RM Sotheby’s has added more Porsche content to its rescheduled 2020 Essen Techno Classica auction on June 24-27. The catalogue now totals 215 lots, including twenty-nine Porsche cars: nine 356s, one 914, two 912s, seventeen 911s and a 904. There is also a Spider replica with 1600cc Beetle running gear.
The 911s include seven impact bumper models, dating from a 1974 2.7-litre Coupe to a 1988 911 Turbo. All merit closer inspection.
Finished in Light Yellow with red leather trim, chassis number 9114102746 is a 1974 911 Coupe said to be in largely original condition throughout. Described by the auctioneers as ‘immaculate’, it has had a repaint in its original colour, and is accompanied for sale by a toolkit, space-saver spare wheel, owner’s manuals, and correct period radio.
The newest G-model 911 in the current catalogue is chassis number WP0ZZZ93ZJS000080: a 1988 911 Turbo. Showing just under 117k kilometres, the late four-speed LHD 930 is finished in Marine Blue with special order light grey trim. The driver’s seat is heated and this car also has a sunroof.
Two 3-litre 911s are offered: a 1977 Carrera 3.0 Coupe previously shared on Ferdinand and a 1981 Porsche 911 SC Targa. Finished in Platinum Beige Metallic over Black Pascha trim and riding on 15″ Fuchs, the SC Targa showing 120k kms is said to be unrestored and will lay down an interesting marker. The photos show several points to a trained eye but the car is handsome nonetheless.
Finally for the impact-bumper cars, a 1984 3.2 Coupe in Grand Prix White with Burgundy trim The seats are showing the usual seam splits and the original wheel is missing, which sort of makes me wonder what else is up with it. All air-cooled 911s including early 3.2s like to wear valve guides and piston rings, so it would be good to see a mention of a previous top end rebuild to the engine.
There are ten more 911s entered in the sale. A total of eight 911s are up without reserve and I look forward to seeing their final prices. June will come up quickly after lockdown and it will be interesting to see whether any pent-up demand has accrued for cars of this era, or whether people will wait to see how the second half of the year shakes out economically.
Despite the doom and gloom one reads in the news, there is a quite bit of business going on behind the scenes during lockdown. I wouldn’t be too hasty to pronounce things dead as yet.
Porsche Cars North America (PCNA) and RM Sotheby’s have teamed up for an interesting charity auction with a money-can’t-buy delivery package appealling to Porsche enthusiasts. The auction’s only entry is the last-ever 991 generation 911 made: a unique Porsche 911 Speedster, one of 1,948 examples created to mark seventy years of Porsche sports cars.
The one-week auction will be held via RM Sotheby’s online auction platform to meet social distancing guidelines without delaying the charitable fundraiser. The winning bid (excluding taxes and fees), will be donated to United Way Worldwide’s COVID-19 Community Response and Recovery Fund.
Porsche Design is supporting the auction with the creation of a bespoke 911 Speedster Heritage Design Chronograph. The watch incorporates the vehicle’s historic design features, including a strap made in the exact same cognac leather from the Speedster’s interior and a silver winding rotor that mirrors the car’s unique wheels. Made in Switzerland, exclusively for 911 Speedster customers, the limited-edition timepiece with flyback function will feature the chassis number of the final 991 generation 911, making it unique.
In addition, the winning bidder and a guest will be invited to take a personal, behind-the-scenes tour of the Porsche AG Weissach development headquarters – including experiencing the test track – with Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser and Andreas Preuninger, heads of the 911 and GT model lines respectively. The car will also be accompanied by a one-off book illustrating the assembly and completion of the last 991, including photographs and an original sketch by the Speedster design team. Finally, the handover of the vehicle will be hosted by Klaus Zellmer, President and CEO of PCNA at a dedicated event in North America.
“Not only does this mark the end of what, for me, was a special era but it’s especially rewarding that the last car to reach the end of the line should be the ultimate,” said Dr. Frank-Steffen Walliser. “The Speedster combined everything we learned and is the 991 in its purest form. I hope this unique car can make a big difference to those who need help right now, and that the fortunate buyer enjoys it and drives it as we always intended.”
