Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
I love the 996 Porsche 911, right up to the point where the amount you pay for one can buy another 911 that is much more appealing to me. As the years go on, that seems to happen more and more. Today’s car, a 2005 911 Turbo S, is one of those. On paper, the best 996 out of the widow making GT2 or hard-as-nails GT3. For a long time, they seemed like a reasonable buy, but in 2022? How does a six-figure pricetag sound?
We made it to April and the convertible season is finally here. Personally, I’m not a huge convertible guy, but I appreciate them, and certainly more so when it’s on an iconic model. For the Porsche 993 generation, Porsche had a tough job to stash the folding soft-top somehow behind the rear seats and in front of the engine firewall, all while making it look good. Truth be told I think they did a great job considering the challenge, but I can’t say I’m ever tempted to go buy one. However, if I were in the market, today’s car might be one of the better ones.
This 1998 911 Carrera Cabriolet up for sale in Miami has the understate black exterior but went all in with Lobster Red leather on basically everything. Even better, this one has some extra goodies to top it all off.
Back in September 2021, I took a look at a very pricey and pretty rare Audi A8 – the W12 long-wheelbase model:
Well, if you wanted a more affordable version of this car, which stickered at an eye-watering (at least for Audi) $120,000 base price, you could get the still pretty punchy 4.2 model. These rang in some $50,000 less than the W12, but still offered 350 horsepower on tap, the same looks, and most of the same luxuries. You could opt in for some nice equipment, as well – including the Sport Package. It cost $4,000, but it gave you a lot of equipment…20″ Seven double-spoke alloy wheels with 275/35 R20 summer performance tires, adaptive air suspension, and a three spoke multifuction leather sport steering wheel with shift paddles. The $3,300 Premium Package added in parking assistance, window shades, and a power trunk functions, and this one was also ordered with four-zone climate control – on top of the plethora of standard features. For a bit under $80,000, then, you had a really impressive looking sedan with a boatload of space and luxury. What do these set you back today?
I’m all for discovered “barn finds” or whatever hot term you want to use as it brings new life into a car that was probably written off and forgotten. Although everyone loves a good story, most of the time there is a good reason why these cars were stashed away and not heard from. Most of the time it is mechanical issues that become untenable due to time and/or money constraints, along with busy life getting in the way. Today’s car, a very special European-specification 1979 Porsche 930 Turbo, doesn’t have much of a backstory from what I can find, but oh boy does it have potential. Or so I thought.
As you might have noticed, this isn’t a stock 930. The front bumper was the first giveaway, then you look out back and see a giant intercooler with the lovely letters of “ANDIAL” tacked on it to. The selling dealer says this is now a 3.4-liter car with a RUF five-speed transaxle, and the crude drawing on the shift knob seems to confirm that. Even cooler than the Pasha sees is the custom mount housing an adjustable boost gauge, which I’m sure was absolutely terrifying to play with. So at this point I’m thinking “Cool. Just pull the engine, give it a full service, and drive it as-is.” Not so fast. This one might be a very hard pass for even the most extreme owners.
The 1984 Audi 4000S quattro is a bit of a unique beast. Though it appeared for all intents and purposes identical to the 4000S Limited Edition from the same year, underneath the two shared little in common. Indeed, when you lifted the covers much more of the quattro model was shared with its bigger brother, the exotic Quattro – the so-called ‘Ur-Quattro’ by fans. Herein lies part of where things get confusing in Audi history, since the actual development mules for the boxflared rally wonder utilized the 4000 (née 80). You could make a pretty convincing argument that the small sedan was the original, but that’s neither here or there at this point and is generally semantics (though, it’s occasionally nice to splash the waters of reality on enthusiast’s ill-informed fires of unshakable belief). Whoever was technically first, there’s no denying that the 4000/80 model brought the idea of permanent all-wheel drive to a much more affordable market of rally-bred enthusiasts who eagerly snapped up the roughly 4,500 examples of the first year model. Radical-looking changes came for the 1985 model year with a thorough refresh, and there are those who love both generations with equal aplomb. Admittedly, I’m a fan of the post-’85 models, sometimes referred to as the ‘sloped grill’ cars. But you don’t have to go far to find fans of the more square ’84 model. One reader of ours tasked me with the goal a few years back of keeping an eye out for a clean ’84. Easy, right? Not so fast!
