Do you consider the 944 a "rare" car?

[VT944]

I'm curious how people classify the 944 in production terms.

Do you consider it a "rare" car; even considering it is from a manufacturer who produces a relatively low volume of cars annually? Porsche is no Ford, and this is no Escort, but I always thought that the 944 was Porsche's highest-volume seller. Am I right?

I remember looking at production numbers at one point a while ago and I was surprised at the low number of units sold. I was always under the impression that Porsche sold a ton of 944's (probably because it is a well known car, and I grew up seeing them all over TV and magazines).

Does anyone know how the 944 compares to the 911 in terms of production numbers? How about the 924 vs. 944? I am sure there were fewer 928's than 944's, weren't there?

It would be interesting to see different peoples take on this.

[gearhead290]

I don't know if I would go so far to say the 944 n/a is a rare car. I think the 951 is pretty rare though.

[PorscheG96]

No way.

[MrPants]

i do, but perhaps im just uneducated. i didnt even know what one looked like before i started looking for a car 6 months ago.
if you look at autotrader it seems there are always more 911's than 944's

[rbt944]

I see a lot of 944's here in southern california. Gives me the impression that most of them were sold here :confused:

-Gus.

[AFJuvat]

Some of them are more uncommon then others, but aside from the limited production versions (True turbo S, Turbo Cup) there isn't anything about the 944 series that could remotely be considered rare.

968 is a bit less common, depending on the area you reside in. They didn't make nearly as many per year, and only made them for 4 years.

AFJuvat

[coupe]

These cars are rare here in Dubai. They were never sold here by the dealer. I think that 951 and 968 are even rarer. I have only seen 3 convertibles. There are tons of new Porsches around, and you see them all over. This morning at the car wash, there was a guy in a new 911. Funny thing was, he couldn't stop looking at my 951. I felt violated....geeez some people.... hehehe

[Frank B]

I never see 944 here in Philly, I've seen the same 3 Me, a gold one a beat up Black one. I've seena few glimpses of others but.. not much else,, 911's out the wazzooo though....

[97XRAY]

I live in a pretend world that suits my needs on any given day (why hide it - I'm psychotic?). So with that said, my car is perhaps the most valuable vehicle ever made (!).

[TSNAPCRACKLEPOP]

rare, no......well done, yes!

[VT944]

Thanks guys! I hardly ever see any on the streets around here (Burlington, VT) so I thought maby a lot of them were not on the road any more.

Well that's good - won't half to worry about parts being hard to find.

Thanks,

[SidVicious]

I once looked at buying a Lambourghini Jalpa. It was made for five years, total production 410 units. To me, that's a pretty rare car. 944 production swamps that.

I didn't buy the Jalpa because I wanted a car I could drive to appreciate. I was afraid I wouldn't be able to get many parts for it. It's still a cool car, IMO.

I think what does make the 944 a little rare is how well it's aged. Look at an '86 951 vs any other car available in '86. The 951 still looks good today. At least it does to me. I like n/a 944's too, but the integrated bumper of the 951 is much nicer.

I get a little tired of the word rare when describing a car, honestly.

I propose a new drinking game: Start reading an autotrader. You have to take a drink every time a seller refers to his car as rare. You have to finish your glass if the car is a corvette. If you can still stand when you get to the last page, you win. Non drinkers can play along: for every "rare" - 15 pushups. If it's a corvette - 35 pushups. If you get to the last page and can shoot a freethrow without missing the basket, you win.

[VT944]

Hey guys, I found the below information on another board (ModernMuscleCars.net, if you can believe that!) while I ran a search for "944 production numbers". They are rough numbers, but I thought others maybe interested in this as well.

"Mr.P" from modernMuscleCars.net posts:

944 production numbers (rough totals):

1982 4000
1983 24,000
1984 26,000
1985 23,000
1986 27,000
1987 21,000
1988 17,000
1989 16,000
1990 8,000
1991 6,000
1992 5,000
1993 4,000
1994 2,500
1995 1,500

Now specifically, there were 176,126 944's produced, 25,245 of which were turbos.

