I had an email the other day from someone wanting advice on buying an early Porsche 911 as a potential investment. Great idea if you buy the right car. And by that I mean one that’s in superb condition (no rust, thank you) and is in original condition. The first criterium is self-explanatory but the second? Well, increasingly, buyers – or should that be ‘investors’ – want original-specification Porsches that look exactly how they did when they left the factory.
My enquiry included a couple of links to Porsche that are for sale – both 1970s 911s which, at first glance, looked good. Then I spotted that one had had the dashboard retrimmed in leather with 997-style stitching, while the other had been fitted with later-type ‘tombstone’ seats. Both nice enough modifications that you could argue improve the cars, in terms of everyday enjoyments but are complete no-nos when it comes to investment potential.
Now, I’ve nothing against modifying Porsches – I’ve done it myself many a time – and always enjoy seeing cars that the owners have personalized to suit their requirements and tastes. However, you need to decide what you want the Porsche for – to drive and to enjoy, or or keep as an investment (and perhaps drive and enjoy too). The choice is yours – there’s no right or wrong way.
However, if you are buying a classic Porsche as an investment, it has to be original. If it’s still got 70s Stuttgart air in the tyres then so much the better! 🙂
This Post Has 4 Comments
So, if you have a 70’s 911 with no rust, all original including Fuchs, but the floor mats are almost nonexistent and the front seat upholstery is in bad condition – how do you replace those to keep it original?
Good question! Cars that have been restored are fine, so long as they’ve been done to the original specification. Of course, it’s not always possible to determine what a car’s original spec was, but that’s another story… 🙂
Firstly may I congratulate you on you excellent contributions and detailed interest especially in the Porsche mark. My comment is with regards to your article “Keep your Porsche original”. … so here it goes:
I have a 1990 , 964 , C4 which I have had the pleasure of owning since year 2001 and truly believe in keeping things original. My car has not been lowered, chipped , altered or modified in any way whatsoever.
No clear indicator glass, no third brake light and not even a CD player !
In 2003 I had the misfortune or my neighbour backing into my stationary car which mangled the headlight and badly dented the offside front wing. I decided to visit several car body repair shops and the pattern was exactly the same as follows: The all came out with a clipboard and first question was: “Is it an insurance job ?” to which I would reply “not necessarily”. They all wanted to simply replace the wing, but were horrified when I asked if they could repair it via “panel beating”. Eventually i managed to find a small local body shop who had the tools and expertise to repair the panel… I was delighted (and so was my neighbour, since he had volunteered to cover the costs). Yes I had to replace the headlight surround & bezzel with a second hand one and buy a new bulb ! but I wanted to avoid an entire new wing. Which I did and was very happy with the results. I have kept the mangled headlight in a box.
Another event was as follows: When I purchased the car it had been fitted with the 17″ cup wheels which I knew were not original and to this day every 964 i have seen has these fitted. Luckily I managed to track down the original owner and called him to find out what had happened to the original flat face wheels.. guess what he said: “Yes, I`ve still got them with the original tyres stored in the back of my garage”… I visited him the next day in a larger car since I was going to buy them no matter what their condition, They were absolutely mint and he would not take more than £100 for them. So I now have the original wheels and the “original tyres” that came with the car (stored at the back of my garage) !!!
So that is my story of originality. It take a bit of imaginative effort and attention to detail. I did not deliberatly do it to add value, I just wanted it as it was when originally supplied.
Kind regards: Chris Nouri
Thank you for for your thoughtful comment, Chris. Your Porsche sounds wonderful.