You must have had the Pict 3 carb. I heard of it happening but I swapped the intakes and put a pair of Webers on after the cable fiasco. Found a VW specialist named Klaus on a referral. He REFUSED to work on my car. Said he'd rather teach me how to do things myself. He lent me any special tools I needed, gave me step-by-step instructions and checked on my progress every hour or so. Ended up putting oversize jugs and pistons, forged rods and "special" heads on the machine in one weekend. He apparently had the parts left over from some kid who didn't feel like paying. That was one fast little bug when we were done.
Not meaning to put down the Boxter but if it was a base model, I'm told the Subaru WRX will run circles around it.
I have odd tastes myself, I liked the 928...thought it was cool but it being front-engined, I'm told it wasn't a "real" Porsche.
The newer Boxter has an uprated engine, better cooling, and better transmission.
But the WRX, even ugly with that slat intake, will still outcorner it.
(Sway bars thickness difference if memory serves right.)
Not sure offhand what the carb was.
(Been eons past.)
A girl I went to school with was standing at the side of the road, hauled her shirt up to flash her chest, flipped off the occupants of the Bug, and then watched as they flipped her off in return and then proceeded to wreck in her front yard.
(This was after the sidewalk run with that car. The kid who bought it had my brother in the car with him when the flashing incident occured.)
Speaking of sway bars, my car is a JettaIII gl, 18mm sway bar if I remember correctly, and the missus car is a JettaIII GLS, has a 25mm sway bar.
(I probably have the sizes wrong, but the GLS has a thicker swaybar.)
Same car body, same engine and transmission, but the difference in swaybar size make the GLS handle corners better.