Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
I’ve been scanning the ads lately for good examples of the car many of us began our love affair with German vehicles, the Volkswagen Beetle. We saw a nice 1962 Beetle Cabriolet last week that was lightly modified. This week we have come across a 1963 Beetle in Virginia that is all original. Purchased new in Florida, this car had but one owner until recently and comes with lots of documentation to add to its provenance.
The Porsche 911 is a favorite when it comes to Motorsports Monday features. There are plenty of examples out there which have been race prepped by amateurs and professional race teams alike, along with some rather valuable factory built examples. They are a very versatile vehicle to go racing with, having seen action in everything from IROC to the rally circuit. This 1971 911E for sale in Atlanta has seen race action on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. It ran in the 24 Hours of Nürburgring in the late 1980s and was subsequently imported to the US and raced by John Forbes and the crew at Black Forest Racing.
We have talked a bit in these pages about the relative value of the mid-year 911. Even while values have increased over the past year that value judgement still remains. These are still much cheaper than the long-hood 911 and in some cases can even be had for less than the model that followed, the 911SC. The model we see here, however, is somewhat of an exception to the rule, though it still comes in below the long-hood models that were its predecessor. Here we have a Grand Prix White 1974 Porsche 911 Carrera 2.7 Coupe, located in California. While these resemble the highly sought after European Carrera 2.7 MFI Coupe they are not the same mechanically, with the MFI boasting more power and lighter weight. But those come at three times the price.
I remarked in an earlier post on the 993TT that the 930, especially the early 3.0 liter examples, remains my favorite of the 911 Turbos. As pretty as the 993 design might be, there is a way in which that beauty goes against the audacity of the 911 Turbo itself. It lacks some of the aggression of the original and for that the original will always remain my favorite. To be fair, there is likely a large degree of nostalgia at work here as the 930 was the Turbo of my childhood and as such will always have a stronger hold on my psyche than other models. So when I came across this one, a Meteor Metallic 1986 Porsche 930 Coupe, located in New Jersey, I figured I had to feature it. 1986 was the first year the 930 returned to the US market and for that we can all be thankful. This particular example shows very reasonable mileage at 50,489 and has a fantastic Burgundy leather interior.
The two-door estate, or shooting brake, as it is sometimes referred to, is a bit of a dying breed in the automotive realm. MINI revived the concept a bit with the Clubman based on their second generation platform. Technically, this was a five-door vehicle, but it was essentially a two-door vehicle with a third door for rear egress and two dutch doors for the tailgate. Volkswagen has dabbled in this breed as well, most recently with the Fox, a variant of the Brazilian market Gol brought to the US in the late 1980s. It wasn’t a huge seller, being pulled from the market after a few short years and two years before the Fox disappeared altogether. You could almost consider the car you see here, the Brasilia, as that car’s ancestor.
The Brasilia was developed by Volkswagen do Brasil as a larger, more luxurious alternative to the Beetle, with some being built in Mexico, like the car we see here for sale in the state of Jalisco in Mexico. This car was never sold new in the United States, but a few have appeared in enthusiast circles north of the Mexican border, serving as a curious and slightly more up to date version of the Type 3 Squareback.
