It's 2021. Why the disparity in values of the different g body models?

[creaturecat]

the 964 situation is a bit of a paradox.
Singer bought them all up - because they were cheap - nobody wanted them. the "ugly duckling" ...... in the day.
now they are rare and expensive - because Singer bought them all.

[Matt Monson]

Originally Posted by creaturecat

the 964 situation is a bit of a paradox.
Singer bought them all up - because they were cheap - nobody wanted them. the "ugly duckling" ...... in the day.
now they are rare and expensive - because Singer bought them all.

It took Singer almost a decade to buy and build 100 cars. The Singer effect is real, but it’s not because they made them rare, it’s because they made them more desirable.

[ShopCat]

Originally Posted by creaturecat

the 964 situation is a bit of a paradox.
Singer bought them all up - because they were cheap - nobody wanted them. the "ugly duckling" ...... in the day.
now they are rare and expensive - because Singer bought them all.

Singer only has a few hundred cars at most, 130 built so far. Not enough to move the market imo. Unloved for years probably led too high attrition overall, much higher impact on value.

[kltarga72]

Originally Posted by nathanbs

Surprised nobody has mentioned 74/75 being smog exempt in states like CA is a huge price booster. Rare colors, rare models, huge disparities in condition and mileage.

Just curious, when are Porsche collectors in CA. (and other marque collectors) going to revolt over having to meet stringent smog requirements on cars that are older than 35 plus years?

[Cobalt]

Here we go again. Yes Both Matt and ShopCat have valid points but I will expand as I have nothing else to do right now.

The 964 started the upward move before the average person even heard of singer. Although they did bring notoriety to the 964 soon after people started to realize the potential of them. I have been buying these for coming up on 20 years now and own 4.

Yes these were unloved for a while but people started to realize the ugly duckling effect and the beauty of the old school looks and modern tub and suspension was a vast improvement over earlier air-cooled 911's.

There were only 5106 +/- a few including C2/ C4's and tip coupes imported. (this doesn't include the RSA, turbo or other limited production coupe variants) So right there it decreases the number of C2 Coupes to around half of all coupes imported with a fair number being tips. So we can split the C2 from the C4's as they usually have a different buyer. That is unless they become a singer or are converted as I have done to 2 of mine. Because they were unloved and cheap it was a good source of income for some as people parted them out by the hundreds for a long time. Blackbyrd here on Pelican was parting a new one out nearly weekly for along time. These were also a great and inexpensive way to get into club racing and or DE so many were turned into track rats. Very similar scenario as the 914. Another unloved Porsche that was easy to part out or track. Then a lot of them were crashed and crushed and many had mechanical issues that exceeded the value of the car at the time and were just abandoned to sit and rot. I can't tell you how many I have come across that fit that description.

Because of this the supply of 964 coupes has become quite low. Those like myself with pristine examples will never part with them or if I do, have a long list of interested buyers at premium pricing. What most people see on the market are the cars with needs that have been poorly fixed and or need lots of TLC or are the pristine car that has been sitting in someones garage and hasn't been touched in years now looking for all the money.

There might be more than half of the 5100 coupes still in existence but I doubt it and when you divide these into C2 manuals, C2 tips or C4's how many of each are there remaining in the US and how many people looking?

This is why they are so hard to find these days very little supply and huge demand.

[High Hope]

I had an '84 Carrera and an '88. The 915 never bothered me, and it still doesn't. I sold them both and got rather involved with 356s. I hope I sold my last 356C at a peak, I put it in Hemmings and got my asking price.

Missing Porsches, I returned to the fold and bought an '80 SC Targa. It was "cheap and cheerful," in great shape with 116,000 mi. Compared to the 3.2, I find the 3.0 to be much livelier and more willing to wind to redline, pulling like a train the whole time.

[paul_howey]

Back to the OP's original question, the market sets the price.

The 87-89 cars are usually the focus of new enthusiasts looking to get into an aircooled 911 but want the most updated experience but also have deeper pockets to compete for a limited available supply.

Up until the last few years, the SC's were the entry point cars for those looking for a decent driver in the 35-45k range. Those days are now gone.

...You could spend all day discussing these trends.

The bottom line is that all G body cars of similar condition, color, and mileage are beginning to sell at similar prices. Is there really that much of a difference between 70k for an SC Coupe and 85k for a G50 3.2 Coupe? 17% seems pretty minor when you are talking about these prices.

Back when good condition SC's were in the high 30's, low 40's there was a big disparity when compared to G50 3.2's that would commonly sell in the high 60's, low 70's. There is still a bit of disparity but it is closer now than it ever has been and will likely keep getting closer.

My prediction is that over the next few years we will see 100k+ averages on all of these cars with small 10-15% differences between certain years with everything else being equal.

Those holding out waiting for prices to come down... With the combination of inflation along with the limited supply and strong demand, I don't foresee this changing. If you want one of these cars buy it now. Today is likely the cheapest it will be for the foreseeable future.

[Kansas]

And this was a big part of my initial post: all else being equal in terms of condition, all stock based gbody cars will eventually end up at similar points with obvious give and take here and there.

[Glenfield]

I’ll offer a different take. Prices of g50 cars are reaching their break point in terms of demand elasticity. Will continue to go up but at decreasing increments as the buyer there sees more value in the 915 cars. That will drive convergence until the market can stomach a step shift in the highest coveted g-body cars (rightly or wrongly, the g50). That will step shift and create a vacuum for the 915s to fill.

Is there any value to be found in the narrow g body cars? Personally, I love them more and more and wish I was into one without a matching numbers engine / gear box. It’s probably where I’d go next if there is value there.

[Kansas]

Then my next question would be: At what point in time do the gbodies become so classic, that the tranny differences are obsolete when it comes to monetary value?

[creaturecat]

2021.

[paul_howey]

Originally Posted by Kansas

Then my next question would be: At what point in time do the gbodies become so classic, that the tranny differences are obsolete when it comes to monetary value?

Within any model range, there are always certain years, trims, transmissions, colors, etc that are preferred. This is also true of cars worth way more than classic 911’s.

While I believe prices will begin to get closer and closer between all g body cars, there will still be a premium placed on certain high demand examples.