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Classic Porsche 911 prices have gone up

I’ve been browsing through some classified adverts and how do these prices strike you: 1979 911SC Targa, £8995; 1989 3.2 Carrera, £16,995; 1997 993 Turbo, £53,000; 1981 911SC Cabriolet, £11,000, 1991 964 Carrera 4, £16,995; 1995 993 Carrera £24,995. Nothing out of the ordinary and all reasonable prices, I think you’ll agree.

What is surprising about those prices, though, is that they date from 2001. Yes, I was looking at old classifieds. It’s safe to say, then, that the prices of 911SCs, 3.2 Carreras, 964s and 993s are similar today to what they were nine years ago. So if you’d bought such a car then and looked after it, there’s a fair chance you’d get your money back if you sold it now.

Now, this is where it gets interesting. In the same magazine I found a 964 Carrera 2 RS for, wait for it, £23,000 or near offer. It would be worth over three times that figure now. Or how about a fully restored 911 2.7S for just £8500? And my favourite, a 2.7 Carrera RS Touring up for £36,500 – another car that would easily have tripled in price in nine years. Meanwhile a £33,000 964 Turbo 3.6 would surely have doubled in value.

So, if you’d bought one of those Porsches in 2001, it’s now time to break out the champagne. If you didn’t, then break out the blueprints for that time machine.

And what of modern Porsches? Well, the 996 was a current model back then and there were very few on offer in the classifieds and specialist dealers – I guess most 996s were still within the official Porsche network, as the earliest examples were only three years old. I found a 2000 GT3 for £69,000 and that’s probably worth about half that now. A 1998 Carrera 2 finished in a rakish Cobalt Blue could be yours for £47,995; today, that would be a £15,000 car, at best. The same could be said of a black example from the same year, up at £46,950. A desirable 1999 Millennium Edition Carrera 4, meanwhile, was advertised for £60,950. Bear in mind that a brand new 996 Carrera in 2001 would have set you back around £55,000 and you’ll see that the cars were holding their value relatively well. Indeed, Porsches (in particular the Boxster) were cited as some of the lowest deprecating new cars you could buy.

In 2001, a two- or three-year-old 996 was a highly desirable sportscar and, for many Porsche enthusiasts, way out of their league. Those same enthusiasts may also have coveted classics such as the 2.7 RS and 964 RS, which they also looked at as being unattainable.

If you were one of those people you may, in the last nine years, been able to earn enough money to earn the car of your dreams. Or, you may have stood watching while that car rocketed in value faster than your income increased.

On the other hand, your income may have ticked along steadily, as most people’s does, with family and other commitments putting a strain on your bank account. You may still be unable to afford a new or nearly new Porsche, but you’ll be pleased to know that those 996s you yearned for back then are now firmly within your budget, and are still as great as they were then. Alternatively, the everyday classics, such as the 911SC and 964, are just as affordable now as they were almost ten years ago.

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