Of 370s and 911s
 

Last year when I decided I should never have traded my 09 370 and must get another sports car (and was still fooling myself about what I really wanted), I took a look at used Porsche Caymans, Boxsters, and yes, 911s. Only a few Boxsters were in my price range but they were the 2000 to 2007 models, Caymans would have been a stretch, and only very old 911s were doable. I realized not only did I want a Z, but I could get a 2015 used Z, for way less with way more...so I did. Just for the heck of it, I looked at old Porsche 911s today. A friend had a nice 73 and I figured, being that old, they are going to be cheap for someone who wanted a project to work on. Boy was I wrong. A year or two ago, I could have bought 911s, 73 to say maybe 86 but now they have gone through the roof. What happened?

Nostalgic baby boomers happened.

Watching the collector car auctions on TV, like Barrett-Jackson, they say the same thing about anything Porsche, especially early 911s. They don't explain it, just their turn to go "through the roof" on pricing.

market price. :D

Its like lobster.

Interesting
 

I noticed the Porsche Boxsters did not jump up to crazy levels like old Porsches, or Caymans for that matter. And then I did some digging on a Porsche forum (an infiltrator?) and some said it had to do with the fact that older Porsches are air-cooled and the newer 911s liquid cooled. I had no idea they had made the change. Apparently it is a combination of nostalgia, baby boomers, people wanting to grab an air-cooled car, and those speculating that the air-cooled models will achieve super collector car status. That would be an explanation for "the market." It was also described as investors and buyers "riding the bubble"...like the housing market. If true, it may burst (I saw adds asking for $200K for a simple 73 911!). It does not matter to me one way another as I was thinking about buying a 2009 Z as a project car (Stillen super charger?) I noticed asking prices on them seem kind of high compared to the 10s, 11s, 12s, and so forth. Right place at the right time, I know.

They are nice but to hi maintenance. I like to drive more work on it less.

i guess u can go the poorman's porche aka classic beetle.. those are air cooled too :ugh:

But...
 

I was told the Z was the poor man's Porsche. I don't care, I love my Z and like you all said, maintenance....

Ive had 3 porsches..86carrera coupe, 2000 C4, 2006C4 cabriolet...great cars but my new 16 Sport is hard to beat, puts a smile on my face

no. if uve driven a porsche, the person would know they are nothing a like.

My son, age 30, had a 99 Boxster, and currently has a 2001 Carrera 2. I contemplated getting an older Carrera over the Z, but with my experience in helping him maintain the Porsches over the past few years shied me away.

His Porsches handle amazing, and if you haven't driven one, the feedback you experience from driving one is hard to describe. You get a feeling of being part of the road...quite an unusual experience.

The Carrera is 300bhp, but feels as fast as my Nismo probably due to it being several hundred pounds lighter making it feel very nimble compared to the Z. Actual 0-60 times are pretty close as well.

However, I don't regret my decision on going with the Z over an older 911 one bit. My son loves the Z as well, and is seriously thinking of trading the Porsche.

It's just supply and command. There's a limited amount of previous generation 911's and that has driven the price up. Especially 964 and older air cooled models. Plus companies like singer buy them up to build their masterpieces. Your timeline at around 2 years ago is exactly when the market began to reflect this. The same goes for 90's Ferrari's with manual trans. Not that they needed any help being out of the average man's price range but now they're starting to see the same market spike. The good news is newer generations of 911's have started to come down a bit in price. 996's can be found from time to time under the $40k mark and even the odd 997 will dip below $50k in good condition with lower miles. The only issue to watch out for on non turbo models is the intermediate shaft nightmare.

If the Z is a poor mans Porsche, then being poor is awesome :driving:

If I could afford a Cayman S or R, I would seriously consider it and test drive one.

I drove a Cayman S... awesome car. It's on my list for my next car. :excited:

They are pretty incredible. You pay a massive premium but if you can afford it I would say it's worth it. The Z gives you 90% of the thrills, 90% of the looks, and 75% of the quality at 50% of the price. That said there is pretty much no prestige with the Z but it isn't pretending...it's just a great car.

i owned a 1985 1/2 944 (Porsche people will know) and a 1988 911. both great cars. didn't own them for long. luckily no maintenance issues, but if I drove them every day for years I knew I couldn't afford it. sold 1 bc I got married and sold the other after my wife insisted she drive it more (see my previous "bad spouse drivers" post!). yes, not that comparable except all were a ton of fun. nothing handles like a Porsche. air cooled (pre-mid 90's) are desirable. heck, a lot of Porsche owners even dissed other non-911 models saying they aren't true porsches.

only the air cooled Porsche market took off. the watercooled market is still very attainable. hell, 997 Carrera S's start at mid 30's still.

the Z however is NOT a poor man's Porsche... my lord, is there a sports car in the last 30 years that hasn't been dubbed the "poor man's Porsche".

go drive a 911 and you'll realize how far we still need to go in terms of driver feel and general quality to be at p car level.

Hmmm
 

After reading these posts, you all really know your stuff, now it seems the solution is to own one of each?

Prices always vary for classic cars like that