The world’s most expensive front-engine Porsche

Gooding & Company/Brian Henniker

We’ve speculated that a ’90s classic will sell for over half a million dollars in 2021. Well, it’s barely May and we’ve already hit that milestone. At $792,000, This 968 is also the most expensive front-engine Porsche (924928944968, Cayenne, or Panamera) we’ve ever seen, and by a very wide margin.

Engine placement aside, this 968 Turbo S has the ingredients of a collectible Porsche. It’s derived from the 968 Turbo RS used in ADAC GT Cup competition, and that means high-performance. The eight-valve cylinder head of the old 944 Turbo was adapted to the 968‘s 3.0-liter block and fitted with a KKK turbocharger for 305 horsepower and 369 lb-ft of torque, impressive stuff for a four-banger. The sprint to 60 took 4.7 seconds and the Turbo S could hit 175 mph on the autobahn. A 75-percent locking limited-slip, 911 Turbo S brakes, lowered suspension, and body kit with adjustable rear wing rounded out the package.

Porsche 968 Turbo S front
Gooding & Company

German magazine auto motor und sport called it “one of the best asphalt acrobats that Porsche has yet built.” But maybe it was a little too good for a Porsche that wasn’t a 911, which may explain this car’s other collectible ingredient—limited production. Just 14 were built, including the prototype, selling for DM 175,000 ($106,000 at the time). That makes it way rarer than the next most collectible 968, the Club Sport, which saw a production run of 1371.

While Gooding sold one of the RS race cars nine years ago (for $346,500), we’ve never seen one of these Turbo S road cars come to market before. In fact, we were only vaguely aware that these cars even existed. That this one cropped up on Gooding & Company’s “Geared Online” auction this month was more than enough to pique our interest, but the $1M low estimate meant it had our undivided attention. Sold new in Germany, it had $40,000 worth of recent mechanical servicing, and although it shows a few flaws, like scratched window frames and paint chips, it’s all forgivable stuff given the 64,653 km (40,174 miles) showing, the cool factor, and the sheer rarity.

 

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