I know this is tough to reconcile at the moment, but spring is here. Warm temperatures have returned or nearly returned, and convertible season is upon us. Sure, most trips in said convertibles will be point A to point A, but we’ll get there sooner or later. Of all the convertibles offered by the German marques, and there are many, the Porsche 911 always seems to be near the top of the discussion when it comes which one might be the best. From the G Body all the way up to the new 992, you can have a topless 911 in nearly every variant. In terms of the least expensive, we always come back to old friend 996 to see where the bottom is. Can you get any lower than a base 911 with the 5-speed automatic transmission?
Tag: 911
In terms of value in the Porsche 911 world, where the “value” is a little bit of misnomer, I personally think the 997 is in a wonderful spot. You have a respectable amount of safety and performance, the unmistakable looks of a 911, all while not needing a six-figure income to buy or maintain. Yes, some of the more special 997s still bring huge prices, but for the more common 997s, its one of those or a new Honda Accord. The early Carrera and Carrera S cars are particularly appealing to me, especially when equipped with the 19″ lobster claw wheels. As luck would have it, this is what we have today in this 2006 Carrera S up for sale in California. The thing is, it isn’t equipped with the traditional six-speed manual transaxle, but rather the last of its kind five-speed automatic. Is this a deal breaker?
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2006 Porsche 911 Carrera S on eBay
8 CommentsThe 2016 Porsche 911 Carrera GTS might go down as one of those “special” cars. Well, I guess it already is, but it is more of an end of an era. The 2016 model year was the last of the 991.1 cars before switching to the twin-turbocharge 3.0-liter with the facelift. That means this is the last of the naturally-aspirated 3.8-liter which admittedly has been around for a long time, but for good reason. You pair that with the almost-a-GT car GTS, and you have something special. Go even further and option with with the 7-speed manual and paint-to-sample in Mexico Blue? I’d say this one is “special”.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2016 Porsche 911 Carrera GTS on eBay
4 CommentsThere is always something fascinating about “time capsule” cars, even on stuff that isn’t all that old. I know the car I’m talking is far from new, but it is hard to believe the newest Porsche 996 Turbos are 14 years-old now. These cars were incredibly tough and more than reasonable to use as a daily driver, so that is what people did. I think from the 993 and prior, if you bought a 911 Turbo, that was a car that wasn’t leaving the garage on a Tuesday morning in November to drive to work when it was raining. In the 996 Turbo, go for it. And people did, lots of these have a healthy amount of miles and them and honestly, good for them. However, it looks like one example was spared to rain, along with basically everything else.
This 2003 up for sale in Florida has just 963 miles on it. Thats it, 963. How and why? No idea. If you want, bring a check with six-figures on it.
CLICK FOR DETAILS: 2003 Porsche 911 Turbo on eBay
2 CommentsOh boy.
It was bound to happen. Everyone’s favorite “love them or hate them” Porsche tuner, RAUH-Welt BEGRIFF (RWB), has suddenly been pumping out a ton of builds over the last few years thanks to the magic of the internet. These cars are extremely divisive in the car community as some think they are rolling art, while others think they are all show and zero go, along with the fact is it literally cutting up clean Porsches. The formula is pretty straightforward on the builds, as you contact Akira Nakai, give him a giant pile of money, a 911, and enough beer and cigarettes to get him through the process, and he gives you a one-of-kind car that will never be overlooked. Some builds are pretty tame like this backdated G-body, while others go really wild like this 993. Either way, these cars are not for the purists.
Naturally, when things get popular organically, companies want to jump in and try to capitalize. This is exactly what went on with the build we are looking at today with a 1991 964 that was commissioned by a video game maker Electronic Arts for their Need For Speed series. Just as a side bar, I grew up addicted to the Need For Speed games, especially Need for Speed III: Hot Pursuit and Need for Speed: Porsche Unleashed and can directly correlate some bad grades on report cards because I was playing those games instead of studying. Although look at me now; we all have spell check and I write about cars for a living. Back on track, this 964 was built in the typical wild JDM style we are used to seeing, but also had some help from some other builders. Electronic Arts also reached out to Magnus Walker for the styling and Bisimoto Engineering for drivetrain. They must have been writing some pretty big checks for this one.