“We’re proud to support Porsche with this initiative, recognising the urgent need to raise as much money as possible for those most affected by COVID-19,” said Kenneth Ahn, RM Sotheby’s President. “This is a truly unique and unheard of offering for extraordinary times – not just the car itself as the last ever seventh-generation 911 ever to roll down the line, but all auction items including the exclusive Porsche Design 911 Speedster Heritage Design Chronograph as well as the chance to experience an exclusive behind-the-scenes visit to the home of Porsche with the two engineers who lead the creation of modern era 911s.
“Finished in GT Silver Metallic paint, the 911 Speedster remains unregistered, having covered just 20 delivery miles. It’s powered by a 4-litre, 500 horsepower naturally aspirated flat six engine with a six-speed manual gearbox. The auction Speedster features the Heritage Design package and was built in Stuttgart last December.
The last remaining 911 Speedsters are now in transit to owners around the world, but there can be only one final car and this specific Speedster is the last of the 911’s seventh generation. It comes with a letter of authenticity from Porsche confirming that its chassis number is the last off the 991 production line.
The auction opens for bidding via RM Sotheby’s Online Only platform at 11:00 am EDT on Wednesday 15 April, closing at 1:00 pm EDT on Wednesday 22 April. The 911 Speedster is offered without reserve, selling to the highest bidder. Potential bidders can find more information on the unique package being offered and the registration process at https://rmsothebys.com/en/auctions/0020.
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The wettest November on record came in 1852. After heavy rain through summer and autumn, records show that things reached disastrous levels in November, when large parts of the country ended up underwater. Even Queen Victoria noted in her diary that half of Windsor was submerged.
The rainfall in November 2019 is so far shaping up to beat the record set 167 years ago, so no wonder that Dario Franchitti’s Porsche 964 Speedster has popped up for sale through Bonhams in their RAF Museum sale in London on November 21st.
Dario picked up this Speedster in 2010 while driving for Ganassi and shipped it back to the UK when he moved home to Scotland in 2014. The four-time IndyCar champ was the third owner of the Guards Red Speedster after its delivery to the original buyer in February 1994.
I’m by no means an expert on the Franchitti collection, but he and I did discuss his Porsche fleet in a chat at Tuthills a few months ago. The main topic of conversation was the surprise restoration of his dad’s original 930, presented as a surprise after the return to Scotland. That was a very cool story.
While Dario has a thing for red cars, and the Speedster is certainly red with a capital R, a Speedster may not instantly strike you as an obvious Franchitti choice, but a manual 964 Speedster is good fun to drive. Dario previously shipped the car from his US base in Tennessee to California, for a 2k-mile road trip up and down PCH1.
“The fact that it was a convertible was good in California,” Dario told Motor Trend. “I did about 2,000 miles in a couple of weeks, so that was quite good fun. I drove it down to L.A. and up to San Francisco a couple of times while based at the Monterey Historics.”
I drove those roads through the redwoods in my Pacific Blue 911 SC and for sure they’d be fun in a Speedster. My 964 Speedster drives have all been ace and the 17″ Cup wheels, factory limited slip differential and the RS buckets fitted to this one just up the attraction. MOT history shows the 964 has only done a few hundred miles a year since coming back to the UK. A quick look online also shows that the car has previously been offered for sale, with no takers.
Chassis number WP0CB2965RS465353 appeared in the catalogue for the September Silverstone Auctions sale at our local polo club. Low estimate was a sensible £125k but the car failed to find a buyer. At least Silverstone’s pictures (seen here) showed more of an effort than Bonhams. It has also apparently been offered at supercar dealer, Joe Macari in London with no joy. So now it is heading off to another auction.
Some friends of mine once lived in a very posh squat around the corner from the RAF Museum. Hendon in a soaking wet November doesn’t strike me as the sort of place one would predict a Speedster to sell well. Personally I would book it for the auction they hold at Monaco Historic GP every May and watch it romp off amongst fellow race drivers and – HELLO – some good old-fashioned SUNSHINE. Easy sales are all about timing.
