Don't Sleep On Early 930s

Good Morning! I’m writing this morning’s SML from my hotel room in Harrisburg, PA, as we’re here for Mecum’s Harrisburg sale. If you’ve never been, I highly suggest you check out a Mecum auction, as the size and action are something to behold! A huge thank you to SML reader Lee for the invite and the behind-the-scenes tour yesterday. It was very impressive seeing everything that goes into making an auction like this happen. So cool! I’ll be recapping all of the Porsches that ran through here in Monday’s newsletter.

Our online market was as hot as the weather yesterday, with a sell-through rate of 84% and a dollar volume of over $1m off of 19 cars on offer. Now let’s hope the heat wave continues through the weekend.

THE MARKET

Sell-Through Rate (STR): 84%
Market Volume ($): $1,227,219
Market Volume (Units): 19

TOP SALES

2019 Porsche 911 Turbo S Cab. Exclusive Series $298,000 Bring a Trailer
1993 Porsche 911 RS America $136,000 Bring a Trailer
1976 Porsche 911 Turbo $127,000 Bring a Trailer
2011 Porsche 911 Turbo S Coupe $106,000 Bring a Trailer
2011 Porsche 911 GTS 6sp $77,000 PCARMARKET

SPOTLIGHT

Although Porsche had been experimenting with turbochargers on their race cars in the ‘60s, it wasn’t until the early ‘70s that they began development of a turbocharged version of their 911 in order to meet homologation requirements set forth by the FIA. For the 1976 racing season, the FIA required Group 5 entries to be derived from a homologated model in Group 3 or 4, which required the production of 400 road-going cars. To meet these requirements, Porsche produced the 930 Turbo Coupe hoping to sell the required 400 units in a two-year period, but the car became so popular with enthusiasts that they met this number by the end of 1975 and went on to produce over 2,800 3.0 930s.

This 1976 Porsche 911 Turbo is one such early 930 Coupe that was produced to meet homologation requirements as it was the 50th example completed. The car left the factory finished in Silver Metallic over Black leather and optioned with Turbo striping and a sunroof. The paint was refinished in its factory color in 2018, and the majority of the interior remains original.

The engine was rebuilt in 2019 and was fitted with a K27-7200 turbocharger, TiAL wastegate, Carrera chain tensioners, and an external oil cooler, while the warm-up regulator and fuel distributor were rebuilt at a later date, along with aftermarket headers, heat exchangers, and RarlyL8 Motorsports muffler.

The car presents in driver condition with some stone chips, peeling paint, and wear to the black trim surrounding the window frames. The engine and undercarriage could use some freshening as well, but nothing more than a little elbow grease and dry ice can’t take care of.

The market for 3.0-liter 930s has remained fairly flat over the last five years, with a slight bump over the last twelve months bringing the average price to around $157,000. This example, with 42,000 miles shown on the odometer, sold for $127,000 yesterday on Bring a Trailer, a decent discount to the average brought on by the “driver” condition of the exterior and mechanical components.

I’d have to call this one very well bought as it is a numbers-matching example of an early homologation car and, with a little work, could turn into a very nice example. And I think that the work would be worth it as I believe the market is sleeping on the importance of these early cars; just look at the prices of early homologation 2.7 RS’. Watch this space over the next five years.

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