I woke up this morning to an email from my pal, John Marks, about an utterly splendid car with a splendid provenance that, of course, is going for more money than I could possibly afford.
With several hours left, bidding is already over $150,000 for this early 911 for which a respected architect paid just under six grand back in 1966.
It’s a no-stories, no-excuses short-wheelbase car — absolutely unpleasant and slow to drive by modern standards, and best thought of as a hot-tempered take on a VW Beetle. Yet no variant of the 911 since has shown the purity and perfection of Butzi’s original design the way these early cars do.
Sure, $175,000 or whatever it will eventually fetch (I was almost bang-on at $175,100! I SO SMART! S-M-R-T! — jb) is a lot of money, but that doesn’t even put you into a perfect 993 Turbo nowadays. It would be the perfect car for lazy afternoons in Laurel Canyon or Napa. Think of that obnoxious Nicholas Cage quote: “I’ve been in L.A. for three months now. I have money, I have taste. But I’m not on anybody’s “A” list, and Saturday night is the loneliest night for the week for me.” God only knows if a SWB 911 could fix that — but it couldn’t hurt.
The annoyance for me is that I deliberately passed up the chance to buy a dozen air-cooled Porsches when I was younger. Stuff like very solid 3.2 Carreras for fifteen grand. Now the rising tide has lifted all the boats beyond my reach. How about thirty-grand plus for a fright-pig 1976 911S Targa, probably the worst air-cooled 911 ever made? I paid just a touch under thirty grand for my 993 Carrera 15 years ago; cars like it are fetching sixty Gs now. Guess that’s what happens when the market decides that two things are valueless: the current Porsche lineup, and the US dollar.
I agree, that totally sucks
I had once entertained the thought of owning a ’60’s or early ’70’s 911
back when they were “old cars” and affordable
forget it now…
for that cash, I would rather have an ACR Viper anyway! or should I say, any day?
heck maybe not even that…are they still stopping production after 2016?
Maybe so Jack but I bet you could rustle up one to ‘ test drive ‘ easily enough .
All I have is fond memories of an all original red 1969 911S grey market coupe , I could have bought it for $4K but didn’t , at least I got to drive it occasionally .
They’re such fun driver’s you don’t even mind the fact that a competent driver could easily pass you in to - day’s penalty box compact .
-Nate
It’s probably a bubble, see muscle cars between 20 and 10 years ago. Those prices won’t be back for a while.
The latest from Scottsdale would seem to indicate exactly this, and that the hot air is already leaking out of this over-inflated balloon :
My guess is that bandwagon “investors” started to realise how much these old 911s actually cost to run while at the same time maintaining that “investment-grade” lustre.
Future collectibles? I think stowing away every notchback you can find wouldn’t be a bad idea.
I wonder how many people under the age of 35, look at the steering wheel and think that the horn ring is some kind of paddle shifter?
You lust over these and a C3 LT1 would easily blow it away, rust and all.
Don’t get me wrong because with some Fuchs they look lovely.
I will agree with you however, if the object is a 993 or a 964 or a Singer . Even a 356 Speedster. Not on that one.
On my 30th birthday, with a decent income, and no dependants, I set out to buy two things that I knew nobody else would ever buy for me. A nice mechanical watch, and a Porsche. I had about 30k to spend, and after many months of humming and hawing, and countless trips to Pennsylvania (why are there so many good cars in Pennsylvania?) I bought an impeccable-condition 3-year old Cayman instead of a 993. The 993 was just a bit more than I wanted to spend and the Cayman felt like a safer decision (especially since I was about to get married and we planned to do a road trip for the honeymoon).
I’ve put many great memories into the Cayman, but I’m still kicking myself for not getting the 993.
A little over a year ago though, a 964 (a 911 stepchild if there ever was one) came up for sale locally by an owner who had no idea the cars had begun their own meteoric rise. It wasn’t the dream 911 (that’s always been the 993)…but damn, I wasn’t going to make the same mistake again. It’s now in the garage with the Cayman.
What kind of watch did you get?
Moon watch.
Not the most original of choices, but there’s a timelessness about that watch that just hits the spot for me. It predated me by decades, and will still mean something long after I’m gone. 5 years later, I’m still in love. In a perfect world, I’d add to the watch box (starting with a Rolex Explorer 1 or green Milgauss), but if I don’t get another watch for the rest of my life, I’d still be content.
What do you call a timeless watch?
Broken.
I just did the same thing, only my budget was closer to 3K.
Just enough for a Sinn 103 St and an old Renault 5 GTE.
I suspect none of them will be able to fund my retirement through future appreciation.
Both sounds like pretty fun choices to me.
Yeah, I agree!
A SWB 911 and an MG TC are two of my “bucket list” cars. I’ve been tracking collector car price data for the past two years, going back as far as 1992. According to my source material, back then, you could buy both of those cars in good or better condition for about the same money. Now, TC’s are still easily attainable for under $50k all day long. Early 911s on the other hand are 2-3 times more, with some of the MY1966 cars even higher. What’s funny is that even as late as ten years ago the MG TC was worth more in the sources I’ve reviewed, but, since then, the TC’s value has stagnated or even regressed while the early 911’s value has seen double digit increases.
Don’t get me started on the 190SL.
In other news, the disgustingly ugly 2nd gen screaming chicken Trans Am is apparently a $100,000 plus car now because of Burt Reynolds. Which prompts a question for me: what is in store for the 3rd gen Trans Am?
Dunno, will it still have the cheap “bowling ball” wheel covers and the KITT add-on?