I see a few things that led to the sell price.

First and foremost, Onne of the biggest reasons many sellers don’t get top money is the total lack of clarity and detail. This seller knows what they’re doing and they disclosed everything up front. Nothing left to question for the buyer so they bid with full confidence.

Second, the current climate for “fun” cars is hot, lots of demand and not as much supply so prices are up across the board on desirable cars.

Finally, the 987 Spyder has been getting much more attention from PCA and other publications over the last 18 months and I think many are discovering what a gem it is.

I have to admit I was also surprised by the hammer price, but as noted it only takes two or three buyers to bid it up.

 

Yeah, there was a robust pile-on in the comments after someone compared it to a regular Boxster S. The thing is, he's mostly right if you care to spend about $5K on a tune, nice exhaust if the Boxster doesn't already have PSE, and swap out the suspension bits. That's what I did, and have always thought the done-up Boxster was maybe 95% of the driving feel of my Cayman R.

It's not the point though, in terms of valuation. Had I left my Boxster stock and saved the $5K or so, I probably could sell it at what I paid for it. Now, there is no way I will recoup the mod investment. In contrast, the Spyder would cost more initially, but I would have to do something very dumb to have it depreciate (or the car market as a whole would have to take a deep dive). So financially, what I'm actually doing in buying a Spyder vs a regular Boxster S is spending say $30K more upfront and not investing it. In a year like this year, that would have made sense, since I likely would have seen a few percent loss.

So maybe I should just get a Spyder now....

 

...the more prosaic reason I didn't get one and probably won't is that I like the Boxster top a lot. We use the car for trips here and there, and in Michigan for many months a year, you want the top up quickly. I get that you can put up the Spyder top in a minute or two, but in the Boxster it's 12 seconds while you're moving.

The Spyder does look cool tho....

 

I hear you on the top, I have an '11 Spyder and have been in situations where I've said, "darn, I wish I could press a button and get the top up fast!" On the other hand this summer on really hot, sun beating down days I drive with the sun shield and I say "wow, this is great, what an experience, full air flow, sound is great and I'm not roasting!" For me the Spyder is the answer. Porsche did a great job on giving us this many driving options in a drop top.

 

I've got to believe that the buyer knew what he was buying before bidding $66,500

'Specialness' in the Porsche world can command a strong premium.

 

What if Porsche could spin-up a special production run of 20 new 987.2 Spyder's... I wonder what they could sell them for today, brand new? Certainly more than they did in 2011... so an $80K spec'd out car, lets just say $90K would be reasonable?

So this buyer just got around a 25% discount... that's the way I'd look at it.... Great deal.

 

Ha. Think you have to compare to other 987.2 Spyder purchases today. But I appreciate the optimistic perspective

 

Solid money, indeed. Was fun watching that auction, especially since having just picked up a 987 Spyder in March. I don't know how anyone parts with these cars, though. Thinking a 997 will be a perfect compliment, down the road. Maybe even a GT3RS

 

I just saw this car go on-line - looks like a great deal!! No pics but car fax is clean, one owner, "claims to be manual" under 20k miles. Wrong seats otherwise good. I never trust dealers on PDK vs manual.

https://www.cars.com/vehicledetail/d...mtrctid=238654

 

guess the bidder would rather to have that carfax ding then say this one?

https://www.milleniamotors.com/2012-...-32750/6767428

 

why are they “wrong” seats just because you don’t like them? Kind of like saying your car has the “wrong” center console because it doesn’t have AC.

Apples and oranges. I actually like the Millenia motors car more but BAT car was a different color, mich less miles, softer seats and black interior.

 

I would also pick the White/Red Spyder at Millenia over the Silver/Black but that’s strictly a matter of taste.

There’s no doubt that some of the Spyder upgrades can be duplicated in an S but most aren’t going to change out the doors to reduce weight and I only know of a couple people willing to change out the top. One of the magical parts of the Spyder that is often overlooked is the lower center of gravity created by removing weight from up high. Then throw in the looks of the Spyder and you have a package that is going to cost more than anyone is willing to spend to duplicate with an S. But lets face it, the S is an amazing car in its own right and personally I would enjoy it as is. Each car serves a certain purpose.

 

There's no doubt that the LWB command a premium over the optional sport seats, and I believe most (not all) would choose LWB given the option. I personally didn't consider Spyders with the optional seats.

People use the term "wrong seats" all the time w/ Spyders, GT4s, etc. when they don't come with the carbon buckets.

 

Premium, yes. Most prefer them, not sure about that considering how many are specced with Sport Seats when both were same price.

ive been on the GT forums for 4ish years and never really heard them called wrong seats.

personally I was indifferent on the seats when looking, just ask KDub when we texted about his car. The car I bought just happened to have buckets.

 

I can’t speak for the 981 or 718 GT/Spyder but I know dealers were responsible for speccing many of the 987 Spyders and they were responsible for selecting the sport seats instead of the buckets. I mentioned it in the past, many dealers got burned with the 997.2 launch cars which came with the LWB’s, the uptake was awful and many dealers had to swap seats to sell the cars. I remember looking for Spyders back in 2010 and what I consistently saw was that the Manual bucket seat cars sold fairly quickly while the sport seat cars sat on lots. Finding an allocation was incredibly difficult too, it took me six months to get one after realizing that I’ll never find what I want on the lot.