Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
The very rare and very head-turning 1955 Porsche 356 Pre-A 1500 Continental Cabriolet that we featured back in October has come back up for sale again as a reserve auction. This car was featured in a recent issue of Excellence Magazine so perhaps the seller hopes to capitalize upon that exposure in the search for a new owner of this lovely machine. This is, without question, the most striking 356 we’ve ever come across as well as a unique piece of Porsche history.
As a brand new Porsche 911 passed me by the other day, I thought to myself “my this car got fat.” Sure, the new 911 is a perfectly capable and desirable sports car which is (thankfully) still offered with a manual gearbox. Years before the 911, Porsche introduced the Speedster moniker on the 356, a lower cost, simpler option for those seeking drop top thrills. The Speedster name would carry on through several iterations of the 911, up to the latest example we see here, the 997-based 911 Speedster. While many of the 997 Speedsters you see are painted in Pure Blue, this 911 Speedster for sale in Connecticut wears the more classic Carrera White.
Debuting at the end of the 1990s, the BMW Z8 arrived during a time when carmakers were exploring the retro styling theme, such as Volkswagen with their New Beetle and Ford with their revived Thunderbird. The Z8 was meant to harken back to the 1950s during the heyday of the 507, a limited production V8 roadster that made an impact with its dramatic styling. Fast forward to 1999 and the Z8 arrived with a V8, this time shared with the E39 M5. The engine was placed aft of the front axle for optimum weight distribution. One innovation the car employed was neon lighting for its tail lamps and turn signals. This was perhaps an answer to what modern day LED lighting can offer. Most Z8s you come across are silver, but this Topaz Blue over red leather example is a real eye-catching combination.
As we begin to close out Convertible Week here at GCFSB, let’s take a look at an example from the very first year of the 911 Cabriolet. Porsche had experimented with an open-top 911 far earlier with the release of the Soft-window Targa. Those models allowed for both an open top and open rear window while integrating a fixed rollhoop. I’ve never thought the design looked right and, I guess unsurprisingly, the Soft-window Targa eventually gave way to the hard-window Targa with which we are all very familiar. For a number of years that was it. Due to their concerns over safety regulations rendering the full convertible obsolete, Porsche never committed to making a true Cabriolet until the 911SC was ending its model run, more than 15 years after they first introduced the Soft-window Targa. That makes those first Cabriolets somewhat special as not only were they the first 911 Cabriolet to be produced, but they also happen to be the only year they were produced as a 911SC. That second point holds less weight with most people, but for someone who might have a preference for the SC over the 3.2 Carrera, options for open-top motoring dwindle quite quickly. The example we see here, an Indischrot 1983 Porsche 911SC Cabriolet, located in California, with 45,205 miles on it appears aimed at the collector crowd (at least based on how it’s been priced), though for someone who might want to spend a bit of time driving their Cabriolet there is enough mileage here to retain much of the long-term value even with some additional mileage each year.
Perhaps it was reasonable planning that Mercedes-Benz would only offer the R107 SL in the US market with a V8. After all, production of this vehicle spanned a period where horsepower was down due to increasing emissions regulations. Thus, for almost 20 years, customers stateside were deprived of a six-cylinder SL. However, for 1986, a storied moniker reappeared: 300SL. This version of the R107 had the M103 single overhead cam inline-6 that we saw in numerous E and S-class models in the US. Weighing less than the 5.6 liter V8 had its advantages and proved to be a great pairing for this roadster. We’ve seen a good amount of 300SLs make their way stateside now that all of them produced are over 25 years old. This example for sale in California has lived much of its life here, being imported at a time when entry of gray market vehicles wasn’t as stringently regulated.
