Few Porsches capture the imagination and turn heads like the 911 GT2. And among the various iterations of the GT2, the 993 GT2 is the most coveted. While engineering and technological progress naturally have rendered later models more powerful and sophisticated performers, the raw prowess of the original car remains the benchmark. Serving as both the first 911 GT2 put into production as well as the last and only air-cooled GT2 produced, the 993 brings with it the kind of rarity that rapidly elevates prices. Add in that it represented the highest performance among production 911s of its day and you’ve pretty much checked all of the boxes a collector could desire. The example we see here, a Speed Yellow 1996 Porsche 911 GT2 having traveled around 33K kilometers during its life, will be up for auction next Friday at RM Sotheby’s auctions in Phoenix.
Tag: 1996
Could it be that there might actually be some value to be found on the 993 Turbo market? It has seemed like an impossible dream for a while as prices continued to elevate, but as I look around now I’m starting to wonder if there’s been a shift. Granted, we’re still not talking about inexpensive cars; after all north of six figures remains the norm. But we’re getting closer to crossing that magic barrier. I first had an inkling of this last summer when I featured this 911 Turbo and thought all things considered the price wasn’t bad. It wasn’t cheap, but it felt like prices had moved down a step. I didn’t think too much of it at the time, but I think now we need to give them a little more attention. The two we’re going to look at here aren’t the only two Turbos on the market right now, but they’re two that stood out to me the most. I’ll begin with the cheaper of the pair: a Black over Tan 1996 Porsche 911 Turbo with 80,533 miles on it located in Denver.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1996 Porsche 911 Turbo on eBay
Comments closedWe’re all pretty familiar with Ruf’s long history of producing automobiles derived from a Porsche chassis. Their ethos falls similarly in line with Porsche itself, though with everything turned up a notch (or in some cases many notches). Whether they are Ruf-modified Porsches or possess an actual Ruf VIN, these cars combine the best of high performance and refinement. One of the cars we see most frequently is the BTR, which used the 3.2 Carrera as the basis for producing a variant of the 911 Turbo. The successor to that model, generally called the BTR2, was produced for the 993 and is the car we see here. They could use most any configuration of the 993, whether the rear-drive Carrera 2 or the all-wheel drive Carrera 4 (though I’ve even come across one based off of a Turbo S) as their base and from there received the typical Ruf treatment that provided a single turbocharger, modified suspension and braking, and a redesigned interior with integrated roll cage. Since either the Carrera 2 or Carrera 4 could provide a base, Ruf was providing either an alternative to the 993 Turbo in its all-wheel drive configuration or a toned down version of the GT2 with rear drive. The example we see here began life as a Carrera 4S prior to being shipped off to Pfaffenhausen for its conversion and features a fairly interesting interior showing off what seems to be a cross between houndstooth and tartan inserts. I’m not sure what we’d call that, but it’s quite eye catching!
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1996 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S Ruf BTR Conversion on eBay
Comments closedI’m always curious when colors change within a marque, especially when they are colors that I particularly like. Here we have an Iris Blue 1996 Porsche 911 Carrera 4S, located in Indiana, with 39,975 miles on it. Iris Blue is a color that we’re fairly familiar with here as it’s been seen on the 3.2 Carrera quite a few times. It’s a really nice shade of blue that veers to the lighter end of the spectrum and one of my favorites available during that time. As should be quite clear, the shade of Iris Blue available for the 993 was quite different, no longer a light blue, but now a dark blue that shows hints of purple when under direct light. The pictures here bear that out fairly well. The full name of the color is Iris Blue Pearl and it is that pearl effect that gives the color is shifting possibilities. I will admit, as someone who loves the original version of the color, that it looks stunning here and seems to work particularly well on the curves of the 993.