jeff968

Nice car, now what is the deal with this? Seller says you can drive it on the street but could you get it registered? I thought 2019 for this car?

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Porsche-968-...US_Cars_Trucks

odurandina

hi Jeff,

please pardon my insubordination, but playing Devils advocate; I'm not really seeing the justification for that kind of $$$....

is there anything about the r.o.w,/cs-car-imported-to-the-states concept that is cause for excitement?

the 968 seems to me an all or nothing car.

everyone loves the nice color, but it seems – you either have a Turbo, a replica or it's living in the slums....

with, if anything, the nicest examples being exported back to Europe.

jeff968

Well...

There aren't too many C/Ss in the USA so it is a rare bird.
It is a C/S which we don't get to see too often.
and it's Riviera Blue which is a fantastic color!

I hope he gets the $40+K!!!

odurandina

fair enough.

tamathumper

Even more rare for having all those parts painted "Rivera" Blue! It must have been Geraldo's car.

jeff968

I think you are right on the previous owner. I suppose those parts could have been added after the car was new??? I know the rollbar was not standard equipment.

XR4Tim

I suspect that it's similar enough to a US-spec vehicle that it's easy to import. It's not RHD, and the bodywork is (for the most part) identical to a US model, so crash testing would not be required. It doesn't use a totally different engine, so it could be emissions tested to US 968 specs. The lack of air bag is illegal, but a steering wheel could have easily been swapped in for an inspection.

PorscheG96

Cool! My riv blue 968 coupe also has 68k miles. Should I list it for $35k?

ramius665

Club Sports came with power windows and air conditioning? Thought they were deleted from the factory and that was part of the weight savings as a Club Sport as opposed to the Sport model. Either way, my favorite color of 968, in the most desirable form.

968Geb

Seats are not correct OEM models. Riviera blue adds value but not worth $42k in my opinion. Wasn't the original owner looking to buy it back?

quick968

Guys, that's my old CS. I bought it from Manfred Freisinger in Germany with dreams of prepping it and going Club Racing. It had suffered a timing belt failure at speed, so all valves and pistons were hit badly. Manfred swapped in a nice used 968 engine for me at a nice price. But it's certainly NOT a "matching numbers" car as the seller states. It came with M030 and 220, but I changed suspension over to Koni dbl adj up front and Koni 3012's in back. I added the strut bar, a 951 model that forced me to cut a relief into the intake cover for clearance. If you look at the pic showing the closeup as it crosses the cover, near the bottom of the pic you can see the bar has a long elliptically shape flat spot. I had to gently file for hours, then buff that to get the bend to clear the hood inner structure. And it only "just" clears, like by 2-3 mm's. you can gently press the sheet metal there and it immediately contacts the bar. It came with the plain cloth comfort seats which I swapped out for Cobra Suzuka's. I painted the backs in Riv Blue so while not strictly original, they look damn nice, and the Suzuka's are arguably a much better seat than the stock CS Recaro Pole Positions everyone so dearly loves. I also added the Stable Energies/Safety Devices cage which I also painted Riv Blue. Manfred sourced me one of the last real Porsche Motorsport 968 Turbo RS rear wings and a splitter, which I also painted Riv Blue, my garage floor will be forever covered in Riv Blue paint dust. The pic shows the poor splitter has taken more than a few hard hits, the center section of the lip is missing a LOT of material. I added the Hot Lap, the Fire suppression etc. It came with replica Turbo 3.6 wheels which looked fantastic, but which I didn't trust to race in, so I added the Kinesis K5's you see in the pics. Wonder what happened to the 3.6 replicas? They sure looked nice. I instructed and DE"d the car pretty hard, like 2x a month year round for a bit over 2 years in Hill Country, Maverick and Lone Star Regions and had a ball, and should NEVER have sold it. That said, I bought it from Manfred for $14.5 k in about 2001/2 ish. I sold it in 05' to Rich Tillotsen in Florida for $25k. He added the cool shirt system to help with the heat there in Florida. He Club Raced it HARD for 3-4 years, even grabbing a few podiums. He then sold it for $34k, I know this because I almost bought it back then. The current owner is smoking serious crack at $43K. The car is a 95' thus it just sneaks in pre-OBD II which started in 96' Also, since there was an identical US model avail, the car CAN be licensed and registered road legal here in the US. I even gathered all the parts missing, essentially the rear bumperettes, a mph speedo and a few other small goodies. I also started the ball rolling with Wallace Environmental in Houston, one of the very few real live conversion stations approved by DOT and EPA to federalize non-US cars. It can be done, for about $10-15K and MANY months. I couldn't be bothered, so I just kept it track only. Happy to answer any questions folks may have. It's a great car, and it's the real deal, but it's strictly a track toy, and so at $43K, there are a LOT of other choices out there for lots less money. You could buy a NICE 996 TT and have more fun, with several thousand left over, and drive it to work every day.

