Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
The 1993 Porsche 928GTS we featured last September has cropped up for sale once again, the asking price unchanged. Of all the 928s, the market for the GTS is strong, especially when equipped with the manual gearbox. Will this minter of a V8 Porsche find a home this time around?
Yesterday we saw a “Turbo-look” version of the 993 – the Carrera 4S – and today we will look at the full-bodied, full-blooded, twin-turbocharged 993. These cars possessed the performance to match their brawny exterior while also taking on new technologies. Borrowing some cues from their development of the 959, for the first time Porsche fitted twin turbochargers to the 911 Turbo and also a refined version of the all-wheel drive system that had debuted with the 964 Carrera 4. With power now exceeding 400 hp the 911 Turbo was capable of competing with the world’s best, but now came with more manageable dynamics and a power curve that was less prone to sudden bursts as the turbo came up to speed. While some enthusiasts may have yearned for the more hairy chested pre-AWD days, the 911 Turbo had long been a way for Porsche to combine the best of its performance and luxury and these refinements fit that bill perfectly. The 993 was the last of the air-cooled Turbos and for that they have always been beloved. Here we have an Arena Red 1996 Porsche 911 Turbo, for sale at Canepa, with only 9,352 miles on it.
The term “Fully Loaded” is often overused by dealers, and sometimes – as our reader Brad is fond of pointing out – poorly used. He is correct that, when talking about a top of the range luxury executive car, saying that it has power windows, locks or steering seems really quite superfluous since you couldn’t opt out of those options. Earlier this week, another reader sent me a 2001 S8 and I started to tick off the options that were selected as I looked through the photos and over the description. Unfortunately, the pricing on that particular S8 John sent was so aggressively low that someone got a great deal and it disappeared almost immediately. What was really amazing was that the selected options were more costly than the second-hand asking price! But I found another heavily equipped 2001 S8 for sale – unsurprisingly, though, the dealer doesn’t list those rare options, rather relying on the tried and true “Fully Loaded” moniker. Let’s see if we can decode what the car was selected with – and what that would have cost:
Until recently, Mercedes-Benz could be considered a conservative automotive company. Occasionally they would drop a bombshell, releasing a peculiar beast such as the 300SEL 6.3 or Porsche influenced 500E/E500. The tie up with McLaren to produce the SLR didn’t seem too out of the ordinary, given the collaboration of the two concerns in Formula 1 racing. The Mercedes-Benz SLR McLaren was a bit of a 300SL revival, with its doors that swung vertically forward, two-seat layout and grilles on both front fenders. Mercedes had done supercars like this before, but no one could anticipate the special edition that was coming. The SLR Stirling Moss.
Named after the famed British racing driver and built to commemorate Mercedes’ participation in the famed Mille Miglia race, the SLR Stirling Moss was a purpose built, open-roofed hooligan. This car was a true speedster with no windscreen or roof, and shared little externally with the SLR Coupe and Roadster. A split cockpit and roll hoops completed the look, with a 640 horsepower, supercharged V8 provided the motivation. Available only to former SLR owners, only 75 examples would be built. For those wanting a rare and rather current collectable, you can find this Mercedes on offer in Frankfurt, Germany.
Narrow body versus wide body, rear-wheel drive versus all-wheel drive. These are the choices Porsche buyers are presented with when considering a 993. While there were no power differences between the standard and S models there were still performance differences as they received revised suspension and in the case of the Carrera 4S, the 993 Turbo’s larger brakes. So whether you care only about performance or aesthetics or, as is most likely, some combination of both there are plenty of choices. While from time to time I will comes across a narrow-body coupe that looks just about perfect, my preference almost always leans towards the wide-body, especially on the 993 where the smoother curves of the car suit that wider rear really, really, well. Here we have one of those wide-body coupes, a Black 1996 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S, located in Brooklyn, with Cashmere leather interior and 60,127 miles on it.