Now looking at 1988 in particular. There were 17,079 944's produced worldwide, of which 4068 were turbos. Only 2099 turbos found their way to North America, 1874 of which came to the USA. The 1874 that made it to the States, joined the 133 million registered cars already on US roads.

This is the same story for the normally aspirated 944. Of the worldwide production numbers noted above, no more than half ever came to the USA, which was their biggest market.

These represent relatively small production numbers, and there was only about 7 real good years of 5-digit production. This was, however, enough to save Porsche from bankrupcy, as the 944 was far and above the best seller ever produced by the company. They were built to a high standard, as I think you saw in the engine and suspension link pages I posted a while back, and they are absolutely superb drivers. You really dont need the forced air system, because I have a test where a normally aspirated example beat out the 928 (by one point) and absolutely smeared a Ferrari 308 and a Corvette, and the car won on overall balance (which is what it's all about).

[TSNAPCRACKLEPOP]

i know where 3 are in my neck of the woods.......seems noone fixes them here, they just break, and sit. my brother came and bought a 914 last weekend to get parts like the gold letters and dash, but its a rust bucket, picking it up today, and i am showing him more i have seen in the trees. i see them when i drive a big tall truck...never see them in the car. and, i've always had an eye for cars.

[porsche85]

Hey VT944 you forgot about the all important 85.5. J/K I seen that you had one also, so I thought I'd say something. That's pretty interesting I've never seen production numbers on these cars. There's about three here in Pocahontas, two not running and then mine.

[CJFusco]

176,126 total cars doesn't seem that rare for me

I see 944s all over the place in CT, they are far more plentiful there than 911s. In Boston, however, 911s rule the streets.

[Harpman]

The 944 is one of the sweetest looking cars around, still. I'd say it compares well to the Vette Stingray for looks, and it has more practicality than the Vette, if less powerful in most cases. And heck, it's a freakin Porsche, can't beat that. Everyone who sees my car goes nuts over it. Maybe it's not a rarer sight to see a 944 on the street than a Stingray, but people don't always know what it is so it seems more rare/exotic.

[AaronM]

I wouldn't call it "rare", but I'd definitely call it "uncommon". I mean, when you consider that my last car probably sold 100,000+ copies in 1988 alone (3rd generation Accord, there's a bloody billion of the things it seems) the 944's production numbers don't look that large. Almost never see them around where I live either. Then again, Ohio is not exactly the prime market for a small RWD car that isn't Domestic.

I know of two 944's in my area, one's a silver '83 that's a little rough, and the other is a guards red car that I see on nice days occasionally when I'm on the way to the license bureau (sitting in a driveway). There are two 2.0 litre 924's that I know of, one is very rough with a bad respray and the other is a black automatic that was a little less rough and has been since sold (both belonged to the sons of the guy who owns the silver 944). I've seen one other 924S. A white '88 with the sport package that is in amsolutely immaculate condition.

Aaron

[Frank B]

went to dealer today to pick thermofan switch and dome light. a White Turbo followed me there, and we parked next to a battleship grey 924. they're so much smaller than a 944, it's like parking next to a toy.. hehe, the guy with the Turbo liked my car. He had a nice car too. BUt his tire sizes were strange. front 205/50 rear 225/50 his car doesn't sit any lower than mine does, except his wheels look all jammed up in his wheel wells, he thought my car sat nicely. (hey guess what, I have adjustable shocks, and the P>O> put heavy duty coil overs in the front..) maybe that's why it sits nicely, I dunno... I liked the rear Turbo Valance, that's pretty cool looking, I want one now.. doh!!!


Frank B

[Trevor]

Within a square mile of me there are two 911's, a 928, and a black 1986 944 that I may be purchasing soon, it looks like crap( driven by girl who doesn't care about it) but is in great mechanical condition. I wonder how many 911's have been made from 66-on?