by John Glynn | Sep 19, 2012 | Market & Prices, Porsche News
A press release came through from Porsche this morning, announcing the partial relocation of Boxster production to Volkswagen Osnabrück. This potentially creates a gap in residual value between Porsche-built and VW-built Boxster models.
Stuttgart has shifted as the home plant allegedly does not have sufficient capacity to cope with demand, which sounds slightly dubious to me. Perhaps it is more important to keep 911 production in Stuttgart from a heritage point of view, while the less historic Boxster and Cayman ranges can be built anywhere. I might be wrong.
The first vehicle to roll off the line was an Indian Red Porsche Boxster S. This classic Porsche colour is known as Guards Red in the UK market, but the colour code (80K) is called Indischrot/Indian Red in German.
Car manufacturers don’t think much beyond typical model change cycles when it comes to used cars, so I doubt there’s been great consideration of the effect of this change on residual value. I wonder if, in years to come, fully Porsche-built Boxsters will fetch slightly more than the part-VW ones? You can guarantee some anorak will have that in an Autotrader ad, five years from now.
by John Glynn | Sep 16, 2012 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices, Project Cars
The auction for the earliest LWB Porsche 911 just ended on eBay. Final price was £37,100. Assuming a quality Porsche restoration will cost at least £60,000, that makes the car £100k done. I’m sure whoever placed the winning bid thinks that will prove a good price in time, and I’m inclined to agree.
See below for a full copy of the eBay sales text. Here’s a screen shot of the bids from start to finish: the highest bid for most of the week was placed two days into the sale. The winning bid was placed twenty minutes from the finish.
That early bidder did well to judge the likely price so accurately – I wonder what stopped them going just that little bit higher.
The seller was my online Porsche friend, Brendan Mullan, up in Scotland. Here’s a copy of Brendan’s eBay sales text:
One of the most significant road cars in Porsche’s history
Chassis (VIN) number: 119200001 The First LWB Chassis Number
Engine number: 6290001 The First LWB Engine
Gearbox number: 2281682 Type 901/03
Build date: 28 June 1968
THE FIRST EVER PORSCHE 911E – MATCHING NUMBERS HISTORICALLY IMPORTANT 911
This is an amazing barn find story!
The car was discovered in a barn, where it had been for over 25 years, by two committed long term early 911 UK based enthusiast/owners and totally researched by us as genuine. Factory confirmed and virtually complete with unique colour combination. Probably the very first long wheel base (LWB) Porsche ever built. Totally unique.
First three owners were contemporary Porsche factory drivers of the day; Robs Lamplough, Paddy McNally and the immortal Jo Siffert. Built two months before actual LWB production began and used as a mule for six months at the factory. Converted by the factory from LHD to RHD for the first road driving owner. Personal letters from one of the first three owners confirming its early history. Unparalleled provenance.
This car has matching engine, gearbox and chassis (VIN) numbers. The very first ever LWB chassis (# 119000001) and the very first ever MFI E engine (# 620001). Confirmed as a factory Versuch (prototype) model, one of only three or four known to exist and this is the earliest LWB example. The car retains all its original Versuch tags with the factory prototype numbers along with the usual VIN plates. Documents on hand confirm its status. Contains a mix of SWB and LWB parts as would be expected in the summer of 1968 during testing of the new model. Unique original colour combination of light ivory exterior and red interior (all items present). Repainted black in the mid 1980’s but original colour still evident everywhere. Correct date stamped original parts, including four matching dated five and a half inch Fuchs wheels. All body panels except one front wing and the engine lid are original. Engine is complete from heat exchangers to air box. Gearbox original and complete. Original hydromatic front suspension has been replaced many years ago as most have. Interior in restorable condition. Uncracked SWB dash top. SWB rear lights. Seats, door panels, lower dash, carpets all in good to excellent condition. Original undamaged glass all round. Door pockets reasonable. Lovely date stamped steering wheel, stained and torn headlining. No hood badge.
As can be seen from the pictures the ducktail is obviously not original but the decklid grille fitted to it appears to be the correct one year only three bar 1969 grille. We have a very nice one year only 1969 decklid that will come with the car. The front seats shown in the pictures are also aftermarket replacements. We have the original red seats which are in restorable condition and will also come with the car. Although not shown in any of the pictures we also have the original bonnet.
This unique 911 will require total restoration: The shell is in a poor state and mechanical components will need a total renovation/rebuild. It will need a complete top to bottom nut and bolt rebuild but such an historically important car must be saved. Once this car is restored it will represent a benchmark example of the whole 911 development and in particular a watershed moment in the pre-impact bumper (longhood) programme.
We are both well-known contributors to early 911 forums. This is a private sale. We are not dealers. You can read all about the discovery of this amazing barn find 911 on our thread on DDK
The car is available for viewing and is currently located near Prestwick Airport in Scotland.
We would love this 911 to be bought and restored by an enthusiast who understands its position in Porsche history. We will be happy to assist any overseas buyer with transportation but any shipping and other charges will be the responsibility of the purchaser. We reserve the right to withdrawn this 911 at any stage as it may be sold elsewhere. Thanks for looking and good luck with your bidding.
An opportunity like this will never arise again. Car is sold as seen.
Please note that bidders with zero feedback should contact the seller directly before bidding as all bids with no feedback will be removed.
by John Glynn | Sep 7, 2012 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices
Classic Porsche simpatico, Brendan Mullan is selling his recent barn find Porsche 911 on eBay. But this is no ordinary Porsche dragged out of a barn.
