by John Glynn | Jan 11, 2015 | Classic Porsche Blog, Porsche News
Selling prices continue to climb for the best examples of air-cooled Porsche 911, and low mileage water-cooled cars. Looking at the buyers active at the top of the market, no impending disaster looms to their ability to pay the asking prices now commonplace for older Porsche cars. Add that to a burgeoning demand for one of the hottest investment spots of recent classic car sales and it’s small wonder that good cars sell quickly.
Low-mileage 997 GT3s and 996 Turbos in top class condition continue to do well. A recent 996 Turbo Tiptronic with just 21k miles (above) sold to the first person to view at £39,900: strong money for a 996 Turbo. That said, the car was exceptional and the buyer was sitting on cash, ready to go.
Sitting on cash is a situation many lucky people find themselves in at the minute, whether from bonus, downsizing a property, inheritance or just lots of hard work. Specialist UK dealers have a bundle of air-cooled rarities in their used Porsche for sale stocks, which may do the trick for investors.
My current favourite is this Porsche 993 RS Lightweight: a one-owner car just arrived from Japan with a paltry mileage on the clock. £270,000 seems about right, given where values have been in the last twelve months. Still a truckload of money, though.
I’ve never been a ’73 RS groupie, but this very nice 1973 Porsche 911 Carrera RS Touring for sale – three owners in Light Yellow and beautifully restored many years ago – for offers around the £650k mark.
I’ve set eyes on less than pristine examples with nothing like the history of this car elsewhere in the UK, where sellers insist they have turned down bids of £700k+. Not because they don’t want to sell it: they just want more money. I could say that is pushing it, but then I’m not sitting on a proper RS with all that ownership entails.
Away from high-end Porsche metal, some interesting impact-bumper 911 projects sold over Christmas for mid-£20k: about the right price as far as I’m concerned. No shortage of armchair experts around to shout the prices down, but low-priced IBs are becoming harder to find.
by John Glynn | Nov 30, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Project Cars
The Porsche 911 RSR used an external gearbox oil cooler on its modified 915 transmission for better heat dissipation and increased reliability. The external housing for the additional oil pump gears required by an external cooler has been unavailable for decades, but EB Motorsport has now recreated the RSR oil pump housing using the latest production technology.
The EB oil pump housing is recreated in cast aluminium, using an original RSR assembly including the transmission end case to ensure an accurate fit in reproduction. A series of complex engineering procedures is required to achieve the high quality associated with all EB parts.
EB Motorsport’s reproduction 915 transmission oil pump housing is supplied assembled with bushes for pump gears. EB’s part also includes the correct metric/fine adaptors and crush washers. The price is £296 plus carriage and VAT.
As an additional service, EB can supply the complete system including transmission spray bars, pick-up drive gears and pressure relief valve. Prices for additional services are available on application via the website at www.eb-motorsport.com.
by John Glynn | Nov 28, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Modified Porsche Hot Rods, Porsche People
Our friend Thorsten in Germany has shared some cool throwback pics of his early 911 in driver training sessions with a previous owner and a certain Mr Bell. It’s sweet enough to find pics of your car on track in a previous life, but how much more delightful to discover Derek Reginald Bell MBE sitting behind the wheel.
One picture shows the pitlane lineup, where I spied another mate: Bata Mataja, with wife Rosa and his super-cool Porsche 356 race car, Blue Baby. Bata has shared umpteen tales from the Blue Baby archives with Ferdinand, so it was great to send him a previously unseen photo of the car.
“Running Blue Baby at Laguna would have been very early on in my racing days. I’ll have to think about what club it was with: it may have been a Porsche Club event, but not too sure. Great picture: I think I beat all these guys! 😀 ”
I am also pretty sure these are Porsche Club driving days. Asking Thorsten led to discussions on his car and where it came from – it is a very cool story.
“Well, I was fortunate to find the car I was dreaming to find at Dunkel Brothers in 2003. It looked right and felt even better. The seller was a very nice guy that knew his stuff: he had taken good care of it and it was streets ahead of the other cars I had looked at within my budget.
“A good honest car, we instantly clicked and I have loved my time with it to date. It is tied to many priceless memories: I drove it out in LA for twelve months on Mulholland, at the German Autofest, Palm Springs, getting hooked up with the RGruppe right away.
“Then it came home to Germany and has since done local rallies, trips to Gmünd, drives through France, Belgium, The Netherlands and to Classics at the Castle in England. It’s even been on the proving grounds in Weissach.”
