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Naturally we feature Porsche’s 3.2 Carrera pretty frequently on these pages as it tends to provide one of the best mixes of value, performance, and style within the 911 catalog. It so happens that at the moment there are a few examples that are all broadly similar so it seemed as good a time as any to feature them all at the same time. These examples don’t necessarily represent the best values on the 911 market as each is low mileage – though not ultra-low – but they all come in some of the less standard colors and show in very good condition, so while the prices may be higher there is promise to be found in each one. We will begin with the one that is the rarest color combination: a Moss Green Metallic 1986 Porsche 911 Carrera Coupe, located in California, with Brown leather interior and 54,000 miles on it.
I’m going to step back from the world of ultimate performance 911s to bask in the beauty of a vintage Porsche. While there certainly existed performance variants of the 356 back in its day, by modern standards performance is very much beside the point when having a look at one of these cars. They’re very lightweight – I was struck by just how small a 911T appeared relative to the cars around it when I encountered one on the street this past weekend – and there is very little separating driver from machine to dull communication between them, but fewer than 100 horses is just that and modern suspension engineering is another world entirely. Yet, when I see a 356, which I think has only happened twice that I can remember, I’m just as struck by how different they look and how elegant they can be. Many vintage automobiles possess a similar stature and it is the nostalgia for these designs that drives many to seek them out. The example here isn’t entirely original – it’s engine is a period correct unit from the 912 – but it comes in an extremely subtle, but still very pretty, Dolphin Grey and comes from very near the end of 356 production. Here we have a 1964 Porsche 356C SC Karmann Coupe, located in California, with what sounds like around 120K miles on it (the seller assumes the odometer has turned over, but doesn’t have verification).
There are always a few cars that I come across that immediately I know I will have to feature. As long as the basics of the car check out there’s typically enough to make it worthwhile and I begin to shift schedules and see where we can slot it in. This is just such a car: a Viper Green Metallic 1980 Porsche 911SC Targa, located in Massachusetts, with around 93K miles on it. As should be apparent, the allure here lies almost entirely in the color. I love a 911SC Targa in good shape and feature many of them, but I also pass by many of them. Viper Green does not get passed by. It’s such a rarely seen color on any 911 and a desirable color. Those familiar with the color will notice that this metallic variant differs quite a bit from the slightly darker, non-metallic, Viper Green that was available in the early ’70s. Both variants have points in their favor, but I prefer a metallic green so tend to lean toward this shade. I have commented before how I think green 911s tend to be under-appreciated. There is a caveat to that statement: it is typically the darker metallic greens that drift along unnoticed by many. Viper Green, and most any other pastel green Porsche has offered, rarely suffers such a fate and I don’t expect this 911SC to be any different. As the seller notes, this is by no means a conservative color, but what better way to have your classic 911 anyway?
This makes for a few days in a row of very expensive 911s, but I wanted to throw this one out there as another alternative to yesterday’s GT3 RS 4.0 for those shopping in these high-priced waters. The asking price here is another step up from the RS and a Turbo S is aimed directly at collectors, but just as the GT3 RS 4.0 looks like the last manual GT3 RS, the 993 Turbo S stands as the last air-cooled Turbo. While these days the Turbo S seems an almost ubiquitous part of the 911 lineup, this was not always the case and the early examples of these models have been very highly prized. Whether in the guise of the extremely rare variants of the 964 Turbo or the still rare 993 Turbo we see here, the Turbo S raised Porsche’s ethos of performance and luxury to the nth degree. For the 993 the combination of twin-turbocharging and all-wheel drive also raised the bar for usability. The rear-drive monster was now somewhat tamed, or put more charitably the Turbo was now more exploitable for the everyday driver. Here we have the classic combination of Black and Tan on a 1997 Porsche 911 Turbo S, located in Cleveland, with just 9,307 miles on it. While not as absolutely eye-catching as some other examples we’ve featured, there is a classic look to this black Turbo that certainly will strike broad appeal.
With the current iteration of Porsche’s 911 GT3 RS now having been on the streets for nearly a year why not take another look at its predecessor and, in some ways, most natural competitor, the 997 GT3 RS 4.0. Released right at the end of 997 production, the GT3 RS 4.0 appeared to extract every possible ounce of power from the usable space of the 997. It’s a tried-and-true formula of stuffing the largest engine into the smallest space and then keeping weight to a minimum. But for some the real comparison comes not in the design or the performance, though both are very important, but rather in the piloting. The GT3 RS 4.0 appears to be the last of the breed that will come with a fully manual transmission, with the current – and presumably all future – generations of the model all coming equipped standard with PDK. This is a distinction that may largely be of concern to collectors as the last manual GT3 RS should be a prized commodity over time, but I’m sure there are some who simply desire the ability to row their own gears. The GT3 RS 4.0 we see here may be aimed more squarely at that crowd as it shows with a few more miles than is typical with these machines, and as such has a somewhat lower price tag relative to lower-mileage examples we’ve come across. For those searching for that money-no-object toy the GT3 RS 4.0 ticks just about every box.
