Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
When it comes to the argument of which Porsche 911 is the king of the hill, you won’t see me dismiss the 997 GT3 RS 4.0. Porsche and the GT team basically did everything they could to crank 500 horsepower out of a flat-six squeezed in the back of the 997. At the time, this was supposed to be the last GT car with a true six-speed manual. So when these dropped, all 600 were jumped on like wild dogs on meat. Now ten years later, double the MSRP and you can take one home. Fair deal?
Where have you gone, 911 R? In terms of value, of course. The most heavily speculated Porsche 911 in a long time had a wild ride of instant value rise up to $600,000 and sometimes $700,000, only for it to crash and burn after Porsche announced a GT3 Touring with a 6-speed manual. Suddenly, we were seeing sale prices on 500-mile cars for only $35,000 over sticker, not $350,000. Still, there are few enough 911 R examples out there that dealers can collude to keep prices high, until a private owner needs money and decides making $50,000 for doing nothing is good enough. Today’s example, a car with 2,000 miles up for sale in Florida, still has a giant asking price.
Fresh off last week’s red car, I bumped into another car that just happened to be a much different shade of red. This 2015 Porsche 911 GT3 is finished in paint-to-sample Arena Red, which technically is a custom color on the 991 GT3, but this isn’t this first time we’ve seen it on a 911. Arena Red was the launch color of the 993 Turbo and featured on the ironic Kills Bugs Fast poster that we all probably had a chuckle over when remembering it. It isn’t a historic color like some of the other paint-to-sample options we’ve seen, but actually more modern as it launched in 1995 on the already mentioned 993, as well as the Boxster and very early 996 cars. Does it fit well on the 991 GT3?
Last week I took a look at a very rare Porsche 911 Speedster that seemed to have a little bit of a color crisis. Seriously, after we posted the car the dealer literally altered the color of the car. That car now looks like Voodoo Blue, and I am not sure why. Either way, its not a good look for an official Porsche dealer to be altering or photoshopping the colors of cars for sale. Wanting to wash my hands from all this, I’d thought I’d check out another 991.2 that we actually know what the color is.
This 2019 GT3 Touring up for sale in Australia is painted in a classic 356 color called Meissen Blue. Judging by my fantastic Googling, this isn’t the first time someone has selected paint-to-sample Meissen Blue on a modern 911 or even a 991 GT3. I think the color is wonderful, and apparently do a lot of other people who earn significantly more than I do. Outside of this fantastic paint color, this is a GT3 Touring after all which means a bunch of other custom options that costs a bunch of money.
Production of the Porsche 991 chassis has wrapped up and oh boy did it go out with a bang. Continuing on the tradition of the Speedster body style, lots were left wondering how Porsche was going to make the Speedster “work”, so to speak, as the rear end of the GT3 is quite girthy. That meant making a giant clam shell to hide a little fabric roof and all make it work flawlessly, while not ruining the design of the 991 completely. What do you know, but the engineers at Porsche pulled it, just like they always seem to do.
Just to sum it up, the 991 Speedster is basically a GT3 Touring with a raked windshield and the already mentioned carbon fiber clam shell to house a soft top. Just 1,948 examples were produced for worldwide consumption, with most all of them being offered to significant Porsche customers, who not only buy everything that is graciously offered to them, but also buy and lease models that need moved off the lot. The majority of these Speedsters never saw the lights of the showroom floor and were directly deposited right into the garages of collectors, but one of two of them with delivery miles are being advertised to the general public. This example up for sale in Los Angeles is finished in the amazing PTS blue (more on that after the break) and has a bunch of other special little treats. The price? Brace for impact.
