Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
With blue 911s being the theme of the past week, why not revisit this beautiful Baltic Blue 1989 Porsche 911 Speedster. The asking price remains unchanged, though it has now popped up on eBay presumably to help attract a larger audience. We are also treated to a few extra pictures of what is one of the best looking Speedsters I have seen. Values have been on the rise so we’ll have to see if this one can find itself a new home.
Rightly so, I’ve been accused of comparing everything to BMWs – so for today’s 10K Friday, I thought why not compare BMWs to BMWs? Part of the reason I compare various cars I write up to the alternative BMW products is because for some time they have been considered the benchmark, and their popularity from new to the used classic market means that they set the pricing trends against which others can be judged. That’s especially true of the 3 series; for some time, the go-to performance product from Germany, increasingly many earlier generations of the 3 are being viewed as not only collectable, but indeed as investments. So, what does your $10,000 budget buy these days? I’ve rounded up five examples from the first five generations, covering nearly every configuration the small executive platform has been available in. Which is the winner?
As E30 Touring imports pick up some steam, we get to see a wider variety of the wagon offerings the rest of the world has known about for over 25 years. We’ve seen the base-model 318i up to the rare all-wheel drive 325ix, each providing a sharp package with fun driving dynamics while enabling hauls that a standard trunk could never hope to handle. With many examples coming from the right-hand-drive UK, you have to decide if such a great overall package is worth the brain reorganization necessary to appropriately traverse our LHD roads.
This is one of those bassackwards drivers but brings a very distinct look thanks to a rare (especially on wagons) M-Tech body kit normally present only on the ix models, complementing the E30’s clean top lines with fender flares, exaggerated front and rear valences, and side skirts. 16″ Style 5 wheels help fill those enlarged fenders resulting in an overall package that looks both clean and aggressive. The automatic transmission is the other main detraction besides RHD, but we’ve forgiven autos on great-looking E34 wagons in favor of good looks and utility, so why not do the same here?
The last Westy I posted was an exercise in extremes. Every mod imaginable and a 1.8T engine swap led to the van selling for the best offer, obviously less than the $110k asking price but probably not by that much. Today I present a counterpoint, a late-model, all-stock Westy with fewer than 50k miles. Silver on gray and about as close as possible to what you found on a VW showroom floor in 1989, this is a van that can keep chugging away for at least another 25 years and probably more. No racks, no lights, and no lift kit, yet it’s just as attractive.
Final model years have their own particular appeal, perhaps garnering an extra dose of nostalgic reverence over the earlier model years, and as such with all else being equal almost always command the most value. Of the years during which the Porsche 911 3.2 Carrera was produced it is the final three model years that capture the most attention, given Porsche’s introduction of the G50 5-speed manual transmission in 1987, but cars from the model’s final year, 1989, continue that trend of showing slightly elevated values compared with the rest. 1989 itself marked a significant turning point for the 911 as it would finally see a significant reworking of the exterior design it had possessed since 1974. Furthermore, that design transition came after the success of the 911SC and 3.2 Carrera had cemented the 911’s place in the Porsche lineup. The time had finally come to retire an icon – or at least give an icon a significant facelift. For fans of the classic 911 style that makes 911s from the 1989MY highly prized as the final rendition we would see and the most refined of the breed. The example we have here is a very pretty Velvet Red Metallic 1989 Porsche 911 Carrera Targa, located in Cleveland, with a Burgundy interior and 87,950 miles on it.
