Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
Back in December, I wrote up a 944 LS1 swap. I was disappointed that the S2 motor was gone and the car had some questionable wheels and graphics, but overall the smile per dollar ratio was pretty high. Today, I have another LS1 swapped 944; this time, it was a Turbo, and now it’s a track monster. With near perfect 50/50 weight distribution for that sub-3,000 pounds, instant torque and a stiff racing setup, this car is ready to beat just about anything you show up in:
Last fall, Paul wrote up a Jagermeister-livery Cayman S Interseries that reminded us how great these Caymans can look, and what a great deal they are relative to some of the newer 911 race cars. The Cayman S offers most of the performance of the 911 in a more affordable package, and that was topped by the introduction of the classic Porsche racing liveries, such as Martini Racing and Jagermeister. Today’s example is a bit newer than the previous example we looked at; a 2011 model with some Martini/Salzburg inspired graphics. To me, it looks great:
We’ve seen the ways in which a rare exterior color can influence the market for a classic 911 and though we don’t across this as often we do see similar circumstances with a rare interior color. In many ways, that makes sense because as the owner it is the interior that is most apparent and provides us as drivers with our interface with the car. An interesting interior serves to inspire the feelings created within us on any drive, but a boring interior can make even some exciting cars feel more pedestrian. This all brings us to the car featured here: a Guards Red 1988 Porsche 911 Carrera Targa with just over 34K miles on the clock and a really nice Linen leather interior.
You’re not seeing things, it’s a Porsche 959. And, it’s got no roof. While you search for a towel to clean up that coffee you just spit all over the screen, and furiously Google search if this thing actually exists in one tab while commenting below “it’s not a real 959”, let me save you some time. It’s the real deal – originally sold to Jurgen Lassig, a factory race driver for Porsche, this 959 was involved in an accident that required a great deal of bodywork, ultimately resulting in a one-off cabriolet/speedster by Becker that was then displayed at the IAA in Frankfurt. I was able to find an image of the car on display originally (it’s linked later), but here pictures of the 959 accident when it originally happened. What do you do with a crashed 959? Rebuild it, of course, but this time with no top. The car has been featured since in many articles and is the topic of conversation on many fora and websites; but ultimately, it’s still for sale today:
The enthusiast world is a pretty interesting and fickle place. Take a small displacement, lightweight and attractive coupe from the late 1970s/early 1980s, put a Volkswagen Scirocco badge on it and people fork over $8-10,000 for a very clean example. Take the same formula, put a Porsche badge on it and call it a 924, and very few want in and feel that over $5,000 – even for a very clean example – is sometimes too much. Such is the case with most of the early – and for that matter, late – Porsche 924s we’ve looked at recently. Unlike it’s bigger brother 944, we seem to see a large amount of clean, low mile all original 924s. Paul recently looked at a neat 1977 Porsche 924 that really embodied how clean and good looking the original design was. Today’s example is a little later in the production run, and in more classic to see Guards Red – but in equally impressive condition: