JackHB

Reminds me.. I still got to remove this giant subwoofer one of the previous owners sealed over the spare tire well lol. Kind of interesting how they decided to use the cavity for some bass, but not for me probably works pretty good but never had it on and I rather have the tire.

We can all think back on a specific car that we once owned or wanted and/or sold and now they are worth more money and we all say, 'Damn! I should've kept that thing!'

Everyone knows how cars from the 50's/60's/70's, especially American branded ones can fetch a lot of money some considerably more than others. It's sort of a phenomena. The folks that grew up with these cars as youngsters bought them for dirt cheap when they got older 10-15 years later. They grew up with these cars next to them on the motorways. Motor shops and Body shops were created overtime that specialized on working on these 'Old Schools'. Some of the more special and rarer cars from the era had many parts that could be taken off other lower 'Trim Model' cars which I believe raised the prices of the ones that were junk because they had a couple doors, some glass and other components that were worth it to fix the special one. If you're ever at a Pick n Pull type place, and you see a very old car, that hasn't been torn up yet. I guarantee you can buy something off that car for $10 and sell it online even locally for $100. I don't even own one but I once bought a grill off a Third Gen SL500 for like $25 bucks, You can put it on eBay and get at least $300.

The classics for the next generations will be the 80's and 90's cars in my opinion

Anyways I believe the situation with our 951/944's is beginning to do something similar. For me when I bought my 944 I knew that even though I'm paying $2000 for it that if worse came to worse the car was worth way more the $2000 in parts. Seats are easy to reupholster with the kits they sell, but if you got electric seats in your 944 and they are ripped, they are still probably worth atleast $250 a piece.
We all know how much original Fuchs sell for. Used hazard switch, $25. Rear hatch with glass, $250. You can even get up to $100 for a complete owners manual set. Pop-up headlights, just the top cover panels, $75 for the pair. I could keep going but I'll stop haha. No I'm not parting out my 944, I'm pretty sure thats borderline criminal anyways at least here lol

Also in my area it's extremely hard to find a 951/944 in any of my local Pick n Pulls. It seems these days that the specialized shops buy them all up and part them out at market prices so it's hard to find that pick n pull deal.

Dan Martinic

In my high school classes, today the kids tell me my car is "sick" (ie cool). When I first got it a decade ago, I didn't hear much. It was probably 'Poor Man's Porsche' still.

Not anymore

HY M8NC

I think there will always be a premium paid for well maintained/loved/documented P-cars from any series. Agree with Dan, seeing a nice original or well-modified 951 is rare, and getting more-so. Every time I'm out, people comment on the car-no matter what they are driving.

JackHB

Haha yep, Growing up, some guy down the street had a 951, I knew it was a Porsche but I had always thought.. That is one of the strangest looking Porsches I have ever seen, Probably because the ole' 911 effect where the name Porsche automatically makes you visualize a two door rear engine bug eye beast. Now when I look at them I really appreciate the design, the flare of the fenders, the way the whole front end is shaped its a really beautifully designed car imo. And yeah maybe the Poor Mans Porsche name is now a has been. But the name is legendary and will always be and I'm proud to own a PMP 944 lol. Also has anyone notice that Boxsters' are getting pretty cheap now, You can get a good Boxster for the same price as a decent 944 in my area, I may get one eventually

Seattle 993

I’ve had a 952 (1988 turbo S) for 27 years and I can tell you that they have unappreciated for 26 years - until last year it seems. Now, it is rare enough that even the kids take notice - one asked me if it was a Ferrari LOL.

All kidding aside, I’ve done DEs about 5 times until the kids came along and every time I would outrun 911s, Boxster S, just about everything except prepared cars and 911 turbos. Brake later into turns, out accelerate and generally hold my own in the esses. I never understood how people underrated these turbos. Boxster S guy one said, what is that car? Told him it was just an old 944 turbo and don’t worry about letting me pass you.

Won’t keep up with the modern 992s, but they only made a few thousand 88-89s and at the rate that these cars are wrecked, trashed and turned into track cars, it’s no wonder that you can’t find them. Mine is a well taken care of stone grey exterior, burgundy script interior with 156K and I’ve done all the maintenance and 3,500 max oil changes. Plan on passing on to my kids but I think if you can find one at a decent price you should try to pick it up. I insure mine for $25K and I know that’s probably insufficient to find another well taken care of turbo S - just SO rare.

944pilot86

I mean, it's not the early 2000's anymore when quality condition 944's grew on trees. I scan my local craigslist almost daily for new listings and you just don't see many well loved 924/944/951 offerings anymore. It was inevitable that the air-cooled prices would drag the rest up with it. Vintage Porsches are hot right now. The 80's and 90's are reaching the collector realm. Not many interesting new cars. All new cars really expensive. There's lots of factors playing into rising 944 values and not much detracting. I would love to have a crisp low mileage 83. They've probably doubled in value over the last few years, but even if I had to pay 10-12k for one, I think that's still a relatively good value for the amount of fun and style you get.

G7805T

Just took delivery of a “new to me” highly original and unmodified ‘87 944 N/A with 82k. White on lt gray (beige) leather interior with manual trans. Car is exactly what I had been looking for, in earnest, over the past 3-4 years. The reason I wanted this car was that it is a dead ringer (right down to the build sheet/options) to my very first P-Car that I drove in college ~ 20 years ago. That one is long gone and probably in a California junkyard baking away, but it left a serious impression on me. When I came across this Southern car it fit the bill in almost every regard and I paid premium money for it (feeding the current frenzy), but don’t regret it one bit as it’s the ultimate trip down memory lane for me. Got it this past Sunday and have already daily driven it around the neighborhood with the roof off - amassing a whopping 20 miles. Tonight I took my 6 year old and her Barbie doll for ice cream. I was grinning ear to ear. And meanwhile she LOVES the rear buckets and lap belts. It’s a win-win. Icing on the cake was a thumbs up from a high schooler getting into his dad’s generic 4x4.

Thank you to all the previous owners of my 944 who treated it like a 959 or other high dollar Porsche along the way for me to enjoy some 32 years later. This is one to keep and pass down to my daughter someday.

Good luck to all the 944 fan base with your search, purchase, sale or other involvement with these 80s icons.

944pilot86

Well written and beautiful car. Would love to see more pics.

Dwane

Hey guys
Wondering why, in your opinions, 1988-89 are commanding hire prices?

Thanks

CyCloNe!

Hey Dwane.. the 88S turbo cars had a different turbo and upgraded suspension components and even though they dropped the S designation the 89 models recieved that same treament. So for two years these technically were the more develop Turbo model years. I personally love the 86 the best due to early offset, no -airbag, non- abs and they were slightly lighter. Now 88 did have S and Non-S so the 88S 951 are basically unicorn turbo cars compared to common variety.

Seattle 993

Dwane, when Porsche made the 1988.5 turbo S (1,000 of these worldwide) and followed up with 1 year of the 1989 turbo (at which point all production ceased) they were the 944 turbo cup car that Porsche raced. It was very effective and was actually as fast or faster than 911 turbos of that era. So, small numbers.

Build wise, they essentially took those race parts and put them on these cars. They include brakes from the 928S (rotors and calipers - car brakes really well at speed), slightly bigger turbo (26/8 - which are hard to find) with a remapped chip which allowed for higher boost levels to redline, hardened gearbox, limited slip transaxle, stiffened chassis (front shock tower), track ready adjustable suspension, and I’m probably forgetting a few things. But in essence it’s a cup car with the creature comforts of a standard road car.

The parts themselves, say a hub and the transaxle with limited slip, are expensive and difficult to find probably due to the relatively few numbers initially produced and I think a lot of these cars have been wrecked, turned into track monsters, that kind of thing. I once read there were 24 turbo S cars in the U.K. about 10 - 15 years ago so that gives you some idea of why you don’t see them very often.

MAGK944

As stated the 88S and 89 turbos had a much higher spec than the earlier cars, engine, trans, suspension, brakes, chassis were all tweaked and upgraded to perform better.

Btw they only stopped production of the turbo in 1989 for the US market, elsewhere (row) it continued until 1991, though the 90-91 row cars dropped a lot of the Turbo S features as standard, they instead became optional items. For example the wheels that came with the 1990-91 turbo’s were cast D90’s but you could option forged Club Sports instead for a further cost.

Also afaik the Turbo S wasn’t based on the Turbo Cup cars, those where an entirely different car with much lightening including glass fiber, manual windows & mirrors, Matter cage, soundproofing and undercoating delete. I don’t think they had 928 brakes or the AOR trans either and I’m sure they all ran on 16in Fuchs. There was one for sale on eBay recently, you’ll notice they call the race series it was made for as the “Turbo Cup” but the car was delivered to the dealer as a 944 CS. There was an option code M637 for the Club Sport “CS” 944’s and a different M638 for the Turbo Cup. The 944CS together with the later 968TS are so rare that they fetch stupid money when one hits the market. Just some background info

Tiger03447

Boy! I sure hope that the early model 944's keep climbing in price. I've got so much in mine, that I'll never see monetary daylight...until about 2039 or so. In the meantime, my son will have it after I'm gone. Hope it stays in the family.

KEVIN ANDERSON

I totally agree. The demand for the 944 Turbo in any condition has gone up consistently over the past 6 years and is not stopping anytime soon. It seems like everybody wants a 944 Turbo. When I go to convenience stores with gas stations, I get groups of people that come over and want to check my car out. They want me to pop the hood and see the engine. People just love these cars. In the world of mass produced cars, Porsche only built around 26,000 944 Turbo models in total. That's it for the whole world. Now 30 years later, how many of that 26,000 are still alive? I've heard that 70% of all Porsches built are still on the road. With the hundreds of thousands of Boxsters, Cayenne and Caymans built, that can mess with the average number, so there could be much fewer cars from the 1980's still kicking, but with so many newer cars built that causes the amount of total Porsches on the road to average 70% while maybe only 50% of 944 models are still on the road. I had an 87 951 that completely burned up into a ball of flames. So there is 1 less. With the insurance money I got, I bought another 1987 944 Turbo. Back in November it had been raining for 3 days straight and my brakes locked up going around a turn and I hit a fire hydrant. The car still runs but the front end is crushed in and the passenger airbag went off. The insurance company totalled it, but I bought it back for $1000. My ****head insurance agent (one of my friends) didn't give me the proper coverage even though I told him I wanted extra coverage for all of the performance and aftermarket parts. He just gave me regular comprehensive coverage, so I had to battle with the insurance company. The engine in my car is worth at least $6000, then the entire exhaust system was made by Speed Force, so that cost me over $3600, then the rebuilt DME, KLR and M-Tune kit. That's worth aleast $2000. Konis on all four corners. 26.8mm front sway bar, all new bushings on the entire front end, Web Camshaft. So I cut the front end off and I am building a tubular front clip. There was no way I was going to let that car get towed away and junked because I know the value of these cars are going to keep climbing and I just love my car. With all of the work I put in that car, there was no way that I was going to find anything even close with the amount of money the insurance company gave me. Now with the demand causing the 951 prices to go up, people that can't afford a 951 are buying nice 944, 944S and 944S2 models, which is causing the prices for those to increase too. I bought my first 944 19 years ago. It was a black 1983 model that was built in 1982. One of the first 944s to hit the market. That was my DD for 4 1/2 years. I put over 150,000 miles on it in those 4.5 years. I did the timing belts and water pump when I first bought it. I didn't even know that it had to be done every 60,000 miles. So the car now has 300,000 miles on her and she still runs great. Compression was still around 2-3% less than when it was brand new. It smoked, so it needed a valve job, but I didn't know much about those cars back then. It would still go 135 mph at top speed and I usually drove 80 mph commuting back and forth from work. It was 100 miles round trip. I wound up buying a brand new Nissan Maxima and donating the car for a tax write off. I was so ignorant. I should have kept her, but back then the 944 NA were a dime a dozen and I wanted a 944 Turbo to be my next 944. It seems like even the cost of parts is going up. I see full clutch kits for other cars and they cost like $199.00 and they are made by Sachs. For us the minimum is around $650. The prices we have to pay for lightened flywheels is triple what other cars cost. I see headers for other cars that cost $200. There is really no other car that's similar to a 944 Turbo. It never goes out of style. If Porsche made an announcement that they were making the 944 Turbo S2, it would look more modern, but the classic 944 design would still be there. The engine would be awesome. They could make a turbocharged 3.0 liter engine that makes 550 hp easily. Too bad it will never happen because it would compete with the Cayman. Even if they made them for just a couple years, it would be awesome. They could easily sell 100,000 units in a couple years. It would probably cost $100,000. I'd sell my house and live in a tiny apartment to get one. Or with the 951 I'm rebuilding now, I could make a more modern custom front end using fiberglass parts I can make myself. I'll have to use something like the GT front end that Lindsey sells that they used on the orange car. I'll keep you posted

tifosiman

Someone can correct me if I'm wrong, but I thought "952" was the designation for the right hand drive version of the 951.