PS: note the good reg plate on this car: 111 XRF. I would take that off before the auction. It will not add a cent to the price for an overseas buyer (good odds) and is too cool to give away. Sell the car to a Euro buyer in Monaco and keep the plate for something else. Always, always, always take plates off unless they are of historic significance to the chassis.
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Two red Porsche 911s caught my eye in the catalogue for the upcoming Aguttes sale in Lyon, France on November 9th. Values for both models soared when the Porsche market exploded but, as Orwell said, some pigs are more equal than others. Their potential selling prices are poles apart.
1966 Porsche 911 2-litre
Estimated at €180-200,000, this Polo Red SWB Porsche 911 – chassis number 304392 – was supplied through Sweden in May 1966 to a racer from Trollhättan. Built with triple Weber carburettors instead of the usual Solex, it lived in Sweden right up to the turn of the century, until it turned up in Germany.
Porsche 911 2.0 auction – photo by Aguttes
The car then sold to a museum in Austria and, when that closed, it passed through keepers in Switzerland and on to Normandy in France. By this stage it needed some money spent: the 2L market was buoyant in 2014 so it was fully repainted in the factory colour and restored to period spec.
Prettied up, it sold to another French collector and was sent to the racing mechanic, Pierre Modas, for an engine and transmission rebuild. Porsche dealers changed a few other bits and in total over €30,000 was spent on the mechanical restoration. The same work in the UK would probably cost a bit more, which perhaps suggests there was not much to do at the start or there may be a bit more to do now. Webers take less restoration than Solex, for sure.
1966 Porsche 911 2.0 interior – photo by Aguttes
The auctioneers claim this is an authentic example, but who can know without inspecting. A lot of 2-litres passed through various specialists while the market was freaking out and some work is better than others. The history is certainly interesting: particularly the Swedish angle.
1976 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 at auction
The other car in the catalogue that caught my eye was a 1976 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 Coupe. Estimated at €45-65,000, chassis number 9116600485 is a matching numbers example, first supplied by Dieteren in Belgium, that has been refinished in Guards Red/Indian Red from its original grey.
1976 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 – photo by Aguttes
Restoration or replacement of bits including half-floors, front crossmember (likely front pan) and the bumper mounts suggest the car was used well from new, or perhaps even caught a bit of damage somewhere, so the speedo reading of fairly low kms for the year may not be verifiable.
It has also had a new fuel tank (pretty standard for impact bumper cars of this era) and the suspension, brakes and steering have apparently been refurbished. The gearbox is also said to have been overhauled, though there is no mention of the engine or K-Jet being stripped. The car comes with bills for over €40k and plenty of photos for bidders to check.
1976 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 interior – photo by Aguttes
Owned by the current owner since 2010, this car was entered in the Hotel de Ventes sale at Monaco in July 2017 with an estimate of €60-80k at the time. It failed to sell for whatever reason and so returns to the sale rooms with a lower price tag attached. The drop of €15k on low estimate is where I see the market for a nice C3 right now: if I owned a car like this (assuming it is all as described) and if it didn’t fetch €45k, I would probably keep it. In a market as tough as this one has been through 2019, they could have done better pics to get interest going.
Porsche Colour Change vs Market Price
The factory colour is always what people get hooked on, but it is hard to say whether this 1976 Carrera 3.0 Coupe would offer a better sales prospect in original ‘grey’. Red is rare and looks good on early impact bumpers. The car also retains its original 5-bladed fan and has the 15″ Fuchs, which are more correct than 16s on a ’76. It’s starting pretty cheap for a C3 at €45k, so we’ll see how it goes on the day.
1976 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.0 engine – photo by Aguttes
My interest in this one is obvious – the effect of colour change on a Carrera 3.0 Coupe. My ’76 C3 was repainted in Continental Orange from the original Copper Bronze Metallic and, while I like the colour a lot, it will have to be redone at some stage. The option to refinish in the original or something completely different will therefore be mine somewhere down the road and more information may help make a ‘better’ decision.
