At the beginning of 2023 many experts forecast financial oblivion for the UK economy. Recession, house price crashes, you name it…
In such eventualities the value of expensive cars usually follows everything else down the financial plughole too. But whilst there have been some significant price corrections in the car world of late, not all cars have fared equally. In fact, not all Porsches have.
For years we’ve seen a somewhat glib attitude from official Porsche centres where allocations are concerned. Everything had a waiting list, even EVs like the Taycan and the Panamera (inexplicably in my view but that’s an article for another time).
911s in particular were as hard to get as a Rolex or a table at a Michelin starred restaurant with even the most ordinary of models and specs taking two years to arrive. Porsche sales people became ‘less sales’ and more just administrators of an overflowing filing cabinet of customer orders. The consequence of demand outstripping supply has been the ‘overs market’ necessitating that a 911 GTS would cost you more than list when a few weeks old and at the extreme, a 992 GT3 RS cost DOUBLE its list price. Crazy times.
But not anymore. Most new Porsches are now available from stock with, I hear, over 450 Taycans currently sitting in Porsche Centre car parks which translated to the economics of the situation means you’ll now bag a 15% plus discount on one new. Over 100 911s too apparently.
In fact, I recently saw an email to a Porsche wannabe owner from an OPC that says ‘I may be able to supply you with a car now that was previously stated as unavailable to you’. Wow, how the worm turns – Porsche sales execs having to work for a living and suck up a bit 😉
992 Turbos, Carreras, even GT3s are all coming off from their ridiculous peak ‘grey’ values now and if you own a new ish Taycan EV then I’m sorry but over this last year you’ve spent £40,000 of your kids’ inheritance that you didn’t intend to. Ouch.
However, as I suggested earlier this is a game of two halves with one sub-sector of the Porsche product seemingly indestructible from the incompetence of our politicians and our central Bankers.
Classic 911s.
I’ve watched the air-cooled and specialist Porsche market like a hawk in recent months. I’ve analysed auction sale prices across the globe on a daily basis and have stalked Pistonheads, Autotrader, Collecting Cars and Bring a Trailer for a sense of what’s going on with air-cooled 60’s, 70’s, 80’s and 90’s Porsches and I’ve had an eye on 996 and 997 GT cars too as I own one.
The upshot is that decent older cars with provenance and with lowish mileage have proven to be Teflon against a backdrop of newer Porsche, Ferrari and McLaren models dropping off cliffs, fiscally speaking.
F-body cars have stayed still in value terms albeit that some of the more optimistically priced 2.2 and 2.4 S’s remain unsold at £170K plus but that’s because they weren’t worth that in 2022 let alone now. G- bodies have risen nicely and perhaps come off the boil very slightly. But as for 964’s the thirst from Singer, Theon and others to hunt them down and to lock them up ready for a backdate transformation has pushed quite ordinary examples above £90k for the first time.
993s, especially wide-body sale listings are all still £100k plus and seem to be selling.
To me, the ultimate 911 is a hybrid. No, not a petrol and electric Frankenstein but a mix of old and new. A classic 70’s shape with some testosterone injected here and there alongside 21st century performance, suspension, brakes and trim. A proper Restomod – the best of everything in one package.
Yes, Singer is the brand that most people think of when the words ‘Restomod’ or ‘Backdate’ are mentioned. But so are the words one-million-pounds and for almost all of us it would be a choice between pension and Porsche, one that Mrs Q might have something to say about in my case and yours too no doubt.
But, alongside Singer, other brands of that perfect blend of classic character and modern engineering are available and, guess what, they aren’t depreciating like their younger cousins either (Paul Cockell tells me that no RennSport owner has ever entrusted the sale of their car to him and lost money doing so.
Merry Christmas indeed!
Written by Russell Quirk @porschenomics / @911_addict for Rennsport