A Rare 964 Carrera Cup Edition Fails To Sell

Good Morning! Today’s Spotlight car write-up is a bit longer than usual, but the US 964 Carrera Cup Editions story is pretty cool. In the market, we saw a continuation of Tuesday’s strength with a higher-than-average sell-through rate and over $1m in sales off of 24 cars.

THE MARKET

Sell-Through Rate (STR): 79%
Market Volume ($): $1,191,178
Market Volume (Units): 24

TOP SALES

2009 Porsche 911 Turbo 6sp Modified $170,250 PCARMARKET
2018 Porsche 911 Turbo S Coupe $164,500 Bring a Trailer
1998 Porsche 911 C4S 6sp $133,000 Bring a Trailer
2001 Porsche 911 Turbo Coupe 6sp $131,996 Bring a Trailer
1997 Porsche 911 Coupe 6sp $118,000 Bring a Trailer

SPOTLIGHT

In the early 90s, with the success of the Porsche Carrera Cup series in Europe, PCNA sought to develop their own Carrera Cup Series in the USA, hoping to emulate the successful IROC series of the early 70s. The tricky part would be producing a car that could be brought to the US as the EPA and DOT required that even Porsche’s race cars at the time meet road car laws thanks to a little incident in the 80s involving the 959.

So PCNA and PMNA worked with Porsche AG in Germany to produce a car that was similar to the European Carrera RS but able to meet US EPA and DOT regulations. The result was forty-five “Carrera Cup USA Edition” cars. The cars would be imported into the PCNA port in South Carolina and then sent to Andial, a race shop in California, to be converted into race cars.

Unfortunately, costs spiraled out of control with the cars doubling in price, and due to a weak US economy, PCNA wasn’t able to find enough buyers for the race cars or sponsorship for the series, so it was canceled before it even began. Twenty-five of the cars that Andial had already converted were stripped of their racing elements, leaving only remnants of the roll cage and stiffer steering coupler links in the cars. Those twenty-five, along with four cars that were to be used as parts cars, were shipped back to South Carolina to rejoin the sixteen that never left the port and finished with carpeting and paintwork before being shipped to dealers to be sold as 964 Carrera Cup Editions quietly.

Today’s Spotlight car, this 1992 911 Carrera Cup Edition, was one of the four “parts” cars and was sold new by our friends at Sewickley Porsche outside of Pittsburgh, PA. It’s finished in the standard Grand Prix White with a Black interior and Carrera Cup graphics and shows just 27,000 miles on the odometer. The car has been upgraded with electric leather seats and a B&B exhaust and has remnants of a previously welded-in roll cage present in the interior.

It is presented in decent condition with a clean CarFax, although paintwork is noted on the front right fender and rear quarter panel. Rust repair was also addressed around the windshield cowl and battery tray, and the right rear quarter panel shows cracked paint upon further inspection.

The US Carrera Cup Editions market has been finicky over the last five years, with a low of $202,000, a high of $335,000, and only half of the 13 on offer selling. Cars closer to the $200k mark are race cars that previous owners have converted, and cars above $300k have been extremely low mileage cars that have remained untouched as they left the port in S.C.

Our Spotlight car is right in the middle as it has higher miles, shows evidence that it was once a track car, carries paintwork on the right side, and was bid as such to a high bid of $228,000. The seller, however, wanted more, and the car went unsold, but based on recent high bids of other higher mileage examples, this one was right on the money.

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