Driver Quality 914/6s Now Bring Old Concours Money

Good Morning! It looks like the long-weekend hangover is still hitting the market as we continue to be below our typical sell-through rate in the 70s and the million-dollar mark. Ugh.

In other news, I joined the crew from PCARMARKET earlier this week to discuss all things Porsche Pricing on their podcast, PCARMARKET Live. Have a watch and let me know if you agree with the bomb I dropped regarding 996s.

PCARMARKET Live

THE MARKET

Sell-Through Rate (STR): 60%
Market Volume ($): $703,292
Market Volume (Units): 25

TOP SALES

1971 Porsche 914/6 $130,000 Bring a Trailer
1996 Porsche 911 Coupe 6sp $112,500 Bring a Trailer
2018 Porsche 718 Cayman GTS $65,000 PCARMARKET
1979 Porsche 911SC Targa $64,500 Bring a Trailer
2002 Porsche 911 Turbo Coupe 6sp $61,000 Bring a Trailer

SPOTLIGHT

Like a scene out of Succession, the 914/6 was killed out of a family dispute and rising prices after only 3,351 units were produced between 1970 and 1972.

Originally intended as a joint venture between VW and Porsche, with VW selling a four-cylinder version and Porsche a six, the deal fell apart with the sudden death of VW Chairman and Porsche family connection Heinrich Nordhoff, whose successor felt that VW had all rights to the model and felt that Porsche hadn’t shared enough in the tooling expenses.

With that came an increase in the price of the chassis upping the costs for the 914/6 considerably making it too close in price to the base 911 at the time, the 911T. The high price slowed sales and Porsche decided to kill the 6-cylinder go-kart while the 4-cylinder cars became the top seller of Porsche’s lineup in the USA.

Today’s Spotlight car, the 1971 914/6 pictured above, was refinished in the ‘90s with maintenance records dating back to 2017. The car presents in decent driver condition showing 62,000 miles on the odometer but listed as TMU. One would expect that 62k miles to be the mileage driven since the refresh as the car shows several paint defects and a bit of a worn interior, undercarriage, and engine bay. Again, driver condition.

The price paid however was a bit more than “driver condition” pricing. At $130,000, this example is the second-highest price paid at auction for a 914/6 in the last five years. $130k used to get you a concours quality example with perfect paint, matching numbers, and factory components. Now, after a slight dip in the market last summer into the fall, it looks like $130k is now driver money.

If that’s the case, one can only imagine what a perfect concours quality example would sell for these days as the only car to sell for more than our Spotlight car was a very nice, but not quite concours condition 6’er that sold for $148,800 at Bonham’s Amelia Island sale earlier this year. Is a $200,000 914/6 not too far off?

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