Where Did The 911s Go?
 

Putting aside the crazy state of air-cooled 911 prices, which seem to have cooled a bit as of late, has anyone noticed the general lack of cars on the market? Particularly the lack of decent driver quality cars? It seems like the advertised market is mostly projects or high-end cars being sold by dealers on BaT, without much in between. Is everyone hoarding their car hoping for future appreciation? Just an observation I've made, when bored I tend to shop around on Craigslist, Pelican, etc. I'd love to find a decent SC or Carrera to use as a driver, but I think that ship may have sailed several years ago.

Not only that, but I haven't seen a long hood on the road for maybe a year. I think I've seen a couple of 356's in the past year. The newer models up to '89 are very few and far between. If I look on CL, the ones I see are either junk or some weird modded piece of junk. When I do go to the guy I take my car to for work, I see a couple of older 911s. He fixes some up for flippers and is the main one in this area to work on older cars.

Yers is in my garage....and I'm a patient man...just ask Leakyseals ;)...

Agreed, never seen any on the road at all. I think many got bought up and shipped overseas.

I have a one owner 1969 911 Coupe (Project just back from 1.5 yr in sheetmetal/paint shop) and I've had my 73.5 Targa 28 years.......No interest in selling till I'm to old to enjoy them.......Hope to get a few more years.....

I see them all the time on a daily basis but I live at the foot of a wealthy community and the rich guys now own them and to their credit, a lot of them use them.

Lol, trade you for an RX-8 R3.:D. I’d love to have it but may be a little rich for my blood, my budget is probably more like a 200k mile SC.

You due for a promotion or a bonus....play the lottery, etc. :)?

Mebbe get on Jeopardy and kick what's his name's butt...

You'll figure it out ;)!

I think that all the flipping is pretty well done and now there are the collectors who want museum pieces and the regular folks who love their car and won't part with it until necessity (hardship or death). I am in the that second group. Its got over 100k on it and I still enjoy it as a weekend or special occasion car. Since the value has gone up, I don't want to leave it in the Walmart parking lot. Since repairs cost have gone up, I hesitate to thrash it at Auto-cross or take major trips. I still do as much of the work as I can.

Even putting aside the rarity of 911's for sale, I just never see them on the roads anymore. In the past few years I've only seen 1 air-cooled and it's a black on black 993. It's been probably close to a decade since I've seen a pre-89 on the road. And this is in a metro of over a million people. They just don't exist here. Unless of course you go to the local 'collector' dealer which has scores of them sitting in a warehouse for some coastal or overseas buyer to pay some ridiculous amount for a 30+ year old car with 4 miles on it.

But yes, I know what you mean about the extremes in the market. I've been looking forever for a drivers condition car that I can play with but they just don't exist on the market. You either have a super low mileage show queen or some guy selling a rusted out shell full of parts in boxes. There is no in between. I've pretty much given up on ever finding a decent SC for less than I can buy a new car for.

Driving through Orange County I see them daily. Plus I think every GT3 made is on the road here

As has always been the case, there are a lot more of them here and they are still seen on the road regularly. Not as many as there used to be, though. That is for certain.

My take on why you don't see them for sale nearly as much is because when I joined Pelican 18 years ago, guys thought nothing of selling a Porsche 911. You can always just get another one next week if you decide it was a bad decision. Not anymore. Also, if you sell an air-cooled 911 because you need the $$, it's for sure you are not replacing it. With what? Your good looks?

So people think twice or three times before selling a good SC or Carrera, not to mention an early car. The good news is that you can still buy any of them in great shape on BAT any day of the week, you just need to pay the going rate. BAT has really put a dent in the flipper/export game IMO, now owners can get top dollar for their car easily so who needs those scumbags? :cool:

Ima gonna po$t my 911 on Bring A Trillion if Matt doesn't buy her....he's got until 6 pm EST....

Ju$t Waiting patiently ;)

What car do you have? I have a feeling you may be dreaming. :)

Britain, I think.

They always seem to have a lot of air cooled cars for sale at inflated prices. "Genuine, rust free California car..."

Around here it just seems to be my SC and a red 3.2 I see driving around. Supposedly there is a green 911 around town a lot but I haven't seen it myself.

