Enthusiasts Blogging Our Favorite Classifieds
A few weeks ago I stumbled across a 1980 Porsche 930 Turbo in one of my favorite paint-to-sample colors – Viola Metallic. It’s deep enough that it certainly looks like a special color and can blend in when needed without being so purple that it looks like Barney the Dinosaur driving down the road. Turns out I’m not alone as people are still dishing out large amounts of money to paint it on the current generation 911. And what better model than the GT3 Touring?
One of the hottest cars since its launch earlier this year has been no real surprise. The new Porsche 911 GT3 Touring has outrageous demand – so much so that some dealers are charging up to $75,000 in “market adjustment” and the used market is asking over six figures on top of the MSRP if you can find one. Getting an allocation is basically a winning lottery ticket although if you flip it as soon as you take delivery, good luck ever getting the call again for one of these.
Today, we have a basically new example with just 112 miles in a fairly tame spec on the outside. It’s plain black with silver wheels and black brake calipers. Although once you peek inside, it gets awfully bright.
Last week I was listing to an interview with everyone’s favorite comedian and 1990s sitcom star known to be a massive Porsche collector, and he was asked what his favorite modern 911 was. The person asking the question assumed it was the 911 GT3 RS 4.0. I too assumed that, but his answer was actually the 2016 911 R. A worthy choice for sure, but I do wonder if his answer was because he was rumored to have pitched the idea to Grant Larson, who then took it to the Porsche board. Nothing was ever officially confirmed and I’m sure Porsche will never admit it either, but still a fun tidbit on what is continuing to be very desirable car. Just 991 examples were ever produced, and it seems like handful of them trading publicly every year. Their values? A rollercoaster to say the least.
Today, we have an example in one of the launch colors with just 2,300 miles on the odometer. The price? It’s up there.
BMW’s second generation M5 followed the same recipe as the outgoing E28; manual transmission, rear-drive, howling inline-6 under the hood. But the E34 was far from a copy of the car that was really credited with being the first super sedan. BMW upped with power first with the 3.6 liter version of the S38; though the increase in displacement was a scant 82 ccs, the result was impressive. BMW Motorsport GmbH fit a new cam, a higher compression head, and a new engine management system to yield 311 horsepower at a rev-busting 6,900 rpms. They weren’t done.
In 1992 M upped the capacity again, this time to just 5 cc shy of 3.8 liters. Even higher compression, a further revision in electronic management, and a few other odds and ends now netted 340 horsepower and 300 lb-ft of torque. Again, they weren’t done. Perhaps tired of Audi cornering the go-fast-5-door market with their 200 20V Avant, in 1992 BMW launched the M5 Touring. Production began in March 1992 and ran through 1995. All E34 M5 Tourings were left-hand drive 3.8 models, and a total of 891 were produced.
BMW opted not to bring the enlarged motor or the M Touring model to the United States, as the 540i took over the top rungs of North American production. But now legal for importation, these rare Ms are one of the more desirable models around:
Say the words “Nogaro Blue” and you’ll perk any German car fans ears. It first showed up on the scene back with the legendary RS2 Avant as RS Blue, but was later renamed Nogaro Blue and has been a staple in the Audi lineup both as a standard color and an Audi Exclusive option you could pay for if your dealer liked you enough. Not only that, but Porsche recently started taking paint-to-sample orders with the 991 even though they literally have handfuls of nearly the same shade of blue. Still, there is bragging rights when you have the Nogaro Blue and that certainly seems to be the case with today’s car.
This 2019 Porsche 911 GT3 Touring finished in the paint-to-sample Nogaro Blue with a black leather interior and some very special CXX option Pepita seat inserts. From there you have a whole other slew of options like the Ceramic Composite brakes, an extended range fuel tank, a front axle lift system, Sport Chrono, Bose audio, and a pile of deviated stitching and extra leather. Who wouldn’t love this one? Well, what if I told you it had just 401 miles? Time to sell the house….
