Dewinator

I saw a really nice looking 993 C4S on my commute to work this morning, and it occured to me that if I had bought something like that, I probably would have lost a lot less depreciation than with my 991. Certainly the performance isn’t as good and the navi and bluetooth and stuff ate nice, but I can honestly say I’m not sure going with the newer car was the right decision.

Werks 1

I love my 991.1 TARGA GTS....Every time i get in the car....I leave with a smile........I really don't care about future value....Present Value is much more important...and presently I have one of the Best looking and driving Porsche cars on the road! Happy Holidays to ALL!

Pep!RRRR

What color is that? (Drool..)

Churchill

Unless there's a massive correction, today's high is still lower than the low will be a couple of months from now after a minor correction...

Dewinator

K-A

Pep!RRRR

There was a book entitled “Dow 25,000!” Published I think in 1999. So in the long run, sure there is an upward trend. But in the long run we are also dead..

Hurricane

jnolan

My neighbor had an E21 BMW with a blown engine, he put it on Craigslist and within 24 hours had sold it to a guy for almost $6k. I said to Frank “holy crap, what was the guy thinking?”. The answer is: 2 door coupe. For track enthusiasts, clean 2 door bodies of this generation are finds and they pay up for them. It’s hardly collectible, the guy is going to make it a track car and it will never see public roads again. But this example is instructive in that collectability is very much a function of perceived value against intention. There are plenty of cars that are pretty special, and were manufactured in limited numbers, that are collectible but not breaking high 5 digits. Buick Grand National is an example, a milestone car of it’s time that sells for mid-twenties now.

There are cars that are instantly collectible, the Ford GT comes to mind. The rebirth of a legend and a decade+ after launching, those cars are selling for 3-4x what the original purchaser paid. There are others that are not so much so... AMG SLS is one example, or even more broadly, the entire Black Series line. Yet, my 2016 AMG E63S Estate gets unsolicited offers from the sales manager at my local dealer when I take it in for service; 2 year old car with low miles and he offered me 20% off the MSRP for it. Rare car, people want them, and in this case, last of the W212 generation.

I have never bought a car with collectability in mind and there is only one car that I have owned which I really regret selling. My first Porsche, a 1973 1/2 911T, the half year designated the introduction of Bosch’s new electronic fuel injection. I sold that car for 1/10th of what they are selling for now, but it is only in recent years that the car started to hockey stick in value... 45 years after it was sold new.

phx991

If collectible means that it returns a profit over time, the answer is no, and it has little to do with rarity or desirability.

A 1984 Carrera sold new for around $38k, and today you can find many examples for around the same price. On the surface that seems like a break even proposition (free car), but the car needs to be worth $90k today just to keep pace with inflation. Factor in an extremely conservative $2,000 a year in maintenance and insurance, and the total cost of the "investment" over 30 years is nearly $150k, a loss of $112k. You would have done better buying tax-free municipal bonds.

Compare the 38k investment in a 1984 Carrera to a 38k invested in the Dow Jones index over the same period. The annual return rate since 1984 is 9.6%, which seems pitiful, but works out to $753k after 30 years. If the dividends were reinvested, the 38k investment would grow to $1.8 million.

Another example. Recently a 1995 McLaren F1 sold at auction for $15.6 million. Original sticker $970k (they actually sold for well north of $1.2 million). Even based on sticker price, the annual return was 9.7% without factoring in inflation, maintenance, insurance, or storage costs.

Of course this is all in hind sight. No one can predict whether a car will or won't be a collectible, or whether the stock market will rise a certain amount in a given time frame. But generally speaking cars are not investments, and had I personally "invested" 70k in a brand new 993 twenty years ago I would be exactly $1 million poorer today.

Buy the car you like, and enjoy it.

Bud Taylor

I purchased a used 1990 Targa and drove it sparingly for 14 years. It was 1 of 158 produced that year. I paid 23.5 for it and sold it for 50k this year. Maintenance records indicate I spent around 25k include 2 engine reseals in 47k total miles. I was the second owner with all the records. I would say I broke even except for how much I smiled.

QUOTE=Johnny5Alive;14628537]Every car I've owned for the last 5 years has had topics like this in their respective forums. Seriously... does it matter? Where will you be in 40 years and will you own this car still?

What I will say is I purchased an old air cooled 911 this month. Targas have are the lowest priced examples. When new, they were more expensive than coupes. Today, they are considerably cheaper to find in similar age and condition.[/QUOTE]

K-A

Morley357

Yes
i believe the GTS 991.1 Targa will become a collector because of the following
1) rarity
2) it seems to be one of the best looking Porsches
3) NA
4) a review of its pricing shows it is now selling just under new

DaveGee

3 years after this thread died a natural death and that’s the best you can come up with Morley?

DaveGee

Ed99

Honestly I love the Targa as they look pretty good and unique. However, for collectible this generation in my opinion won't be looked at as a collectible not for at least another 20yrs from now. What is a collectible now are air-cooled 964 and 993's coupes and not the Cab or the Targa. So it would be hard to say if the 991.1/2 Targa's will be a collectible down the road. If the trend follows from the 964/993 then I would say no it won't be a collectible IMO.