I used to see half a dozen aircooled 911s out and about on a Saturday morning.

Dude, be patient! I’m out buying lottery tickets!

Probably some truth to that, mine went to Germany.

There is still no shortage of them in and around the Seattle area, at least the newer water pumpers. Air cooled cars of any description have gotten a bit scarce, but I still see them on occasion.

I did have what was for me a kind of a "watershed moment" a last year with my '72 hot rod - I was the only air cooled car at a local PCA track day. Quite the curiosity for many of the participants as well. I swear they gathered around it like the apes around the monolith in 2001...

Excellent.....'cause you ain't winning Jeopardy before my pati

Good point Bill. I know that when the air cooled cars where skyrocketing, a lot of that was because the exchange rate and overseas buyers were snapping them up.

I see one at work on a fairly regular basis.

I used to see anywhere from 15 to 20 aircooled 911's at the Charlotte Cars and Coffee when it was across from the Music Factory. The last time I went (last October) at the new location there were none. We had a row for just P-cars, now there are none. It is mystery.

Owners are entering the curmudgeon stage of life. The c&c’s, car shows, Luftgetfuched, PCA events? Nope, the car, some tools, the open road — these are enough for some.

I still see a fair amount of the air cooled on the road.

Agreed about seeing them for sale though, that I do not see nearly as often. I have been following the market pretty closely as well.

I get my air cooled fix from my Type 2 VW, parts are still sort easy to come by.

I looked at this tonight for a customer.

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1557627875.jpg

I posted my 79 VW van on The Samba. I got a call from a German guy that restores them and ships them to Germany. He really wanted my 993. I told him to call me in a few months.

Sitting having dinner outside in Ukiah Ca a 83 Targa drove by 15 mins ago and Ukiah isn’t the exactly a metropolis

My old SC that I sold is now in Germany. It's for sale, I saw the ad last week.

I race mine, not many left on the track. When I ran at Rennsport obviously there were a bunch, but in regular vintage racing they are starting to go away just like the 356/Speedsters did a few years ago.

I used to see them on the road pretty often - now it is rare.
Mine is out a couple times a week "in Season". I will drive it in the winter but not when there is salt on the roads.

I am more particular than I used to be about where I will park. I won't take it to Walmart any more, for instance.

That's a nice looking car Shaun.

At our local PCA track days and autocrosses air cooled Porsches are very rare.

Lots of truth here. Mine would have been flipped long ago but for it’s something I couldn’t justify paying the current rate for if I wanted to.
Driver quality cars are a rarity. You don’t see many driver quality vintage sports cars ever- think e jags 15 yrs ago- rust buckets and concours only.
I still see a few on the road...but theres lots of older money here-last week a blower Bentley went by going the opposite direction, 2 guys in the open cockpit grinnin like fools.


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I sold my SC and it went to Germany, now it's back and actually in a nearby town. Crazy story. I have yet to see it but do have contact w/ the owner.

It's a great mid-year example. Very high mileage but rebuilt motor and transmission done right, paint was excellent as well. I was amazed how tight it was for a Targa with so many miles.

Hey Shaun,

Would you be willing to share the asking price?

Thanks,
Rutager

I was at my weekend house today and heard a familiar sound. Went out the gate and what do I see? A beat up middie targa! Friday, while heading to the weekend house, I see a diamond blue Carrera cab with the top down.

This is true of many old sports cars, there was a time you would see Datsun 240Zs and 510s toodling around (which Nissan sold in the hundreds of thousands) not anymore.

It's on BaT now Rutager.

Saw a really nice 240z on the road Friday running Japan plates.

Yea, mostly from age. At our autocrosses I have the oldest car by far with a 1985. The VAST majority of the cars are 2000 and newer. Of course a 2000 model car is an “old” car at 19. Most of the drivers are puppies as well, in their 40s to 20s. Not many old geezers like me out there grinding the tires off.
All the other cars on track have those fancy modern driver’s aids like ABS, power steering, and coil spring suspension. Most of them turn off traction control or put it in Sport mode. I just cave a 100% manual car.

I know...my 2004 GT3 is 15 years old now...and at most autoX and track days it's one of the oldest cars there. It's still awesome though.