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This one is fun. Not that the other cars we feature aren’t fun, but there’s a little more going on with this 911 to provoke levels of interest that may rise above the norm. What do you do when you build the follow-up to a fantastic car, but have decided not to ship that new model to one of your important markets? Well, for Porsche it meant making use of your racing prowess, and team associations, to undertake a conversion that would transform a standard car into something far greater. Following upon the success of the 1973 911 Carrera RS, Porsche continued to produce a mechanically similar version of that car for the 1974 model year that differed only from its predecessor in its redesigned impact bumpers. However, the US market never was intended to receive that car, but rather received a Carrera that used the standard 2.7 liter engine found in the 911 and 911S produced at that time. The two models are generally distinguished by their injection with the European version known as the 911 2.7 Carrera MFI for its use of the Bosch Mechanical Fuel Injection of the ’73 Carrera RS and the US model referred to as the 2.7 Carrera CIS utilizing the Bosch Continuous Injection System that Porsche used on the 911 up until the introduction of the 3.2 Carrera in 1984. All of which brings us to the car we see here. It appears that an early example of the 2.7 Carrera CIS was sent to Peter Gregg of Brumos Racing where they converted the engine to the MFI set-up used in the European Carrera. Presumably later in its life, the interior and suspension of the car also received attention to leave us with this: a vintage 911 both lightened and lowered that possesses one of the most iconic 911 engines Porsche produced during that period.
We have talked a bit in these pages about the relative value of the mid-year 911. Even while values have increased over the past year that value judgement still remains. These are still much cheaper than the long-hood 911 and in some cases can even be had for less than the model that followed, the 911SC. The model we see here, however, is somewhat of an exception to the rule, though it still comes in below the long-hood models that were its predecessor. Here we have a Grand Prix White 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 Coupe, located in California. While these resemble the highly sought after European Carrera 2.7 MFI Coupe they are not the same mechanically, with the MFI boasting more power and lighter weight. But those come at three times the price.
The really nice Yellow over Black mid-year 911 Carrera Coupe we featured back in September is up for sale once again this time with a price reduction bringing it down from its very high $129,900 asking price to a still high, though somewhat more reasonable, $109,990. Can it sell this time?
The below post originally appeared on our site September 9, 2014:
$1.4 million. That was the selling price of a 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS Lightweight at last year’s Amelia Island auctions and it sparked quite a clamor within the Porsche market for anyone seeking to own one of these great machines. Or course, not every Carrera RS will ever see that sort of price; the Carrera RS Lightweight is probably the most sought after of what is already a highly sought after car so some of the high price comes down to those combinations of rarity. But the price of every Carrera RS went up following that auction. That rise also brought with it a concurrent rise in the price of the car we see here: a 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 MFI Coupe, located in Illinois. Mechanically, these cars were essentially a 1973 Carrera RS Touring, but they were now surrounded by the redesigned body with impact bumpers that debuted in 1974. The resulting car possessed Carrera RS levels of performance, just with a slightly different look. For those on the market today, the Carrera 2.7 MFI provides an alternative: Carrera RS performance and highly collectible, but with a significantly lower cost of entry.
The 1974 Carrera is one of those 911s that I enjoy spending some time lingering over the details. As the first to sport the redesigned body it’s interesting to get a sense of how Porsche chose to transition from the beloved long-hood 911 to these with impact bumpers, especially when we consider that the basic shell of this design would be with us for another 15 years. There are a lot of interesting touches on these cars, from the Carrera side graphics with color-matched wheels to the use of the ducktail rear spoiler, that set them apart from other mid-year 911s. The 1974 models tend to show the most value of the 911s produced from 1974-1977 and the Carrera is the only model that’s shown the ability to compete in value with a long-hood 911. The example seen here is a restored Grand Prix White 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 Coupe, located in Georgia. The listed mileage is 1,974 miles, which I presume is the miles traveled since it was restored.