It certainly proves itself in these pics. Thorsten thinks some of the DB shots were taken at Sears Point, but I know this DB pic was taken a few weeks ago at Collier Dade Airfield in Florida, where our Jamie recently worked with Derek again, this time on an official Bentley shoot. A well-matched pair of Porsche fans: the pic still makes me laugh. Perfect!
by John Glynn | Oct 22, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Porsche Cayenne, Porsche News
While writing a Porsche Cayenne Buyers Guide for 911 & Porsche World magazine the other day, I came across an interesting story around the genesis of the Porsche Cayenne.
The Cayenne has long been marketed as a Porsche/VW partnership vehicle right from the start, similar to the 914, 924 and more, but the first Porsche SUV was apparently set to be based on the Mercedes ML. When Mercedes asked for shares in Porsche to cement its joint venture, the agreement between the two companies came to an abrupt end.
Porsche was already working on an SUV concept for Volkswagen, so chased the Volkswagen boss – Porsche family member and shareholder, Ferdinand Piëch – for a space alongside Wolfsburg on their posh 4×4 project. Rather than using all-Volkswagen sourced engines, Porsche’s drawing board already had Panamera sketches on it, so Stuttgart decided to build its own V8 to power the SUV plus one other. So much is down to the marketing.
Britain’s Steve Murkett led the Cayenne design team. Early reviewers felt that the reshaped front end on a van-like Touareg bodyshell didn’t communicate much style, but I disagree: I think it’s quite a stylish car nowadays and stands out from the crowd. If they didn’t know that the two were related, a casual observer would be unlikely to draw a line between Cayenne and Touareg.
As for comments that the X5 was more stylish, perhaps the market has the answer with slightly higher residuals for the Porsche. As for what we could have had – a Porsche/Mercedes ML – I am happy with things just as they are.
Porsche Cayenne Buyers Guide
Regarding the Cayenne Buyers Guide, the start points for a 2004 Porsche Cayenne S V8 like mine are quite simple.
- Check no engine ticking noises: could be coils, a failing water pump or cylinder scoring
- All gearshifts smooth and controlled: no bangs or rattles
- Check plastic coolant pipes in the V have been changed for aluminium
- Check no wandering steering – front control arms wear out fast
- No tired brakes, no past-it tyres
- No warning lights from the air suspension if fitted
- Check for damp under carpets: leaky sunroof tubes or split rear washer pipe in A-pillar
As for the rest, you’ll have to buy Porsche World next month!
by John Glynn | Oct 17, 2014 | Classic Porsche Blog, Porsche News
Out looking at Porsche cars for sale with a mate last Sunday, we found ourselves close to Mercedes-Benz World in Weybridge, Surrey and decided to drop in for a coffee. The coffee shop is great and worth a visit on its own.
I used to work around the corner from Mercedes World and the huge facility alongside Brooklands was usually deserted: I could never understand how it paid for itself. On this particular Sunday, the place was absolutely packed. With the queue for coffee more than twenty people deep, we opted for a quick scoot around the exhibits before getting back on the road.
MB world used to house many classic models in its beautiful interior, but there are fewer classics now and plenty of new cars. We had a good look at the SLs on show – of course I thought my SL was nicer than their R129 – and then whipped through the technology part on the top floor. Inside was the 1996 Mercedes F200 concept from 1996 (above). This spellbinding car with double-joystick technology and cutting edge ideas for the time is still a handsome machine: recognisably Mercedes.
Porsche Prototype Exhibition
Seeing the cool Mercedes concept reminded me of an exhibition currently running at the Porsche Museum in Stuttgart. Featuring a number of Porsche development mules and work-in-progress prototypes, the “Project: Top Secret” show running until January 11, 2015 opens a door into the workings of Porsche engineering development.
Sixteen Porsche cars form the core of the exhibition, including concept cars, camouflaged test beds and one-off experimental vehicles. Notably, these are development survivors, as most test cars and working prototypes get scrapped when their work is complete: common practice amongst manufacturers.
Cars I would most like to explore in detail include the 964 Targa, chopped up to disguise the mid-engined chassis layout of the original development Boxster, and the 984 Roadster development car. The display also includes a rear-engined Porsche 965 project, and the four-door 989 family sports car, which set the design tone for later models. The 918 rolling chassis seen in many Youtube videos is also on show.
The Porsche Museum is open from 9am-6pm Tuesday to Sunday. Admission is €8 for adults. More information at www.porsche.de/museum.
