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I’m going to take a break from “regular” Porsches to go to the full length of excess, at least with regard to road cars. Here we have a 1988 Porsche 930 Cabriolet with the factory Slantnose option and a mere 9,100 miles on it. By itself it’s nearly a preposterous looking car and while stunning it’s not likely to be a car most would call beautiful. Add to that already rare and interesting design a specially ordered Midnight Blue leather interior with contrasting Red piping along with a burled wood dash and you have a car that’s full of contradictions. It’s both sophisticated and garish. Powerful and dynamically befuddling, but capable of relaxed top-down cruising with the wind in your hair and sun on your face. There are few cars in Porsche’s history more polarizing than a 930 Slantnose, with the Cabriolet raising that bar even further. But they are extremely rare and desirable nonetheless and near impossible to find in this condition.
Calling Baur a tuner isn’t really very fair, but since we don’t have a separate category for semi-aftermarket carriage works, it will fit in. Baur worked in conjunction with a few manufacturers – most notably BMW, though a few Audi fans will remember that they were responsible for construction of the Sport Quattros too and they assisted in the assembly of the Porsche 959 as well. Much like Porsche originally started as, they were linked to the factory efforts due to their high level of unique production capability. That manifested itself in limited run models that required special construction – such as the Sport Quattro and 959 – but what most enthusiasts will remember are the multiple 3-series Cabriolet models produced through Baur. These were offered through dealers as an expensive option and to this day remain a very unique expression of Munich motoring:
Let’s turn back to the 964 to look at a model I’m not sure I have ever featured before. Sure, I’ve written about a few 964 Cabriolets and especially a few examples of the Carrera 4, which was the model Porsche chose to use for its 964 debut. However, I don’t think I have ever written about the combination of those two: the 964 Carrera 4 Cabriolet. That might be a pedantic distinction to point out, but these do remain somewhat of a curiosity and I don’t recall seeing them all that often. I also imagine a Carrera 4 Cabriolet, especially from the 964 model, will be a tougher sell than many of its peers. We are combining two typically audience-limiting models into one. Many 911 fans have little interest in a Cabriolet. Similarly, many have little interest in all-wheel drive. That doesn’t mean there aren’t plenty of people who would have no problem with either, but when you put them together the audience certainly shrinks as we begin to move away from the sporting roots of the 911 in general. With all of that in mind, as we’ve been keeping a close eye on the 964 market it is always worthwhile to take in a few of the lesser-seen models to see just where they’re falling on the value spectrum. This Guards Red 1990 Porsche 911 Carrera 4 Cabriolet, located in St. Louis, should provide us with a glimpse into where driver-quality examples are being valued.
I have been enjoying my jaunt through the world of classic 911s looking at examples of the 911SC and 3.2 Carrera. We’ve seen a few nice, and reasonably priced, Targas, a couple very nice Coupes, and a very pretty Carrera Cabriolet. That last model will take our focus in this post as we look at examples from both the beginning and end of the 3.2 Carrera’s model run. 1983, the last year of 911SC production, was the first year Porsche produced a 911 Cabriolet and since there was only one year for those models, it is to the 3.2 Carrera that we typically must turn when looking for the combination of a fully-open cockpit with that classic 911 design. I wouldn’t classify the two we see here as especially rare colors since each is more a subtle variant of a common color, but the color combinations are not ones that we come across very frequently. Those combinations definitely bring with them an extra level of scarcity with these. We will begin with the example from the first year of 3.2 Carrera production, a Slate Blue Metallic 1984 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet located in California with Grey Beige leather interior and 48,133 miles on it.
Since we’re currently buried under a couple feet of snow here in the mid-Atlantic, what better time to feature a Cabriolet! Cruising top down, snow and road salt splashing through your hair, with just the faintest sensation left in your fingertips as you slide around another icy corner. It just doesn’t get any better. So, maybe that’s not the ideal scenario, but really attractive cars don’t take days off because it snowed somewhere else so our eyes must remain open. Here we have a Velvet Red 1989 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet, located in Florida, with a contrasting Linen and Burgundy leather interior and 33,594 miles on it. This is not a color combination we frequently see. While we come across a Linen interior from time to time it is almost always with a Blue or Grey exterior. The contrast here with Velvet Red is particularly striking and even though Linen probably would not be most buyers first choice it certainly serves to set a 911 like this one apart from the others.
