1989 Porsche Speedster

Some cars are considered collectibles from the word go. Porsche has sold many such collectible sports cars in its 60-plus years of business. Their limited-production 911 Speedster, of which only 2,065 were built in 1989, was one of these. It not only celebrated the end of the first generation of air-cooled 911 production, which dated back to 1963, but evoked the legendary 1954-'57 356 Speedster in name and image--a sure-fire hit with Porsche enthusiasts and automobile collectors alike. The collector-car world was reaching new highs in terms of values and selling prices in the late 1980s, and Porsche executives saw an opportunity to capitalize on this, while satisfying their core constituency. Although the original plan for the Speedster was that it would be a fair-weather, low content, less expensive car primarily intended for the American market, the price point shifted; that the reality was both more expensive and less luxurious than the Carrera Cabriolet it was based on didn't matter to buyers who lined up to pay well over list price for the opportunity to own one. Despite being an "image" car that was highly recognizable as a special edition, the 911 Speedster brought the goods. The production 1989 Speedster wore a unique aluminum framed windshield that was more than 3 inches lower and raked 5 degrees flatter than that of the standard Cabriolet. Speedsters were sold in America. Because most were treated as collectibles, the bulk have been driven very little to this day--a shame, because the 3.2-liter Carrera-based Speedster is considered among the best-sorted, best built, most durable air-cooled 911s ever made.