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Well, there is a first time for everything. In over 1,000 cars I’ve looked at, I’ve yet to actually check one out in person before giving my opinion on it. That changes today with this 1990 Porsche 911 Carrera 2. However, this car just wasn’t conveniently for sale down the street. Oh no. I peeled myself out of my chair, jumped on two planes, three trains, and walked a mile to the sleepy town of Brummen, the Netherlands to Gallery Aaldering. This is a place I’ve featured a handful of times before just because of their crazy collection, including a Wiesmann that was still there! Ordinary people go to the beach, I just visit car dealerships.
Seemingly out of the no where, the 964 Porsche 911 Carrera 2 has turned into quite the valuable asset – if you want to call them that. Just this month we saw two black Carrera 2 examples sell for $124,000 and $123,456. Outliers in the grand scheme of things? Sure. However, that doesn’t mean it won’t be the start of a trend or sellers thinking their rose has finally bloomed and asking for prices in line with that. Case in point, this Japanese-spec 1992 Carrera 2 finished in the wonderful Wimbledon Green Metallic. It even has some extra fun stuff like Cup 1 wheels and the factory sport seats. The price? Well, if you were in on those black examples, you’re in the right ballpark.
To me, the Porsche 964 was that perfect blend between the old school Porsche feel but modern enough amenities where you could drive it everyday and not feel like you were giving up everything. By the time the 964 rolled around in the early 1990s, you had basically all your power accessories, a half-decent air conditioning system, and an airbag steering wheel for when you bounce the car off a tree. On the other end, you still had the classic flat-six that has been around for ages by now, though it was bumped up to 3.6 liters, and the looks are still unmistakable as a Porsche. Because of this, among other reasons, 964s values have shot way up in the past 10 years or so. Long gone is finding a half decent Carrera 2 for $33,000, as those are suddenly $60,000. Rare color and low miles? Tack another $20,000 on to the price. This 1992 up for sale in Miami is no exception.
The 964 Porsche 911 Speedster is still one of those models that I can’t believe Porsche actually produced. In a time when the company was strapped for cash, they went through the trouble of engineering a bunch of new parts only to produce 936 examples. Maybe it had something to do with 427 of them going to the US for big profits? One would think they all would be sold with the traditional 5-speed manual gearbox given this was a homage to the original Speedster and that is overwhelmingly the enthusiasts choice, but believe it or not, a handful of them were made with the 4-speed Tiptronic automatic gearboxes. Perhaps they had some leftover as the 964 production was wrapping up or some kind of market research said it was a good idea, but either way they are out there. This example up for sale in Japan is exactly that.
The 964 Porsche 911 Speedster has always been a cool novelty, but that doesn’t mean it is only that. I think these stayed true to the original 356 Speedster compared to Turbo-bodied 3.2 Carrera-based 911 Speedster, 997 Speedster, and 991 Speedster that is basically just a GT3. Porsche also blessed the US market with the fixed-back lightweight seats that were in the 964 RS for that extra feeling over the 964 Cabriolet. Only 936 examples were produced, with 427 Speedsters heading Stateside. These pop up for sale from time to time, but most are tucked away in collections given their rarity and the aircooled boom. This example up for sale in California checks in with 34,000 miles and some odd little custom touches that makes Porsche so unpredictable at times.
