Friends, I’m afraid. I’m afraid that the already somewhat affordable hobby of 1980s cars is quickly becoming endangered by speculation. The first victim was the E30 BMW, and poaching resulting quickly in the endangered status of decent, affordable examples. But the poachers weren’t done; the E24 M6, E28 M5, Ur-Quattro, original GTis and Porsche 911s have been on their list as well. That has meant in some cases spill-over into poaching similar looking models; even more recently, we’ve seen a spike in Audi 4000, Coupe GT, 635CSi and 535is examples trading for previously unheard of amounts that have most enthusiasts despondent and questioning the sanity of the poachers. There are some glimmers of hope; on the endangered list but so far not hugely impacted by this trend are a few real gems of cars. Most notable of this group in my mind has to be the Porsche 944 Turbo.
The 944 Turbo – referred to as the 951 by insiders or anoraks – has been a giant slayer since it’s inception as a test platform at Le Mans in a heavily flared, super cool 924 GTR chassis – dubbed the 944 LM. The new 2.5 liter turbocharged power plant was truly an impressive feat; the aerodynamic body of the 944 returned quite good fuel mileage per the original intent of the design, but step on the loud pedal and there were few cars that could keep up – and none of them were at the same price point as the 944. Since then the Turbo has become legendary as one of the best handling chassis Porsche has produced, its near infinite tuning potential, the spectacular 80s flares and pop-up headlights, and a comfortable GT. As an all-arounder, few cars can achieve what the Turbo did. Because of the relative undervalued nature of the model though, few remain in really pristine condition; but if you’re in the market they do arrive from time to time, and this one certainly deserves to be on that list:
