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Tag: 911

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Feature Listing: 2009 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet

If I’m honest, I was a bit disappointed with the Larz Anderson Auto Museum German Car Day. The main reason why was that in some ways it turned in to a new car show, with basically brand new models turning up on the lawn. As an enthusiast, I’m torn in two different directions by this. The positive side of me says that I should embrace all enthusiasts irrespective of their origin. After all, if I walked in to a dealer today and purchased a brand new M4 I’d feel pretty proud of it too. But the cynical side of me says sure, but I can drive down the road to the dealership an see the exact same car. It wasn’t just BMWs, though – there were brand new Audis, Volkswagens and Porsches present too. In fact, the number of new or very close to new cars seemed to outweigh the number of cars more than 10 years old. Am I just a curmudgeon? Perhaps, and considering I showed up in a relatively new car maybe its hypocritical of me to question other’s presence there. But it seems as though, in part, the generation of enthusiasts that is currently emerging in this soundbite, disposable world is just looking for what is newest and flashiest. Want to go fast with the top down? It doesn’t come much flashier than the 911 Turbo Cabriolet.

But I’m not talking about this 2009 Turbo Cab. No, I’m talking about the brand new 991.2 Turbo S Cabriolet. With 580 horsepower on tap, there isn’t much outside of a S1000RR that can keep up – and if you’re in launch mode, you can leave the bike behind off the line. It’s full of technical highlights and gadgetry that will make any silicon valley executive proud to call it their ride of choice. But there are two very big reasons why I’d choose this older 997 model over a brand new car. First is the price; with no options selected, the base Turbo Cabriolet stickers at $170,000 with the S commanding a further $30,000 premium. Despite nearly new condition, this 997 is available at half that rate as it’s no longer the biggest, baddest or newest stick on the market. But the second reason has more to do with that stick.

You can’t get a manual transmission.

Much has been made of this and truth told the newest automatics truly are amazing. But as the classic Porsche mantra has been driver engagement, and it’s hard to claim a manual is less engaging than an automatic no matter how quickly it shifts. This car may not be the last turbocharged drop-top from Porsche, but it does seem to currently seem to signal an end of an era at the company, and if history has told us anything about the cars from Stuttgart it is to pay attention to those changes:

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2009 Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet at Sun Valley Autos

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1986 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe

I don’t like to overstate my preferences for the cars I feature and it’s always hard for me to keep track of what’s best given that I come across so many interesting cars. But this one is just stunning. This might be the best (at the very least one of the best) shades of blue I’ve seen on a 911. It’s said to be both paint-to-sample and Iris Blue. It’s certainly possible for both of those things to be true, but I’m fairly certain Iris Blue was an available color in ’86 which suggests it wouldn’t be paint to sample. Iris Blue is a great color regardless and if that’s what this is then it looks particularly good here. The pictures appear to have been touched up some so perhaps that enhanced contrast is working to great effect.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1986 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe on eBay

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1984 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe

We talk a good bit about how the 911SC and 3.2 Carrera have become so prized in part because of their longevity – that certainly isn’t the only reason, but it helps given that the most modern example is nearing 30 years of age. The 3.0 liter flat-six in the 911SC especially has shown wonderful results so long as owners showed them proper care. Well here we have a wonderful example of a 3.2 Carrera that’s led a long and, seemingly, pampered life. This Slate Blue Metallic 1984 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe, located in California, sits with over 194K miles on it, but you’d never know that from looking at it. As the first year of the 3.2 Carrera the principle difference between this and an earlier 911SC is the engine so in many regards an ’84 makes for a nice entry into these great 911s compared with later model years as prices tend to remain on the more reasonable side.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1984 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe at California Classix

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1993 Porsche 911 RS America

It’s been a while since I’ve featured Porsche’s 911 RS America and I’m curious about their current place on the market now that the air-cooled market has slowed down a good bit. It also provides us a nice contrast with yesterday’s Carrera 2 and I think reveals some of the potential issues with that car’s price relative to similar 964s. The RS America represented the US version of the 964 Carrera RS, though in truth it’s a far cry – and far cheaper – than the RS. It features a few aesthetic details that separate it from a standard Carrera 2, most notably the fixed whale tail rather than the mechanically-raised spoiler standard on other 964s, along with the departure of some creature comforts in the name of lightness. Performance is enhanced with sport suspension borrowed from the Turbo. These have remained highly sought after on the second-hand market over the past two years with values of many of them easily exceeding six-figures. The example here, a Grand Prix White 1993 Porsche 911 RS America, comes in with an asking price just below $100K. Of the four available options this one comes equipped with sunroof and A/C.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1993 Porsche 911 RS America on Craigslist

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1993 Porsche 911 Carrera 2 Coupe

This 911 is particularly interesting to me for a number of reasons. Modified 911s aren’t anything new, but this one strikes me as somewhat different from many of those we see. I would guess the two most common classes of modified 911 we come across are heavily-modified track cars and backdated 911s that aspire to combine modern mechanicals with vintage looks. Track cars come in a wide variety of condition, but typically remain quite functional within the arena around which they’ve been designed. The backdated 911s can be all over the place and generally possess a little bit of that pared down track focus in the interior. This 964 is sort of both but also neither of those. It’s clearly not backdated, yet it’s execution does somewhat stem from the Sport Purpose 911s of the past; those cars that owners could use for canyon runs, hill climbs, and even some rally races and which were modified for that purpose. Porsche has long been a brand that mixed luxury and performance and those 911s attempted to shift that balance a little more toward performance. Still, this 964 doesn’t seem like a track car either; it appears to remain well suited for the road. It’s a rare thing to find in a 964, at least based on what I’ve come across and that in itself makes this interesting. The base is a 1993 Porsche 911 Carrera 2 Coupe with 59,900 miles on it and it’s seen a good deal of suspension and interior work to help bring it more in line with the 911’s dynamic pretensions.

CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1993 Porsche 911 Carrera 2 Coupe on eBay

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