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1988 Porsche 930 Targa

1988 Porsche 930 Targa

Published February 15, 2018 by Rob

We’ve seen a couple of Turbolook Carrera Targas come up for sale recently. Lovely cars and very rare. What we haven’t seen are actual turbocharged Targas for sale. The last time I featured one was almost two years ago. The feature before that takes us back almost another two years. While it’s extremely unlikely I would have seen and featured every 930 Targa to come up for sale over those four years, that tiny number of posts stands in stark contrast to the abundance of 930 Coupes and Cabriolets that grace our pages. In any given week I can almost always find a beautiful 930 Coupe to write about if I so choose. To some degree the same goes for the Cabriolet. The Targa, not so much.

In part this rarity comes down to production time – the 930 Targa only was available for three years, though that’s also true of the Cabriolet and we still see many more of those – and numbers: the Targa was produced in far fewer numbers relative to Coupes and Cabriolets. Why? Presumably they were less desirable. Porsche produced fewer 911 Targas in general. Still the 930 Targa remains a relatively more rare machine.

Anyway, here is one! A 1988 Porsche 930 Targa, located in New Jersey, with 68,100 miles on it:

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1988 Porsche 944 ‘Celebration’ Special Edition

1988 Porsche 944 ‘Celebration’ Special Edition

Published January 27, 2018 by Carter

Update 3/9/18 – The asking price has dropped from $19,900 to $18,500.

In my recent double Porsche 924 post, the rhetorical and problematic question posing entry-level Porsches arose – ‘why not just get a 944’?

It’s a very valid question. Indeed, why would you choose a 924 – even a very nice, limited production one – over a 944? The answer is simple. Price.

When the 924S Special Edition was last on the market in 1988, you could stroll down to your dealer and pick one up for around $23,000. If you wanted to step up to the 944 – which offered no practical improvement in performance, mind you, as it was actually slower than the 924S – you’d have to shell out an additional $10,000. In many ways, that gulf of value perception remains today; it’s possible to find deals on 944s, but equal 944s to the two 924s I looked at? They don’t come cheap, at least not in asking price.

Yet while I’ve spent considerable time talking about the 924S Special Edition and what a cool package it offered you on the cheap, we never really look at its 944 equivalent. Often referred to as the ‘Celebration Edition’, just like the 911 and 924S the 944 received a Special Edition package in 1988. Built to commemorate the 250,000th 911 produced but coinciding with 100,000 944s made, too, Porsche officially referred to the 944’s trim as the “Special Edition Package”. What did you get?

For $2,437, Porsche equipped your car with option code M757. This gave the car “a unique leatherette/gray-plaid cloth interior, silver velour carpeting, and a commemorative plaque which may be personalized with the owner’s name” according to Porsche. You also had to select metallic paint, a $645 charge, in one of two colors; Satin Black Metallic or Zermatt Silver Metallic. Otherwise these cars were pretty well loaded; the antithesis of the lightweight, stripped-down 924S SE. They came with split-folding rear seats, electric sunroof, rear window wiper, and 15″ ‘Phone Dial’ wheels, along with standard fog lights, central locking, electric mirrors, power windows, power steering, and automatic climate control. Like pretty much every special edition Porsche, these cars were seemingly earmarked for collectors:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1988 Porsche 944 Special Edition on eBay

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Face Off: 1980 Porsche 924 Turbo v. 1988 Porsche 924S Special Edition

Face Off: 1980 Porsche 924 Turbo v. 1988 Porsche 924S Special Edition

Published January 24, 2018 by Carter

Increasingly as some of our childhood (or, adulthood) heroes get priced out of sensibility for weekend warrior on a budget status, there are still some bastions of hope for the shoestring enthusiast. One of the best must undoubtedly be the underrated Porsche 924. As Sciroccos, GTIs, 944 Turbos, Quattros and the like take off in value, here lies a plethora of well-cared for, well-built and fun-to-drive cars that have good parts accessibility, reasonable repair costs and surprising amounts of practicality. Sure, it’s ‘just’ a 924, and Porschephiles will probably poo-poo your choice. So, too, will most of the rest of the automotive world. Their loss is your gain. Try as they might, outside of some very special 924 Carreras, these models that helped to keep Porsche afloat in the 1970s and 1980s still haven’t caught on with collectors.

