Today is an interesting bag of updates for Hammertime; some great values of popular cars, and some extreme heights of prices for special examples. Leading…
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We have 15 years of archives. Links older than a year may have been updated to point to similar cars available to bid on eBay.Author: Carter
Strange though it may seem, the 1988 Porsche 924S is not a model we often write up. We do feature just about every Special Edition 924S I find, as they’re a really neat fly-under-the-radar package. This isn’t one of those cars. It’s a “plain” 1988 924S, which you can immediately identify by it being Guards Red (all the SE models were black). But as I said in my article about limited 924 models back in September, the 1988 S is a subtle upgrade and the one to have if you don’t go with a hard-to-find SE. The compression bump meant 160 horsepower, and coupled with the 944 driveline bits underneath it was a fun, sporty car. However, best of all – and unlike most of their other watercooled brethren of the same ilk, these 924S models are often overlooked by the market.
But there are a few reasons to look at this particular 924. First, the ’88 models are pretty hard to find. They accounted for only 2,190 sales (including the 500 Special Edition models) compared to the near 7,000 1987s sold. But above scarcity, it’s in pristine condition with only a claimed 25,000 miles covered since new. And while it seems most of the really nice late 924s that come to market are automatics, this one is a 5-speed manual:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1988 Porsche 924S on eBay
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Though it was never available in the U.S. until this coming model year, all-wheel drive in a standard Golf is nothing new. In fact, it’s been around since 1986.
If you follow me around the internet, and I don’t expect you to, you might have caught my article for The Truth About Cars about all-wheel drive Golfs which predated the R32. Though the idea sounds simple enough since parent company Audi had an all-wheel drive system that was ever so popular, mounting that longitudinal transmission and drivetrain into the transverse engine Golf was impossible. Instead, Volkswagen contracted Steyr-Daimler-Puch to design a viscous coupling setup for the Golf with a new independent suspended rear. Like the contemporary Quantum and Vanagon setups, it was dubbed “Syncro”, though outside of all-wheels being driven the three systems shared almost nothing.
The result was a few fan-favorite models. Performance types love the Quattro-inspired Golf Rallye, Golf G60 Syncro and Golf Limited models. But undoubtedly the most recognizable Golf to wear the Syncro badge was the jacked-up Golf Country. Utilizing an already heavily modified Golf Syncro, Daimler-Steyr-Puch installed some 438 unique pieces to create the light offroading Golf way before the Outback was conquered by Subaru:
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1991 Volkswagen Golf Country Chrome Edition on eBay
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The Porsche 968 Coupe 6-speed is a fairly infrequently seen package, but one that is generally considered to be the “ultimate development” of the water-cooled transaxle 4-cylinder models. Only about half of the cars that were imported to the U.S. were Coupes (4,242 sent to North America, 2,234 of which were Coupes), and when equipped with the 6-speed manual the number dwindles to just 1,811. That puts production of these models on par with the E28 M5 in terms of rarity, and the group of enthusiasts who enjoy them are about as avid if not moreso. However, they also often overvalue their cars in the marketplace, making them expensive options relative to the performance on tap.
Today I have a group of no less than three 968 Coupe 6-speeds for sale – a rare Christmas treat to see. Which is the winner of the group?
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1995 Porsche 958 Coupe on eBay
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Following up on Rob’s “presence” post about the 928, here we have the embodiment of presence and speed in the 944 Turbo S. But we have much more than that, too, in this particular example.
As I talked about at length in the last 1988 Turbo S post, there was a lot that made this car more special than the regular Turbo – and, arguably, more special than the 911, too. But the market on 944 Turbos has been all over the map, with nice examples struggling to break $10,000 at times and excellent examples three to four times that. So where does this Turbo S lie?
Well, we have a great combination of factors that make it quite desirable. First, it’s one of the S models. Second, it’s a claimed one owner car that appears to be close to 100% original. Third, it’s got very low mileage, with only 37,700 accrued. But the coup de grâce that beheads the typical unrealistic asks in the Porsche world is that this is a no reserve auction. Rarely do we get to see all of these things combine and get a real feel for the market.
