Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
I’ve looked at some cheap Porsche 911s over the years, but never a “rebuilt title US-spec car exported to Eastern Europe” cheap Porsche 911. The 1999 Porsche 911 is generally the cheapest 911 you can buy, with prices in the high-teens for a decent one, but I’m pretty sure I’ve never seen one this cheap that is being offered up in Georgia. The other Georgia, that is.
After just covering Ryan Snodgrass’s excellent Carrera 2.7 history, I thought it would be fun to look at a 1:1 scale example. As I mentioned in the book review, the impact bumper cars replaced the long hood design for 1973. Porsche carried over much of what had made the 911 Carrera RS great in the new G-Body Carrera 2.7. The suspension and 911/83 engine were largely unchanged and though the appearance was updated, it was still the same unmistakably Porsche silhouette. Out of roughly 198,500 G-Body 911s, a total of 1,633 of these ‘Euro Carreras’ were produced and like all things air-cooled, they’re not exactly cheap today. But given that the look and experience is most of what the classic RS was, they’re a whole lot more affordable:
Let’s say for a moment that you came into an extraordinary amount of money and wanted to go vintage automobile racing. Of course, to prove your worth as an enthusiast, you’ll want to buy a historically significant car that will impress all the long bottom jaws, and few raise more eyebrows in the German realm right now than the 911. Truth told, the 911 is really the ‘new money’ of the vintage world – go try racing antique Bugattis or Ferraris, for example, and you’ll soon laugh at the budgets of Porsche racers…but I digress.
Ironically, there was a point in history where your scenario from today wouldn’t have been all that different from the past. Take the case of Diego Febles. Diego was born in Cuba under the notorious dictator Batista, but left in 1957 for “political reasons” you may have heard of at one point. Finally landing in Puerto Rico, Diego took to racing, and specifically racing Porsches. In the 1970s, this led him to be linked up with Peter Gregg’s Brumos Porsche group, and Diego proceeded to buy and build cars which mimicked Gregg’s famous liveries.
In his own right, Febels was fairly accomplished as a racer. He raced some of the most famous races in the world; of course the 24 Hours of Daytona and the 12 Hours of Sebring were naturals that Gregg and Brumos had excelled at, but he also raced at Road America, Mosport, Mid Ohio and finally even at Le Mans. This particular car is claimed to be his last ‘RSR’, but looks can be deceiving:
The 993 market is red hot right now, and few cars stir the emotions of enthusiasts quite like the Turbo models. Of course, this car wasn’t originally a Turbo, but the nameplate on the front and rear more than makes up for that shortcoming – it is the 1995 Ruf BTR press car for the U.S.. Converted originally by Ruf Auto Center, this car has continually risen in price over the past few years. Since November, it has moved from Texas and it’s original $129,000 asking price to Missouri – an expensive move, apparently, since the asking price is now $149,888. Now, I haven’t shipped a car between states, but knowing some people that have (and the type of cars they ship…) I’m pretty certain that’s not a $21,000 trip. It equates to $29 a mile, if you’re counting. Does $150,000 sound like too much for a non-original, but documented history converted Ruf car?
$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.
