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With a winter storm heading into the Northeast this evening, I thought it would be nice to end the day with a bit of sunshine and thoughts of warmer temperatures. Enter this 1987 Porsche 944. In the rest of the world, the color of this car was “Lemon Yellow”. But, of course, launching a car in the United States with any hint of the word “Lemon” would result in sales about as good as the urban legend of the Chevrolet Nova (“Doesn’t Go”) in Mexico. So, Porsche called the color “Summer Yellow” here. It was reportedly available only in 1987, which is verified by at least one site. And, at least in my eyes, it looks lovely and is a nice departure from the usual black, red, and silver these sporty coupes appeared in:
I recently read an article on Hagerty’s site which indicated that they were expecting values on some of the German performance cars from the 1980s to continue to increase in value. Certainly, we’ve seen this first hand from the explosion of values in the 911 and M3 market through the continuing appreciation of models like the M5, M6, Quattro and GTi. In the middle of all of those vehicles lies the no longer secret 944 Turbo. Faster than most of the equivalent competition yet comfortable, relatively easy to maintain and economical, the 944 Turbo has long been considered a massive value on the used market. For about 1/3 of the investment even a average Quattro or M3, you get the best performance, a still fairly modern looking interior and classic lines outside. But days of affordability in the 951 market appear to be numbered, as Hagerty has recorded sharply increasing values in the Turbo lineup. While condition 3 and 4 cars – the most common – have been slowly increasing, there’s been a Alp-esque rise to the best examples. Condition 2 cars now peak at around $18,000 – about double what they were 3 years ago. Move to the best condition examples, and you’re looking at a projected market price in excess of $30,000. That’s for the early cars, too – keep in mind, if you move to the later “S” or 1989 models, add a few thousand to the value right off the bat. But not everyone needs a show car, and the 944 Turbo remains a fantastic value as a classic driver if you look for an unmolested and clean example:
The “Honorable Mention” post from last week seemed to be a popular choice, so I’m back this week with another selection of cars we didn’t get a chance to get to. We’ve got one from each major manufacturer this time around which makes for an interesting and diverse group. Which is the one that deserved a better look this time around?
The Porsche 924 represents some of the best aspects of automobile enthusiasts, while simultaneously embodying two distinct and very different decades. From the 1970s comes the upright, modernist and simple dashboard, but while it nods to the decade that bore it, the exterior is immediately identifiable as the 1980s signature silhouette with a low-slung, long hood, pronounced bumpers and flip-up headlights. Quite a few cars in the late 1970s and 1980s attempted to mimic the design of the 924, including the notable RX-7 and you could even argue the 280/300ZX. You can even see influence of the groundbreaking 924 design in the Miata of the late 1980s as well as such modern GT cars at the AMG GT-S. For enthusiasts, though, it was the near perfect weight distribution, the torquey inline-4, the manual gearbox and the all-important Porsche badge of engineering and build quality that led to the 924 being a hit. It didn’t hurt that it was the most affordable Porsche, either, and arguably still is so today. I’ve rounded up a group of 3 distinct and neat 924S models from late in the run to see which offers the most bang for your buck:
The last few transaxles I’ve looked at have been a bit eclectic; the 944S was a well priced, good looking driver candidate, but the Turbo S and 924S were both high dollar, ultra-low mileage examples. Is there still a mid-ground? Absolutely, because if you’re willing to look just north of the asking price of many of the normally aspirated models from the 1980s, you can look at the lovely and high performance version of the breed, the 944 Turbo. Introduced in 1986 and upgraded virtually every year, each Turbo model has impressive driving dynamics, are capable of triple digit cruising and are capable and reasonable reliable exotics. Today’s example is presented in more rare to find Nougat Brown with brown Porsche Script interior:
