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It’s been a while since I’ve featured Porsche’s 911 RS America and I’m curious about their current place on the market now that the air-cooled market has slowed down a good bit. It also provides us a nice contrast with yesterday’s Carrera 2 and I think reveals some of the potential issues with that car’s price relative to similar 964s. The RS America represented the US version of the 964 Carrera RS, though in truth it’s a far cry – and far cheaper – than the RS. It features a few aesthetic details that separate it from a standard Carrera 2, most notably the fixed whale tail rather than the mechanically-raised spoiler standard on other 964s, along with the departure of some creature comforts in the name of lightness. Performance is enhanced with sport suspension borrowed from the Turbo. These have remained highly sought after on the second-hand market over the past two years with values of many of them easily exceeding six-figures. The example here, a Grand Prix White 1993 Porsche 911 RS America, comes in with an asking price just below $100K. Of the four available options this one comes equipped with sunroof and A/C.
This 911 is particularly interesting to me for a number of reasons. Modified 911s aren’t anything new, but this one strikes me as somewhat different from many of those we see. I would guess the two most common classes of modified 911 we come across are heavily-modified track cars and backdated 911s that aspire to combine modern mechanicals with vintage looks. Track cars come in a wide variety of condition, but typically remain quite functional within the arena around which they’ve been designed. The backdated 911s can be all over the place and generally possess a little bit of that pared down track focus in the interior. This 964 is sort of both but also neither of those. It’s clearly not backdated, yet it’s execution does somewhat stem from the Sport Purpose 911s of the past; those cars that owners could use for canyon runs, hill climbs, and even some rally races and which were modified for that purpose. Porsche has long been a brand that mixed luxury and performance and those 911s attempted to shift that balance a little more toward performance. Still, this 964 doesn’t seem like a track car either; it appears to remain well suited for the road. It’s a rare thing to find in a 964, at least based on what I’ve come across and that in itself makes this interesting. The base is a 1993 Porsche 911 Carrera 2 Coupe with 59,900 miles on it and it’s seen a good deal of suspension and interior work to help bring it more in line with the 911’s dynamic pretensions.
I’m going to step forward one year from yesterday’s 911S Targa to look at the model that replaced it: the 911SC. This was to begin the 911’s heyday as the 911SC and its successor the 3.2 Carrera would propel the model forward and insure its top status at Porsche. Chief among the issues to be addressed with this new model was the engine. Reliability issues had hampered the previous 2.7 liter engines, but with the introduction of a naturally-aspirated version of the 3.0 liter flat-six that had been serving duty in the 930, Porsche was able to provide both more power and better reliability. Always a winning combination. These 3.0 liter engines have proven to be some of the most reliable Porsche has used in the 911 and they are one of the reasons the 911SC remains such a great option for buyers today. With good care they easily stretch into six-figure mileage, yet values for cars in good condition have remained fairly reasonable relative to later models. While a 911SC certainly won’t provide the performance capabilities of the more modern 964 or 993 their appearance remains classic and their 180 horses still provide enough power for any backroad enjoyment. The example we see here is a very low mileage Silver 1978 Porsche 911SC Coupe, located in Tennessee, with an interesting Black interior with velour seat inserts.
Let’s visit one of the unloved: a 1977 Porsche 911S Targa, located in Nevada, with an interesting Tan interior with tartan inserts and 96,000 miles on it. The mid-year 911 showed some gains in appreciation over the past year, but still tends to lag behind most other models. The drop-off in values from the long-hood 911s that preceded them is significant, but they even tend to lag behind their successor, the 911SC, for all but the best examples. A combination of reliability issues, lower performance, and the design aesthetic of the impact-bumper cars all have contributed to those lower values. Yet, there is still appeal to these 911s and like anything else when the value is right, the appeal increases as well. This one is up for a no reserve auction and barring something unexpected I suspect this Targa should represent one of those nice values.
The Pastel Yellow 1997 Porsche 911 Targa we featured back in late March remains for sale. The price is still very high, but at least it has been lowered by $21K. Still, it’s a very pretty (and rare) color on a 993 with very low miles, the first of this Targa design and last of the air-cooled Targas, so there is sure to be some interest if the price can be brought into more reasonable territory.
The below post originally appeared on our site March 26, 2016:
