A Bidding War Is Okay When It’s Your Father’s Porsche
You don’t have to be a Porschephile to appreciate this particular 911, but the specs certainly appeal to the purist. Witness the fact that this 1978 Porsche 911 SC 3.0 coupe has a sunroof free, slick metal roof. The fog lights, air conditioning, and passenger side mirror were deleted from the factory, but sport seats with plaid inserts were added afterwards. The performance goodies that helped the 3.0-liter boxer’s potential include Bilstein shocks and a limited-slip differential, all wrapped in the stealthiest of colors: Mocha Black.
Porsches in brighter but period correct colors generally get a lot of media attention, be it from journalists or from social media users who admire the brand. Even the Hagerty Price Guide has a 25% premium for 1978 Porsche colors like Apple Green, Continental Orange, and Arrow Blue. But brown is certainly a valid color choice from our memories of the sepia-toned 1970s, and it works well with this car’s mission to provide performance over panache. Stealth wealth rules over flashy stunts and flossings, as it were.
This Porsche sold on Bring A Trailer this week for a whopping $110,250, including buyer’s fee. While it’s clearly in fantastic condition, items like its high mileage (117,000 mi) and non-standard wheels (delicious 16-inch Fuchs style alloys) suggest this wouldn’t bring in concours-condition ($120,000) valuations. But a #2 condition 911 SC from 1978 should fetch closer to $89,000, so clearly someone wanted this particular vehicle for a specific reason. Was it the understated brown paint?
No, and it wasn’t the plaid inserts on the stunning sport bucket seats, either. The winning bidder, SHEISHMAN, realized this 911 SC was the same one his father once owned. SHEISHMAN modestly chimed in BaT’s comments section and said, “This was my dad’s car, $20k in 1978.”
The back and forth in the comments was impressive, as the seller managed to get in touch with the original owner (presumably the father of the winning bidder). He confirmed the seats are not factory fitted, but likely added when the Porsche received an extensive restoration.
There’s more lore with this particular Porsche, as it might have been special ordered without valuable items like air conditioning in order to be a “promotional car at Bonneville for the world speed trials.” If so, the rumor that is has a modified engine that is “balanced, ported and polished,” but the seller wisely states there is no documentation (or a dyno sheet) to prove such provenance.
The original owner sent the seller two pictures of the car, one is presented above. Note the period correct door mouldings, which were removed well before this auction. Those appear to be the same 16″ Fuchs-style wheels, so the mouldings were not removed immediately after purchase in 1978. European style orange turn signal indicators were fitted, and the U.S.-spec smog equipment was removed. The factory options and modifications after the sale make this one of the more interesting and universally appealing 911 SCs we’ve seen cross the marketplace in a while.
The mere fact that 45 bids were placed in the last hour of the auction suggested that many folks wanted a slice of this mocha-colored treat. But the son of the original owner was having none of that. We are truly happy for him and his “new” Porsche 911, as he’s living that final verse in the soulful theme song from the sepia-toned TV show The Jeffersons. We hope he’s thrilled to finally get a piece of the pie.
Now here is a good example of auction prices not always a good gauge of value. Too often there are more than just the car alone. Dads car. Two uninformed bidders, the money you hid in the car before you went to jail…..lol
If you’re using on line auctions as a gauge of value, as I do frequently, I suggest you make sure the sample size is large enough, and that you toss out the highs and low, as they would clearly be outliers. Just because others aside from the eventual winner bid past the generic “market value” doesn’t mean they were an uninformed bidder, classic cars are a passion for some not a simple business transaction. On my fathers retirement, my mother and I were thrilled to give him a 1965 Mustang which was as close a copy of the one he purchased prior to entering the armed services in 1965, as I could remember. We had far far more into that car than it was worth or every be worth, it wasn’t about money it was about the car.
Interesting question: If the son of the purported original owner could prove his claim (e.g., registration showing VIN number), should others still have bid on this car?
I believe why not. It’s been sold after original ownership, it’s now another item on the market.
Though I’d probably avoid an auction if I knew the family of the original owner was trying to buy it back, understanding the sentimentality of an originally family owned car (and to avoid a potential bidding war haha). But for other bidders, it’s an open market listing.
People don’t usually just give away cars for free. The auction winner should be the one who pays “most appropriately” (for the lack of better term).
The auctioneer could always decide to pull the auction or refuse to sell to the highest bid, then deal privately with the family, if they also value that sentimentality.
Actually once the auction started, I was obligated to see it through. Additionally the eventual winner didn’t show up until the last day of the auction and sprinkled 4 other bids, but essentially 2 other wanted the car and bid the car up, then the winner put in the last bid. If I knew the eventual winner prior to the auction, I would have been happy to offer him the car. He’s identity wasn’t known until the last day of the auction.
Features and sentiment have nothing to do with this sale. Make no mistake, like ALL 911’s, these SC’s have been going nuts for the past 10 years. They are bulletproof to 300k miles and give the owner a wonderful analog driving experience. Seat of the pants value is through the roof. Hence, the owners rarely part with good examples.
NAM- Florence ‘ Pancho ‘ Barnes was a early female aviator, who led quite an inspirational life. After many many years she wanted to buy back her ‘Mystery Ship’ racer that was at auction. A highly desirable aircraft. Out of respect no one bid against her.
Thanks, Paul. That’s what I’m thinking. Obviously not ideal for seller, but inappropriate to bid against a person with such a strong connection to the car. I would think the right thing to do is not bid and let the seller and buyer work out a fair price after the auction is over.
I really like that color on the car. Something you rarely see these days.
Thanks for featuring the auction here. Just a couple of quick note. The winning bidder was the son of the owner of the dealership which Porsche sent the car to for promotional use in 1978. His father, the dealership owner used the car as a demo prior to it being sold to the first owner. Since speaking with the new owner post auction, he has shared some of his personal stories with the car as a teenager. The interesting thing in this auction is the first registered owner, who owned the car for 20 plus years, spoke up early in the auction, he then sent me a couple of photos he still had of the car so I could post them. One of the great things about these on line auctions is the participation of community members. The first owner was not a bidder but he was happy to speak up and also contact me during the auction. I enjoyed hearing about his time with the car. The eventual winner who obviously had a family attachment to the car didn’t post or bid until the last day, and was unaware of the auction until late in the final day of the auction. This is a wonderful car. My wife and I took it to the BaT Reunion in mid state NY last month, where it was a big hit. The value is closely associated with people’s passion for a particular car. The winning bidder only accounted for 5 of the 75 bids. There were several other bidders who wanted the car up until the very end. Sometimes or dare I say, “often” a car like this is a passion and not a business transaction. Yes there are plenty of SC’s on the market at any one time, however you wont find another like this, therefore it strikes a chord with some buyers and of course the new owner had a very personal attachment to the car as well. howS
Thank you for providing the whole backstory. This was one heckuva auction, as the BaT comments section really set this one apart from your, ahem, average 911 SC.
Great story. I am the caretaker and own this identical paint/ interior combo on our 1980 SC. My Dad purchased new ($33,425) and I bought from him in 1985. Original paint and 51K miles. Sweet cars to drive.