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While the Porsche 986 Boxster might have been the car that saved Porsche with its massive popularity, the 987-derived Cayman was what made the mid-engine design popular with track enthusiasts. Especially in more potent “S” form, the Cayman is a giant killer with sublime vehicle dynamics and plenty of punch even without a turbo. The 987 refresh in 2005 fixed many of the perceived visual faults of the 986 Boxster design with a slant towards a more aggressive look. The Coupe added a smooth, flowing hatchback line to the 997-inspired exterior, creating a lightweight, 7/8ths scale mid-engine 911. That it was less expensive than the traditional flat-6 lineup didn’t hurt, either. It was, and remains, a hit.
It was no surprise then that immediately these Caymans became popular with track enthusiasts and racers alike, spawning their own race series in the PCA. But you don’t need to fork over $100,000 for one of the rare Napleton Interseries cars to have a lot of fun at the track, as Kachel Motor Company proves with this duo of Cayman S racers:
I’ll admit that a fair amount of these 10K face-offs are somewhat limited in their execution. Often, the examples of cars I’m able to track down for the day of the article aren’t the best that are out there or, more often than not, in an effort to fit the cars under the 10K budget they’re just not the prime examples or they’re not good matches. However, there are two performance convertibles on fairly equal footing that really offer a tremendous amount of proverbial bang for your buck these days; come to the table with around $10,000 and you can pick up either a E36/7 BMW M Roadster or 986 Porsche Boxster S. Granted, in some cases the stars have to align just right and there are many weeks where there aren’t two good examples in the price range – but today there just happen to be two very comparable examples to look at. Similar mileage, similar colors and similar power and drive mean that these two are still competing with buyers as they were when new. However, it’s there where the two cars seem to point towards the very different philosophies and character of their respective parent companies. Let’s then in the waning days of a summer gone by at two special and quite reasonably priced convertible sports cars:
“Poor Man’s Porsche”; while it’s a moniker usually attached to the 924 series, the reality is these days it applies to everything outside of the 911. The surge in 911 prices has been so great, that it has also pulled other lesser alternatives to the 911 up as well – try to get into a clean 912 and you’ll be surprised by the price. Even the lowly, forgotten 914 is in the mid teens for a really clean example of a flat-4 model up towards $100,000 for original 914-6 models. So does this mean you need 6-figures to be a true Porsche enthusiast? I don’t believe that’s the case – I think there are a plethora of great options at or around $10,000, so I’ve lined up an assortment. Which do you think is most worthy of wearing the crest of Stuttgart?
If you’re at all like me, you look at a lot of internet car advertisements. One of my favorite subset hobbies is then looking for ridiculous claims within those ads – “Only one ever made”, “One of a kind”, “Fastest car in the world” – you know the gig. They’re always good for a chuckle and make you wonder just what the seller was thinking. Sometimes, though, those ads show a general lack of knowledge about the vehicle in question; for example, listing any BMW as having a “V6” or all older Audis as “quattro” models. So you can imagine my delight when I ran across today’s 2000 Boxster S – typical Ebay auction-house seller photos and no extensive description, but there in the title in bold letter all caps was “TURBO”. “Ha!”, I thought, “Gotcha!” as I scrolled down the page to confirm my suspicion that this seller knew little to nothing in comparison to my vast unassailable automotive knowledge. But halfway though the photos I came across an image of the the rear spoiler deployed with the words “Turbo Kraft” stenciled on. Hmm, still not proof of a turbo, just poor taste. It was a little further down that I was both disappointed to be wrong and excited to see the image of a shiny turbo sitting in the engine bay. So take a look at something you’re probably not familiar with – the turbocharged Boxster S:
Arguably, I haven’t been very kind to the cars I’ve dubbed “The Three Hairdressers”. Perhaps I haven’t been fair; each has its merits, each has…
