Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
The Speed Yellow 2004 Porsche 911 GT3 we featured in June remains for sale. The price has not changed, but I still think that price remains fairly reasonable all things considered. The GT3 is one of the best of the 996 and unlike some of the other 996 models should stand to hold (or even increase) its value fairly well. Now seems like the time to snatch one of these up.
As interesting as they might be, some cars probably aren’t meant for eBay. I think this 1975 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe may be one of those cars. The intriguing thing about this 911, which also happens to be the aspect about it that will take the most time to figure out, is that it has the body of the Porsche 930. While the ‘Turbo look’ would become a factory option on the 911 in the mid-80s, in 1975 this wasn’t the case. As such, this is said to be a dealer installed option requested at the behest of the first owner who was unable at the time to import the 1975 Turbo Carrera. In line with these desires, the engine is also said to be tuned, though exactly what that means isn’t made clear, and it has received upgraded brakes. That makes this 911 one of the first true Turbo-look 911s to be produced.
I don’t usually go out of my way to feature a 911 with Tiptronic, but for whatever reason this 993 really got my attention and more or less seems like just the sort of air-cooled 911 one might look for if a Tiptronic actually was desired. The 993 itself has always struck me as a particularly elegant design within the air cooled world. Some of the more aggressive edges of earlier 911s have been smoothed and the curves accentuated. The color combination of this particular 993 further enhances that elegant look. Add to that the very fact that this is a Cabriolet and I think you have the recipe for a 911 cruiser where an automatic might be preferred. Here we have a Forest Green Metallic 1998 Porsche 911 Carrera Cabriolet, located in Nashville, with Red leather interior and 58,279 miles on it.
Last week I featured a Glacier Blue 911SC that the seller mentioned as being akin to a lighter shade of Gulf Blue. Well here we have the real thing: a Gulf Blue 2016 Porsche 911 GT3 RS located in California. The Gulf colors have long been synonymous with racing figuring most prominently at Le Mans on Ford’s GT40 as well as Porsche’s own 917. Since those early days the Gulf livery has found its way onto a wide variety of road cars and on a modern Porsche there’s really no better option than to have Gulf Blue covering the lines of the GT3 RS. This isn’t as shout-at-you vibrant as Lava Orange or Ultraviolet, but for its link to so many historically great race cars it certainly should stand as one of the best options on these ultimate 911s. My only quibble: the wheels should be orange!
On the verge of three years ago I took a look at a neat 911 Carrera RSR tribute. Rather than take the typical path of copying the IROC cars, the builder of this particular car chose the “Mary Stuart” Martini Racing example to clone. The car was named because the wrap around rear duck-tail spoiler reminded some of the high collars which were the vogue during Mary, Queen of Scots’ reign. With its unique tail offsetting those iconic colors, it is certainly an attention getter. However, the seller has now attempted to shift this car more or less continually since 2013 – first at an asking price of $165,000, then dropping in 2014 to $135,000, and now back up to $165,000 presumably to try to capitalize on the current 911 market. It is without a doubt a neat build and unique execution, so even though it’s unlikely to trade this time around again I thought it was worth another look:
I think I’ve made it pretty clear that I think Martini Racing colors are just awesome. Some people insist everything looks better in “Gulf Blue”, but for me, it’s those Martini stripes that made some of the best looking race cars (and in a very few cases, even improved road cars). Case in point is today’s example; perhaps one of the strangest downforce attempts of the 1970s on a Porsche – the Mary Stuart tailed Martini Racing RSR. While a neat design in some ways, it certainly looks odd from other angles. Today’s 1971 911 is a recreation of the original, but you can’t deny that it looks fantastic in the proper Martini Racing colors of the 1973 RSR:
