After a slow-ish start to 2015, no doubt the investment end of the air-cooled Porsche market is going again. High-end 964s are the latest target and the 964 Turbo in particular seems to be doing pretty well. Let me rephrase that: people have gone mental with the prices being paid for 964 Turbos.
Doing some Porsche insurance valuations this week, I got talking to one 964 Turbo owner with a few other cars in the garage who could not believe the interest in his growing Porsche fleet. Having bought a relatively low mileage car behind closed doors in mid-2014 for £150k, he was recently offered £200k for the same car. That is £50k in your hand after six months of ownership.
Still slightly dizzy from that, I then heard of a 964 Turbo that had just sold through a UK dealer for THREE HUNDRED THOUSAND ENGLISH POUNDS. Not a rare Turbo S: just a low mileage Turbo. Then yesterday I followed the sale of two as-new Turbo S models for more than half a million pounds each. That is a direct sale with no advertising.
It’s not all air-cooled in the mad world of Porsche. 996 GT2s are also being chased pretty hard, with many deals done off the radar. An 11k-mile, two owner car in black has just sold (unadvertised – directly between owner and buyer) for a substantial six-figure sum – more than I would have expected. I value the rare 997 GT2s quite highly for insurance purposes, but 996 GT2s are now chasing them hard.
I am not endorsing the prices or saying that this is the place to put your money! Nor is this a comment on the supposedly respected Porsche dealers all around the world who are still happy to take uneducated buyers for a ride. I hear about them all the time and it is not good business. These are dealers I would be happy to buy from myself, helping sellers and buyers to get what they want.
I know some of the guys buying these cars and they are true-blue enthusiasts: great people to enjoy all Porsche cars with – no airs or graces involved. It is good to know that some of these cars will get used, but scary to think of where they are now and where they might finish. Will we see many 964 Turbos being used and enjoyed through 2015?
When will the Mk1 GT3 start to go?
Seems like the deal of the decade at the mo: 1868 made, 300 odd rhds.
Has all the hallmarks of a riser, and yet they are immune to the madness!
You think? They are fetching strong money here when they come up in good condition. I am with Harris – Mk2 is a nicer car IMO.
Have read through the SC thread on Pelican. Seems the same story plays out when discussing the rise in 911s – the people who own them are the most incredulous. The Turbo and the ’64 RS all had the same nay-sayers.
.2 is a better car: brakes, gearbox etc. But the engineering qualities of a car don’t seem to factor into the values. Everyone goes mad for the g50 3.2 but for years the 964 was loped down on as an inferior car. I am not smart enough (or educated enough) to understand the mysterious forces that drive the market!
Would be fascinating to get an actuary to build an algorithm to calculate the different probabilities of price rises.