By August 1995, the 993 was the only model range offered by Porsche. Not for the first time the future of Porsche rested squarely on the 911’s shoulders and, happily, the early success of the 993 was sustained.

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At Beverly Hills Car Club right now we have a fabulous example, from this pivotal time, of a 1995 Porsche 993 Carrera 4 Cabriolet 6-Speed, showing 33,679 miles on the odometer. The car is finished in its factory color of Aventurine Green Metallic (Aventura Gruen Metallic) and complemented by a Cashmere Beige interior: this 993-generation 911 combines classic Porsche styling with open-air driving and all-wheel-drive capability. Equipped with a 6-speed manual transmission and a power-operated black convertible soft top, this Carrera 4 offers an engaging driving experience in a distinctive color combination.

Power comes from a 3.6-liter air-cooled flat-six paired with a 6-speed manual transmission, delivering the mechanical character that has made the 993 generation a favorite among Porsche enthusiasts. As a Carrera 4, this model features all-wheel drive, providing additional traction The car rides on 17-inch Cup II-style wheels wrapped in Continental tires.

The driver-focused interior is finished in Cashmere Beige and features power sport seats, air conditioning, cruise control, power windows, and electrically adjustable exterior mirrors. Additional appointments include VDO instrumentation, an analog clock, an OEM Porsche stereo, and a four-spoke steering wheel. The convertible configuration is complemented by a power-operated black soft top with a matching boot cover and a wind deflector for open-air driving.

The factory option sticker and color code remain in place under the hood, and the car is accompanied by its manufacturer’s literature, tool roll, jack, and spare tire. The 993 generation holds a special place in Porsche history as the final generation of the 911 to feature an air-cooled engine, before the introduction of the water-cooled 996 in 1998.

A distinctive example of Porsche’s final air-cooled era and remains mechanically sound.

Although the body of the 993 could at first glance seem like a makeover of the 964 Turbo, there was much more to the new appearance than the wheel-arch flares.

In fact, there had been considerable effort to replace the previous straight lines of the 964 with, in the industrial designer’s vocabulary, ‘softer’ lines. Referring to the 964 wings as looking like ‘big lips’ around the wheels, Porsche designer Harm Lagaay considered the bulges on the 993 to be more muscular, and by inference more smoothly integrated.

Along with new, lower head-lamps, the frontal appearance of the 993 seemed more aggressive.

Emerging from Porsche’s headquarters, the Stuttgart company had reinvented itself, smoothly moving away from the yuppie image it had had in the mid-1980s. But much of this look came not from Germany but from the gritty north of England county that is Yorkshire. This was the homeland of Tony Hatter, Lagaay’s co-designer on the 993. Raised on a diet of the latest Dinky and Corgi die-cast miniature toy cars in the charming spa town of Harrogate, Hatter would avidly peruse the new car brochures that his father would bring home.

No doubt this was a crucial grounding for someone who in years to come would pen the external design of the Porsche 993, retaining the basic body-shell architecture of the 964 and other earlier 911 models, but with revised exterior panels with much more flared wheel arches, a smoother front and rear bumper design, an enlarged retractable rear wing, and teardrop mirrors. Thereby Tony Hatter conceived a new visual interpretation of the 911, upgrading the lines.

Hatter had discovered the full allure of the Porsche motor-car by going in 1971 to the nearby city of Leeds to watch the fabulous Le Mans film starring Steve McQueen. ‘The ultimate car guy movie,’ he remembered. He found himself particularly drawn to race cars, and distinctly remembers having loved the 906 Carrera 6 for its styling and proportions.

Tony Hatter then enrolled in a course at Lanchester Polytechnic, in the Midlands city of Coventry, on a course called ‘Industrial Design (Transport)’. Lanchester Polytechnic clearly was a creative hub – Jerry Dammers, the inventor of the 2-Tone ska music movement, was also a student there; as was Pauline Black who formed the allied Selecter group. But Coventry was also one of the UK’s car manufacturing centers. There Tony Hatter first discovered that there was a future in designing cars.

After completing his course at Lanchester, Tony Hatter went to London’s prestigious Royal College of Art on a course, sponsored initially by Chrysler, where he truly discovered design and styling. For a couple of semesters he worked in a design studio: ‘At first I didn’t realise people drew cars for a living. No one at school tells you that.’

Nobody at school tells you a lot of things: the best things, you discover, are what you learn for yourself.

As Tony Hatter did with the Porsche 993.

-Alex Manos, Owner