Cheers
Mikey

quick968

Yes I'd love to buy it back, but not at $43k. $23k yes, but $43K is a fair bit over valued imo as well. Rich Tillotsen put me in touch with the owner. They're convinced they're sitting on a gold mine. Whatever. It's a basic 968 drivetrain, nothing special at all there. It's no faster than any other comparably prepped 968. It's Riv Blue with a nifty CS badge on back. For a good deal less money, I'd buy another 996TT, which is a vastly superior car, stone reliable 420hp, mods easily to 600+hp, and already US road legal daily driver friendly. But seeing it again does bring back some great memories.

Cheers
Mikey

RajDatta

I would put this cs at at least a 5-6k premium over standard m030 for just the color alone. Add to that it's very rare and unique should be worth another $5k atleast. All in all, low to mid $30's in my opinion.
At the end, the market will decide. All it takes is 1 buyer.

jeff968

Mikey,

There was never a 968 C/S available in the US so there still might be a problem as no identical model was available.

I understand what you are saying about the 996 TT but they are as common as VW beetles when compared to a Riv Blue 968 C/S. If uniqueness is something the buyer wants then this 968 has it hands down over the 996 TT and it is worth every penny.

Jeff

quick968

Sorry, but that is incorrect. Since it was my car and I did the research I can speak to this directly. The 1995 Porsche 968 imported to the US was an identical spec car for purposes of EPA/DOT Federalization. To get it federalized, it can and must be absolutely proven that the CS was demonstrably identical to a US spec car with a few non critical goodies removed, but that must be added back on. But the underlying structures required, the "bones" if you will, are identical. Porsche only made one 968 platform for the entire world. The NADM is the largest single market for Porsche, and so Porsche designs to that spec, then varies it slightly to suit the other world wide market areas. As we all know, there are only minor differences in areas such as lighting, exterior details, gauges, RHD vs LHD, etc. But the body shells are identical, they all had side impact beams, Securit even supplied identical DOT glass, the underlying bumper structures are identical, less the rubber bumperettes which need to be added. This is part of the DOT Federalization process. The car must be partially disassembled and photographs taken of all these structures to document that they are in place and identical to the US specification. It's a long, expensive process that can only be carried out by a VERY few companies the Feds license to do this stuff. Most importantly, the engine and drivetrain and pollution control systems are identical world wide. That is the critical part for the EPA side of the certification process. This car could be made US road legal, but it'll cost ya. 96 and beyond OBD-II cars are literally impossible to certify.

As to 996 TT, I agree they are much more common, but there are Riviera Blue examples of 996 TT as well. I had a student show up to Texas World Speedway in one, and it was incredible. If all your after is rare, ok Riv Blue 968's are indeed rare. But unless one is prepared to spend ANOTHER $10k+ to get it Federalized, all you have is a very pretty, very spendy, track toy; one that is no more capable than any other comparably equipped 968. What is that worth to someone? As Raj said, all it takes is one buyer. It's worth exactly what someone is willing to pay. It'll be interesting to see who gets it and how much. Hopefully they'll drop in here before or after and get a little education.

Cheers
Mikey

Cheers
Mikey