Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
The paint-to-sample Nautical Blue 1988 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe we featured in mid-April is back up for another reserve auction. This time there is no Buy It Now price listed, but it is likely safe to say that the reserve will not have come down far, if at all, from that original BIN of $67,500. That’s likely too high, but we will have to see just how high the bidding, which currently sits at $44,600, will get this time.
As we neared the final year of the 3.2 Carrera, which would also be the final year of the classic 911 design, Porsche released a couple special models as a send-off (or for the cynical as a way of selling off a few extra chassis) for the car that had quickly become the staple of the brand. But even with those special editions it is to the standard models that frequently we return with such joy. For that is where the variation lies and is most apparent. Here we have another example of an interesting color combination that we rarely come across, but which provides excellent vitality to even an older car: a Velvet Red 1989 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet, located in Florida, with a Burgundy leather interior and 58,000 miles on it. While today the 911 Cabriolet seems as common as any other model, at the time of the 3.2 Carrera’s departure it had only been around a little more than 5 years, with the Carrera itself being the first model to have a Cabriolet during its entire model run. That doesn’t necessarily make these especially rare or anything like that, but this is the first model where we begin to see an evolution of the design and, of course, for those particularly interested in the classic 911 it would be the most advanced on the market.
Porsche’s paint-to-sample option provides a wide of array of choices to suit just about any customer’s color preferences. One common choice chosen by buyers is simply to use a color Porsche has made available in previous years or on other models, but that is not available on the model the buyer has chosen. Still, it can be difficult to know with certainty what color a paint-to-sample car actually is as the L999 and L998 paint codes, for metallic and non-metallic respectively, themselves tell us little about the color. It appears that the 911 we see here falls into just such a category. The seller suggests the color could be Kalahari Beige, an option available at that time for the 924 and 944, or it could be White Gold Metallic. Since White Gold Metallic was an available color on the 911 itself in 1986 that would lead me to believe that is not the case. In many cases the actual color code can be found on a separate sticker on the driver’s side fender, but the seller hasn’t made clear that is the case with this car. Regardless, any paint-to-sample Porsche is somewhat of a rarity and in the world of air-cooled 911s that always makes them just that little bit more desirable. The particular example we see here, a 1986 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe, located in Los Angeles, also has a really nicely contrasting Champagne and Brown leather interior, quite reasonable mileage for its age, and is on auction with no reserve.
I am a beach person that comes from a beach family. We don’t live there but no year feels complete if I’ve been away from the water for too long. When growing up my favorite vacation each year was when we went to the beach and while as an adult I enjoy a little more variety it is still the yearly family beach trip that I look forward to the most. Thus, almost anything that delivers that sort of feeling, that sense of sunshine, sand, and ocean breezes, will grab and hold my attention. When that something is a car then each of these sensations is ratcheted up as I begin to think about those coastal drives. That is exactly the sort of sense I get from the car here. Some of that is due to the location in which it currently resides, but mostly it’s a combination of the color on a Cabriolet. It feels like the coast and a would surely make for a fantastic coast-road cruiser. Here we have a Lagoon Green Metallic 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet, located in California, with 46,998 miles on it.
Of all the sports car manufacturers, I think Porsche loves special editions the most. Racing focused editions, touring editions, anniversary editions, they’ve done them all and they’ve done them well. I’m a big fan of the 991 50th Anniversary edition, I’d go so far as to say I think it’s the best looking 911 ever made but not necessarily the one I’d want over all others. That would be the 930 Turbo but these days I’d say I have a better chance of owning the former given where the market is headed. I suppose it makes sense then that I’m such a fan of this car, the 911 25th Anniversary Edition.
