‘Holy grail’ 911 Carrera (996) for sale

Hate to break it to you, but the Porsche 996 was never going to stay really cheap forever. Those days of presentable examples around £15,000 could never last; partly as every other 911 cost more money, and association inevitably pulls values up a little. But also because the 996 was a great sports car, a great Porsche, and there was only so long that that fact would be overlooked because of water cooling and funny headlights. 

The base Carrera was much loved at the time of its launch almost 30 years ago, which tended to be forgotten later on (and especially once the GT3 arrived). Values eventually plummeted because purists didn’t like the look or the new cooling method, popularity meant huge numbers of them, and IMS/RMS concerns put some off. But now that situation is beginning to change; every 996 is now more than 20 years old, and not all of them will have survived. Bear in mind the amount taken for dedicated track and race builds and the number will be even lower. It also hails from a pre-PDK time of rubbish autos and wobbly cabs, so those after a modern classic Porsche now are probably all hunting around the three-pedal coupes. 

While choice most certainly remains out there, demand is increasing the price of supply. For those that want to go under the radar (and enjoy every single mile) all year round, this C4 manual is a PH Auctions lot later this week; for those after something a little more attention-grabbing, this Carrera 2 ought to be just the ticket.

‘Holy grail’, the vendor’s description, may be stretching it a bit much for a base 911, but it is ticking a lot of boxes: as a 1998 build it gets the cable throttle that tends to be prized, as well as orange indicators (they had to be cool again at some point). The original owner really understood the brief when it came to speccing a great 911, too, plumping for Ocean Jade Metallic and adding the MO30 Sport Pack – with bigger brakes and racier seats – plus the MO30 lower, stiffer suspension. With an LSD as the cherry on top plus, absurdly, a rear wiper. Nobody’s perfect, after all… 

Still, it should mean a properly thrilling Carrera experience, and a hard one to repeat these days given very few really early 996s remain in addition to the cost of Porsche parts. And it looks exotic in a way that silver 911s just don’t. A nice reminder that fun colours existed before Instagram was there to show them off. 

With just 70,000 miles recorded, a fresh set of Michelins and a magazine cover feature to its name, this C2 is probably about as good as a 996 gets. Which means it’s also more than £30,000. You don’t need us to tell you the Porsche possibilities that sort of money opens up, and those who still had the 996 down as the cheap Porsche two-door might be in for a shock. But the price goes to show the regard that the first water-cooled 911 is now held in (at last), and seems unlikely to budge a great deal in the near future as Porsche muddles around with what to do about its new cars. Showing off a few more of them in Ocean Jade Metallic might be a good start…