind.

Whaletail with fender bulges: Thumbs up

Whaletail w/o fender bulges: Thumbs down

Well now its an official turbo look. Now you need to take this thing at speed and see if it handles any better. Probably a little understeer but in 80s porches that's a good thing cuz those things will snap and you will spin out into a ditch

@baqssrockerx: You are right, it belongs on the porch of a 1980s house.

Ahhh, tint those windows black, and with that wing on you take me back to 1981 and the movie condor man. I think the condor car had to out smart 3 black porsches driven by assassins. I didn't know good movies at 10. But I know I liked car chases.

I'm gonna buck the trend and say I like it.

Can't stand the look of 911 without one. Good job!

I am not an old dude, but I have to say that the older series 911s look so much better than last 2 iterations whiuch to me look like the were stetched and flattened. I cant wait until today's trend regarding "black hole sun" look wheels are gone. Makes wheels look smaller than they are which is counterintuitive to me.

I'm a guy who likes to follow form with function. So, now, your 911 just look ridiculous.

Ok, it looks good. But it is just pretending to be something it's not.

I really was a huge fan of the whale tail, when this car was new and I was 5.

I would assume the whale tail hood uses a different spring rate than the non-whale tail version. Did you guys check for that? If not, your car-guy cards are in danger of being revoked.

@church123 - I agree that the RS ducktail is nicer than the whale tail, but I think this fits with the rest of the visual aggressiveness of the car. However, you are right, there is no functional need since there is no intercooler...it's 100% a fashion statement.

I love the look of this car, the blacked out look is really mean. That being said, I agree with the comment above that the whale tail is a bit too much and would prefer a duck tail back there instead.

I know some hate it because its a bit too unnecessary and ruins the whole Porsche 911 profile (I think all true solid 911 fans do) but since I'm no 911 fan, All I can say is that any 911 with a spoiler looks great (Whale tail for the old ones and the stock spoiler for the 993, 996 and 997 Turbos. Any aftermarket spoiler ruins it).

A 911 Porsche without a respective spoiler reminds me too much of the Volkswagen Beetle (which is also the reason why I used to hate 911s in the past).

I normally hate gawdy looking spoilers on any car...but the Porsche looks much better with it.

The spoiler came on the car from the factory so it should always be on the car. And it looks great!

I can't stand folks who drive around with the 996/997 with the speed activated spoiler always in the up position. Compensating for something? : )

My 03 996 spoiler goes up at 74mph and goes down when I slow the car to under 30mph.

Not a fan of the whale tail either. I think a good, black window tint would have gone a lot further in improving its appearance.

m3shmem3
texases

Re: Your poser comments...

Au contraire. In fact, the "tea tray" (aka whale tail) spoiler is a completely functional and intentional design. Its basic design originated with the 911 RSR race cars. Aerodynamically paired with the front lower lip spoiler, which eliminates front end lift at high speeds, the whale tail creates about 100lb (if I remember correctly) of downforce at high speeds on the rear of the car (which actually has slight aerodynamic lift with no rear spoiler). It also helps extract air from the upper engine compartment through the functional louvers.

The functional result of this is to provide greater stability for the car at the very high cruising speeds at which these cars were designed to operate, such as on the German autobahn.

I hate it. Looks cheesey, the car has such a great shape without it. For U.S. daily driving I doubt it'd help anything.

Sauerkraut should NEVER be served with rice.

This spoiler belongs on this car. Keep it. Definitely.

I loved this car before the spoiler. As said by another it looks right on the Turbo only. If I had either car I would take it off. The sleek back is the porsche I crave. And the triple black (paint, interior, wheels), you had this car looking better than the red exotics you parked in front of. -my humble opinion. Keep enjoying it and thank you for all the great posts.

"Hate it. This ruins this particular car's low, sleek, mean look, and takes away the punch of its fender flares and wheel spacers. Plus whale tails on Carreras have always irked me."

My thoughts exactly.

+2

""Hate it. This ruins this particular car's low, sleek, mean look, and takes away the punch of its fender flares and wheel spacers. Plus whale tails on Carreras have always irked me."

My thoughts exactly."

Kevin

Uh, guys - when you added 20-something pounds to the engine lid you added heavy duty struts and adjusted the latch to compensate for the additonal weight, right? Right?

:)

Still, it's odd. With the additonal weight, the lid will likely no longer stay up on it's own, so you'll need to prop it open, but it should still open okay as the weight is just pushing the catch deeper into the latch mechanism. If one person pulls on the release while another lifts the lid a bit to compensate for the additonal weight, and presses the mechanism at the same time, it should open fine.

I like it with or without.

My .02: Hit the flat plastic part with some Mothers Back-to-Black. I've used it before with great results.

http://www.mothers.com/02_products/06108.html