*Image source: OPENERS “Porsche 911 Story─4th Generation 993”

Apparently, Air-Cooled Porsches Are Catching His Eye

Lately, my husband has been saying, “I’m getting interested in air-cooled Porsches.” He used to drive his 981 Boxster GTS all the time, but after buying a classic 1997 Mercedes-Benz SL500 (R129) earlier this year, he seems to have rediscovered the charm of older cars… Could it be that he’s finally stepping into the world of “air-cooled” Porsches?

However, the number of air-cooled Porsches available on the used market is very limited. Many of the air-cooled Porsche owners he often sees on the Royu Driveway have acquired their cars through less common routes, such as receiving them from acquaintances or inheriting them from late seniors… so these cars rarely appear on the market.

Classic Project Gold

Amidst this, I recently learned that Porsche’s top-secret old car project, “Classic Project Gold,” has finally been unveiled. “Classic Project Gold” is a project to rebuild the highly popular “993” Porsche 911, known as the “last air-cooled Porsche,” using brand-new parts.

This involves assembling the 993 Porsche 911 from scratch with new parts.

Although production ended 20 years ago, Porsche has newly manufactured the 3.6-liter flat-six twin-turbo gasoline engine and used over 6,500 brand-new parts to build it. The transmission is, of course, a manual, using genuine Porsche Classic parts.

You can really feel Porsche’s dedication here.

The 993 Porsche 911

After doing a bit of research on the 993 Porsche 911, I found it described as the last model to retain the tight, “wearing Porsche” feel (a term from when the small seats, compact interior, and nimble body made it feel like you were literally “wearing” the Porsche).

Compared to its predecessor, it improved quietness thanks to better ventilation and enhanced ride comfort with a new suspension design. The 993 Turbo was also the first production 911 to combine a turbocharged engine with all-wheel drive.

Being the “last air-cooled model,” it remains highly popular among enthusiasts and commands high prices on the used market.

Searching for a “993” Porsche 911 Turbo on a used car site (I checked Goo just for fun) turned up only four listings. Of those, three were “ASK” (all with mileage in the 10,000 km range), and the remaining one was priced at 14 million yen (88,000 km mileage).

Wow. That’s incredibly expensive for a used car. But since they’re no longer produced, I guess that’s to be expected. Curious about why air-cooled Porsches have skyrocketed in price, I found the current situation is as follows:

・Prices have stabilized at a high level
・A significant number of air-cooled 911s have been exported overseas
・Overseas demand especially values originality and completeness as when new
・Accident-free, one- or two-owner cars with full maintenance records and good condition inside and out maintain high prices
・Manual transmissions, RS, Turbo, and limited editions also hold their value well
・Prices are not expected to return to the levels seen a few years ago
*Source: Are air-cooled Porsche 911 prices rising and staying high? Insights from a specialist dealer

Air-cooled Porsches are amazing… ((；ﾟДﾟ)

For This Charity Auction

When I asked my husband about the “993” Porsche 911 announced in the “Classic Project Gold,” saying, “Don’t you like this 911!?” he replied,

“Well, yeah, but they’re only making one of these (-_-)”

Wait, seriously?! (゜o゜;

I hadn’t read the article all the way through, but indeed it said:

Porsche will produce only one 993 Turbo and put it up for charity auction. Since the 993 Porsche 911 is highly sought after on the used market, it’s expected to fetch a high price as a brand-new car.

So that explains it — Porsche built this one car specifically for the charity auction… My husband added, “Well, it’s fine, but even if they mass-produced it, I’m not really a fan of that gold color…” True enough… I’d prefer deep green or burgundy, but gold is a bit much.

So, air-cooled Porsches are definitely something to keep an eye on going forward.

*Image and text source: Porsche’s “top-secret” old car project revealed… The last air-cooled 911 Turbo made new after 20 years