Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
Here we are a week after looking at the 1990 Alpina B10 BiTurbo, and by chance, we get to look at a second BiTurbo. Last week’s was seriously suspect; there were alarm bells throughout, as major chassis issues and incongruous details were capped by a seller clearly looking to deceive the market. At first glance, there’s some cause for concern here, too, as we’ll see in a moment. Is this the case of another crestfallen hero, or does this super sedan hold true to its heritage?
Before we move any further, yes, I know this is a Ford. Ford isn’t German, you’re sure to say, not even when they’re masquerading as Merkur. Right you’d be. However, allow me a bit of latitude; first, Henry Ford was I’m fairly confident the only American to receive the ‘Grand Cross of the Supreme Order of the German Eagle‘ from one Adolf Hitler. I always love to toss that one into a conversation should I be cornered with a true-blue American-devotee proudly wearing a Ford hat at a social function because he’s also a ‘car guy’. “You know Henry Ford was basically a Nazi, right? I mean, beyond hating the entire Jewish race, he was also a megalomaniac who wanted to create his own master race of workers. No, I’m not joking – it was called Fordlândia. Look it up.” The conversation usually ends quickly after that.
Too edgy?
Okay, how about this – Ford Europe’s headquarters is in Cologne, Germany. And they produce a fair amount of cars in Germany even today. Since we consider the Volkswagens built in Chattanooga and Westmoreland, the BMWs built in Spartanburg, and the Mercedes-Benz models bolted together in Alabama, I think we can deviate for a moment into a hot Ford.
So what Ford is it? In many ways, this is the perfect follow-up for the Quattro. Audi and SAAB helped to mainstream turbocharging, and by the 1980s it was almost expected in performance circles. That culminated in a wave of ever increasing performance hot hatchbacks that completely changed our perception of speed. As newer, faster models emerged, the technology increasingly filtered its way into lower-spec models until the results of all of the turbocharging basically were acknowledged to be wrecking the world’s environment. I call it ‘Trickle-down Turbonomics’. The result? The Fiesta RS Turbo you see here:
As much as I like to talk about the high prices being fetched for Corrados, GTIs and Sciroccos, the reality is the biggest numbers being asked and pulled from 1980s and 1990s Volkswagens are the vans. They’re not something I generally cover, but once in a while one pops up that is surprising and worth note. Today’s is no exception.
What attracted my attention first was the year – 1991. Of course, the main problem there is that in the U.S. market, the Eurovan didn’t launch until 1992. Volkswagen of America was still selling the niche and expensive T3 at that point. So was this a case of a transposition error or just an uninformed seller?
I’ve seen this car for sale for a little while and have kept meaning to come back to feature it. There’s just so much to take in initially and I’ve pulled up the listing a few times. It’s obviously far from anything original and is an extensive build, though it does possess interesting historical characteristics that should give it appeal beyond the typical custom build. It’s very bright, probably pretty loud and raucous, and sure to be very fast.
So let’s get the basics down. Effectively it sounds like this build began as a way to find a home for a very special engine: a 3.8 liter single turbo flat-6 producing 550 hp developed by Andial that served as the engine in a Pike’s Peak winning 964 Carrera 4 back in the ’90s. To house the engine a 1991 Porsche 911 Turbo with around 90K miles on it was found and work began. Those are excellent pieces to build upon. A suitable paint was needed so the designers reached back to the ’60s to source one of Porsche’s earliest pastels to show up on the 911: Pastel Blue. Combine all of that with a whole host of parts to improve upon the suspension and braking, along with a new interior, and you get the final product we see here.
Update 12/31/2017 – the asking price on this 1991 Porsche 911 Turbo has dropped $20,000 to $109,995.
I always find it difficult to find 964 Turbos in interesting colors. Which is weird because of all the 911 models I feel like the 964 is the range I think had the largest number of unusual colors available. Porsche always has offered quite a variety, but it seemed with the 964 they let themselves go even further. But it seems buyers stuck with the more traditional options.
Here we have an obvious exception: a Tahoe Blue Metallic 1991 Porsche 911 Turbo, located in Brooklyn, with a color-to-sample Linen leather interior offset by a healthy dose of rootwood accents and 78,952 miles on it. I’m not very familiar with Tahoe Blue Metallic and this one is said to be 1 of only 3 Turbos equipped in this color combination. The extensive options list likely takes it to the top of that already exclusive company.
