Porsche Gesprach

On the way up, every buy is a good buy, because mistakes are papered over as the market rises. On the way down, every buy is a bad buy The only constant in the market is change. While our vintage Porsche market has enjoyed an upward curve for the past several years, it may not…

The market has doubled and in some cases doubled again, and when this happens, a readjustment is on the way You can see it in the classified ads: This is a wild time. I can remember issues of Hemmings that didn’t have a single 356 Speedster for sale, yet today, several appear. I have never…

When the slogan says there is no substitute, it means there is no substitute outside the family {vsig}2008-9_2225{/vsig} You can’t understand the Porsche gestalt without driving the cars. Looking at pictures and reading stories is a great way to prepare yourself, but true enlightenment only comes to those who drink the Kool-Aid. As my way…

Ferry Porsche considered Speedsters silly cars, but Europeans love them and have been buying them for a decade What is it about the Speedster that has caused prices to rise to unheard-of levels? While other 356s and Porsches in general continue on a solid upward trend, Speedsters seem to be on a tear. What’s so…

How anxious is the seller to sell? Is he emotional, ready to bail out? How anxious is the buyer? Has he just missed a similar car? Various Porsche talk boards are buzzing with complaints about the usefulness of price guides for early 911S cars (1967-73). About how the prices are too low, the guides are…

To earn 8% over 30 years, that $12,000 “concours” Speedster from 1977 would have to bring $224,000 in 2008 What if you could go back 30 years and buy any Porsche you’d like? What a way to make a killing. With what we know now, we’d know exactly what to buy and hold for today’s…

Never fix anything. A true flippopath will risk his newly acquired bounty and even his life to make a flip Last month, this column offered ten rules for Porsche collectors, people who are much better at buying than at selling, and who plan to keep their cars forever. Or at least until another one they…

Buy what you like and you can’t do that well unless you buy what makes you happy. It’s a blend of emotion and rational thought Not everyone can make it as a successful Porsche collector. It takes a blend of emotion, knowledge, and temperament to put together the right cars at the right time to…

Ever notice the guy at your cousin’s wedding, endlessly scrolling through his Blackberry during the service? Are you a collector or flipper? I find it makes all the difference to your enjoyment of the hobby to understand who you are and what you are doing. To see how you rate, take this little test. Don’t…

Don’t let a shop bill you for the time it takes them to gain experience on a complex set of pressed-steel stampings We got plenty of mail on McKeel Hagerty’s 1967 911S restoration story (December, p. 58), including this letter from Pete Zimmermann, longtime SCMer and author of The Used 911 Story. He writes: I…