Warning!
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.
This site contains Ebay partner affiliate links, which may earn us a commission at no additional cost to you.
We’re all pretty familiar with Ruf’s long history of producing automobiles derived from a Porsche chassis. Their ethos falls similarly in line with Porsche itself, though with everything turned up a notch (or in some cases many notches). Whether they are Ruf-modified Porsches or possess an actual Ruf VIN, these cars combine the best of high performance and refinement. One of the cars we see most frequently is the BTR, which used the 3.2 Carrera as the basis for producing a variant of the 911 Turbo. The successor to that model, generally called the BTR2, was produced for the 993 and is the car we see here. They could use most any configuration of the 993, whether the rear-drive Carrera 2 or the all-wheel drive Carrera 4 (though I’ve even come across one based off of a Turbo S) as their base and from there received the typical Ruf treatment that provided a single turbocharger, modified suspension and braking, and a redesigned interior with integrated roll cage. Since either the Carrera 2 or Carrera 4 could provide a base, Ruf was providing either an alternative to the 993 Turbo in its all-wheel drive configuration or a toned down version of the GT2 with rear drive. The example we see here began life as a Carrera 4S prior to being shipped off to Pfaffenhausen for its conversion and features a fairly interesting interior showing off what seems to be a cross between houndstooth and tartan inserts. I’m not sure what we’d call that, but it’s quite eye catching!
I’m always curious when colors change within a marque, especially when they are colors that I particularly like. Here we have an Iris Blue 1996 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S, located in Indiana, with 39,975 miles on it. Iris Blue is a color that we’re fairly familiar with here as it’s been seen on the 3.2 Carrera quite a few times. It’s a really nice shade of blue that veers to the lighter end of the spectrum and one of my favorites available during that time. As should be quite clear, the shade of Iris Blue available for the 993 was quite different, no longer a light blue, but now a dark blue that shows hints of purple when under direct light. The pictures here bear that out fairly well. The full name of the color is Iris Blue Pearl and it is that pearl effect that gives the color is shifting possibilities. I will admit, as someone who loves the original version of the color, that it looks stunning here and seems to work particularly well on the curves of the 993.
Earlier this week I mentioned that as the air-cooled 911 market has settled I’ve started to come across a lot more classic 911s that appear to be in good condition and also might be had for reasonable prices. For a while it seemed like that was impossible. But here we have another: a Black Metallic 1982 Porsche 911SC Coupe, located in New Jersey, with Tan interior and 85,756 miles on it. The condition isn’t perfect by any means, but as a driver-quality example it looks good and the Black Metallic paint provides a nice change of pace from the usual non-metallic Black with which we’re far more accustom.
A little while back I featured a 2012 Porsche 911 Turbo with a paint-to-sample exterior in Meissen Blue. It’s a color I was unfamiliar with and had never seen but which has early roots in Porsche’s history with the 356. It’s a color that really grows on you, and which we might think as beginning a line that would run through Gulf Blue and Glacier Blue as some of the lighter blues in the Porsche catalog. They’re really great colors and I think they work especially well on vintage Porsches. The car we see here takes us back to that original use of the color: a Meissen Blue 1957 Porsche 356A Coupe, located California, with a few modifications that have garnered it the ‘outlaw’ moniker. As outlaws go it’s a more subdued version of the species and retains much of the vintage charm of the 356 itself.
When I first began writing for GCFSB it was just before the air-cooled 911 market took off. Suddenly nearly every 3.2 Carrera I’d see would set a new benchmark for value. Long-hood models, which already had been expensive, began to reach well into six figures for the 911S and rare variants seemed to leap into the stratosphere. We saw quite a few interesting examples hit the market as sellers tried to capitalize on these gains and almost any time a well-maintained 911 came up for auction with no reserve it would sell well before auction’s end, sometimes in a matter of one or two days. Those times are behind us as the air-cooled market has settled down and while the gains haven’t retreated much for many of these cars the classic 911s of the ’80s have taken some steps back into much more attainable territory. This is especially the case with higher-mileage basic Carreras. And I don’t mean this as a bad thing. These are wonderful cars meant to be enjoyed so ideally the prices will be such that owners don’t feel conflicted about opening the garage just because it’s a little cloudy. I mention these things because I’ve begun to notice a lot more nice looking examples of the 911SC and 3.2 Carrera popping up for much more reasonable prices. These aren’t necessarily the 911s in great color combinations or low mileage, but nice honest looking cars none the less. At times the reserves remain too high, but even that should work itself out with time. The example we have here seems to fit this bill: a Black 1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe, located in Memphis, with 111,000 miles on the clock.
