Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
The Slate Grey Metallic 1991 Porsche 911 Turbo we featured in January remains up for sale and the price has been reduced by a little bit from $120K to $115K. I thought the original price was relatively reasonable, so as it comes down this 964 Turbo becomes just that much more appealing.
It’s a rare day when I’ll talk about a Porsche 911 on this forum, as my fellow contributor Rob has spent a lifetime devoted to this air-cooled sportscar. When we hang out together, one question has arisen from time to time: “if you had to have one 911, which one would it be?” That’s a tough one, considering we have a model portfolio of 50 years to choose from. But one 911 stands out as the holy grail for me: the 3.2 Clubsport. To me, this is what the 911 is all about. Light weight, no frills and a pure driving experience. This 1987 911 Clubsport for sale in Germany was sold originally in Sweden and found its way back home in 2009. Looking for something a bit more unique in the 3.2 realm? Read further…
Nate’s look at the E34 and E39 Dinan M5s over the past week is a poignant reminder of the factory-backed performance available in these super sedans. In the best style of “Q-Ships” – World War II merchant ships that hid surprising armament behind their docile exterior – they’re turned up but never outrageous. When it came to the E60 chassis though, with 500 horsepower on tap how did one increase the already world-beating performance? In Dinan’s case, there was no replacement for displacement, as they punched out the 5 liter V10 to 5.8 liters. The result was an additional 100 horsepower and around 80 lb.ft more torque while still maintaining the stratospheric redline. Yet that insane performance was available in a wrapper which looked no different than a standard M5:
Most younger readers won’t immediately think any of the German marques were well established in single seaters prior to recent Mercedes-Benz domination in Formula 1. And to be fair, as individual manufacturers that is nearly the case, although Porsche did develop a pretty impressive single race winner in the flat-8 804 of 1962. And, let’s not forget that it was both Mercedes-Benz and Auto Union that had really spurred the development of modern single-seat racing in the pre-War Silver Arrows. But far more prevalent has been German participation in single-seater construction as engine providers. From Volkswagen’s spec racers right through the mighty screaming Williams BMW V10s, there’s a long and storied history of German power. But oval racing? That’s another story, right? Well, actually the Germans have been there right along, too – with Mercedes-Benz taking part in the inaugural Indy 500 through the mega-dominant Ilmore Penske PC-23. Porsche, too, has been tied with the Indy 500, running turbocharged V8s in March chassis in the late 1980s. But the more interesting story was the car that never ran – the 935-powered Parnelli/Interscope Racing entry from 1980:
I’ve looked at a few 911SC Targas lately that I’ve really liked and all appeared to be fairly reasonable values, which admittedly was a large part of the appeal. I’ll now fast forward in time a little bit to the 964 to take a look at a 1991 Porsche Carrera 2 Targa. This one isn’t quite the excellent value the others appeared to be, but it comes in one of our perennial favorite colors: Cobalt Blue. I’ve seen a good number of 964 Targas come up for sale over the past few months and as is typical they come in wide ranging conditions. This one isn’t perfect either, but for the most part it looks in very good shape, and as a one-owner 911 we can hope there’s a good bit of history to come with it.
