As amazing as it seems to us, it's time for holiday shopping. In just a few short days it'll be time to trade gifts with your friends and loved ones again. While we'll do our best to avoid the crowds, we can't help but give thought to what some of the more interesting Porsche related gift ideas are. You see, every year we receive email after email asking for our ideas. Sometimes the request comes from a loved one of a Porsche enthusiast and sometimes it's from the enthusiast themselves who needs to give a list to their family. Whether you're a Porsche-driving fanatic, or someone who cares about one, the best answer is almost always to get gifts FOR the Porsche. We have too many tchotchkes with the Porsche crest on them, so here is a list of neat and interesting products to upfit and modify the car itself.
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Here are a handful of ideas, crossing all budgets, for you to give to your Porsche, or for your loved ones to give you for you to give to your Porsche.
1. A Porsche Roof Rack by Rennline
If you're looking for a roof rack for your aircooled 911, here's an awesome new model that is currently available for pre-order. Rennline is on the verge of delivering this interesting looking rack. The rakish look of the rack fits the curvature of the Porsche's sloping roof line. With nice wood slats across the roof, and coatings available in anodized black or silver, it merges a modern look with the classic rack design. This will fit all 911s and 912s from 1964 through 1998 (includes 964 and 993).
Get your silver roof rack here.
Get your black roof rack here.
2. Porsche Key Accessories
The key you use to start your Porsche is perhaps the most important piece of the equation. For one thing, it looks good on your rack. It's also the part of the car you touch most, aside from perhaps the steering wheel. Porsche's old keys, particularly in the 1970s, were a bit lackluster. A friend of mine, artist and enthusiast, @MotorAffair on Instagram, has started crafting Porsche keys out of brass. It's a great looking key! Rumor has it he's working on making them available in titanium as well.
Available for all 911, 914, and 912E from 1970 to 1998 (including 964 and 993). Send an Instagram DM for more information and pricing.
A nice key deserves a great key fob as well, and I got this awesome custom leather piece from Carpe Viam. The Giraffasus is a lighthearted take on the iconic Mobil Pegasus. Stick your neck out, don't take things too seriously. The symbol is also available as a fender decal set, which I also have installed on my car.
You can order a number of key fob designs from CarpeGear.com.
And now that you've got a great key and fob, you need a new ignition switch bezel to really set it off, right? I picked up this neat aluminum bezel to replace the nasty black plastic piece that had gotten worn from decades of keys scratching it. This is a nice quality piece that is very easy to install.
Get your bezel from Rennline -
Available in black or silver for 1969-1973 models here.
Available in black or silver for 1974-1998 (including 964 and 993) here.
3. Modern Stereo Head Units With Vintage Looks
A number of vintage cars I've driven long distance have needed a serious upgrade to the stereo system just to be at a basic level of usability. For one thing, in modern days, nobody really purchases hard copies of audio media anymore. Ditch your old CDs and tapes, and throw in a new stereo with bluetooth, auxiliary, and USB functionality which looks appropriate in an older car's dashboard. Here are two of my favorites, both of which I've installed in 944s and driven hundreds of test miles before putting them in this gift buying guide.
The above unit, available from Continental, is a re-badged VDO head unit. You can get the VDO or the Continental to get the same look, but I prefer the Continental's orange backlight to the blue backlight of VDO. On the upside, this is a very nice looking unit with an incredibly simple interface and the bluetooth connectivity is quick and simple to operate. The two downsides include that the USB connection does not charge your music device at the same time, only data transfer, and the unit does not come with the wiring harness pigtail for a DIY installation. Luckily you can purchase the pigtail separately for only 8 dollars.
You can get the Continental unit here.
And you can get the necessary pigtail harness here.
Clarion has created a nearly perfect radio for vintage cars. The M508 is a really nice quality piece for a low price with a vintage look and modern guts. Unlike the more expensive Continental piece, the Clarion comes with the harness needed for install, and the USB charges your device. The only downside I can find with the Clarion is that the screen is a bit too bright at night. The screen can be turned off by holding down the volume button for three seconds, but there is no screen dimmer.
You can get the Clarion M508 here. Both of these radios will fit in any Porsche with a single-DIN radio.
4. Grab A Grille Badge
One of the fun ways to add a little personality to your Porsche is with a grille badge. Here are the three that I've put on my 912E, and give a sample of those available to you.
Grab the JoshyRobots "Party In The Back" badge here.
Grab a club badge from your favorite Porsche club. Mine is an event badge from 912 Rendezvous earlier this year.
Grab one of many Porsche Driver Selection grille badge here.