Prices only matter when you sell and that is not something on my radar right now. Never say never, though. The clock is ticking and my kids won’t want it.
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support the blog or engage with me in other ways, you can:
RM Sotheby’s end-of-year London sale takes place this Thursday at Olympia in Kensington. Fifteen Porsche cars are amongst the lots on offer and half of those cars are being sold without reserve. Here’s a look at three of the no-reserve Porsches that caught my eye.
1965 Porsche 356C LHD Coupe – estimate £50-60k
Chassis number 221132 is a Porsche 356 C 1600 Coupe. Finished in Light Ivory, Sotheby’s website doesn’t offer too many clues, but the car had previously sold at Goodwood Revival in 2008, so I dug out those details.
This ‘65 C Coupe began its life in California, where it was sold to a policeman from El Cerrito. In 1971, it passed from one policeman to another and stayed with him until it sold to the third owner in 1996. The third owner brought the car to the UK and kept it until 2008. It is offered for sale by the fourth owner.
The history includes an engine rebuild with 1700cc barrel and piston set at 112k miles, a transmission overhaul at 114k miles and a bare metal respray in its original colour, which was carried out in the UK. MOT history shows that the car has not been MOT’d since 2008, when it passed with a list of advisories including oil leaks and split CV boots. Interested parties should therefore proceed with caution, but a potentially solid 356C with sensible ownership since new and sold no reserve is worth a second look.
Porsche 911 Turbo Cabriolet – estimate £80-130k
Chassis number WP0ZZZ93ZJS020221 is a 1988 Porsche 930 Cabriolet with two owners from new. Presented in Diamond Blue Metallic with Cashmere Beige leather trim, the odometer shows 26k miles but, as Sotheby’s description doesn’t mention the mileage, assume it’s unwarranted.
I put this four-speed Turbo Cab on my watch list, not because it is a great example of the breed, but because 930 prices are an important benchmark for air-cooled 911s and the market has been a bit shaky.
The 930 had the highest cost new in period and open sale prices for these cars highlight real-time premiums for turbocharged vs normally aspirated 911s. The 930 market has been under pressure since the high water line of 2015, so this unrestored car in an elegant colour mix offered with no reserve will lay down a useful data point.
1992 LHD Porsche 968 Club Sport ex-factory press car – estimate £35-50k
The car I am most keen to follow is chassis number WP0ZZZ96ZPS815075: a left-hand drive 1992 Porsche 986 Club Sport in Speed Yellow. This 968 has a super interesting history that was recently shared in 911 & Porsche World magazine. The auction entry may have been encouraged by enthusiasm around the piece and that enthusiasm could be rewarded on Thursday.
Detective work by the current owner with assistance from the Porsche archive revealed that this 968 Club Sport was the factory press car used in several notable articles on the model. Walter Röhrl drove the car in a four-way road test printed in Auto Zeitung and called it ‘the best handling car that Porsche makes’. The history is very well documented and includes several Porsche factory service stamps, a top-end rebuild, clutch and flywheel at Parr and a huge list of work carried out by its current custodian over almost two decades.
I have a side interest in cars like this one that passed through the hands of well known racer and dealer, Nick Faure, as my early 944 Lux is one of those cars. Faure is a true devotee of the transaxle Porsches and those who love these cars tend to love them for life. I adore the 924, 944 and 968 models and there can’t be too many 968 Club Sports with such enjoyable provenance.
The light blue 930 has a fairly bullish estimate at £80-130k given the condition seen in the photos, while this apparently perfect 968 Club Sport at £35-50k feels relatively conservative in comparison. I suspect it may do slightly better: everything depends on who’s in the room when the cars come over the block in Kensington and whether there’s any hangover from the Type 64 debacle in Monterey. I would love to be there in person, but the dentist is calling…
Pics by Tom Gidden, Dirk de Jager and Adam Warner for RM Sotheby’s
Ferdinand blogs my freelance adventure with Porsche at the centre. To support this blog or to engage with me in other ways, you can:
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