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Broad age groups of air cooled enthusiasts


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Team

Not seeking to name and shame anyone so no need to disclose more than you are comfortable.

I have this theory that guys who were teens in the seventies / eighties have created the pricing bubble around 930 turbos / Carreras and sc cars. We grew up watching magnum pi in the 308 targa, were schooled on McQueen bullit, idolised jimmie Richards in the jps bmw 635csi, smirked at the hasslehoff trans-am and pinned posters of the 911 turbo to our walls.

Ultimately we are a generation of cashed up motivated buyers who value the raw / purist ideals of 1980's porsche ownership.

My theory is that this ownership group will come and go (albeit over a decade) but ultimately teens of the 1990s will gravitate to a different generation of 911 ownership. What this means for the price buble who knows.

Pop quiz for current air cooled 1980s Carrera / 930 owners -

are you age group > 35 vs. age group <35+ ?

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I'm in the 40+ bracket and whilst I own a 997 I can definitely see the appeal of a 80's 911/930 for the reasons you suggest.

 

You did forget the other "poster" car of that era.....my wall had a silver Lamborghini Countach on it and geez I would still be tempted by one if I had enough garage space and money to maintain it.

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42 with an '87 Carrera in the garage and your theory is spot on. Although the poster on my wall was a Countach and if I could afford one it might replace the 911. Having said that, if I could afford one I probably could afford both..

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Crackin' 50 and had no posters of cars on the bedroom walls (surfin man!). Wasn't until I happened upon brand new 964Turbo in a carpark where I first recognized the brand as a style icon with cars of glorious, sculptural form. (I seem to remember a BBQ of a whaletail!)

It wasn't until quite a few years later when I had the opportunity to buy an indulgent car that I was drawn inextricably toward the cars of the 70s, firstly the Italians, and then the somewhat more reliable Germans, so I guess I'm coming around to the same point but from a different perspective. :)

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I turn 35 next month, so just under. My car however is a 91, so just over. So maybe this proves your theory. Maybe not. I did have a 964 Turbo poster on my wall in my early teens. Before that was a Countach as others have mentioned. I would happily buy a 911 of any vintage if I had the money and garage space!

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It's a well documented phenomenon - when people reach the age of having some disposable income, petrolheads find that they can afford the cars that they lusted after as kids.  Hence, the "blip" in interest in aircooled cars to which 550Spyder refers.

 

But I think that there's potentially something else at play.  Sometime in the last 10-15 years cars have undergone a fundamental change from being mechanical devices to being electronic devices with a mechanical component.  There are at least three aspects to this:

1 - Issues are no longer deduced and parts are no longer repaired.  Cars are hooked up to a 'puter which asks them where it hurts, and then a part is replaced.

2 - Cars increasingly make decisions for you, without you knowing.  It started with ABS, but now we have various other acronyms to keep cars out of the scenery, "electronic" diffs to mimic the effect of an LSD (an LSD is not the same as LSD), engines which shut down when the car is stationary and the certainty of more of this electrickery in the future, such as the potential for black boxes to track your driving behaviour, cars which can be remotely shut down, entertainment hubs courtesy of Apple and their ilk in your car.

3 - Cars have been subject to the western world's trend to obesity.  "Small" hatchbacks now weigh around 1,500kg, almost twice what they weighed when the class was launched in the mid/late 70's.  Heavy cars are dull cars.

 

All of these mean that cars up to sometime in the mid 90's to early noughties  are fundamentally different to cars that came later.  And I suspect that those differences will continue to appeal to driving enthusiasts.  It's entirely an opinion, but my opinion is that people will appreciate good, relatively light drivers' cars which place control fully in the brain, hands and feet of the driver.  When the Carrera 3.2 came along it was a ferociously powerful car.  Nowadays there are hot hatches that out power it, but which don't come even remotely close as a source of driving entertainment.  It's the reasons behind that statement which I think will keep cars such as the air cooled cars (and yes, their water-cooled cousins of the same era) sought after.

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Hmmmm interesting subject, over the last few(maybe 5) years I have watched a freinds XBGT Coupe

(which he spent huge $$$$$$ restoring) go from a $100k car to "probably $50-60K" his estimate.

One of the young guys here didnt know what a GTHO Phase 3 was and has no interest, however

will bore you for hours on skylines, wrx, nissan somethings etc. Will these be his desired 

car when he hits 40??

 

The fact that our cars are PORSCHE's may help hold up there value, even with the young un's.

I mean if you were 18 when the 356 came out, your now around 74, I'm sure there are younger 356 owners

than that.

 

And I still have my 911 turbo poster, however it's moved from my bedroom wall to the garage wall(wives they just dont get it)

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I'm younger than you lot at 30, so you may be right about gravitating to a different generation of 911. 

 

Although when it comes to air-cooled, my heart is in long hood cars... I love 60's sports/muscle cars in general, I am weird like that, I like old things... 

 

Ditto on the not cashed up part, far from it....

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not knowing what a GTHO Phase 3 is? That's un-Australian!

 

I'm 31 and an impact bumper was always what I wanted, I think it all started when I was about 14 and saw a 72T in a shed, and then I bought every Porsche book I could find. I tried to buy that 72T when I was about 18 but the guy wouldn't sell (it was $21,000 at that time, which was a fair chunk of money to the young me)

 

I looked on and off for 10 years and went through a Kombi, a 280CE, 450SEL before I wised up and bought an AU falcon so I'm not driving a 'classic car' every day. Then one morning I saw my car on eBay with a day to go, rang the bank and got the go ahead on money and 2 days later was in Geelong collecting it to drive it home

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It's a well documented phenomenon - when people reach the age of having some disposable income, petrolheads find that they can afford the cars that they lusted after as kids.  Hence, the "blip" in interest in aircooled cars to which 550Spyder refers.

 

But I think that there's potentially something else at play.  Sometime in the last 10-15 years cars have undergone a fundamental change from being mechanical devices to being electronic devices with a mechanical component.  There are at least three aspects to this:

1 - Issues are no longer deduced and parts are no longer repaired.  Cars are hooked up to a 'puter which asks them where it hurts, and then a part is replaced.

2 - Cars increasingly make decisions for you, without you knowing.  It started with ABS, but now we have various other acronyms to keep cars out of the scenery, "electronic" diffs to mimic the effect of an LSD (an LSD is not the same as LSD), engines which shut down when the car is stationary and the certainty of more of this electrickery in the future, such as the potential for black boxes to track your driving behaviour, cars which can be remotely shut down, entertainment hubs courtesy of Apple and their ilk in your car.

3 - Cars have been subject to the western world's trend to obesity.  "Small" hatchbacks now weigh around 1,500kg, almost twice what they weighed when the class was launched in the mid/late 70's.  Heavy cars are dull cars.

 

All of these mean that cars up to sometime in the mid 90's to early noughties  are fundamentally different to cars that came later.  And I suspect that those differences will continue to appeal to driving enthusiasts.  It's entirely an opinion, but my opinion is that people will appreciate good, relatively light drivers' cars which place control fully in the brain, hands and feet of the driver.  When the Carrera 3.2 came along it was a ferociously powerful car.  Nowadays there are hot hatches that out power it, but which don't come even remotely close as a source of driving entertainment.  It's the reasons behind that statement which I think will keep cars such as the air cooled cars (and yes, their water-cooled cousins of the same era) sought after.

Spot on James. Cars have become white goods.

There is a demand for older cars of all makes and while the price may fluctuate, it's certainly higher than it was in the 90's. Older cars have become a commodity and I think styling and design is also a factor. I think white goods again.

There is even an index for exotics, in which Porsche and Ferrari feature prominently. They have recently included other collectables.

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35+ here.

 

1978 for me (although 88 engine - does that make it an 83?). It coincides with the era of my musical tastes too. A defining era in many ways.

 

But I suggest these cars will buck the "coinciding with your formative years" approach because of the reasons JustJames so eloquently put.

 

I love this car because I can drive it well. It's a skill and it's a challenge. A well executed corner is about the car's mechanical engineering and how well you use that engineering. ABS, Emergency Brake Distribution, Yaw Detection, and Stability Control are all centrally located in my brain.

 

And that's a skill and a joy.

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37 here. I had the Countach 88 anniversary, 308 GTB and the 930 on the wall. Elle MacPherson and Claudia Schiffer watched over them. Spyder is spot on for me. I remember my first 3.2 sighting. I was at Hamiltons with mum, picking up her 924 from service. We were in the reception when I heard that throaty growl coming up from the service area underneath. Then up the ramp came a brand new 3.2. Beautiful and very cool with that whale tail.

James theory is true also. My VE Clubsport is probably the last HSV I'll buy. Auto lights I find annoying enough but all the new electronic garbage in cars doesn't appeal to me. I drove a Merc E220 in France and hated it. Auto off every time you stop was stupid in a country connected by hundreds of roundabouts. Auto wipers that come on at the first spec of rain which smears all the crap across your windscreen, electric steering was horrible, and at one point the car started braking for no apparent reason, yes my foot wasn't on the brake and no, there wasn't anything in front of me. So anyway, not upgrading the Clubby is what gave me the opportunity to buy the Porsche.

I think the younger generation will develop an appreciation for the air cooled cars though. Whilst they think the rice burners are the cool thing now, most of them can afford one when they're in their 20s. Perhaps they'll crave a GTR when they're older? But I never really rated the long hoods in my youth and now Id love one in the garage.

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Gawd, at 48 I'm almost the oldest here!

A white 928 with a pasha interior was on my wall in my mid teens but it was a dark blue 911 turbo in the August 1978 edition of Australian Sports Car World quarterly that really burnt its way into my 12 year mind that has simmered away for decades.

SCWAug-Oct1978Page7_zps02e1cf32.jpg

Consequently it's not a surprise that my first 911 just had to have a whale tail and Fuchs to make it "complete" in my mind.

I can't see the prices of the 80's 911's easing at all. I also think James nailed the attraction of this era perfectly too.

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52 this year and just like solving problems and healing stuff that's neglected or broken.

I derive great satisfaction in fixing stuff others walk away from . And have always admired solid engineering.

 

I had posters of Hendrix on my wall , not broom brooms  :) so the theory doesn't apply to my situation!

That's not to say I didn't lust after supercars of the 60s pictured in the "Ladybird Book of Cars".

 

 

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The fact that our cars are PORSCHE's may help hold up there value, even with the young un's.

I mean if you were 18 when the 356 came out, your now around 74, I'm sure there are younger 356 owners

than that.

 

My Brother-In-Law bought a 356 around 6 years ago, he was 34 at the time. I really don't think your age has anything to do with it. The car either speaks to you or it doesn't.

I'd love a Testarossa because no car encompasses the 80s for me better than that car - it is also totally ridiculous and that appeals to me, in the same way that all of the v12 Lamborghini models do, from the Miura on.

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