Here is something I have always wondered about. This question is more for the older guys here because I was way too young in the 80's to remember anything.

How common was it in the 80's when our cars were new to see them on the road ? Now they are a rare site but when they were new were they as common as say a new VW golf would be now ?

 

I was talking to my dad just a few days ago about this. He got his first one in 1988, and he said that it was a rare car at the time. That said, this was in Vancouver, so maybe bigger cities were different.

 

I didnt think they were as common as like a ford f150 but more common then a new Boxster.

It would have been cool to see a bunch of new 944's sitting at the Porsche dealer.

 

well considering that they built, according to wikipedia, around 160,000 944s of all variants over a 10 year production run, and that is about how many civics honda builds in 4 months, probably not too common.

 

When the 944s first started to arrive in the USA at the very end of 1982, as 1983 models, they were highly sought after and often selling for a premium over their list prices. There was a pretty sizeable waiting list at least during the first year and a half to two years. By 1985 or 86 supply had caught up to demand and you could regularly see a few new ones sitting at the dealer.

When I got mine in 1987 they were a reasonably common site in bigger cities but rare in smaller cities. In my home city (100,000 people) in the late 80s, my car was one of maybe 6-8 944s in the area. If I was driving to a larger city I would often see other 944s on the highway and other owners would wave, give a thumbs up, or flash their lights if they were across from you at an intersection.

I would say 944s were never as common as seeing VWs on the road today. I probably saw other 944s back then with a bit less frequency than you see Boxsters today. But that would also go for the rarity of seeing 911s back in the 80's vs. today. Total production was much smaller in the 80s than it is now. The highest production year in the 80s was 1986 with approx. 50,000 Porsches produced, and their production numbers dropped drastically after that for many years. In recent years Porsche has made around 100,000 cars per year. So with sheer production numbers being higher now you probably see more current Porsches now than you would have seen 1980s Porsches back in their day.

I actually saw a 944 on the road today and it brought back lots of great memories.

Best regards,
Dino

 

for additional comparison, over 100,000 997s have been produced since the 2005 model year and you still dont see many of those around

 

Dino's got it about right. I was in high school in Honolulu until 85, then I was in Washington DC for college, then near Chicago for law school, until 1992. 944s were common enough for me to not get too excited when I saw one on the road (and I was a fan). But certainly not so ubiquitous that I was bored by them or ignored them, like I do the Boxster or 996 now. They were pretty common in the DC, MD, NoVa, area what with all the yuppies. My friend's father had one in Annapolis (I can't recall which model but it was definitely not a 951).

That said, it was still generally recognized as a pretty hot car, but was already plagued with the "not a 911" stigma.

 

pretty common on long island in 85. about as common as a impulse or a supra, less common than a ZX, RX, or celica.

of course i saw one every day because my friends dad had an 84 that was always parked outside while his ZX had the garage. between us we has a ZX, RX, impulse, forrmula, firebird convert, and 944 so our two houses were pretty neat. two houses down was an older gent with a RX too.

we would often pull his RX, my RX and firebird, and my buddys fleet out and detail them all. pretty common.

and the beach clubs by me had all kinds of neat cars every summer weekend. so pretty common if you ask me.

 

i would disagree with the boxster comments , those cars are churned out and i would say seeing a 944 in it's day would be way mor rare than seeing a boxster today

 

Didn't see too many here in the DFW area. Arlington growing up. But when you would go over to Dallas, fairly common. Most always red, and then stone grey, then white. But my teacher had one, and a Rolex so it all made since then
Her husband had bought it for her. Red Automatic. Every day after class I would swing by and look at it in the teachers parking lot.

 

In the late 80's, I would see about 3-5 each day. Today I will see maybe that many in a month. They are getting quite rare around here.

A side note. I remember when Porsche came out with the 944 open ended lease in 1983. There was also quite a long waiting list to get your hands on one. Very much like the Boxster was when it first came out. I also remember when the 924S came back to the US in 1987 and I would dream about upgrading my 1977 924 to a new one, but for $18000 is was just too much for me (I am kind of glad now that I did not), 944's were just awsome cars that would regularly show up at the SCCA and PCA autocross events and would usually be in the top 10.

951's..... Rare and very much a supercar. They would draw a crowed every time I would see one at an event. Even today they still draw attention but it is usually short lived after looking at how beat up they when you get close up to them.

 

Are list prices anywhere on here, by year/type? I'm curious because the PO told me my '84 944 sold for $35k new, which I seriously doubt...

 

I bought my 1987 944 N/A, in April of that year, new off the dealer lot for $36,000

 

NADAGUIDES.COM

PRICING

Original MSRP: $21,440
................Low Retail........Average Retail......High Retail
Base Price......$5,275.............$5,975..............$7,850
TOTAL PRICE.$5,275..............$5,975..............$7,850


14K worth of options? Maybe with markup items (dealer prep, premium, and options)

 

The base price without any extra cost options in 1983 was a little over $18,000. I believe it was around $20,000 or just over around 1984. But keep in mind for the 1st year or so, there was a waiting list and some dealers were selling them at well over their MSRP. The most I ever heard was an 83 that sold when new for a little over $30K. Anything over that was getting very close to the base price of a 911. If you need more exact price info, I can do a bit of research but I'm pretty certain the reference matterials I have would be for 86-89 models.

Best regards,
Dino