Chassis number 119200001 is the first ever long wheelbase Porsche 911 built in Stuttgart. Bolted together on June 28th, 1968, I was five months old when this 911 rolled out of Zuffenhausen and under the bums of Lamplough, McNally and Jo Siffert: Porsche test drivers at the time.
The eBay description is as good as you’d expect from the Porsche enthusiasts selling this car, and the provenance is solid. More solid than the chassis itself, but rust is nothing that can’t be repaired. You can switch it back from RHD to original left while you’re at it.
What will it fetch? Who knows, but I’ve already had one phone call discussing possible sale price. It’s currently sitting pretty at £35k with 8 days left to run. I doubt it will be cheap, but what’s cheap in an ever-rising market? Interest rates are close to zero: putting (a lot of) money into this will return better than that in time. And if it sells to someone with a factory restoration team to do the work, then all the better.
by John Glynn | Aug 22, 2012 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices
A US friend just sent me a stack of pics from set up at the recent Mecum Auctions in Monterey, California, where Porsche entries fetched some record prices. I’m working on a post about the event, but I had to post this picture of a 356 straight away.
He calls it “put on your happy face”. It certainly brings mine out. Anyone else got Mecum or Monterey pics to share? Hit a brother up: mail@ferdinandmagazine.com.
![Porsche 991 gets Top JD Power Rating]()
by John Glynn | Jun 21, 2012 | Market & Prices, Porsche News
American consumer research giant, JD Power, has given top marks to the new 911 in its latest “Initial Quality Study”. The research is carried out three months into ownership, when the halo has not yet worn off and the car is clocking up beauty miles.
Porsche reports that 230 2012 model year cars were sampled, with 228 questions addressing all aspects of customer satisfaction. The new 911 took top spot in the luxury sports car category, as well as recording the lowest number of complaints in the entire survey.
It’s hard not to wonder about these surveys. After three months, you are still getting oohs and ahs from friends and colleagues, and most buyers have barely reached first-service mileage. How likely would buyers of new Porsche sports cars be to record extreme disappointment after 12 weeks of ownership? Thumbs down would hardly be a good reflection on their own ability to spend 70 grand wisely. What might they say – “bit boring, no one lets me in in traffic, sat nav seems expensive for what it actually does?” Maybe that last one was covered in the questions.
More important to new and used car buyers is how the car stands up to 12 months of use, then 24 months and 36 months. Hard to imagine 100% of 996 and early 997 buyers giving gold medals to Porsche after 24 months.
I recently spoke to a guy whose 997 needed an engine rebuild at 25,000 miles, is now up to 28,000 miles total and needs another engine. He is not taking his 911 back to the supposed specialist putting a lot of tuppences into this 53-page thread on Porsche 996 and 997 engine failures. As for my recent education on cracked 997 suspension springs – seems that is no small issue either.
Gen 2 997 seems to be holding up well (better), but always interested to keep track of emerging issues and reliability trends. Hopefully 991 can continue the Gen 2’s good work: let’s see another JD Power report on the same cars this time next year.
by John Glynn | Jun 3, 2012 | Classic Porsche Blog, Market & Prices
A few years ago, 911 & Porsche World magazine had the idea of Ultimate Porsche. Each editorial contributor would bring their Ultimate Porsche to Bruntingthorpe, for compare and contrast, and a verdict.
For me, the ultimate Porsche is the 917: no contest. 917, then 908, then the choice gets controversial: I thought maybe latest 911 Turbo. The first two made Porsche the über-brand of the 1970s: a halo it still wears now, though it hasn’t put anything like that level of personal, authentic effort in for many years. Nor can it have, as the men behind 917 and 908 were Porsche, and the family was out of management in 1972.
Not thinking of third position, I went on a hunt for a 917. I only knew of two: one was David Piper’s car (below), which Porsche World had featured in a joint thing with Octane, someone had blown up David’s gearbox on the shoot, there was a big fall-out over the pics and I would not ask the great DP to take part in a repeat fiasco. The only other English 917 I knew had just come back from Classic Le Mans. The 917 and same-stable 908 had raced hard (despite the wrong gearing in the 908) and both were apart for a post-race refresh.
So no 917.
Two cars were in my garage: my Continental Orange Carrera 3.0 Coupe, and a friend’s 964 RS (he’d asked me to sell it). I didn’t want to use my car – ‘ultimate Porsche is the one you own’ was not the way I saw it. The 964 RS had very little history but was the real thing, had been used by Walter Röhrl for Bilstein damper development and was much cheaper than what else was out there, but not one virtual tyrekicker came to see it.
I took the 964 RS to Bruntingthorpe and it made my day. The RS resolved my belief that this was the ultimate air-cooled 911, and was the journos’ road car choice on the day.
Someone brought a 997 Turbo. The latest, greatest 911 was fabulous to drive but a price tag to match, depreciation like any other and hardly maintenance-free. One day, it would be yesterday’s news. The 964 RS was up for less than £40K so was well priced and drove the best of everything there. It was only getting dearer. You could take it ten miles down the road and come back with 100 on the clock. It really was addictive. Not the one that would win Top Trumps, just my favourite.
Eventually, the owner tired of silly offers on the car and it left my care. Another friend’s 964 RS is now for sale for almost twice that price. Way beyond what I can afford but, If you’ve got the money they are worth the effort: runner-up to a 908 and 917 is a hell of a place to be.
