Is the Porsche 964 the New Air-Cooled Porsche to Own?

The Porsche 964 was overlooked for many years. Air-cooled Porsche buyers either wanted the “original” torsion bar air-cooled Porsches in the F- and G-Body models or “the best” of the Air-Cooled Porsches, the Porsche 993.

Porsche 964 Air-Cooled Porsche of Choice

A recent sale of a1989 Carrera C4 Coupe for $108,000 at the RM Sotheby’s Amelia Island Auction caught my attention that the 964 is no longer overlooked. At least two serious Porsche collectors wanted an immaculate first-year Porsche 964 C4. This was an 11,000 mile all-original model in classic Grand Prix White.

Porsche 964 C4 Amelia 2020 | Image RM Sotheby's

The desirability of the 964 first gained market attention when the Singer re-imagined 911’s started to appear on the market selling for close to a million dollars. The re-imagined Singer 911 used the 964 as the donor car because customer Scott Blatner came to them with his 964 looking for performance and customization enhancements. The rest as you say “is history.” The 964 proved to be the ideal package as a donor car for Singer to re-imagine a more modern 911.

The Porsche 964 offers the ideal combination of classic styling with modern underpinnings. The 964 was the last of the air-cooled Porsches to retain the look of the standup headlights with the distinctive fenders. It was the first Porsche 911 to offer modern performance, safety and comfort components such as power steering, ABS, coil-over suspension and air conditioning that worked.

Once the water-cooled Porsche 996 911 was introduced, air-cooled purchase attention went to the 993 as the last of the air-cooled 911’s and the most refined of the air-cooled 911’s. The market for air-cooled 911’s then split up into the buyers that wanted the very traditional air-cooled torsion bar 911 or wanted the driving experience of an air-cooled Porsche but with modern conveniences. The 964 were the middle child often overlooked by buyers.

Porsche 964 as seen at DRT2020

When air-cooled Porsche prices escalated the rapid rise was in F-Body 911’s and 993’s. The 964 and G-Body cars rose but not at such a rapid appreciation.

The 964 became an “affordable” air-cooled option especially for those buyers first getting into air-cooled Porsches and coming from cars with what are now typical creature comforts and safety features. If you didn’t grow up driving the original air-cooled Porsches lacking good air, ABS, Power steering, etc you are probably not desiring the crude drive characteristics by today’s standards.

Now that the 964 has been discovered by the buying market, the affordability factor is going out the window. According to the Sports Car Market Price Guide, the median price for a C4 coupe is $89,500 while a C2 Coupe sells for $62,500 and the cab is the bargain buy at $41,500

Porsche 964 Air-Cooled Porsche

Tags: Porsche 964, Porsche 911 964, Porsche 964 C4, Porsche 964 C2