So today I have two special 924s to consider once again. The first is a lofty Turbo model; finicky even in period, they’ve developed a reputation for lack of reliability and expensive repairs, but then have you ever seen the bill on a proper flat-6 rebuild? I’m going to compare it to the end-of-the-run 924S, and this one is the lightweight Special Edition model, too. Both are quite affordable and both appear to be in great condition, so which one is the winner?

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1980 Porsche 924 Turbo on eBay

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1988 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet Commemorative Edition

1988 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet Commemorative Edition

Published December 25, 2017 by Rob

It’s been a while since I’ve seen one of these 911s. This is the Commemorative Edition (aka the Jubilee Edition), which Porsche released in 1988 to celebrate the production of the 250,000th 911. Like other special editions of its time the special enhancements were almost entirely cosmetic. In this case that meant special exterior and interior colors: Diamond Blue Metallic for the exterior, with color-matched Fuchs wheels, and Silver Blue Metallic in the interior (the seller refers to it as Diamond Blue in the interior as well though I’ve always seen it called Silver Blue). It makes for an attractive combination that’s quite elegant as these things go.

You also got Dr. Ferry Porsche’s signature stitched into the seat headrests, a shorter shifter, and an electronic top for the Cabriolet. I suppose the most unique aspect of this particular Commemorative Edition is that it’s had the model designation deleted. You probably don’t care about that. These 911s are pretty rare with only 875 produced in total. I believe the seller’s statement that this is 1 of 100 imported to the US refers to the number of Commemorative Edition Cabriolets rather than the number of Commemorative Edition 911s imported in total. Still, there aren’t a lot of them.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1988 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet Commemorative Edition on eBay

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Motorsports Monday: 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo Cup

Motorsports Monday: 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo Cup

Published December 18, 2017 by Carter

Continuing on the 944 theme, there are of course a few transaxles that actually are worth some big bucks right now. The development models – the 924 Carrera GT, GTS and GTR – are pretty well priced out of this world. In the 944 run, the Silver Rose cars are highly valued, too – but value-wise, they’re relative bargains compared to this car. Yet I’ll still claim that this car is a relative bargain compared to its contemporaries. Let me explain.

As a promotional series in 1986, Porsche teamed with Rothmans for sponsorship of a one-make support race series in Canada. The result was the 944 Cup, which ran normally aspirated lightweight examples of otherwise stock 944s in 1986 and 1987. Every once in a while, one of these rare rides (there were only 31 sold) pops up and we’ve covered them before. The big draw on these cars are the lightweight aspect thanks to no sunroof and manual windows, and of course the Rothmans livery.

But the series proved successful and in 1987 Porsche followed up with the more developed, more powerful and more excited Rothmans 944 Turbo Cup. In fact, the Turbo Cup cars were developed for single-race series around the globe – in total, there were 5 series and just shy of 200 Turbo Cup cars produced. Like the prior 944 RC, the formula was pretty simple – lighten a 944 Turbo, leave the engine “stock”, and fit it with race equipment. But Porsche, being Porsche, went a bit above and beyond.

Though the Turbo Cup looked for all intents and purposes like just a 1987 Turbo with racing colors and a cage, the reality was far from that. The engine retained most of its stock components, but Porsche fit magnesium oil pans and intakes to lighten the load. The turbocharger was uprated as well to develop more twist. Magnesium carried over to the transmission bits and even the wheels, which copied the production series designs but were much lighter. Inside the Turbo Cup gained a cage and a Recaro race seat, but lost its climate control, the glove box, the radio console and even door pockets. Power steering and air conditioning were yanked. Gone too were the rear wiper, remote hatch release and power windows. Like Audis from the period, the brake system was anti-lock, but included an on-off switch to disable the system. Bilstein provided upgraded damping, and Porsche also fit larger roll bars front and rear. The result was that they managed to get the road going 944 Turbo down to 1,280 kg (2,800 lbs) while simultaneously making it more powerful.

As some of the most limited 944s out there, and coupled with a popular race series featuring some of the most famous names in 80s sports car racing, the Turbo Cup cars have developed a cult following and bring some of the strongest bids in the transaxle world:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1988 Porsche 944 Turbo Cup on eBay

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