1989 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 Targa

Details

Oldtimer Australia is delighted to offer for sale a lovely, factory right hand drive, Australian delivered 1988 Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 Targa

Documentation on file from Porsche confirms this to be a model year 1989 car, which was delivered new with the desirable G50 gearbox. It also confirms this is a matching numbers example. The car was delivered in ‘baltic blue metallic’ (colour code L37B) with a ‘marine blue’ (colour code KD) interior, a black roof and door/rear panels in cloth (option 526), a colour scheme the car still carries today.

It is understood this car was delivered to its first owner in Victoria through Porsche Melbourne. In May 1991 it was sold through Hamiltons in Richmond to its second owner who lived in Albury, NSW. He kept the car for a few years before it was sold to its third owner through York Motors Porsche. She lived in Paddington, NSW. The current owner acquired the car in 2000 through GI Motors in Mount Gravatt, Brisbane, Queenland. At that time the odometer read 88,553 km. It is understood he is the fourth owner of the car.

In his ownership the car has been used sparingly, clocking up only circa 20,000 kilometers in the last 23 years.

The car has been well maintained and serviced on a regular basis. Its most recent service was completed on the 12th July 2022 and at that time the odometer read 108,508 km.

Today the odometer reads 108,734 km.

More information and photos to follow soon.

Preliminary enquiries welcome.

Price –

 

Background

The Porsche story is a fascinating one and its roots go back to the 1930’s when Professor Ferdinand Porsche was instrumental in the design of the first Volkswagen and also Auto Union race cars. By 1939 he had built three Porsche cars to compete in the 800-mile race from Berlin to Rome. Unfortunately, the race was cancelled due to the war and Porsche was forced to focus on supporting the German war effort, however, he had always wanted to build his own cars. In 1944 Porsche was forced to leave Stuttgart and he set up a small operation in Gmünd, Austria. Soon after the Porsche family and many of their engineers were captured and sent to jail. Ferdinand Porsche’s son. Ferdinand junior, or ‘Ferry’ as he was known, was released six months later and he returned to Gmünd to rebuild the family company. Things moved quickly and Porsche was involved with cars again and in mid-1948 the first Porsche 356 was built. It is understood Porsche built some 50 aluminium bodied cars by hand in their small factory at Gmünd before relocating back to Stuttgart, Germany. The rest they say is history as the 356 evolved into one of the most successful sports cars ever built. A hard act to follow indeed . . . but its replacement, the Porsche 911 went on to become a legend!

The evolution of the Porsche 911 is probably the greatest sports car story of all time. First introduced in 1963 at the Frankfurt Motor Show, and then designated as a 901, the successor to the 356 took the world by storm. To avoid conflict with Peugeot, who claimed exclusive rights to car names with three digits having a ‘zero’ in the middle, the car was renamed as 911. The first production 911 was built in 1964 and it was powered by an air cooled 1991cc 6-cylinder engine. The car evolved with increases in engine capacity to 2.2 litres, 2.4 litres, 2.7 litres, 3.0 litres and 3.3 litres. There were styling changes also, but one always recognised the car as a 911. Today the first series of 911’s is recognised as the cars built from 1963 to 1989 and include the very popular Porsche 911 and 930 Turbo models. Of these the ‘small bumper’ or ‘pre impact bumper’ cars built up to 1973 are today regarded as the real classic 911, however, that comes at a price. In the last few years astute collectors and enthusiasts have seen great value in 1970’s and 1980’s model 911’s.

The Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 was introduced in 1983 as a successor to the 911SC. Interestingly, it was the first time the Carrera name had been used since 1977. Visually the new car was similar to its successor, both internally and externally. The major change to the new car was its engine. Whilst based on the SC’s 3.0 litre power plant, Porsche claimed the 911 Carrera engine was ‘80 per cent new’. The capacity was increased to 3164cc and a revised piston design increased the compression ratio to 10.3:1 on all but North American cars. But the Carrera’s main innovation was its Bosch Motronic 2 engine management system. This was the first production 911 to feature an ECU to control the ignition and fuel systems. In addition, the fuel injection was updated to Bosch LE-Jetronic and the induction and exhaust systems were revised.

The upshot of these improvements was that power rose to 231 bhp at 5900 rpm, with torque hitting 284 Nm at 4800rpm. Porsche claimed fuel consumption to be 10 percent better than that of the SC, because of the greater efficiency of the electronically controlled engine. The last of the 911 Carrera 3.2’s was built in 1989 and the model was most popular with circa 76,000 cars built during six years of production. The approximate breakdown of models was c35,500 coupes, c20,000 cabriolets and c18,500 Targa’s. Porsche also offered the 911 Carrera 3.2 with the option of the Turbo body (option code M491), which is most often referred to as the ‘wide body’ or in some markets Supersport.

Today the Porsche 911 Carrera 3.2 is recognised as an ‘80’s icon’ and these cars are now becoming highly sought after.

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