Last week I featured a couple of very high-priced Carreras and today we’ll look at another, though this time one that should be pushing demand more significantly than the other two standard cars, we’ll have to see whether it actually does. Here we have a Guards Red 1985 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe, located in California, with about 20K miles on it. Of import to us here: it has the M491 option package on it, typically known as the Turbo look. While garnered the Turbo-look due to its use of the wider rear of the 930, along with the whale tail, the M491 package wasn’t just for looks. It also included the braking and suspension of the Turbo to go with that wider rear. These were a 930 with a naturally aspirated 3.2 liter flat-six. For some the package still seemed a bit of a fake intended for those who simply wanted to look the part. Others, however, viewed it as a performance improvement, even if power remained unchanged, but with the lower stress and lower running costs of the reliable 3.2 liter engine. Regardless of which camp you might find yourself, the M491-equipped Carreras remain popular; for some their desirability has even increased as the more reliable nature of the engine stands out even more now that we’re 30 years down the road. With popularity comes higher prices and if the prices of last week’s Carreras are any indication an M491 model should stretch pretty high. The difficulty will come when those prices being to eclipse those for a 930. In such cases you probably wouldn’t be dealing with a similar level of car, but it would still bring about plenty of questions over which car one might prefer.
Tag: 911
It’s been a little while since I’ve done a Motorsports Monday post and given my propensity for writing about the 911, that’s a little strange. Porsche itself has a long and storied racing history and the 911 in particular sort of exists in a class of its own. And Porsche has provided numerous models intended for racing and to meet homologation requirements over the years, though in many cases those models never made it to our shores. It seems natural then for those interested in doing a little racing to take what they had access to and build the racer they so desired. Still, cars like the one we see here, a 1996 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe built to be a class G club racer, are becoming exceedingly more rare as the ravages of time slowly break them down and as the air-cooled market makes it seem foolish to extensively modify any air-cooled 911 that remains in nice condition. That is especially true of the 993, but man do these look good when given a few track focused modifications. I could easily be accused of thinking the 993 is too pretty, that it’s lost some of its aggressive edge, but its racing pedigree is easily revealed and in narrow-body form the 993 combines a sense of purpose with a lithe body.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1996 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe on eBay
Comments closedThis is my second potentially “market setting” 3.2 Carrera and this one, as should be immediately clear from the specifics of the car and the asking price, epitomizes that term. Here we have a Venetian Blue Metallic 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe with a special order light grey interior and a mere 8,900 miles on it. And all of this loveliness could be yours for just $157,500. How did we get here? I’m not really sure and I have no idea where we go from here (though I’d be shocked if things went up). The car itself: it’s a nice combination and the condition looks good, though this is a color that is done a disservice being photographed indoors. It needs to be in the sunlight where that Venetian Blue exterior can show off its vibrancy and where the lightness of the interior makes a lot more sense. It is otherwise a fairly standard 3.2 Carrera that I presume has spent its life in a garage. Like in most such cases that is too bad as this 911 hasn’t been truly enjoyed, but we are used to such things around here. My curiosity is piqued by the asking price and along with yesterday’s Targa these aren’t entirely outliers. I’ve seen others with very high price tags and at least this one, though it is by far the highest price tag I have seen, has a collection of attributes that combined can warrant a significant premium. Something is going on with the market for these Carreras and we need to see where it settles.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1987 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe on eBay
6 CommentsThe next couple of days I have two 911s that we might best classify as potentially market setting. While the market for non-turbocharged air-cooled 911s has gradually been increasing over the past year or so, some of the asking prices I am seeing recently signal a precipitous rise. Yet, I cannot recall actually seeing any recent huge sales to suggest that these prices are in line with the market. Perhaps these cars are well ahead of the market, or perhaps they are a harbinger of things to come, but I hope to keep my eye on them and get a sense of where we are. The first of the two is this very low mileage Platinum Metallic 1984 Porsche 911 Carrera Targa with Light Tan interior located in New York. As this is a reserve auction it should at least give us a shot to see where bidding will take this price and at its current bid of $56,999 (though this is a single bid) it is already commanding pretty strong value for an ’84 Carrera Targa. How much higher might it go?
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 1984 Porsche 911 Carrera Targa on eBay
Comments closedThere was a lot going on in 1989 for Porsche and its 911. The model itself was simultaneously celebrating its 25th anniversary while also being whisked off into the sunset. That anniversary was commemorated in typical Porsche fashion with a special edition of the 3.2 Carrera. 1989 also saw the 930 finally get fitted with a 5-speed transmission and the Speedster made its return after a 30 year hiatus. In the midst of these movements, Porsche was set to introduce an all-new 911 showcasing its first major redesign in over 15 years, and to even more shifting, they would not only introduce a new design, but an all-new 911 model: the all-wheel drive Carrera 4. I’ve always found this to be a particularly bold and somewhat curious strategy, especially considering that the standard rear-drive Carrera 2 would not debut at the same time. Perhaps it was to save space for the outgoing 3.2 Carrera rather than bringing on its immediate successor. Either way, the 964 was born and though it lead a somewhat short life and itself would be completely redesigned in 1995 it feels as if momentum is now working in its favor and 911 enthusiasts are beginning to appreciate this model to a much greater degree. I count myself amongst that group. The example we have here comes from that introductory year: a Guards Red 1989 Porsche 911 Carrera 4, located in Miami, with 130,800 miles on it.