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The Porsche 911S is a much faster variant of the iconic 911 model.

The Original 911 is a testament to Porsche’s spectacular more than five decades of evolution, blessed with several model generations. The 911 (commonly pronounced nine-eleven) is an enduring classic that's always en-vogue, having been produced for nearly sixty years and still counting. It is inarguably the most popular Porsche model despite going through substantial changes over the years.

The Porsche 911 began life in 1963 sporting the fastback design of its predecessor, the classic Porsche 356. The model was an instant hit for sports car enthusiasts. The 130-horsepower air-cooled 2.6L 6-cylinder flat engine capable of 131 mph top speed was just irresistible. It stole the show at the 1963 Frankfurt IAA Motor Show, where it also made a dogged enemy leading to the name change from Porsche 901 to 911. The name change took effect in 1964, and in 1966, the German automaker introduced a much faster 911, the 160-horsepower Porsche 911S.

This was the first Porsche to feature the Fuchs alloy wheels as well as one of the first Porsche models to meet the strict U.S. exhaust emission control regulations. The following year, Porsche decided to up the ante by introducing a short-wheelbase 911S, accompanying the launch with a "This is no car for a novice" warning.

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The warning was fair and gratuitous; the SWB Porsche 911S was none for newbies finding their way around a sports car. As you already know, cars with longer wheelbases typically offer better ride quality since there’s more time between the front and rear wheels hitting a bump. However, SWB cars might just be the thing for drivers with a need for speed since they’re nippier around tight corners and make cornering and parking much easier.

If you can’t see how faster parking might be appealing, that's good (winks). Anyway, the 1967 SWB Porsche 911S is a collector's dream today because Porsche made few of them, and, of course, they weren't exactly the first choice for the average shopper. A shorter wheelbase car, let alone one like the 2-door fastback Porsche, meant less legroom for passengers.

However, Porsche’s warning was more for drivers than for fellow passengers. A short wheelbase, even for Porsche, meant less stability and increased handling difficulty, a condition we generally call “twitchy.” That’s a significant contributor to its rarity today. It wasn't a sought-after model in its day. Hence, many uneconomical restoration projects got lost to the ravages of rust. For this reason, a decent SWB 1967 Porsche 911S would draw more than eyeballs these days.

But then again, the 911S’s short wheelbase size promoted better maneuverability. It presented a more agile Porsche just as the 911 model became increasingly more powerful, boasting an engine displacement steadily rising from 2.2L in 1969 to 2.4L by 1971. The primary mission of the S was to enhance the performance potential of the already successful 911. The 2.0L displacement of the 1966 911S, for example, was the first high-performance 911 variant. It came just two years after the original 911 debut and a year before the SWB model.

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This was a time the speed freaks' oversteer returned to the Porsche 911S after it was deliberately removed from its Porsche 356 predecessors. Now, imagine the thrill for revheads in 1967 that oversteer has not only returned to the Porsche 911S, but the wheelbase is also shorter. Gentlemen shouldn’t be pleased by such a combination, but petrolheads coveted it.

Porsche already warned it wasn’t one for novices. Three years prior, the marque introduced the ‘infamous’ Camber Compensator to curtail the 356’s oversteering tendency. The trick, of course, is to find a balance. Both oversteer and understeer involve the car being slightly out of control. Ultimately, the gearhead in us says oversteer isn’t just a racer’s preferred poison, but also generally safer than understeer.

It’s the stereotype that makes the average car owner consider oversteer more dangerous. In practice, understeer is harder to control.

With the oversteer's return to the 1967 Porsche 911S, the steering response was quicker, which, admittedly, makes speeding more dangerous (for the novice), and, of course, scarily fun for the asphalt veteran. Truth; excessive oversteer is the worst in a race car, which is why the redesigned suspension that year and the subsequent 912 models was the “check” to the “balance.” That just means the 911S handled like a normal front-engine car, despite oversteer’s return.

Porsche had even hidden an iron weight behind the 912's front bumper to keep the back end from coming around, according to CarandDriver. If the masses hadn’t noticed, Porsche made that year’s 911S SWB in small quantities because it wasn’t for the masses, but for drivers who longed for the good ol’ days before the doggone ‘camber compensator.’

The early SWB Porsche 911S enjoyed a short two-year production run between 1967 and 1968, which explains why the 1967 SWB model is the prize for American collectors. Driving up the value is the fact that the 1967 model is, in fact, the only year an SWB Porsche 911S was available in the North American market. By the next year, U.S. emissions laws prevented the 911S from coming into the country.

The U.S. market got the 1968 911L instead. The 911L was a great Porsche for sure, but it still isn't a 911S. Hence, the 911S was sportier, and the horsepower had risen 20% from 148 to a thrilling 180. Drivetrain improvements included strengthened struts, Koni adjustable shocks, vented brake discs, a stiffer front anti-sway bar, and an anti-sway bar added at the rear. Thanks to the new anti-sway bar, the camber compensator no longer have such power.

Philip Uwaoma, this bearded black male from Nigeria, is fast approaching two million words in articles published on various websites, including toylist.com, rehabaid.com, and autoquarterly.com. After not getting credit for his work on Auto Quarterly, Philip is now convinced that ghostwriting sucks. He has no dog, no wife- yet- and he loves Rolls Royce a little too much.