Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
As promised, I’m revisiting the ’84 Carrera Coupe from a couple weeks ago. For those who missed it the first time around, the original auction for this 911 had been bid up to nearly $70K. That price was shocking and not long before the auction ended many of the highest bids, which I assume were false bids, were removed. Hopefully this time we can get a true sense of where this car might be valued as it remains an excellent example of an early 3.2 Carrera.
As frequent readers will be well aware, I typically write about the 911 and as such I write about a lot of pretty high-priced machines. In the 911 world value is very much a relative term and many buyers can be quickly priced out. Thus, when I dip my toes into the value side of the Porsche pool I am constantly amazed at the amount of car you can get. Porsche’s fleet of front-engined rear-drive sport coupes, ranging from the 4-cylinder 924 to the V8-powered 928, can provide some of the best values in the marque while also delivering plenty of exciting driving in an elegant design. Here we’ll look at a very low mileage Black 1984 Porsche 944, located in New Jersey. Having borrowed much of its styling from the 924 Carrera GT, the 944 effectively was the more muscular version of Porsche’s entry-level 924 retaining much of the basic shape along with a 4-cylinder engine, though in this case that engine would be a Porsche designed 2.5 liter inline-4. The result was an excellently well-balanced car that was both more refined and more powerful than its less muscular sibling. It should be no surprise then that these enjoyed quite a bit of popularity in their day.
This is going to be a little bit of a quick-hitter, though we should not take that to suggest there are serious flaws with this 911. Rather, I’m mostly struck by the price this auction has reached. Here we have a Platinum Metallic 1984 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe, located in California, with a Brown interior and 36,550 miles on it. There is a ton to love about this car. It comes in an absolutely fantastic color combination, which we don’t come across often, that is both very striking yet also somewhat subtle. It presents really well inside and out and I’m particularly fond of the interior color and the way it contrasts with the exterior. The mileage is also very low. But this auction currently sits at $69,991. For a 1984 Carrera. Unsurprisingly, this has met the reserve and I was fairly stunned when I saw it. I’m used to very high asking prices for this sort of car; I’m far less used to seeing one actually sell.
I have focused much more on the value end of the 911 spectrum this week and the car featured here falls into a bit of a middle position along that scale. The 1983 and 1984 model years tend to represent the best value opportunities depending upon whether you would prefer the 911SC or the 3.2 Carrera. You cannot really go wrong with either, but each has its own personality that may suit some better than others. Overall, however, the key is finding one in the condition and with the mileage that makes you most comfortable – and that fits within your budget. Here we have one from the lower-mileage section of the market: a Grand Prix White 1984 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe, located in Florida, with 59,900 miles on it. These are the 911s that, for many of us, invoke the most nostalgia for the marque and they came along at an important time for the model itself. That they can still be had for fairly reasonable values makes them all the better.
The E23 7 series always struck me as bit of an oddity in the history of BMW models. This luxury sedan didn’t have as much presence as the E3 “New Six” that preceded it, nor did it have the option of serious size and muscle as the V12 powered E32 750iL that followed it. This has planted the E23 in relative obscurity amongst collectors, as it was never quite as visible as its domestic rival, the Mercedes-Benz W126 S-class. Thus, it is a bit of a bargain in comparison to other period BMW models. This 1984 733i represents the last year for this particular model in the US, succeeded by the 735i the following year before this generation would disappear altogether after the 1987 model year.
